Tag Archives: Vitamin A

Biofortified GM bananas

Posted on June 22, 2014 by argylesock

James Dale is a scientist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT, Australia). His lab has developed a genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered) banana (Musa × paradisiaca) rich in ‘pro-vitamin A’. Here’s the QUT report. This is the ‘super banana’ … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, America, Asia, banana, banana Cavendish, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biodiversity, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, carotenoid, child, conservation, cotton, crop diversity, crop variety, development, East African cooking banana, food security, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, gene, gene gun, genetic modification, iron, land grab, local variety, marker assisted backcrossing, micronutrient, Monsanto, nutrition, patent, plantain, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, pro-vitamin A, Provit Banana, research, rice, Scuba rice, seed, soya, staple food, super banana, tissue culture, trade, Vitamin A | 2 Comments

Special bananas: Africa’s answer to Golden Rice?

Posted on June 18, 2014 by argylesock

Oluwabusayo Sotunde (writing as Busayo in Ventures Africa) tells us about a ‘special banana’ (Musa × paradisiaca) rich in alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. After eating those carotenes, the body converts them to Vitamin A. So they’re ‘provitamins’. This new genetically modified … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, banana, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biodiversity, biofortification, biotechnology, child, development, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, Green Revolution, nutrition, plantain, plant_monocot, Provit Banana, research, rice, staple food, tree, Vitamin A, woman | 6 Comments

Call for articles: Nutritional values and family farming

Posted on June 16, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on AGRICULTURE BLOG…..:
Farming Matters | 30.2 | June 2014 We are told of the great advances that have been made in ‘modern’ agriculture in the last 60 years. Yet there are more hungry and malnourished people on…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, agroecology, biotechnology, cash crop, conservation, crop, development, family farm, farmer, fertiliser, finance, food, food availability, food loss, food quality, food security, food sovereignty, food waste, forest, genetic modification, Green Revolution, intensive, iron, knowledge, land use, local community, nutrition, obesity, poverty, rural, smallholder, trade, tradition, Vitamin A, woodland, yield, young person | Leave a comment

Achievements and controversy surrounding rice, vitamins, and GM crops

Posted on May 22, 2014 by argylesock

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the world’s great staple foods. I recommend Oryza for information about rice. For example, here’s an Oryza article about rice, vitamins, and GM crops.

Posted in food, knowledge transfer | Tagged beriberi, biotechnology, bird, breeding, brown rice, chicken, crop variety, development, disease, food processing, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, history, knowledge, lab animal, nutrition, plant_monocot, poultry, research, rice, staple food, vertebrate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin E | Leave a comment

Breast milk, indigenous food: A mother’s recipe for healthy children

Posted on May 12, 2014 by argylesock

Here’s Velvet Escario Roxas, a Filipino mother, telling us that children in the Philippines need breast milk and indigenous foods, not Golden Rice. Mrs Roxas says that Filipino women should breastfeed as she did. After weaning, she says these women … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Asia, biotechnology, child, crop diversity, food availability, food sovereignty, fruit, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, leaf, local variety, mango, milk, moringa, nutrition, papaya, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rice, sweet potato, tradition, vegetable, Vitamin A, woman | 2 Comments

The homogenisation and globalisation of diets

Posted on April 25, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?:
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that some 75% of the diversity of cultivated crops was lost during the 20th Century and, by 2050, we could lose…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, money and trade | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, cassava, city, climate, conservation, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, development, disease, Europe, Food and Agriculture Organization, food safety, genetic diversity, grain, human, iodine, iron, law, micronutrient, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pest, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, potato, prosperity, research, rice, rye, seedbank, staple food, sugar beet, sugar cane, sweet potato, trade, tuber, Vitamin A, wheat | 6 Comments

Remember the forgotten crops

Posted on December 24, 2013 by argylesock

This is my 1000th post on this blog. My 500th is here. I use my 1000th post to honour Monkombu Swaminathan, the scientist known as Father of the Green Revolution in India. Here’s an interview with Fred Pearce at Bioversity … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, biofortification, biotechnology, breadfruit, conservation, corn, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, farmer, food, food sovereignty, genetic diversity, genetic modification, grain, Green Revolution, history, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, poverty, research, rice, scientist, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, sustainable, Vitamin A, wheat, zinc | 6 Comments

Debunking Golden Rice myths: a geneticist’s perspective

Posted on December 13, 2013 by argylesock

Michael Purugganan at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) explains why he believes in the genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) rice called Golden Rice. He says that Golden Rice is part of the ‘answers to global malnutrition’. After dismissing … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Asia, Bayer, biofortification, biotechnology, crop, development, DuPont, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, Green Revolution, human, International Rice Research Institute, nutrition, plant_monocot, rice, Syngenta, Vitamin A | 6 Comments

Wickedness, Mr Paterson?

Posted on October 15, 2013 by argylesock

Here in Britain our Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, is a big fan of genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) crops. For example, he’s in favour of Golden Rice (GR). GR is a GM crop being developed and promoted as a … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, human health, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged academia, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, crop, crop variety, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, human, knowledge, marker assisted selection, nutrition, Paterson_Owen, plant_monocot, politics, rice, selective breeding, staple food, Syngenta, trade, Vitamin A | Leave a comment

Owen Paterson accused of swallowing industry hype over Golden Rice

Posted on October 15, 2013 by argylesock

Here in Britain, our Environment Secretary is Owen Paterson. He’s in favour of genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) crops as he’s made clear on several occasions. You could look under my ‘genetic modification’ tag. He’s said that GM crops … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, biotechnology, child, crop, crop variety, development, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, human, nutrition, Paterson_Owen, plant_monocot, politics, poverty, research, rice, Syngenta, Vitamin A | 1 Comment