Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Cotton merchants in Zimbabwe said Wednesday the countr y had earned more than US$100 million from exports of the commodity since April, when this year's marketing season ope ned. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- FAO and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday said the number of hungry people in the world remained unacceptably hig h , despite expected recent gains that had pushed the figure below one billion. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- A new report by ActionAid on Tuesday revealed that hunger could be costing poor nations US$ 450 billion yearly - more than 10 times the amount needed to halve hunger by 2015 and meet the Millennium Development Goal 1. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guin ea has appealed for Ghana's help in agriculture, particularly in large scale cocoa production. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Recycling urban wastewater and using it to grow food cro ps can help mitigate water scarcity problems and reduce water pollution, but the practice is not being as widely implemented as it should, new FAO report said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Ethiopia's Director General of the Environmental Protect ion Authority, Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, is among the 15 world-class exper t s named to serve in the Food and Agric Organisation (FAO) food security committe e . Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will hold a special meeting later this month to examine the recent rise in wheat prices and help avoid any repeat of the recent global food crisis. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The time is now right to invest in Africa's agriculture, e specially on small holder farmers, former UN Secretary General, Mr. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- African leaders are meeting in Accra, the Ghanaian capital , to renew commitment to develop the continent's agricultural sector in order to ensure food sufficiency to save millions who go hungry every day. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian Fisheries Minister Joseph Von-Mally, Th ursday launched a national action plan for the prevention of unregulated fishing at the Albion Fisheries Research Centre, near the capital, Port-Louis, PANA repo r ted from here. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Standard Bank Group is to support farmers in four African countries with US$100 million over the next three years, Mr Clive Tasker, Chief E xecutive Officer of Standard Bank for Africa, announced in Accra on Wednesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Ghanaian government have signed an agreement under which the UN agency w ill establish a permanent office in Ghana. Full text...

Nairobi - Kenya (PANA) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Wednesday called for more international funds to save the upcoming wheat plantin g season in Pakistan, where floods covering land half the size of Italy have wip e d out much of the country's household wheat seed stocks. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Surging wheat prices drove international food prices up by 5 per cent last month in the biggest month-on-month increase since November, 2 009, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced, Wednesday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The president of the African Cotton Association (ACA), M r. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Libyan farmers cultivated cereals and fodder plants duri ng the 2009-2010 planting season on a land area of 11,250 hectares, said the Lib y an General People's Committee for Agriculture, Animal and Marine Resources. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- President John Atta Mills of Ghana is set to play host t o other African Heads of state, former presidents, development partners, agricul t ure experts, farmers and international donor agencies when the maiden African Gr e en Revolution Forum (AGRF) takes place from 2 to 4 September, according to a sta t ement from the New Partnership For Africaâ?s Development (NEPAD), made available to PANA here. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development, Kanayo Nwanze, has stressed the need for the right policies, access to markets, infrastructure and affordable technologies to ensure food security in Africa. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The European Union Food Facility (EUFF) is channeling 4. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The fertile lowlands that cover one-fifth of Liberia are part of a European Union and FAO-supported plan to cut the nation's dependence on rice imports and improve the livelihood of vulnerable farmer families. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has joined a global anti-hunger campaign organized by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), signing his name to FAO's ''1bil lionhungry'' international petition and blowing the campaign's yellow ''whistle against hunger''. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The number of people requiring humanitarian assistance in Somalia has dropped by 25 percent to two million in the last six months, easing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to a UN study published Monday. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- France has granted Mauritania 500,000 euros (abo ut US$ 643,400) through the World Food Programme (WPF) to contribute to the figh t against malnutrition in the African country, PANA learnt in Nouakchott Thursday . Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The study committee of the Economic Community of West Af rican States (ECOWAS) on livestock farming has pleaded for the improvement of th e sector's performances during the session held in the Beninese capital, Cotonou. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Demba Jallow, the Director General of Gambia Livestock M arketing Agency, on Friday said the acute meat shortage that hit the tiny West A f rican nation was coming to an end with the combined efforts of his agency and cr e dit facilities from a private bank, PANA reported from here. Full text...

