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Agribusiness / Food in Middle East

  • How fair is our food? Big companies take reins on sourcing schemes

    WORLD, 2017/09/06 From cocoa to tea, food and drink giants are setting their own standards for ethical sourcing of raw materials, moving away from third-party labels such as Fairtrade. Mondelez International (MDLZ.O), owner of chocolate brands Cadbury and Toblerone, Unilever (ULVR.L), behind tea brands such as Lipton and PG Tips, and Barry Callebaut, the world’s biggest producer of chocolate and cocoa products, have all introduced their own schemes. They say their targets are additional comprehensive and some claim their schemes are additional effective in tracking whether a product is ethically sourced each step of the way. With companies under financial pressure, analysts say it has as well been a way to save money.

  • Evogene reports progress in corn agreement with Monsanto

    ISRAEL, 2017/07/14 Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq: EVGN; TASE:EVGN) today announced success in its plant model trial for strains it has discovered that improve the resistance of corn to fusarium disease. Like medical trials, plant trials have three phases: a plant model trial (plants that are relatively easy to grow in a laboratory, and which have a short lifespan), trials of the target plant (corn, soy), and large-scale field trials of the target plant. It can presently be said that Evogene has passed the Phase I trial.

  • Africa And Middle East Famines: How China Can Do More

    CHINA, 2017/07/09 The unprecedented outbreak of famine early this year in Africa and the Middle East can be traced to conflict as the root cause. Can China step in to help mitigate the calamity through its Belt and Road initiative? Famine broke out in South Sudan in March 2017. At around the same time, the United Nations announced that Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen were as well on the verge of being hit by long draught, putting around 20 million at risk of starvation. The UN described this as an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and appealed to the international community to donate US$4.4 billion — with little success.

  • Despite Anti-Israel Stances, European, Asian Countries Clamour to Buy Israeli Wines

    ISRAEL, 2016/02/13 As the Israeli wine industry continues to expand, additional international markets are opening up to the variety of wines that Israel’s winemakers have to offer. The 2016 Sommelier Wine Exhibition, organized by the Israel Export Institute (IEI) featured 80 different Israeli wineries that displayed their goods in Tel Aviv’s Culture Palace on Wednesday, January 27. The exhibition drew representatives from around the world who attended the event, with several signing contracts with Israeli wineries.

  • Agriculture Ministry calls to further restrict trawl fishing

    ISRAEL, 2016/02/09 Things turned fishy at the Knesset on Monday at the same time as the Agriculture Ministry called for increased regulations on net fishing, and one MK accused the ministry of trying to eliminate the practice, known as trawling, all. The Knesset Finance Committee met at the request of the ministry, which wants changes made to regulations in an effort to prevent depletion of fish stocks. One proposed change would require that trawling take place farther from the shore, 40 meters instead of the current 15 meters. The ministry as well called for the size of industrial fishing nets to be reduced and for fishing to be prohibited during mating seasons.

  • Investors Need to Get Real About Climate Change

    WORLD, 2015/12/11 Try sleeping next a one-hour conversation with Kanayo Nwanze. The president of the UN’s International Fund for Agriculture Development is a perfectly affable guy, but his take on how climate change will lead to a fast-increasing number of violent uprisings and refugee crises that will dwarf Syria’s always leaves me decidedly unsettled. “It’s clear if we don’t recognize the signs before, if we don’t make those crucial links, again poverty, migration, hunger and conflict will continue to make headlines,” Nwanze said in Paris over the weekend. With major climate-change talks unfolding in Paris, he’s calling for “policies and investments that can pre-empt next crises.”

  • Students display their spirulina project at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium

    ISRAEL, 2015/07/27

  • Israeli experts develop grapes that grow all year round

    ISRAEL, 2015/04/06 Researchers successfully grow existing variety of seedless grape during winter months, while other scientists develop method to limit height of towering date palms. Grapes in the winter? Apparently so. Using appropriate pruning techniques and plastic sheeting to cover the vineyards, Israeli agriculturalists have come up with a way to "convince" grapes to ripen in the cold season too. According to the Agriculture Ministry, researchers in the south of Israel have successfully grown an existing variety of seedless grape, Early Sweet, during the winter months. Currently, Early Sweet grapes are marketed in the summer, but Agriculture Ministry officials presently say that the new method will allow farmers to grow and sell the particular variety from January through to April too.

  • Azerbaijan develops concept for industrial sturgeon breeding

    AZERBAIJAN, 2015/01/21 The Zoology Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences jointly with the Scientific Research Institute of Fisheries of the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry developed a concept for industrial breeding of sturgeon by innovative method. The initial concept of this kind in Azerbaijan was developed based on the research conducted in 2013-2014, said Ilham Alekperov, Chief of the Zoology Institute.

  • Israeli Greengrocers' Market Share Increases

    ISRAEL, 2015/01/11 According to an analysis conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, the chain stores' share of this market has declined for the first time in about twenty years and a corresponding increase in the greengrocers' market share was indicated. In the recent past, an increase in the chain stores' share of the market for fruit and vegetables was evident year after year, at the expense of the market share held by the greengrocery stores. An analysis conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (based on the data available from the 2013 Israeli Household Expenditure Survey of the Central Bureau of Statistics) has shown that this increase in the chain stores' share of the market for the sale of fruit and vegetables came to a halt in 2013, and compared to the previous year even declined to some extent.
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