When researchers started trials for apple growing in the highlands of western Uganda in 2003, many local farmers refused to take them seriously. The farmers believed that apples could only thrive in countries with cold climates. Today, researchers at the Kachwekano Agricultural Research and Development Centre in Kabale (Uganda) have proved beyond doubt that apple trees can do well in Uganda. The climate in these highlands, which are close to the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains and stand at 2,100 m above sea level, has also proved suitable for growing plums and pears.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=128

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to sponsor the Banana Conference 2008
The Pan-African conference, the first of its kind to link state-of-the-art research to new markets, aims to develop a 10-year research-for-development strategy that will stimulate trade and boost the growth of the banana industry across Africa. Banana researchers, major industry players and farmers’ groups will be participating in the conference.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=149

An anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and cabbage works by lowering the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing breast cancer, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study appearing Dec 3 in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=449

The cacao plant is to become the latest organism to have its complete genetic code sequenced, but it is no idle exercise to generate tastier products for chocoholics.
The five-year project is expected to help crop scientists identify genes in different varieties of cacao trees that make them resilient to drought and resistant to pests and diseases.
By using the information to direct crop breeding programmes, scientists believe they will be able to grow hybrid cacao trees that are more robust and produce higher yields than existing varieties.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=150

One of Africa’s leading bankers Paul Baloyi (chief executive officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)), has urged the continent to spend less time engaged in meetings and dialogues about the role of knowledge of science and technology in economic and social development - and more time putting such ideas into action.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=651

A series of symposium papers describe AquaCrop and other agronomic models that estimate water use efficiency under varying conditions around the world.
Crop water use efficiency (WUE, or yield per unit of water used), also known as crop water productivity, can be improved through irrigation management and methods, including deficit irrigation (irrigating less than is required for maximum yields) and supplemental irrigation (irrigating to supplement precipitation so as to avoid crop failure or severe yield decline). Thus, WUE is key for agricultural production with limited water resources.
Policymakers and water resource managers working at all scales need to evaluate the many ways in which cropping systems and the amounts, timing, and methods of both irrigation and fertilizer applications may be changed to improve WUE while meeting yield and harvest quality goals. Field experiments are too costly to address all scenarios, but computer models of crop growth and yield may fill in the gaps if the models are shown to be accurate predictors of WUE.
An international team of experts led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations developed an agronomic model called AquaCrop to address the need for modeling of WUE under widely varying conditions around the world and with limited data. https://www.agronomy.org/news-media/releases/2009/0504/256/

According to the latest independent research, a gift of flowers makes people truly happy.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=506

Ohio State University (Wooster, Ohio, USA) Crop scientists have cloned a gene that controls the shape of tomatoes, a discovery that could help unravel the mystery behind the huge morphological differences among edible fruits and vegetables, as well as provide new insight into mechanisms of plant development.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=109

Scientists have sequenced the genome of a genetically modified (GM) papaya, a step that could benefit both cultivation of the fruit and the understanding of fruit tree genomics.
As the first GM virus-resistant fruit tree to be sequenced, the researchers also hope it will further the understanding of GM genomes and the effects of inserted genes.
http://www.ishs.org/news/?p=130