b'WORLD STATUSFrance rules that gene edited crops must be regulated the same as GMOs, while Nigeria becomes the first country in the world to commercialize GM cowpea.FRANCE alised varietyin other words, a plant with a genome FRANCES HIGHEST COURT, the Conseil dtat, has ruled thatthat allows it to capture water, sunlight and nutrients gene-edited crops must be subject to the same regulationsmore efficiently than any other.that govern genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Wheat is one of the key staple crops for global food In its decision, the court gives the French governmentsecurity, providing about 20% of total dietary calories and six months to revise its regulations on GMO plants toprotein, and Europe is a major wheat producer, contributing include mutagenesis-based crops. around 35% of global wheat production.Furthermore, gene-edited crops that have already beenIt has been predicted that global food production approved for growing will have to be identified and someneeds to increase by about 70% by 2050 to feed an esti-could potentially be banned from being grown, the courtmated 9 billion people.added in its ruling.The court also called on French authorities to examineNIGERIApotential risks related to herbicide-resistant crops devel- THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has approved commercialization oped using gene editing techniques. of a biotech cowpea variety resistant to pod borers. This development places Nigeria as the first country ever to EUROPEAN UNION commercialize genetically improved cowpea.EUROPEAN WHEAT HARVESTS could be increased by moreThe National Committee on Naming, Registration and than five tons per hectare according to newly publishedRelease of Crop Varieties approved registration and com-research into the crops untapped genetic potential. mercial release of the pod borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea. The first-of-its-kind study from Rothamsted ResearchThe approval is a culmination of more than 10 years of shows that in some European countries, the grain yieldintensive trials of genetically modified cowpea and a could be increased by up to 90% when compared to typi- breakthrough in eradicating Maruca vitrata pod borer, an cal harvests from todays commonly used varieties. insect that can cause up to 80% yield loss.Yields in the UK could be increased by half as muchAccording to the PBR cowpea projects principal again. investigator Mohammad Ishayaku, SAMPEA 20-T is high The authors say, if achieved, such improvementsyielding, early maturing and also resistant to Striga and would go a long way to feeding the growing world popu- Alectra, two notorious parasitic weeds that are a major lation and would reduce pressure to convert wild habi- constraint to cowpea production in most producing areas tats to farmland. Using existing data on the contributionin Nigeria and other dry savannah regions. of different genes to individual plant traits such as size,The protein and nutrient content of variety SAMPEA shape, metabolism and growth, the researchers ran simu- 20-T is the same as that of other conventional varieties lations to create perfect wheat plants that were tailoredmeaning that the Bt gene that was introduced into the to each region. variety has no negative influence on the nutritional com-When compared to the performance of locally adaptedposition of both grain and fodder, says Ishiyaku.cultivars, in all cases they found wheat varieties were underperforming for grain yield, with an obvious geneticPHILIPPINESyield gap between reality and possibility. THE PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT of Agriculture-Bureau of The scientists behind the study define a crops geneticPlant Industry (DA-BPI) has issued a biosafety permit yield potential as the highest yield achievable by an ide- to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and 60GERMINATION.CAMARCH 2020'