FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

India's secret gardener reveals 18-year labour of love

Dec 14, 2014 (AFP)

Deep inside his massive garden of handmade waterfalls and sculptures, Nek Chand recalls toiling away secretly in the dead of night for a staggering 18 years to ...

In Lebanon, a garden blooms on former 'trash mountain'

Dec 11, 2014 (AFP)

Lebanon's southern city of Sidon is best known for its Crusader castle and ancient market, but a more modern landmark has marred its Mediterranean shoreline for...

Bird flu outbreak spreads in Canada

Dec 11, 2014 (AFP)

Canada expanded its quarantine of poultry farms in westernmost British Columbia province Thursday after learning that an outbreak of avian influenza has spread....

Insecticides foster 'toxic' slugs, reduce crop yields

Dec 09, 2014 (SPX)

Insecticides aimed at controlling early-season crop pests, such as soil-dwelling grubs and maggots, can increase slug populations, thus reducing crop yields, ac...

China farmers washed away as Beijing taps water from south

Dec 08, 2014 (AFP)

Before their villages were submerged beneath a gargantuan scheme to move water hundreds of kilometres to China's arid north, government officials promised farme...

An organic garden of plenty in Mali's arid soil

Dec 06, 2014 (AFP)

In a strikingly green corner of Mali, one man is leading an agricultural revolution, using organic farming methods to get the most out of the land -- and pass h...

Lethal control of wolves backfires on livestock

Dec 04, 2014 (SPX)

Washington State University researchers have found that it is counter-productive to kill wolves to keep them from preying on livestock. Shooting and trapping le...

Cover crops can sequester soil organic carbon

Dec 03, 2014 (SPX)

A 12-year University of Illinois study shows that, although the use of cover crops does not improve crop yields, the practice does increase the amount of seques...

Toronto chemists identify role of soil in pollution control

Dec 03, 2014 (SPX)

Scientists have long known that air pollution caused by cars and trucks, solvent use and even plants, is reduced when broken down by naturally occurring compoun...

Egypt reports four new bird flu deaths

Dec 03, 2014 (AFP)

Egypt reported on Wednesday four new deaths from bird flu, taking to seven the number of people that the H5N1 virus has killed in the country so far in 2014. Th...

Alarm sounded over attacks on defenders of land rights

Dec 02, 2014 (AFP)

As populations grow and land becomes scarcer, attacks on those trying to defend their land are becoming increasingly frequent, a top rights group warned Tuesday...

New bird flu case in Netherlands

Nov 30, 2014 (AFP)

Dutch authorities reported a new outbreak of bird flu Sunday at a poultry farm, but could not say if it was the worrying new strain detected elsewhere in the co...

Circumstances are right for weed invasion to escalate

Nov 28, 2014 (SPX)

Few agribusinesses or governments regulate the types of plants that farmers use in their pastures to feed their livestock, according to an international team of...

Brazil's Amazon region houses latex 'love factory'

Nov 28, 2014 (AFP)

Deep in Amazonia, Raimundo Pereira expertly cuts a gash in a rubber tree to collect white sap destined for the nearby factory at Xapuri, the world's only produc...

Colombia land restitution law could fail millions: Amnesty

Nov 27, 2014 (AFP)

A law supposed to help Colombian families displaced in the country's armed conflict risks failing millions of people, according to a report by Amnesty Internati...

Sheep flock to Eiffel Tower as French farmers cry wolf

Nov 27, 2014 (AFP)

French farmers flocked to the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, sheep in tow, to express their frustration over increasing attacks by wolves which some say have been "o...

Polyethylene mulch creates optimal conditions for soil solarization

Nov 26, 2014 (SPX)

Soil solarization, a process that uses solar radiation to rid the soil of pests, is most common in regions with high solar radiation and high temperatures durin...

Boosts in crop productivity modifying NH carbon dioxide cycle

Nov 26, 2014 (SPX)

Each year in the Northern Hemisphere, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide drop in the summer as plants "inhale," then climb again as they exhale after the grow...

Grasshoppers signal slow recovery of post-agricultural woodlands

Nov 26, 2014 (SPX)

Sixty years ago, the plows ended their reign and the fields were allowed to return to nature -- allowed to become the woodland forests they once were. But even ...

Cambodian capital's only working elephant to retire in jungle

Nov 25, 2014 (AFP)

Phnom Penh's only working elephant was blessed by a crowd of chanting Buddhist monks Tuesday as she prepared for a life of comfortable jungle retirement after t...