Nairobi- kenya (PANA) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FA O) has launched a new online portal on fire information and real time monitoring to help countries to control fire effectively and protect property and natural r e sources. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Madagascar is at the risk of a significant plague of cro p-eating locusts, FAO warned Thursday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- By the end of a five-year â?Growth and Transform ation Planâ? (GTP)", Ethiopia will end its dependence on foreign food, Prime Min ster, Meles Zenawi, disclosed here Wednesday. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- African heads of state, industry representatives, the in ternational donor community and farmers will meet in Accra, Ghana, at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2-4 September to create an a ction plan on the acceleration of a Green Revolution in Africa. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said an estimated 1. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday it had begun a major round of feeding in Niger for 670,000 young children and their families as part of an emergency operation to reach as many as 8 million food-insecure people in the drought-stricken West African country. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Food security in Zimbabwe improved significantly following government efforts and international assistance, but the country still needs agricultural and food assistance next year for some 1. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe said Friday it was lifting a ban it had impos ed on beef, poultry and other meat products from Botswana and South Africa, after the outbreak of livestock diseases in the two countries earl ier this year. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The impact of unfavourable weather on crops in recent we eks has led the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to cut its global wheat p roduction forecast for 2010 to 651 million tonnes, from 676 million tonnes repor t ed in June. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The United States African Development Foundatio n (USADF) on Wednesday announced its intention to provide funding for a five-yea r food security and economic development programme to aid the arid Turkana region of northern Kenya, which has both high unemployment and food insecurity but few s ustainable job opportunities. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- More than 250,000 people have signed an FAO petition on the 1billionhungry. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- Three female Rwandan researchers have been granted schol arships by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), for their wor k in the agricultural sector in favour of rural populations struck by poverty, PANA learn t Monday from official sources in Kigali. Full text...

Kuito- Angola (PANA) -- About US$ 10 million was spent in the past three years by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), on the food securit y programme in the country's 18 provinces. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Intensive Rice Growing System (SRI), implemented in Mali i n 2009, will be the focal point at a regional workshop 10-13 August in the Malia n capital, Bamako, official sources disclosed to PANA here Monday. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- African porcine plague (PPA) - a swine fever caused by a vir us - has been spreading in the northern part of Togo, the ministry of livestock farming said. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- In a report released to the press in Brussels, the Belgian capital, the European Union Commission said it had made available 15 million Euros to Zimbabwe "to support the re-establishment of essential health and water supply services and to provide short-term food assistance and a wide range of livelihood support in Zimbabwe". Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Authorities in Zimbabwe Tuesday revised the country's tobacco output this year to 114 million kilogrammes, up from 77 million kilogrammes earlier forecast. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Using the energy crop, jatropha, for biodiesel productio n could benefit poor farmers, particularly in the semi-arid and remote areas of d eveloping countries, according to a report published by the FAO and the Internat i onal Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Thursday But the report stresses that jatropha is still essentially a wild plant needing crop improvement. Full text...

Kuito- Angola (PANA) -- About three million euros will be donated in four years ( 2010-2014) by the Spanish Red Cross (CVE) for food security and nutritional prog r ammes being implemented in the districts of Cunhinga, Camacupa and Kuito, Biأ© p r ovinces of Angola, PANA reported from here Wednesday, quoting the African countr y 's news agency, ANGOP. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Despite the various challenges confronting th e agricultural sector in Africa, most countries in the continent have recorded a five per cent agriculture growth rate in the last 10 years, according to the Exe c utive Secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Monty J o nes. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Urgent action is needed to stop the rapid and alarming loss of genetic diversity of African livestock that provide food and in come to 70 per cent of rural Africans, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at a gathering of African scientists and development experts here. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Mali and FAO have signed an agreement to the tune of about CFAF 182 million for emergency assistance for the reintegration of people affected by the crisis in the agro-pastoral region of Kidal in the far northern Mali, PANA learnt here Friday from the country's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is providing the largest and most comprehensive statistical database on food, agriculture an d hunger, the UN agency announced Sunday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Three African countries, Malawi, Zambia and Uganda are t o benefit from a two-year European Union food facility programme being implement e d by the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), a c cording to the latest edition of ACTESA newsletter, made available to PANA here. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) â" Senegalese--born Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr. Full text...