Editorial- Mechanization: Integrating engineering into extension services

 Executive Director (ED) of (NCAM) Dr. (Engr) M.Y Kasali 

We wish to commend the Federal Government (FG) for the initiative to soon commence agricultural mechanization as about 140 agro processing centres across the country will be established to increase production, processing and marketing. But the question is where are these equipment's coming from, are they going to be locally made or imported?.

Insect bites and warmer climate means double-trouble for plants

Recent models are telling us that, as our climate warms up, herbivores and pests will cause increased damage to agricultural crops. One study predicted that crop yield lost to insects increases 10 to 25 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase.

Dance of the honey bee reveals fondness for strawberries

Bees are pollinators of many wild and crop plants, but in many places their diversity and density is declining.

Solving the riddle of strigolactone biosynthesis in plants

Strigolactones (SLs) are a class of chemical compounds found in plants that have received attention due to their roles as plant hormones and rhizosphere signaling molecules. They play an importantrole in regulating plant architecture, as well as promoting germination of root parasitic weeds (*1) that have great detrimental effects on plant growth and production.

Grain traits traced to 'dark matter' of rice genome

Domesticated rice has fatter seed grains with higher starch content than its wild rice relatives -- the result of many generations of preferential seed sorting and sowing.

Stakeholders ask NCAM to infuse technology to grassroots

Stakeholders have demanded that the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) be well represented at the grassroots where farmers who needed their technologies reside.

NEF, FACAN partner to ensure standard for export

The Nigerian  Entrepreneurship Forum, NEF in partnership with Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to access the five billion dollars made available by the Chinese government through its Entrepreneurship Development Centre Facility under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for entrepreneurs in the country to ensure standard for export.

Microscopic partners could help plants survive stressful environments

Tiny, symbiotic fungi play an outsized role in helping plants survive stresses like drought and extreme temperatures, which could help feed a planet experiencing climate change, report scientists at Washington State University.

Traditional Chinese medicinal plant yields new insecticide compounds

For hundreds of years, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have used an herb called Stemona sessilifolia as a remedy for parasitic infections, such as those caused by pinworms and lice.

Nanono seeks stronger partnership with US government

 The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono has solicited for a stronger partnership and collaboration between the Ministry and the United States of America (USA), through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), towards achieving food sufficiency and job creation. This was made known in a press statement issued and made available to Food farms news by Ezeaja Ikemefuna on behalf of Director of Information, in the ministry.