Palm oil: Less fertilizer and no herbicide but same yield?

Environmentally friendlier palm oil production could be achieved with less fertilizer and no herbicide, while maintaining profits. These are the encouraging preliminary results of the first two years of a large-scale oil palm management experiment by an international team of researchers led by the University of Göttingen. The research was published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

Nigeria needs plant variety law for robust seeds sector

·       Expert says no enough companies

An economically efficient seeds industry in Nigeria may continue to be a mirage unless a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) law is put in place. This view was deduced during a three-day training held at National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Sheda, Abuja.

Rice millers condemn senators’ stance on borders as unpatriotic

The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has described the criticism by some of the senators at the National Assembly against the land borders closure of the Federal Government (FG) as an act of insincerity to the nation’s development saying the measure was already yielding good dividend to agricultural productivity of rice and other produce. This was contained in a press statement made available to Food farm News, in Abuja.

We told them not to export yams- Quarantine official

 * NAQS official ignorant of presence of gamma irradiation facilities in Nigeria

The Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine services (NAQS) has said that the authority at the Tin- Can seaport did not listen to its expert advice not to export yam to United Kingdom (UK) without giving a proper treatment against nematode, with certification of clearance before departure. An official of the agency, Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim revealed this during a colloquium session held at the National Organic Agriculture Business Summit held recently in Lagos.

Early rice farmers unwittingly selected for weedy imposters

Early rice growers unwittingly gave barnyard grass a big hand, helping to give root to a rice imitator that is now considered one of the world's worst agricultural weeds.

Agric Experts demand for conditioning centres

Agricultural experts in Nigeria have posited that the establishment of private driven conditioning centres cum effective data for production, processing and marketing at a glance saying these are the panacea to food security challenges in the country..

Minister denies hunger among Nigerians, says most overweight

Despite reports that Nigeria has more people living in poverty than most countries the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono has ruled out hunger issues affecting Nigerians, claiming that Nigeria is food sufficient, adding that most people in the country are currently battling with overweight or obesity.

Rice yields plummet and arsenic rises in future climate-soil scenarios

Rice is the largest global staple crop, consumed by more than half the world's population -- but new experiments from Stanford University suggest that with climate change, production in major rice-growing regions with endemic soil arsenic will undergo a dramatic decline and jeopardize critical food supplies.

Helping hands from within: Live-in bacteria protect plants against infections

Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant's growth and tolerance to stress. An international research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Wageningen UR reports its discovery in today's issue of the   scientific journal Science.

Implanted memories teach birds a song

A father holds up his newborn, their faces only inches apart, and slowly repeats the syllables "da" and "dee." After months of hearing these sounds, the baby begins to babble and gradually "da da da" is refined to the word "Daddy."