Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Thousands of people in Somaliland are getting more fresh meat in their diet due to an innovative World Food Programme (WFP) initiative that provides parents with vouchers to help them afford nutritious food from local traders, a WFP statement made available to PANA here Wednesday said. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A new report by the UN has called for new approaches to empower local communities to ensure food security in Africa. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Top government officials from the Near East and North Africa will meet at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy, 14-18 May Regional Conference for the Near East. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - In a landmark decision, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) ON Friday endorsed a set of far-reaching global guidelines aimed at helping governments safeguard the rights of people to own or access land, forests and fisheries. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A special session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will convene in Rome, Italy, Friday to consider endorsing a set of voluntary global guidelines on responsible governance of land tenure and access rights to land, fisheries and forest resources. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, south west Nigeria, and the Kenyan-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), have agreed to collaborate in tackling the challenge of hunger in the continent, according to a statement from IITA made available to PANA in Lagos on Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), António Guterres, were due in Niamey, capital of the drought-hit Niger, Friday for a four-day visit, the two UN agencies said in a joint press statement, obtained by PANA here. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Participants at the ongoing 8th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s Partnership Platform Meeting (CAADP PP) in Nairobi have identified some key challenges that may impede the full implementation of the CAADP agenda. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - More African countries have increased their investments in agriculture to 10 per cent of their national budgets in line with the promise made during the African Union Summit in Maputo in 2003, according to Estherine Fotabong, Director of Programme Implementation and Coordination of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The 8th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s Partnership Platform Meeting (CAADP PP) opened in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday with a call on African countries to step up their commitment to improving food production and nutrition as well as creating wealth for the smallholders farmers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Kenya is set to host the 8th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) meeting in the capital city of Nairobi 3-4 May, under the theme, “Accelerating CAADP implementation for results and impact,” the organisers said in a statement made available to PANA here. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – Congolese president Denis Sassou N’Guesso on Thursday opened the 27th regional conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)in Brazzaville with a call for solidarity with Sahelo-Sahelian countries facing political, security, food and climate crisis. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Oil producing nations in Africa have been called upon to provide assistance for the countries in the continent's Sahel region, which has been hit by drought and food crisis. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - West African agriculture stakeholders have intensified measures to improve the seasonal movement of livestock (transhumance) in order to boost the economies of ECOWAS Member States. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) -The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given US$7 million to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the implementation of the second phase of the Commercial Products (COMPRO-II) project to be launched on 16-17 May in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, according to a statement from IITA made available to PANA on Sunday. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – African Civil Society officials began two days of consultation to take a common position during the 27th regional conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Africa, scheduled for 23-27 April in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – The 27th regional conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Africa will be held from 23-27 April in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, the Congolese minister of Agriculture and Livestock Farming, Rigobert Maboundou, said on Friday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The misuse of pesticides, some of them banned, in northern Ghana is affecting the health of farmers, sometimes with fatal consequences, and contaminating crops, a new survey revealed Thursday. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Niger will mobilize FCFA 1,000,800,000,000, during the period 2011-2015, to fund the initiative -- "3N" or "Nigeriens Nourish Nigeriens" -- which was adopted after a cabinet meeting held here Thursday, according to an official source. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is seeking an urgent global action to address a ''cascading crisis'' sweeping the Sahel region of West Africa, where 15 million people have been affected by the drought and conflict-related crisis in the area. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Mr. Kofi Annan, Friday announced the appointment of a renowned African business leader from Kenya, Ms Jane Karuku, as the new president of the organization. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the need to curb the volatility of global food prices through the strengthening of oversight and analysis of international commodities futures markets, to discourage the speculation that leads to price fluctuations. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The 35 South African farmers working for the Congo Agriculture company established in Malolo, in the southern district of Niari, have planted corn over 1,200 hectares of land, the Congolese Ministry of Agriculture said Wednesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Senior UN officials have appealed to the international community to make more resources available to assist millions of people affected by the severe food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa, warning that global inaction could lead to a humanitarian disaster. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - World food prices in March remained virtually unchanged from their February levels, according to the latest Food Price Index, published here Thursday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A meeting of stakeholders in the veterinary services of ECOWAS Member States is underway in Accra, Ghana, to fashion out a coordinated surveillance and laboratory-based mechanism for the prevention and control of trans-boundary animal diseases as part of efforts to improve the quality of livestock in the region. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze and the Burundian minister of external relations and international cooperation, Laurent Kavakure, on Thursday signed an agreement in Bujumbura for an Office of the organization to be set up in the country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Director of Operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) John Ging said the food and nutrition crisis facing countries in West Africa’s drought-prone Sahel region had continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate, despite commendable early response by governments and international aid agencies. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) made available a total of US$298.5 million since 1980 for nine rural development projects and programmes in Burundi, an IFAD press statement, obtained by PANA Tuesday in Bujumbura, indicated. Full text...

