World

Indonesia recently issued a moratorium on the conversion of peatland in order to curb carbon emissions from drained or burnt wetlands, according to a statement issued by Nirarta Samadhi, director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), Indonesia.

British scientists have developed a genetically modified potato that is resistant to blight, according to the BBC.

US potato and onion supplier and distributor, Potandon Produce, has launched a range of light-blocking potato bags.

Policy reviews published recently by the UN suggest former Soviet Union countries Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan could boost growth and create more jobs by attracting investment into their agriculture, textile and tourism sectors.

One of the U.S largest retailer, Target, will be implementing vertical farms in a new way of producing and sourcing food.

A Japanese farmer has used Google’s open-source machine learning library to build a machine that can identify and sort cucumbers automatically.

UK retailer Tesco has launched a consumer awareness campaign for milk sold in its stores.

Bayer AG has upped its takeover offer for Monsanto to about US$65 billion in a bid to overcome the US seed company’s resistance to the deal.

In 2014, Japan started exporting rare, cube-shaped watermelons produced in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture. Currently, the fruit, which is intended to be used as ornaments, sell for 10 000 yen (about R1 500) each.

The demand for lemons is growing significantly in domestic and international markets. Eben Kruger of citrus production and export company, GOGO Fruit, in Marble Hall, told Farmer’s Weekly that there was a global shortage of lemons due to increased demand.

Demand for lamb and mutton in China has increased amidst soaring pork prices, with imports in May increasing 18% to achieve a total of 27 000t.

Brazil has expressed a desire to strengthen bilateral ties with Kenya by increasing exports and imports between the two countries, according to Standard Media report.