New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for efficient, well-managed and sustainable food systems to end hunger and malnutrition as well as protect the environment. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – As the world commemorates the World Food Day which this year is focusing on Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition, the United Nation’s top climate change official, Christiana Figueres, has warned that efforts to end world hunger must be aligned with tackling climate change. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Some four million people in rural Madagascar are food insecure after rice and maize production took a bad hit this year due to weather conditions and a locust invasion, according to UN agencies. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Governments must put people’s right to food before short term commercial interests, said international agency Oxfam ahead of the 40th annual meeting of the Committee on Food Security (CFS), to be held in Rome, Italy, 7-11 Oct. 2013. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The head of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), Mr. Martin Bwalya, has said 10 years after the Maputo declaration that gave birth to the agriculture framework, the sector has now been put in the front burner of development. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN, the Government of Malawi and other international partners have launched a relief operation for about 1.5 million people in need of food assistance in Malawi due to weather and high food prices. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A report by three UN agencies released on Tuesday says although the number of hungry people worldwide has decreased, millions are still undernourished. Full text...

Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria (PANA) - An International workshop on Animal Care and Use in Research, Education and Testing (ACURET) has opened at the privately-owned Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, South West Nigeria, with a call on scientists to uphold ethical standard when experimenting with animals. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday in Abuja said that Nigeria would welcome the deployment of China’s renowned agricultural expertise in support of efforts to positively transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector, a presidency press statement indicated here. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – A UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report, launched on Wednesday, said the waste of some 1.3 billion tons of food each year is causing economic losses of US$ 750 billion and significant damage to the environment. Full text...

Maputo, Mozambique (PANA) - A Green Revolution cannot materialise in Africa without a major concerted effort to secure financing for agricultural production, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) has warned. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Botswana will host the Southern Africa Regional Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Nutrition Capacity Development Workshop 9-11 Sept. in the capital city of Gaborone, the organisers announced Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A research scientist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr. Charity Mutegi, has won the 2013 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, the research institute said Friday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Global food prices dropped for the fourth month in a row in August, reaching its lowest level since June 2012, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian government has approved a grant of 15 billion Naira (about US$94 million) to the country’s Bank of Agriculture (BOA) which will in turn grant loans to farmers at a single-digit interest rate for the 2013 farming season, Vice President Namadi Sambo, announced here Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Southern African country of Lesotho has become the 34th country in Africa to sign the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact, at a ceremony witnessed by the country’s Prime Minister, Dr. Motsoahae Thabane, in the capital city of Maseru. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Pan African firm, African Exchange Holdings Company (AFEX), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government to create a pioneering warehouse receipt system that will enable farmers and cooperatives to safely store their produce at accredited warehouses. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - About 11 million people in the Sahel region of Africa still do not have enough food to meet their basic needs, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on Wednesday. Full text...

Maputo, Mozambique (PANA) - The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) opens Wednesday in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, bringing together over 150 leading figures and experts, including African heads of state, ministers, farmers, business leaders, NGO representatives and scientists. Full text...

Maputo, Mozambique (PANA) - The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Wednesday launched its inaugural report on the state of African agriculture, according to the Alliance which is working to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa through the promotion of rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday said that an estimated 2.2 million people in Zimbabwe are expected to need food assistance by early next year before the harvest period in March. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria will stop the importation of rice next year to enhance local production, the local Guardian newspaper reported Friday, quoting a Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Adebisi Buhari. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – Participants in a UN-backed conference said strengthening Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday said it needed US$84 million to extend its assistance to more than 2.8 million people in need in South Sudan. Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – About 20 coordinators and representatives of gender programmes in West Africa are discussing the best practices for the effective consideration of women in agricultural activities at a workshop in Lomé. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria (MYCOTOXSON) has called on the Nigerian government to provide facilities for mycotoxin research within the country, PANA reported Saturday, quoting from a communiqué released at the end of its conference and workshop in Ado-Ekiti, south west Nigeria. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Executive Director of the Accra-based Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, has called for greater collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, south west Nigeria, on the development of agriculture on the continent. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A manufacturing plant for the production of aflasafe is currently undergoing a test run at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, capital of Nigeria's South West Oyo State. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – UNICEF on Monday said it was scaling up support, including nutrition education and infant feeding activities in Namibia, which is currently facing its worst drought in three decades. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday that global food prices declined for the third consecutive month, largely driven by lower international prices for grains, soy and palm oil, while sugar, meat and dairy prices were also down. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Thousands of farmers in Nigeria's South-west Ondo State will benefit from some agricultural projects, currently being supported by the US government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Nigeria. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A new initiative aimed at enhancing cooperation among East African countries in the area of food and nutrition security has come on stream, according to a statement from Economic Commission For Africa (ECA) made available to PANA in Lagos on Saturday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Ten years since the African Union (AU) leaders adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), Sudan has officially added its signature to the compact, becoming the 32nd country to do so. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Monday ended a three-day visit to Rwanda during which she visited projects supported by the UN Agency to improve food security in the African country, including a food-for-work exchange programme that benefits some 3,000 formerly destitute peasants. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW), hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, rounded off in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Nigerian journalist Oluyinka Alawode has won the first Africa-wide media competition, held by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Tens of thousands of people living in West Africa’s Volta Basin could be displaced in 15 years because they would not be able to grow enough food where they live, scientists have warned. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Strong and dynamic partnerships will be key in addressing the challenges of poverty and food security in Africa, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, the CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, said Friday at the ongoing Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) in Accra, Ghana. Full text...

Ziguinchor, Senegal (PANA) – About 50% of all the agricultural products from Casamance, in Southern Senegal, are left to rot away because farmers are unable to move them to the markets following the lack of transportation facilities in the rural areas. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian government has announced the release of 10 billion Naira (US$61 million) to enhance Cassava bread production, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Farmers across the cassava planting belt in Nigeria, particularly those in rural households, have started receiving pro-vitamin A cassava varieties, as part of efforts to fight vitamin A deficiency. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The time is ripe for a new approach to the large-scale land deals that ultimately connect millions of consumers and savers in rich nations with millions of poor rural farmers in Africa, says a new book by one of the world’s leading experts in such deals. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - A moratorium on using live rinderpest virus for approved research has been lifted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - CGIAR, a global partnership for a food secure future that conducts and disseminates research to improve the lives, livelihoods, and lands of the world's poorest people, has said it will attend the 15-20 July 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) in Ghana. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders have vowed to end hunger on the continent by 2025 by sustaining the momentum of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Monday announced multi-million dollar partnership towards reducing hunger and poverty in Africa. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders were due to meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday in a renewed partnership to end hunger in the continent that has 239 million undernourished people, representing nearly a quarter of its entire population. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The quest to end hunger needs to be taken by society as a whole, not by a single organisation or a single government, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva told non-state actors at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the weekend. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – To actualize the terms of an agreement signed in January 2010 between the Malian government and the Indian firm, Angelique International, Indian businessmen are set to begin wok on rice farms in parts of northern Mali, PANA learnt at the end of a visit to Sabe and Sevare, in Mopti, by the Malian Agricultural minister, Baba Barthe. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Initiatives being undertaken to end hunger in Africa will not be enough to simply increase food production without addressing the many interconnected factors that keep people from being food secure, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General, Jose Graziano da Silva, said here Saturday. Full text...