Apr 23, 2011

Cassava News 96

Cassava research staff receive ‘royalty free’ variety
increasing nutrients in local cassava varieties will make it both accessible and affordable for communities to improve their own nutrition
SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT Peter Mutai
CASSAVA NEWS to follow Coastweek.com NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya’s cassava research has received a financial boost in support of phase II of Bio Cassava Plus (BC Plus), an innovative project that aims to reduce malnutrition by increasing the nutritional value of cassava, a staple crop consumed by millions of Kenyans. The funding 8.3 million U.S. dollars that has been advanced by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) through Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is to help develop cassava with enhanced nutrients. 
“The efforts are aimed at bettering nutrition and enable people live better productive lives,” Dr. Simon Gichuki, Kari’s Biotechnology Director and also the projects principal investigator said late Thursday.
He said that millions of Kenyans, especially children lack essential vitamins and minerals thus contributing to childhood deaths, diseases and blindness.
Gichuki said that the Bio cassava plus is aimed at enhancing cassava with carotene, iron and protein and will be available to farmers without any royalty fees.  “Under this project farmers will freely multiply, save and share their planting materials,” Gichuki noted.
Gichuki observed that millions of Kenyans eat cassava two times a day, hence forcing researchers to focus on increasing the levels of pro-vitamin A and iron in this familiar food to provide them with healthier food that will enhance their diet and improve livelihoods.
He revealed that phase I of the project that was done in the country exceeded all targets to date.   “Using the tools of modern biotechnology we were able to develop cassava plants that are 30 times as much beta-carotene, four times as much iron, and four times as much protein as traditional cassava,” he added.
These increased levels reflect what is needed to provide the minimum daily dietary requirements for a child.
According to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation President for Global Development Program Ms. Sylvia Burwell, the health of consumers will improve greatly once farmers adapt to the new technology. 
“The variety is to help make substantial improvement to people’s lives,” she observes.  “Beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A, and iron are contained in various foods today, but those foods are scarce, unavailable, or too expensive for many people in Kenya,” said Dr. Martin Fregene, the project director. 
He said that increasing nutrients in local cassava varieties will make it both accessible and affordable for communities to improve their own nutrition.
According to statistics at Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, approximately 30 percent of Kenyan pre-school children are vitamin A deficient, in addition to suffering from inadequate iron and protein. 
Effects of iron deficiency include anaemia, death for women in childbirth; and inadequate levels of protein causes stunting and wasting in children below the age of five
Cassava roots are consumed freshly boiled, or processed into a wide variety of granules, pastes and flours.
Additionally, tubers can be left in the ground for up to three years, so if drought or disease kills off other crops, farmer’s families can still fend off starvation by eating cassava.
The project will also be carried out in Nigeria, one of the countries where people consume cassava in large numbers.
Cassava a popular crop in western and coastal region of Kenya has in the past faced attacks from viruses that have reduced its production.
.
Financial boost for further cassava research
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- In northern parts of Kenya most children aged two years weigh between five-six kilograms.
This according to medical personnel is an abnormal occurrence that they attribute to lack of iron that causes deficiency in anaemia, death for women in childbirth.
This condition also leads to inadequate levels of protein that causes stunting and wasting in children below the age of five.
In Africa people often eat cassava two or three times a day, but it contains no vitamin A or iron. As a result, many people suffer from disease caused by a lack of vitamins and other important nutrients.
