Rome, Italy (PANA) - The Food Outlook, a bi-annual global market report published Thursday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has said lower international prices and freight rates, together with lower cereal purchases, could push down the world food import bill in 2012. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has launched an "ambitious programme" to promote food self-sufficiency and reduce food import into the region by 40 percent over the next three years, Commission Vice-President Toga Gayewea McIntosh said. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan and Malaysia have signed an agreement to develop over three thousand local societies and associations relative to Gum Arabic production in Central Sudan. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Gambia will host International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)'s regional forum, slated to run from 12 to 15 November, PANA confirmed from here Wednesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Participants from Africa and beyond are gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a conference to commemorate this year’s Africa Day for food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS), PANA reported from here. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The commitment of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to fight emerging disease threats in "hot spot" regions worldwide has received a boost with new funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UN agency said Monday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) José Graziano da Silva has called on international food communities and all players in the global food system to join together in eradicating hunger from the earth "within our lifetimes". Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has alerted Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco to prepare for the likely arrival of Desert Locust swarms from the Sahel in West Africa in the coming weeks. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - About 215 Nigerian fishermen stranded in Gabon arrived back home on Sunday night aboard a chartered flight after being evacuated by the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A two-year consultation process to develop principles for responsible investment in agriculture that respect rights, livelihoods and resources was approved by the 39th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which ended on Saturday at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN agency said in a news dispatch Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The United Nations Food and Agricuture (FAO) mourned the death of former US Senator George McGovern, describing him as a tireless advocate for the worlds hungry. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - An intensive entrepreneurial training in integrated agriculture at the Songhai Centre, Porto Novo, Benin Republic, for 73 young men and women from 13 ECOWAS member states rounded off Thursday with the issuance of certificates to the participants. Full text...

Poudre d'Or, Mauritius (PANA) - After cultivating sugar cane for about 400 years, Mauritius is now trying to grow wheat in order to improve food security in the country and across Africa, Sudarshan Jugessur, chair of the Mauritian Council research, said as the crop was being harvested Friday morning at Poudre d'Or, northern Mauritius. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) has received new joint funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (US$14 million) and the United States Agency for International Development (up to US$5 million) for its programme, which develops the research and leadership skills of top women agricultural scientists in Africa. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - A new project with the objective of eliminating hunger in West Africa has been launched by West African countries, Germany and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Brazil and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have signed new South-South cooperation agreement worth US$20 million that aims to channel Brazilian expertise in cotton production to other developing countries. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria needs to adopt technologies that have been tested and tried in the leading countries of the world if it hopes to transform its agriculture sector and achieve sustainable food security, according to the country’s Ambassador to the United States, Prof . Ade Adefuye. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Continuing food price volatility requires improved global governance of food security, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, told a ministerial meeting on food price volatility Tuesday, attended by some 20 ministers. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - If countries step up their efforts to reduce hunger, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of hungry people by 2015 can still be reached, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, told the opening session of a meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, on Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ahead of the World Food Day celebration on 16 October, African leaders and stakeholders have been told to redouble their efforts and save the continent from the pangs of hunger and poverty, according to the Director-General of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, in South West Nigeria, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - With abnormally high food prices and declining efforts to tackle global hunger, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) must now energize governments to begin fixing the broken global food system, at its annual meeting in Rome, Italy, from 15 to 20 October, international development agency Oxfam has said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that its Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will meets in Rome, Italy, from 15 to 20 October, according to a press statement, released in the Italian capital and received by PANA here Saturday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A ministerial meeting on the volatile food prices will take place on 16 October at the Rome headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), PANA reported here Saturday, quoting the UN agency. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The World Food Day will be celebrated on Tuesday, 16 October, 2012, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced in a press statement, released at its headquarters in Rome, Italy, and received by PANA here Saturday. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - Some 870 million people in the world are undernourished and more than 2.5 million children die each year of malnutrition, the European Union (EU) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) disclosed in a joint press statement here Thursday, saying the horrifying situation is a priority for both organizations. