La Palma, Canary Islands

The Phytochemical Society of Europe will be holding its 8th Meeting on Biopesticides in La Palma, Canary Islands.

More than 230 people including politicians, scientists and farmers attended the Paris policy seminar sponsored by the French presidency of the European Union with scientific backing from ENDURE. Over two days, delegates explored the topic of ‘Sustainable Agriculture and Pesticides: What is at stake and what are the options?’ through a mixture of plenary sessions and workshops.

The latest issue of the journal Fruits, published by EDP Sciences and CIRAD.

Farmers in eastern and southern Africa (ESA) were growing pigeonpea that gave low yields, took very long to mature, were susceptible to wilt and often suffered from terminal drought stress. But this situation was reversed when scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) adapted pigeonpea in ESA, screened for resistance to wilt and incorporated bold white grain preferred by farmers and markets in the medium- and long-duration varieties.

A new report by the Agropolis International Association, of which CIRAD is a member.

Farmers in eastern and southern Africa (ESA) were growing pigeonpea that gave low yields, took very long to mature, were susceptible to wilt and often suffered from terminal drought stress. But this situation was reversed when scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) adapted pigeonpea in ESA, screened for resistance to wilt and incorporated bold white grain preferred by farmers and markets in the medium- and long-duration varieties.

Peterborough, UK

The Association of Applied Biologists will be holding a one-day conference on Residue Reduction Through Biocontrol at Holmewood Hall, Peterborough, UK.

Granada, Spain

The International Organisation for Biological Control of Noxious Animals and Plants, West Paleartic Regional Section (IOBC/WPRS), will be holding the fifth meeting of its working group examining Induced Resistance in Plants Against Insects and Diseases in Granada, Spain.

The EVAD project (evaluation of the sustainability of aquacultural systems) is holding its final seminar on 24 and 25 November 2008, at CIRAD in Montpellier. EVAD is a stakeholder in the federative programme on agriculture and sustainable development funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche, and associates CIRAD, IFREMER, INRA, IRD and the University of Montpellier I.

MOEF recommends a minimum flow of a little less that one cumec, while the Bhagirathi requires 13 cumecs of flow throughout the year to maintain its Class A status. The International Water Management Institute defines a Class A river as one whose water needs little treatment for drinking.

New study, just hogwash?
Environmentalists have criticized the pilot study on grounds that MOEF will only be repeating what the earlier committee has undertaken.