But this bad picture is set to change following an advancement of 8.3 million U.S. dollars research on cassava that is expected to come up with bio-Cassava, a biofortified variety of cassava that have enormous potential to help millions of people live healthy lives in Kenya and Nigeria.
Bio-Cassava is an opportunity to help people, especially in rural areas throughout Kenya. It will give people vitamins they need through a food they already grow and eat.
The funding has been advanced by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) through Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to help develop cassava with enhanced nutrients.
Known as bio-Cassava Plus (BC Plus), an innovative project that aims to reduce malnutrition by increasing the nutritional value of cassava, a staple crop consumed by millions of Kenyans, the project is set to be launched soon.  “The efforts are aimed at bettering nutrition and is a big boost to agricultural research in this country,” said Simon Gichuki, Kari’s Biotechnology Director and also the projects Principal Investigator observes.
Gichuki notes that millions children in Africa, Kenya included lack essential vitamins and minerals thus contributing to early childhood deaths, diseases and blindness.
Gichuki said that BC Plus is aimed at enhancing cassava with carotene, iron and protein and will be available to farmers without paying any royalty fees.  “The project will use a range of crop breeding techniques, including transgenic approaches,” he notes.
According to President for Global Development Programme of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Ms. Sylvia Burwell, the health of consumers will improve greatly once farmers adapt to the new technology.
To date, the foundation’s Agricultural Development initiative has contributed approximately 1.7 billion dollars to provide millions of small farmers in the developing world the tools and opportunities they need to boost their yields, increase their incomes, and build better, healthier lives.
The Project Director Martin Fregene observes that the beta- carotene, the precursor to vitamin A, and iron are contained in various foods today, but those foods are scarce, unavailable, or too expensive for many people in Kenya. 
He says that increasing nutrients in local cassava varieties will make it both accessible and affordable for communities to improve their own nutrition.
According to statistics at Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, approximately 30 percent of Kenyan pre-school children are vitamin A deficient, in addition to suffering from inadequate iron and protein. 
Effects of iron deficiency include anaemia, death for women in childbirth; and inadequate levels of protein causes stunting and wasting in children below the age of five.
Cassava roots are consumed freshly boiled, or processed into a wide variety of granules, pastes and flours.
Additionally, tubers can be left in the ground for up to three years, so if drought or disease kills off other crops, farmer’s families can still fend off starvation by eating cassava.
Cassava a popular crop in western and coastal region of Kenya has in the past faced attacks from viruses that have reduced its production.
But through interventions by Kari and development partners, the problem has since been brought under control.
Biotechnology allows for precise adjustments to be made that result in improved micronutrient levels.
The approach is a sustainable way to eliminate global health crises caused by low nutrition.
While most people in wealthy nations have easy access to a wide variety of nutritious foods, vitamin supplements, and fortified processed foods, many in poorer nations, majority of whom live in rural areas do not.
They either cannot afford or lack access to the foods they need to avoid malnutrition and its devastating impacts on health.
BC Plus is the largest coordinated research development and deployment program funded for cassava to date involving more than 25 research investigators located on five continents.
Cassava, a staple crop consumed by more than 250 million people in Africa, offers limited nutritional value, leaving both children and adults at risk of severe health problems.
Globally, vitamin A deficiency alone accounts for 670,000 childhood deaths each year and causes 350,000 cases of childhood blindness.

