State complicit in wheat corruption

With this method, two different parent varieties are cross-bred, and their offspring are selected through several cycles of self-pollination, or inbreeding, to get the desired result.

The end product has the ability to reproduce itself through self-pollination, because the rice plant flowers contain both the male and female organs.

With hybrid varieties, the parent plants are crossed separately with new varieties, and the offspring from those crosses are united to produce a first-generation hybrid seed, which performs better than both parents. The process is repeated each time.

Currently, the average yield of inbred rice varieties in sub-Saharan Africa is 2.3 tons per hectare.

But in trials, some of the new hybrids had produced between 7 and 10 tons per hectare, Sanni said, more than the breeders had hoped for. “I think this is a tremendous breakthrough,” he added. – Reuters A PARLIAMENTARY factfinding commission’s report into corruption in Egypt’s wheat industry has found that the government played a key role in “wasting public funds” in its costly food subsidy programme. The report, which was due to be presented in parliament yesterday, states that government entities have neglected their own storage facilities in favour of less regulated private sites, made contracts with “fake entities” and overseen flawed reforms that have caused subsidy spending to increase rather than decrease as publicly stated. From silo contracts to budgetary analysis to testimony from industry officials, the more than 500-page report into wheat corruption points to government involvement in mismanaging, and at times facilitating graft in, subsidies intended to encourage agriculture. – Reuters