Small-scale farmers can double food production within 10 years in critical regions by using ecological methods, a new UN report* shows. Based on an extensive review of the recent scientific literature, the study calls for a fundamental shift towards agroecology as a way to boost food production and improve the situation of the poorest. “To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need to adopt the most efficient farming techniques...

Rita Sharma, Secretary of India's National Advisory Council (NAC), has been appointed to a new commission on climate change to be chaired by Britain's chief scientific adviser Sir John Beddington. The new Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, has been set up by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program (CCAFS). Sharma is among 13 members of the commission which, in...

The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the spectre of "pest storms" devastating the region's rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned. Increased production of cheap pesticides in China and India, lax regulation and inadequate farmer education are destroying ecosystems around paddies, allowing pests to thrive and multiply, they said. The problem has emerged over the last decade and -- if left unchecked -- pests could...

Asia is leading afforestation activity in the world with a significant contribution from India which is adding 300,000 hectares of forest every year, a senior UN official said. "I would highlight India, which still has important population growth. The forests in India are growing at 300,000 hectare per annum," Eduardo Rojas Briales, Forestry Director of Food and Agriculture Organisation told journalists on Wednesday. According to the 'State of the World's Forests'...

World nuclear agricultural scientists said that nuclear induced mutations in a number of crop species in several countries have contributed significantly to food security and agricultural economy. “Induced mutations have contributed significantly to the world agriculture by producing mutants with enhanced production and productivity in a large number of crop species,” scientists from Asia-Pacific countries said at the international conference on ‘Isotope technologies and applications—New Horizons’ which concluded here on Wednesday. A...