Cassava News 95

JP brand set to expand

AGUALTA VALE, St Mary:


CASSAVANEWS to follow Jamaica Gleaner WHEN TROPICAL Storm Gustav devastated the local banana industry in 2008, JP Tropical Foods, the island's largest banana producer, suffered a major setback, to the extent that it suspended exports of the fruit. Three years on, banana cultivation is still the mainstay of the company's operation in Agualta Vale, St Mary; but cassava, sweet potato, and pineapple are gaining ground in terms of the acreage under cultivation.

This is by design, according to Jeffrey Hall, CEO of Jamaica Producers Group Limited, an outgrowth of the lessons learnt from that disaster.

"We decided to reinvent ourselves, and the idea has been to develop very strong brands and diversify our product offering and to strengthen our connection to our community, and we are actually making good progress on all three fronts, which in commercial terms obviously means ensuring our investment in St Mary continues to have value. For us, it's important that the community in St Mary be vibrant, economically grounded," Hall told The Gleaner recently.


He said the group, so far, had three outstanding brands. "We are actually a leader in branded fresh produce because we have branded the banana, and we have taken branded position on fresh fruits, which we see as a commodity item," stated Hall. "The third brand is called JP Simply Fresh, which is adding convenience to the fresh items, and that's where the bammy products fall, and that's just the first in a range of things that we'll be doing in that category," he continued.

Chips galore

Even though banana still occupies most of the land, the presence of pineapple, cassava, and potato has literally altered the landscape of an operation which today provides chips - banana, sweet potato, and cassava - in regular and barbecue offerings, which, with the company's strong marketing thrust, have taken consumers by storm.

"The brands, we are satisfied, are becoming, step by step, entrenched in the Jamaican mindset," said Hall. "The work that you see is taking an agricultural output and making it stand for high quality, excitement, fun, good for your health. That's the brand."

Cassava News 94


Gates Backs GM
Kenya - 20 Apr 11 - John Kariuki
CASSAVANEWS to follow Slowfood . Efforts to expand the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in Asia and Africa were given a major boost last week with the announcement of a significant investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged $US18.6 million.  
The grant will fund projects aiming to develop modified varieties of rice and cassava, intending to produce greater quantities of one or more nutrients to tackle malnutrition.

Since its beginnings 30 years ago, GM technology has claimed to be able to feed the world and eradicate malnutrition. However in this time, we have only seen the number of hungry and malnourished grow, along with new problems and ramifications of a technology that we do not yet fully understand. While we can transplant a gene from one species to another for its desired characteristics, we cannot yet know how to predict or contain its results.

In Kenya and many other African countries, more and more people are turning to the traditional knowledge of communities as the key to solving problems of nutrition, and see the spread of GM crops as a new sickness of the land. Traditionally, communities have reduced their vulnerability to the effects of climate change and crop failure by relying on biodiversity in food supply. A dry season might destroy maize one year so instead we survive on cassava. With GM crops, which require large surface areas for planting and an intensive monoculture system, we don't have this safety blanket. Diversity in food choices also ensures that diets are varied enough to contain the required macro and micronutrients for good health, reducing the incidence of malnutrition.

As part of the funding, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the BioCassava Plus project in Nigeria and Kenya to manipulate an increased production of beta-carotene, iron and protein in cassava which is an important crop in many parts of the world. Several communities in Kenya depend on cassava as a staple food as it survives in adverse conditions. The introduction of BioCassava will interfere with and wipe out farmers’ extensive and tireless efforts to preserve and exchange traditional varieties of cassava that are well adapted to particular local agro-climatic conditions.

Furthermore, by influencing farmers to grow the same variety, the introduction and proliferation of GM crops also pose a problem of freedom, reducing producers’ autonomy by creating economic dependence on seed suppliers. In most cases, GM crops also require high external inputs such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which, as well as generating their own threats to human health and the environment, are often out of the financial reach of poor small-scale farmers. This creates a cycle that further impoverishes the farmers and turns them into slaves who are no longer in control of their own destiny, having to turn to the shops at every planting season.

The funding will also have a massive impact on farming autonomy and sustainability in Asia, where it will support the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute to engineer GM strains of “golden rice” to provide high levels of beta-carotene to decrease vitamin A deficiency in the local population.

To solve the problems of our times, we need to support and build on indigenous food systems, not stamp on them and wipe them out. The answers lie in the traditional agricultural knowledge that is held in the hearts, minds and hands of our small-scale farmers.


John Kariuki is vice-president of Slow Food International and currently works in his homeland of Kenya on Slow Food’s projects for biodiversity and food sovereignty.

Read Carlo Petrini’s 10 Reasons to Say No to GMOs.

CASSAVANEWS to follow Slowfood
<http://www.slowfood.com/international/food-for-thought/focus/94034/gates-backs-gm/q=D57E16?-session=query_session:42F947560a41b19601hTS1F1B0CA>
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..