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council held its maiden meeting in Abuja on Tuesday with President Goodluck Jonathan declaring that his country will stop the import of rice by 2015. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partners, Tuesday released a statement on the ''2012 Global Hunger Index'' which looks at world hunger situation and related issues. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A new survey of people across 40 regions in Somalia by international aid agency, Oxfam, has found that water and food shortages are at critical levels and likely to deteriorate in parts of the country over the coming months, risking a prolonged humanitarian crisis well into next year. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the European Union (EU) have signed a new cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening the partnership between them. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - The National Transitional Council (NTC) of Guinea, which provisionally sits in for the National Assembly, Thursday ratified a loan agreement between the government and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) under which the west African country will finance some agricultural projects. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The 2012 edition of The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) report is to be presented in Rome, Italy, Tuesday, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement obtained by PANA here Friday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – More than 60 percent of investments in agricultural land by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010 were in developing countries with serious hunger problems, international development agency Oxfam revealed Thursday. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) – The Ivorian government announced on Tuesday that the 2012/2013 cocoa and coffee main crop season will open on Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A major international initiative has been launched to better understand the role of aquaculture in food security in poor countries. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Though African governments are often blamed by donor countries for failure to achieve expected returns from investments in the agriculture sector, the underlying cause of this situation is the inability of farmers to absorb and make use of appropriate technologies. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Leaders and visionaries who promote a Green Revolution in Africa were honoured Thursday night at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Awards gala dinner in Arusha, Tanzania, an AGRF press statement indicated here Friday. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Training of extension agents and building the capacity of young farmers is the real challenge facing African nations in their move to transform the agriculture industry, according to participants at the African Green Revolution Forum 2012 (AGRF) that is underway here. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) – Agricultural extension education in many African countries is a highly neglected area, according to an international non-governmental organisation that has been working with ministries of agriculture on institutional capacity building in 14 African countries for over two decades. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Creating opportunities which will enable smallholder producers to transition from subsistence farming to running their farms as businesses should be the focus of African governments, if the continent is to transform its agriculture, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in Arusha, Tanzania, Thursday. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete Thursday made a case for traditional African farmers, saying to prevent them from remaining trapped in the poverty cycle, ways must be found to help them increase yields and improve their standard of living. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) – Agricultural transformation is a real possibility in Africa if governments will put in place the right policies, infrastructures and input support for small farmers, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - As Africa’s top politicians, business people and scientists converge on a mountain resort east of Arusha, Tanzania, Wednesday to discuss investments for sustainable agriculture and food security on the continent, studies show that investments in the sector have four times the economic impact than investments in other economic sectors. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A number of African heads of state and chief executives of private business firms, financial institutions and scientists will convene at the edge of a national park in northern Tanzania this week to look for ways to unite the power of the public and private sectors in the global food security efforts. Full text...

Mbabane, Swaziland (PANA) - Rural farmers in Swaziland are starting to reap the fruits of a comprehensive effort by the government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with the support of the European Union (EU), to reverse the country's declining agricultural productivity. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The government of Cameroon and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have agreed to collaborate to improve agriculture, create wealth and reduce poverty, according to a statement from the Nigeria-based research institute. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (PANA) - The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) on Wednesday convened a workshop in Addis Ababa among key partners from 11 countries across Africa to share lessons learned, successes, challenges and next steps in reducing malnutrition through large-scale food fortification. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - Although Guinea has what it takes to be a major exporter of grains, it imports about 25% of the rice it consumes every year, representing 300,000 tons valued at tens of millions of dollars, according to Sekou Sangare, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The fight against hunger can only be won in partnership between governments, civil society and farmer organizations and the private sector, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Despite the Gambia government’s drive to ensure food self-sufficiency and poverty alleviation, the lack of water at the right time and place is seriously undermining its development objectives, says Mr. Amadou Saine, Gambia’s Permanent Secretary at the Minister of Fisheries and Water Resources. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Argentina will export an additional 2.75 million tonnes of maize from its 2011/12 crop, the country's Minister of Agriculture, Norberto Yauhar, confirmed here Friday. Full text...