Microscopic life in the saline soil of the Marismas del Odiel Natural Park

A University of Seville research group, led by the professor Antonio Ventosa, has, for the first time, studied and described the microbiome of saline soil in the Marismas del Odiel Natural Park. This research opens new perspectives in microbiome study of this type of environment, which can produce data on, among other aspects, possible climate alterations and other environmental factors in microbial populations.

What the wheat genome tells us about wars

Wheat is a globally cultivated plant. It originated about 10000 years ago in the so-called fertile crescent, today's Anatolia and north Iraq, and has since then started its successful march around the world. The illustration shows the distribution routes of wheat based on its genetic similarity patterns. Little surprising is the proximity to human migration routes during this period.

First they mapped the genome of wheat; now they have reconstructed its breeding history. Joining forces with other European researchers, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have examined the genetic diversity of wheat varieties in the WHEALBI study. By doing so, they discovered which cereals our ancestors cultivated, where today's wheat comes from, and what the Cold War has to do with it all. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Genetics.

FG appoints Balarabe as new Fadama 111 AF NPC

 The Federal Government (FG) through its ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has appointed Mallam Abdurrahman S. Balarabe as the new National Coordinator of Fadama 111 Additional Financing (AF) programme taking immediate effect.

The winter weather window that is costing rapeseed growers millions

UK rapeseed growers are losing up to a quarter of their crop yield each year because of temperature rises during an early-winter weather window.

Editorial -Population control as a means of ensuring food security

There is a need to control the Nigerian population (which is growing in geometrical proportion) most especially for the purpose of ensuring food security now and in the future.

How absentee farmers killed Agric Bank--Findings

* FG begins recapitalization

Investigations have revealed that the government had to recapitalize the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) because non-farmers posing as farmers in connivance with the officials of the bank defrauded the organisation by presenting fake identity cards, unregistered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards and other documents which enabled them to escape repayment of loans collected from the bank.

IAR cropping/REFIL: stakeholders want integration of research, extension into agribusiness

Stakeholders have advocated integration of research innovations, with efficient transfer of improved technologies, to farmers as a way to attaining acceptable global acceptability through best agricultural practices that would guaranty standard and markets with no rejection.

The secrets of secretion: Isolating eucalyptus genes for oils, biofuel

What is the genetic basis for eucalyptus trees to produce that fragrant oil many of us associate with trips to the spa? Carsten Külheim, associate professor in Michigan Technological University's School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, has spent the past 10 years of his career studying eucalyptus. They are diverse, fast-growing species that includes scrubby bushes and 300-foot-tall flowering trees -- mostly indigenous to Australia, but also New Guinea and Indonesia.

Agric policy: Farmers/ herdsmen clashes, cassava, extension top priority

*Technical department memo step down

·        *AFAN vows to monitor implementation

·        *Stakeholders demand Fadama AF, IFAD continuity

The National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD), the apex policy maker in the sector has approved a proposal seeking implementation and provision of facilities for herdsmen towards encouraging ranching to forestall incessant clashes occasioned by cattle being moved about in the country, even as national productivity of cassava was also approved along with a memo on national policy on extension for its strategic role in technologies transfer to farmers nationwide.

Field experiment finds a simple change that could boost agricultural productivity by 60 percent

Raising tenants' share in crop-sharing contracts between landlords and tenants in developing countries can boost agricultural output, by providing tenants with the right incentive to raise agriculture productivity. Bocconi University's Selim Gulesci and colleagues came to this conclusion making use of a field experiment in Uganda.