Apr 20, 2011

Cassava News 93

CASSAVA NEWS to follow www.slowfood.com The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the BioCassava Plus project in Nigeria and Kenya to manipulate an increased production of beta-carotene, iron and protein in cassava which is an important crop in many parts of the world. Several communities in Kenya depend on cassava as a staple food as it survives in adverse conditions. The introduction of BioCassava will interfere with and wipe out farmers’ extensive and tireless efforts to preserve and exchange traditional varieties of cassava that are well adapted to particular local agro-climatic conditions.

CASSAVA NEWS from Trinidad & Tobago Express . In two months cassava and sweet potato fries will be served at KFC and Royal Castle, Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath said yesterday.  "We have just gotten our foot in the door with KFC and Royal Castle to actually sell cassava chips over their counter," Bharath told the media during the tea break of the Senate sitting.

Gates Backs GM

Kenya - 20 Apr 11 - John Kariuki

Efforts to expand the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in Asia and Africa were given a major boost last week with the announcement of a significant investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged $US18.6 million. The grant will fund projects aiming to develop modified varieties of rice and cassava, intending to produce greater quantities of one or more nutrients to tackle malnutrition.

Since its beginnings 30 years ago, GM technology has claimed to be able to feed the world and eradicate malnutrition. However in this time, we have only seen the number of hungry and malnourished grow, along with new problems and ramifications of a technology that we do not yet fully understand. While we can transplant a gene from one species to another for its desired characteristics, we cannot yet know how to predict or contain its results.

In Kenya and many other African countries, more and more people are turning to the traditional knowledge of communities as the key to solving problems of nutrition, and see the spread of GM crops as a new sickness of the land. Traditionally, communities have reduced their vulnerability to the effects of climate change and crop failure by relying on biodiversity in food supply. A dry season might destroy maize one year so instead we survive on cassava. With GM crops, which require large surface areas for planting and an intensive monoculture system, we don't have this safety blanket. Diversity in food choices also ensures that diets are varied enough to contain the required macro and micronutrients for good health, reducing the incidence of malnutrition.

As part of the funding, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the BioCassava Plus project in Nigeria and Kenya to manipulate an increased production of beta-carotene, iron and protein in cassava which is an important crop in many parts of the world. Several communities in Kenya depend on cassava as a staple food as it survives in adverse conditions. The introduction of BioCassava will interfere with and wipe out farmers’ extensive and tireless efforts to preserve and exchange traditional varieties of cassava that are well adapted to particular local agro-climatic conditions.

Furthermore, by influencing farmers to grow the same variety, the introduction and proliferation of GM crops also pose a problem of freedom, reducing producers’ autonomy by creating economic dependence on seed suppliers. In most cases, GM crops also require high external inputs such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which, as well as generating their own threats to human health and the environment, are often out of the financial reach of poor small-scale farmers. This creates a cycle that further impoverishes the farmers and turns them into slaves who are no longer in control of their own destiny, having to turn to the shops at every planting season.

The funding will also have a massive impact on farming autonomy and sustainability in Asia, where it will support the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute to engineer GM strains of “golden rice” to provide high levels of beta-carotene to decrease vitamin A deficiency in the local population.

To solve the problems of our times, we need to support and build on indigenous food systems, not stamp on them and wipe them out. The answers lie in the traditional agricultural knowledge that is held in the hearts, minds and hands of our small-scale farmers.


John Kariuki is vice-president of Slow Food International and currently works in his homeland of Kenya on Slow Food’s projects for biodiversity and food sovereignty.

Minister: Cassava, sweet potato fries at KFC shortly


By Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com




In two months cassava and sweet potato fries will be served at KFC and Royal Castle, Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath said yesterday. "We have just gotten our foot in the door with KFC and Royal Castle to actually sell cassava chips over their counter," Bharath told the media during the tea break of the Senate sitting.

