Thirteen Jamaican-grown food crops - ackee (Blighia sapida), banana (Musa acuminate), cabbage (Brassica oleracea), carrot (Daucus carota), cassava (Manihot esculenta), coco (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), dasheen (Colocasia esculenta), Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum), pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo), sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and turnip ...

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture mainly to increase crop yields to cater huge supply of food products for increasing world population as well as to protect crops from pests and control insect-borne diseases. Increased use of pesticides results in contamination of the environment and the excess accumulation of pesticide residues in food products, which has always been a matter of seriou...

Agricultural biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) crops are effective tools to substantially increase productivity, quality, and environmental sustainability in agricultural farming. Furthermore, they may contribute to improving the nutritional content of crops, addressing needs related to public health. Chile has become one of the most important global players for GM seed production for...

the study assessed the quantity and value of food crop outputs of the gender categories in the anambra state. at this research estimated the quantity and energy content of food stuffs consumed as well as required by each gender headed households, estimated the extent and magnitude of food security and insecurity in the area among the gender categories and examined the determinants of food secur...

INTRODUCTION Plants are the foundation for a significant part of human medicine and for many of the most widely used drugs designed to prevent, treat, and cure disease. A number of our cultivated crop plants, including many vegetable crops, were domesticated for medicinal purposes prior to their current use as food. Folkloric transmission of plant-based cures represents a fundamental and formid...

Recent energy security strategies, investment opportunities and energy policies have led to an escalation in biofuel consumption at the expenses of food crops and pastureland. To evaluate the important impacts of biofuels on food security, the food-energy nexus needs to be investigated in the context of its linkages with the overall human appropriation of land and water resources. Here we provi...

Food security has emerged as an urgent concern because of the rising world population. To meet the food demands of the near future, it is required to improve the productivity of various crops, not just of staple food crops. The genetic diversity among plant populations in a given species allows the plants to adapt to various environmental conditions. Such diversity could therefore yield valuabl...

Throughout the history of humankind, there have been those who have embraced change and those who have clung to the old ways because they felt at least the risks were known. Few Edisons or Einsteins were properly recognized during their lifetime. And, since feeding ourselves was the primary occupation of mankind for most of our recorded and prerecorded history, changes in food production have b...

In reference to what was published today at Scidev (Gould, 2006): “GM crops are compatible with sustainable agriculture”, I wish to comment: Massive use of transgenic crops poses potential ecological risks; genetically modified (GM) crops are not compatible with sustainable or organic farming or any other alternative form of production. GM agriculture compromises the capacity of farmers to mana...

1Département des sciences animales, Faculté des sciences de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4; 2Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Soils and Crops Research and Development Centre, Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada G1V 2J3 (e-mail: [email protected]); and 3Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Lennoxvi...