Developments

Training farmers and providing advice on best practice is the approach being used by researchers from Yangling University to reduce the use of fertilisers in China's Shaanxi province.

A new initiative in animal health, GALVmed, has recently launched three projects on Rift Valley fever, East Coast fever and Newcastle disease, which will bring together public and private institutions to provide affordable and accessible veterinary products to poor livestock keepers in Africa.

Aeroponics, using only air, water and nutrients, is proving to be a low cost and highly effective method for producing disease-free seed potatoes in Peru. The method avoids use of harmful chemicals by ensuring that tubers are cultivated in isolation to prevent the spread of disease.

The majority of Argentinean leather - by-product of an extensive cattle industry - is exported as tanned hides. However, there are moves to stake a claim on the international market by manufacturing high quality finished products for export.

Despite increasing demand for organic cocoa, very few Ghanaian farmers are certified and able to earn a premium for their beans grown without chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Enabling more cocoa farmers to achieve organic certification is the main aim of the recently established Cocoa Organic Farmers Association.