Archive for April, 2006

Potential of Genetically Modified Crops in Renewable Energy

Four weeks ago, I wrote a column about genetically modified corn with a heat stable version of enzyme alpha amylase. Scientists behind this maize variety say it will be used to produce renewable energy.
If you live in the developed world, you’ll think twice before equating such efforts with building castles in the air. Already, corn [...]

Africa cannot ignore food biotechnology

BY ZACHARY OCHUODHO
Kenya Times
Nairobi, Kenya

ACHIEVING adequate food with nutritional requirements for all people is one of the prime challenges facing most developing countries, particularly in the sub-Saharan region.
In Africa, for example, governments have made it almost like an annual habit to ask for food aid claiming that crops had failed due to unfavourable [...]

Top scholar to head Sh800m E.A. project

Story by NATION Reporter
Publication Date: 4/22/2006
Daily Nation

A Kenyan scholar has been picked to head a Sh800 million project for improving agricultural productivity in East Africa.
Former Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture [...]

Let’s Listen to Bill Clinton’s Advice on Modern Biotechnology

Since he left office, former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, has dedicated almost all his life championing the cause of the poor, here in America and abroad.
From winning concessions for cheaper drugs from multinational pharmaceutical companies to manage HIV/AIDS - the No. 1 killer disease in poor countries - to fundraising in aid of victims of [...]

Plough or Not to Plough

A couple of years ago, fresh from college and struggling to venture into science writing, I attended a seminar on crop biotechnology in Nairobi, Kenya. I vividly recall one guy from a multinational biotech company extol participants who included resource poor farmers, agricultural extension officers, the media, members of parliament and representatives of non-profit organizations, [...]

A Golden Genetically Modified Maize Variety in the Offing

The marvels of modern agricultural biotechnology will continue to be with us for many years to come. Ten years ago, the world witnessed the commercialization of the first genetically modified (GM) crop. Since then, GM crops cultivation has grown in leaps and bounds.
The world’s now awash with high yielding GM corn, cotton, soya, canola, name [...]