Pakistan exported agricultural products worth Rs 288.18 billion last year ISLAMABAD (April 29, 2011) : Pakistan last year exported agriculture products worth Rs 288.18 billion including food grains, vegetables, fruits, tobacco, fisheries products, spices and livestock. According to Food and Agriculture Ministry (Minfal) officials Pakistan during 2009-10 exported fruits amounting to Rs 20 billions, Rs […]
Ingredient in Mass Extinctions Could Boost Food, Biofuel Production Hydrogen sulfide, the pungent stuff often referred to as sewer gas, is a deadly substance implicated in several mass extinctions, including one at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago that wiped out more than three-quarters of all species on Earth. A bean […]
Restoring Balance in Rice Fields with Flowers Women from Tien Giang Province participated in training to learn how to keep their rice fields ecologically sound and balanced – by planting flowers around them, a practice called “ecological engineering.” The “friendly” insects and other organisms that live in this diverse vegetation around the rice fields help […]
Wild Parent Spawns Super Salt-Tolerant Rice Farmers are set to reclaim salt-ravaged land thanks to a single rice plant born of two unlikely parents that is spawning a new generation of rice that has double the salinity tolerance of other rice. Rising seawater causes rice farms along coastal areas to be salty, taking away livelihoods […]
Reproductive Effects of Pesticides Might Span Generations North Carolina State University researchers studying aquatic organisms called Daphnia have found that exposure to a chemical pesticide has impacts that span multiple generations – causing the so-called “water fleas” to produce more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring. Male Daphnia “This work supports the […]
Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybeans After four years on the market, more farmers than ever are using on their farms. Monsanto’s second-generation trait technology for soybeans has been planted on more than 50 million acres in its first four years on the market. In 2013, Monsanto expects 39 to 41 million soybean acres to be […]
Deep, Permeable Soils Buffer Impacts of Crop Fertilizer on Amazon Streams The often damaging impacts of intensive agriculture on nearby streams, rivers, and their wildlife has been well documented in temperate zones, such as North America and Europe. This shows rain over a soybean field at Tanguro Ranch in the Upper Xingu watershed, Mato Grosso, […]
Adoption of Direct Seeding Improves Soil Quality Starting in the early 1980’s, prairie farmers gradually switched from conventional tillage to adopt direct seeding, the seeding of crops directly into undisturbed or cultivated soil. Direct seeding of crops has improved soil quality, increased soil organic matter and improved nutrient supplying power of the soil. Generally, over […]
Together, Wild Bees, Honeybees Improve Crop Pollination In order to feed a growing global population, agriculture is under pressure to increase its productivity. The ecosystem service of pollination is necessary for, or can improve, the yield of 39 of the world’s 57 major crops. The proportion of crops requiring pollination continues to increase in global […]
Two Approaches for Optimizing Water Productivity Agricultural Research Service researchers in Bushland, Texas, are helping farmers make the most of their water supplies in a region where they depend on the Ogallala Aquifer, a massive underground reservoir under constant threat of overuse. Steve Evett, Susan O’Shaughnessy, and their colleagues at the Conservation and Production Research […]
More Food, Greener Farming with Specialised Transporters for Plants To grow more food more sustainably we need to make plants better at recruiting nutrients and water from soil to seed, according to 12 leading plant scientists writing in Nature. Proteins called Membrane Transporters will be Key to Sustainable Food Production Essential to this are proteins […]
Affluence Drives Unsustainable Consumption of Land, Sea Global demand for natural resources is rising at an unprecedented rate, putting pressure on finite resources, ecosystems and biodiversity. To understand global patterns of consumption, the impacts of international trade must be carefully examined, since countries may ‘displace’ land and resource use through increased imports, i.e. they use […]
Crop Rotation With Nematode-Resistant Wheat Protects Tomatoes In a study published online in Crop Science, scientists describe a nematode-resistant wheat. But while the wheat carries the resistance to the pest, the benefits are actually seen in the crop that is grown after it. Root-knot nematodes cause crop losses around the world, and they can be […]
Plant Protein Discoveries Ease Global Food, Fuel Demands New discoveries of the way plants transport important substances across their biological membranes to resist toxic metals and pests, increase salt and drought tolerance, control water loss and store sugar can have profound implications for increasing the supply of food and energy for our rapidly growing global […]
Equitable, Efficient Use of Water is Key to Sustainable Population Growth he world’s population is growing rapidly and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Global fresh water supplies are coming under increasing pressure, and more frequent extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, make it increasingly difficult for water-stressed nations to manage water […]
Unkempt Land Could Benefit Farmers Parts of the farm landscape that are overgrown are more important in supporting wildlife than they first appear, according to new research published today in Ecology Letters. The findings stem from an intensive study of an organic farm in Somerset by a team of scientists focussing on the complex ways […]
Historical Water Use Reflects Changes in Global Socio-Economic Development Understanding how socio-economic forces have shaped water use in the past can help inform sustainable water management in the future. In this study, the researchers used a high-resolution water-use model to assess the effects of global change on how freshwater has been used in the domestic, […]
Encouraging Signs for Bee Biodiversity Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers led by the University of Leeds and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands found evidence of dramatic reductions in the diversity of species in Britain, Belgium and the […]
Assessing Risk Level of Leaf Spot Diseases in Wheat Leaf spot diseases can decrease wheat yield by up to 20 per cent or more, as well as diminish kernel weight, and in some cases reduce grade. When disease risk levels are moderate to high, protection of the upper two leaves of a developing wheat plant […]
Improving ‘Crop Per Drop’ Could Boost Global Food Security, Water Sustainability Improvements in crop water productivity — the amount of food produced per unit of water consumed — have the potential to improve both food security and water sustainability in many parts of the world, according to a study published online in Environmental Research Letters […]