He said the final rounds of "testing and tasting" are underway, so in two months customers will be able to taste fries made from locally grown staples. His Ministry is working to cut the $4 billion annual food import bill by half in two to three years, he said. Wheat, corn and soya bean, he noted, are the main items imported. He said although we cannot grow wheat and soy beans here, we can substitute them with other foods.
Bharath said plans are also on stream for mega farms to produce rice, tomatoes and sweet corn in Felicity, Edinburgh and Orange Grove respectively. He said ketchup is imported into this country when we can grow our own tomatoes and make our ketchup here. He said this will be a $100 million industry.
In the Tucker Valley mega farm, he added, a pilot project will be initiated to cultivate onions and carrots, which are also imported. He said the Tucker Valley farm was never under the Agriculture Ministry but under the Housing Ministry, and therefore never received the focus it needed. He added that the soil at that farm is the best to grow crops and green houses were established on fertile land.
Questioned on how the consumer would benefit from mega farm crops, Bharath said "Farm Gate" will be put in place as exists in other countries, where consumers can drive to the farm and buy directly. He said produce will also be sold directly to the wholesale market and supermarkets.
"We are looking to produce crops that don't compete with our existing farmers and put them out of business because they have been the backbones of our communities," Bharath said.
Questioned as to why were food prices so high, Bharath pointed out that there was a decrease in basic commodities such as tomatoes and cucumbers.
"The issue is that there has been no infrastructure put in place for 50 years. That's what we are putting in place now, the 300 irrigation ponds, the access roads, the praedial larceny programme," he said.
Bharath said by the next three to four months consumers will see the benefits of these initiatives.

Apr 19, 2011

Cassava News 92

GE supplies biogas engines at Chinese ethanol plant



CASSAVA NEWS to follow BioEnergy News. In a bid to encourage the use of biogas across China, Austria's GE Energy is to supply its Jenbacher biogas engine technology to power China's largest ethanol production plant, which is currently under construction in the city of Nan Yang, Henan Province.

Owned and operated by Henan Tianguan Group, the new ethanol plant will produce 500,000m3 of biogas a day, from organic material such as cassava.

A 36MW onsite power plant featuring GE's Jenbacher engines is being built in multiple phases to support the ethanol plant's operations. Both new facilities are being built adjacent to the company's existing ethanol production facility, which uses a biomass digester system to convert cassava in ethanol in China.

For the 11MW first phase of the new onsite power plant, GE is supplying four of its J620 biogas engine units. The gas engines will utilise the ethanol production facility's waste methane biogas to generate renewable electricity, which Henan Tianguan Group plans to sell to the regional grid.

GE's biogas engines will also use methane gas created by the anaerobic digestion of cassava biomass to produce renewable electricity for the site.

With an efficiency rate of 82.8% (electrical efficiency, 42.8%; thermal efficiency, 40%), the new biogas power plant will provide Henan Tianguan Group with important operational and energy savings.

Replacing fossil fuels with biogas is expected to reduce the equivalent of 1.1 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.

'Installing GE's Jenbacher biogas engines at our ethanol production facility will offer clear environmental benefits and help us achieve significant energy efficiency gains to help us generate more profits and become more competitive throughout the region,' says Zhang Xiaoyang, chairman of he Henan Tianguan Group.

GE's Jenbacher engines and associated equipment are due to be delivered to the project site starting in April 2011. After engine installation has been completed and the plant commissioned, the biogas power plant is scheduled to begin operating in July 2011.