Libreville, Gabon (PANA) - The Gabonese government on Monday announced it had allocated FCFA 13.2 billion in aid to farmers so they can better utilize the country’s agricultural potential, local newspaper Daily Union reported. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – The 27th conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Africa will be held in Brazzaville, Congo, from 23 to 27 April, the Congolese minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Rigobert Maboundou, said on Friday. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Angola is to provide Cape Verde with 7.500 hectares of land for farming, within the framework of their bilateral relations, the state-run Angolan Press Agency (ANGOP) reported Friday. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Urgent action is required to control a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and prevent its spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, which could have serious implications for food security in the region, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Friday granted Côte d’Ivoire US$22.5 million to help the country improve its food security and revenues of small peasants, young men and rural women, according to a statement from the Rome-based organization. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the potentials of small farmers and food producers - majority of whom are women - should be unleashed worldwide to guarantee food security for all. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - An official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday called for a reliable information system for a strong and modern agriculture for the region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The four-nation ad-hoc committee on the tariff for the importation of sugar into the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region has called on the ECOWAS Commission to include sugar on the product priority list for the implementation of common regional external tariff under the ECOWAS Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP). Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The FAO has predicted that 2012 world wheat production will be the second highest on record at 690 million tonnes and announced that international food prices rose one percent in February - the second increase in two months. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Several countries in the Sahel region of West Africa need urgent support to prevent full-blown food and nutrition security crisis and to protect and restore livelihoods of communities dependent on livestock and crops, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Some 13 million people are at severe risk from a food crisis, which is set to escalate into a full-scale humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa if urgent action is not taken, international charity Oxfam has warned. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Declaring "a severe crop failure and soaring food prices", the Gambian government has said that this year's farming season is a failed project, PANA reports from here Thursday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Thursday forecast that 2012 world wheat production will be the second highest on record, at 690 million tonnes. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian government has concluded arrangements to increase cocoa production from the current 250,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes by 2018, according to Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adeshina. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved US$63.24 million for the implementation of a five-year project called “Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa” (SARD-SC), according to a statement from the executing agency of the project, the Ibadan-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), made available to PANA on Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday released guidance documents and policy making tools that governments can use to help rural communities benefit from bioenergy development and ensure that biofuel crop production does not come at the expense of food security. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Activists from the international environmental organisation, Greenpeace, on Friday protested against European overfishing in Mauritanian waters. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition, David Nabarro, has stressed the need for governments to prioritize food security strategies and invest in their agricultural sectors to reduce poverty, saying supporting small farmers is particularly important to prevent food crises. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – There is no doubt that Africa is on the move and that the continent is rightly being viewed as a place of opportunity after decades of stagnation, East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Richard Sezibera has told an international business gathering in Milan, Italy. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Tuesday said a new initiative aimed at improving food security in Sudan would provide the country’s smallholder farmers with improved seeds and soil to fight the threat of drought. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), that has significantly measured women’s empowerment in developing countries, was launched Tuesday in Washington D.C., the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said in a statement made available to PANA here. Full text...