The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The Punjab Seed Council has approved 39 new verities of different crops for general cultivation. The new varieties included 15 Bt Cotton, six rice, two wheat, one Sugarcane, two Gram, three Citrus, four Peach, three flowers and one variety of each potato, tomato and turnip. The approval was granted in …
Scientists and others, who are in favour of genetically-modified (GM) food crops, have got support from an unexpected quarter — a Nobel laureate. Richard J. Roberts, who won the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1993, on Monday made a forceful case for promoting research on GM food crops …
A top U.S. Federal Reserve official on Monday suggested that farmers consider a path toward internationally accepted standards for genetically modified crops, following rejections of U.S. corn shipments by China. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher told a gathering of farmers in Chicago that it was important that the …
IN AUGUST environmentalists in the Philippines vandalised a field of Golden Rice, an experimental grain whose genes had been modified to carry beta-carotene, a chemical precursor of vitamin A. Golden Rice is not produced by a corporate behemoth but by the public sector. Its seeds will be handed out free …
Genetically modified maize causes cancer: that was the gist of one of the most controversial studies in recent memory, published in September 2012 by Food and Chemical Toxicology. Well, actually, it doesn’t. On November 28th the journal retracted it. This followed criticism that the rats used in the experiment were …
Author's supporter plans to publish study in another journal A year-after the prestigious ‘Food and Chemical Toxicology’ Journal published a study which concluded that biotech maize and herbicides can cause “severe adverse health effects including mammary tumours and kidney and liver damage, leading to premature death,” the journal has announced …
World hunger is a multifaceted problem that cannot be solved by technological changes alone. Meanwhile industrial agriculture is unsustainable, and technological adjustments based on genetic engineering have not been able to achieve the relevant Millennium Development Goals; instead, they have introduced products that restrict farmer-based innovation, in situ conservation and …
Cadres of Change: Transforming Biotech Farmers in China, India, and the Philippines is an empirical testimony to how biotech crops are changing the lives of small farmers, their families and that of their communities. It is also a serious look into how technology adoption in developing countries can address key …
Bangladesh has approved the commercial cultivation of transgenic Bt brinjal, becoming the first country in South Asia to cultivate the genetically modified food crop. Read more in this November 2013 edition of the Monthly Bangladesh State of the Environment Report published by the South Asia Environment Portal. Read and Share. …
A new German grand coalition government would seek tougher regulations in the European Union for labeling of meat from farm animals that have eaten genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), a policy draft showed. Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) are starting a decisive week of German coalition talks and are …
Hundreds of scientists have raised serious concerns about “open air field trials (outside glasshouse)” of genetically modified (GM) crops in India by writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday. Incidentally Bangladesh officially gave a conditional approval for planting of certain varieties of genetically modified Bt Brinjal recently. …
Roundup herbicide, which is meant to kill farm weeds, “poses the risk of serious human health hazards including cancer”, says a new study by the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR). The study, authored by research scientists Jasmine George and Yogeshwer Shukla, speaks of the tumour-promoting potential of glyphosate, the …
The governing body on the Hawaiian island of Kauai voted on Saturday to override their mayor's veto of a bill that seeks to reign in widespread pesticide use and the testing of new genetically modified crops. The Kauai County Council's 5-2 vote means agricultural companies will be unable to plant …
After pioneering the cultivation of corn thousands of years ago, Mexico must overcome the weight of history to give the go-ahead to allow genetically modified strains into its fields. Religion, culture and science are competing for primacy in the debate on how acceptable corn produced by genetically modified organisms (GMO) …
Testbiotech published the first global overview showing how genetically engineered plants such as maize, rice, cotton, oilseed rape, bentgrass and poplar trees are spreading uncontrollably. This is happening in regions and countries such as the USA and Canada, Middle America, Japan, China, Australia and Europe. In many cases, the plants …
The European Commission proposed on Wednesday that governments approve only the third ever genetically modified crop for cultivation in Europe, but took steps to avert an expected backlash from France and other GMO opponents. The proposal covers an insect-resistant maize developed jointly by DuPont and Dow Chemical which, if approved, …
Opponents of a Washington state ballot measure that would have required labeling of foods containing genetically modified crops declared victory on Tuesday, citing early voting results. The measure, known as I-522, appeared headed for defeat, 45 percent in favor to 55 percent opposed, with more than 980,000 ballots counted on …
Bangladesh became the first country in South Asia to approve commercial cultivation of transgenic Bt brinjal. National Committee on Biosafety (NCB), the highest regulatory body for GM crops in Bangladesh, officially approved the Bt brinjal varieties on 31 October. With this step, Bangladesh becomes the 29th country in the world …
A consortium of Indian environmental activists has expressed fears that genetically modified brinjal, not yet approved for cultivation in India, may slip into the country from Bangladesh where it is under assessment for possible commercial release. The Coalition for a GM-free India, a group of non-government organisations, has asked Delhi …
Stresses on need to disseminate real information among people There is a need to educate, communicate and spread more information about Genetically Modified crops in India to quell people's apprehensions about their safety, according to Bayer CropSciences CEO,Liam Condon. "I think it is a very big topic, not just farmers …