GE supplies biogas engines at Chinese ethanol plant

BioEnergy News


Owned and operated by Henan Tianguan Group, the new ethanol plant will
produce 500000m3 of biogas a day, from organic material such as cassava. A
36MW onsite power plant featuring GE's Jenbacher engines is being built in
multiple phases to support the ...
<http://www.bioenergy-news.com/index.php?/Industry-News?item_id=3500>
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<http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.bioenergy-news.com/index.php%3F/Industry-News%3Fitem_id%3D3500&hl=en>

Biogas engines to power China's largest ethanol plant
Power-Gen Worldwide


Owned by Henan Tianguan Group, the new ethanol production plant will
produce 500 000 m3 of biogas per day, based on organic material from
cassava plants. A 36 MW on-site power plant based on Jenbacher engines is
being built in multiple phases to ...
<http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/articledisplay/3233817675/articles/powergenworldwide/distributed-generation/onsite-power/2011/04/biogas-engines_to.html>
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Cameroon: SOWEDA Offers Planting Material To Farmers
AllAfrica.com

The donated material were improved maize seed, cassava cuttings and
plantain suckers, all aimed at boosting output. The cropping season was
recently launched in the South West Region with the South West Development
Authority, SOWEDA, handing over ...
<http://allafrica.com/stories/201104181784.html>
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Fiji to increase agricultural exports
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Ltd
These are dalo, ginger, yaqona, cassava and papaya. Last year - Fiji
produced 69000 metric tonnes of dalo– out which approximately 10000
metric tonnes were exported - earning Fiji $20 million. Ginger, yaqona,
cassava and papaya exports gathered a total ...
<http://www.radiofiji.com.fj/fullstory.php?id=36143>
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PPP: FG signs MOU on trade and investment directory
Nigeria Daily Independent


The Minister said due to the revival of the cassava flour inclusion policy
by the Presidential Committee on the Review of Fiscal Incentives and
Tariffs, Government has resuscitated the stakeholders meeting for the
implementation of the 10 per cent ...
<http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=32298>
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Feature: The truth about fufu
Myjoyonline.com


Whether done with yam, cassava, cocoyam, plantain or combinations of these,
fufu provides a delicious, full meal for many Ghanaians. It also allows us
to show our zest for life. Just consider this: a sweaty encounter with an
'asanka' of fufu, ...
<http://news.myjoyonline.com/features/201104/64535.asp>
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Apr 18, 2011

Cassava News 91

Dung Quat accelerates production of bio-ethanol

CASSAVANEWS to follow VOVNews.vn,  The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) is accelerating the building of the Dung Quat bio-fuel production plant, aiming put it into operation on a trial run by October, 2011.

After 16 months of construction, 75 percent of the project has been completed. This is the biggest bio-fuel production plant in central Vietnam and it will use cassava to produce 100 million liters of bio- ethanol petrol per year. The super clean product will partly replace traditional petrol.

The first phase of the project cost more than VND 2,200 billion.

Source: http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Dung-Quat-accelerates-production-of-bioethanol/20114/125817.vov
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Farm sector reforms essential
Bangkok Post
The country is the world's largest exporter of rice, rubber, cassava,
canned tuna, shrimp and canned pineapple. It is also a major exporter of
sugar, chicken, tropical fruits and vegetables, and animal feed. Increased
farm output is the main driver of ...
<http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/232380/farm-sector-reforms-essential>
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Welch: She's beginning to look a lot like mother
Times Record News

Sunday morning at church the congregation watched a video clip of a
silver-haired lady telling about a Ugandan woman who made enough money
raising cassava to build and lease primitive wheelbarrows. She used the
wheelbarrow money to establish a canteen ...
<http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2011/apr/18/no-headline---4-18_hanaba_munn_welch/>
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Apr 17, 2011

