Farmers laud IITA’s “Seeds of Renaissance” initiative.

Farmers laud IITA’s “Seeds of Renaissance” initiative. Borno State Farmers have lauded the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) “Seeds of Renaissance” initiative – which was formulated to assuage the protracted food crisis in Northern Nigeria. Farmers across state had come forward to give evidence that they were recording high yields with the new seeds distributed by the institute in 2017.Farmers laud IITA’s “Seeds of Renaissance” initiative.

FOOD SECURITY;INFO -GRAPHICS.

Where do you fit?

Burbank and biotechnology.

Sir Burbank is famous for his numerous new plant varieties he produced by crossing different strains and specie. He is publicly acclaimed for his spineless cacti varieties. The work of Burbank is based mostly on Darwin's theory that in every plant/animal there are variations.He reasoned that genes are selected randomly during breeding,but that in the DNA of plants/animals there are many variations and combination. Burbank worked on various species and produced numerous new species that were bigger, juicy and very colorful.The work on genes,species is now more advanced now with BIOTECHNOLOGY.. The various techniques applied in biotechnology makes selection of desirable traits very easy and the recombination into another specie to produce a new variant.The use of biotechnology is indeed the key to food security.The production of new variant of plants/animals that are resistant to diseases,pest and harsh environment resulting in better variants.This new variants grows rapidly,are bigger and more juicy.These new variants mature fast thus shortening harvest time and are usually large in size commanding high market value.This indeed is a world of possibilities,creating new strains and breeds to feed the ever increasing population. Biotechnology is vital to food security and sustainability.

BIOTECHNOLOGY USES IN AGRICULTURE.

Biotechnology making better crops and livestock by careful selection of traits to increase yield,produce disease and pest resistance and drought resistance products. This entails a collection of specific technique to improve plant and animals. Genetic modification/genetic improvement/genetic engineering; refers to the process where there is transfer of useful characteristics into plants and animals. This process allows transfer of specific traits to plants or animals to produce improved and better versions.Crops improved with genetic modification aid farmers to increase productivity by reducing crop damage from weeds,diseases and insects. Molecular markers; the use in agriculture involves the use of DNA of a plant/animal that posses desirable trait,even when not visible.This has resulted in breeding that are more specific and ensure better products. This process has been used by the international institute of tropical agriculture to produce cow pea resistant to bruchid, disease resistant white yam and cassava resistant to cassava mosaic disease. Molecular markers is useful to identify undesirable genes that can be eliminated in future generation. Molecular diagnosis are methods to detect genes/gene products that are very precise and specific.Molecular diagnosis are used in agriculture to accurately diagnose crops and livestock diseases.The application in agriculture is vaccine production,these vaccines are cheaper,better and safer.They are stable at room temperature,hence refrigeration is not necessary making it very acceptable in remote villages. In the Philippines, biotechnology has been used to develop an improved vaccine to protect cattle and water buffalo against hemorrhagic septicemia. Tissue culture; this is the regeneration of plants in laboratory from disease-free plant part.This technique allows for the reproduction of disease free planting material for crops.This method has been used to produce improved crops such as pineapples,bananas,pawpaws and avocados. This tissue culture has also been used in food production especially cheese making,,also in animal husbandry where a sheep(dolly) was produced from mammary cells. The potential of biotechnology is explosive and can solve food scarcity issues and environmental pollution and food poisoning from use of pesticides.The process of biotechnology have produced crops that have been engineered to produce their own Bt protein(bacillus thuringiensis) a soil bacterium that contains a protein that is toxic to a wide range of insects but not harmful to animals and humans.