Cassava News 90


Gates Foundation boosts efforts here to provide life-saving crops for Africa
St. Louis Beacon
By David Baugher, special to the Beacon When Martin Fregene talks to
farmers in his native Nigeria, he always tells them about the benefits of
the new variety of cassava he is working on. "They always tell me that if
what you are saying is true, ...
<http://www.stlbeacon.org/health-science/science/109659-gates-foundation-gives-grant-to-danforth-plant-science-center>
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Stella Maris Students Harvest Large Cassava
The Inquirer
8in. cassava that would make any 'dumboy' lover's mouth water. Dumboy which
is a local Liberian dish can be made with the produce being prepared in a
dough form and cooked, then eaten with any suitable soup. The coordinator
of the school's Agriculture ...
<http://theinquirer.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3953&sub=14>
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The strength of women
Fiji Times
Apart from the plants, the women also loaded their sacks of cassava and
rourou (taro leaves) in preparation for their everyday meals. "We also
packed our stoves and only have to buy our kerosene and we are all set,"
she added. ...
<http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=170870>
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Danforth Center gets $8M from Gates Foundation for cassava work
Bizjournals.com
Funds will be used to support Phase II of BioCassava Plus, a project that
aims to reduce malnutrition by increasing the nutritional value of cassava,
a staple crop consumed by more than 250 million sub-Saharan Africans and
nearly 700 million people ...
<http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2011/04/14/danforth-center-gets-8m-from-gates.html>
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GE's Biogas Engines to Power China's Largest Ethanol Production Plant
MFRTech (press release)
Owned by Henan Tianguan Group, China, the new ethanol production plant will
produce 500000 cubic meters of biogas per day, based on organic material
from cassava[1] plants. A 36-megawatt (MW) onsite power plant featuring
GE's Jenbacher engines is being ...
<http://www.mfrtech.com/articles/12877.html>
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<http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.mfrtech.com/articles/12877.html&hl=en>

Political support for agricultural development is low - Engineer
Ghana News Agency
Dr Bobobee said lately, the Department has added a tractor-operated cassava
harvesting implement which works best during the dry season and suitable
for large scale industrial cassava processing.
<http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_science/r_27823/science/political-support-for-agricultural-development-is-low-engineer>
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Danforth Plant Science Center gets $8.3 million grant from Gates Foundation
Greenfield Daily Reporter
The grant announced Thursday will be used to advance work toward increasing
the nutritional value of cassava, a staple crop consumed by a quarter of a
billion people in sub-Saharan Africa. The plant science center says those
who depend on cassava for ...
<http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/22db0aadadf84896a03ee6b0cc6239a6/MO--Plants-Grant/>
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Government to construct over boreholes
Ghana News Agency
The District Chief Executive, Mr Joseph Omari, said most of the people in
the area were farmers who produced vegetables, maize, banana and cassava on
large scale. He said the third national best farmer for last year came from
the district and the ...
<http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_social/r_27778/social/government-to-construct-over-boreholes>
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Iconic 80s Singer Arie Wibowo Dies Day Before 59th Birthday
Jakarta Globe
(Photo Source Youtube) Eighties singer Arie Wibowo — who gained fame with
hits such as 'Madu dan Racun' ('Honey and Poison') and 'Singkong dan Keju'
('Cassava and Cheese') — died from a heart attack on Thursday. He was 58.
News about his death came ...
<http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/iconic-80s-singer-arie-wibowo-dies-day-before-59th-birthday/435572>
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Food or fuel?
City Journal.in
Biofuels are made from crops like corn, sugar, palm oil and cassava root
which are harvested and then shipped to plants to be converted into fuels
like ethanol. While it's likely that biofuels will play a significant role
in powering more efficient ...
<http://www.cityjournal.in/Newspaper/20110415/Environment/Environment_1.html>
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Gates backs GM crops with $17.7m
The Australian
The founder of Microsoft will today announce a huge investment in the
development of improved varieties of rice and cassava. Through the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, he will offer grants worth pound stg. 11.4
million ($17.7m) to projects that ...
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/gates-backs-gm-crops-with-177m/story-e6frg6so-1226039354140>
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News in a nutshell

Scientist
This week's news includes an update on the situation at the Fukushima
nuclear power plant, a new understanding of antidepressant action, more
money for genetically-enhanced rice and cassava, bizarre breast cell
behavior, and a new benefit of broccoli. ...
<http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/58116/>
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Cassava - Google News