Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Locusts are threatening Mali's agricultural campaign with swarms of young locusts being spotted at Aguel Hoc in the Kidal region, northern Mali, Moussa Léo Sidibé, Malian Minister of Agriculture has told the National Assembly. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is mobilizing emergency support for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to counter the rapid spread of peste des petits ruminants, a virulent livestock disease of goats and sheep. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The Sahel region faces a threat of locusts following rains recorded on some countries in the region, a bulletin issued by the Niger-based Regional Center for Hydrology and Agrometeorology (AGRHYMET) has indicated. Full text...

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) – Experts meeting in Benin's economic capital, Cotonou, on food crisis in West Africa and economic policy instruments have expressed concern about the decline in cereal production in the sub-region. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched a ‘Zero Hunger Challenge’ which invites all countries to work for a future where every individual has adequate nutrition and where all food systems are resilient. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The European Commission (EC) is contributing more than 5 million euros (US$6.5 million) towards the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has announced. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Director General of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) José Graziano da Silva Friday welcomed the “Zero Hunger Challenge” announced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, has said the push for a Green Revolution in Africa's agricultural production will remain a mirage if proper attention is not paid to managing soil fertility. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Monday announced a US$3 million project aimed at improving food security and nutrition of women and young people in Egypt. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - West Africa continues to face "increasing food insecurity and malnutrition in several countries," due to a sharp drop in cereal and pasture production in 2011, combined with high local food prices and civil strife, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Wednesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and key partners have called on companies and organizations worldwide to join in the SAVE FOOD initiative, a global effort designed to cut down on food losses and waste. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The internationally agreed target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will be missed if countries don't step up their efforts to combat child labour in agriculture, the UN food and agriculture agency (FAO) warned on Monday. Full text...

Harare, Zimbabwe (PANA) - Zimbabwe earned US$95 million from tobacco exports in the first half of the year, an industry representative group said on Saturday. Full text...

Kinshasa, DRC (PANA) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) this week provided a monthly food ration to abut 20,000 newly displaced people and host families in Beni, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), amid concerns about the effect of violence on the civilian population in the eastern part of the country. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - Ministers in charge of agriculture, regional integration and trade in West Africa have launched an urgent appeal to the international community to help mobilize financial resources in support of regional initiatives to mitigate the worsening food and nutritional crises in the region. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Gambia is playing host to a five-day regional workshop on prevention and control of major ''transboundary animal diseases'' with participants from five countries attending, PANA reported Tuesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned Niger and Mali that their croplands are at imminent risk from Desert Locust swarms that are moving southward from Algeria and Libya. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The World Bank has given a US$ 6 million grant to The Gambia towards tackling the West African nation's problems resulting from ''crop failure,'' and reform programme, PANA confirmed Monday. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - Togo’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr. Kossi Messan Ewovor, has called on all stakeholders to put in place the necessary mechanism for strengthening food security through resource mobilization and support for agricultural investment programmes in West Africa. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (PANA) - The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has welcomed the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition launched by the World's largest economies, called the G8. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Wednesday launched a Fund of Funds focused on agribusiness investments in Africa. Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - Under its 2012-2017 development plan for Africa, the French agriculture and food industries company, SOMDIAA, is to invest over 300 million euros or 210 billion CFA Franc in the continent's sugar industry, according to a press statement released here Tuesday by the company. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The World Bank has approved US$120 million for agriculture in Ghana and Senegal. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The UN system has mobilized Senegal with US$ 7 million in support of the west African nation's fight against food insecurity, Valerie Amos, the UN Deputy Secretary for humanitarian affairs, announced Thursday in Dakar. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a loan of US$ 33 million to Kenya to finance poverty eradication and drought in rural Kenya, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - On a visit to drought-stricken Chad, Spanish football star Raúl González has added his voice to urgent calls for funding to prevent a full-blown food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa, where over 17 million people are at risk of hunger and more than 1 million children under five face acute malnutrition. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has been given a key role in the G8’s next phase of a shared commitment to achieve global food security, the Alliance said in a statement made available to PANA here. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has been given a key role in the G8’s next phase of shared commitment to achieve global food security, according to a statement from the Alliance which was received here Tuesday by PANA. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana’s president John Evans Atta Mills returned home Monday from a meeting with the G-8 countries in the US, armed with a US$600 million pledge to improve food and nutrition in the country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The US Government has announced a cash donation of US$30 million towards the emergency relief operation of the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist conflict-affected and food-insecure people in South Sudan. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A four-day workshop to examine women’s role in the search for food sovereignty in West Africa through their involvement in the ECOWAS Regional Agriculture Investment Plan will begin Tuesday in Accra, Ghana, an ECOWAS Commission statement said. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Libya on Friday signed an agreement to collaborate in a joint programme that seeks to increase food production while protecting the country’s natural resources. Full text...

Washington, US (PANA) - The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, Friday joined US President Barack Obama, several African heads of state and leaders from the public and private sectors in Washington for the launch of a new initiative that aims to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Libya and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) have committed themselves to working together to develop the country’s agricultural sector and improving food security. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – “Nobody should die from hunger in the 21st century,” Senegalese singer Baaba Maal said on Wednesday as he assumed the role of Global Ambassador for international charity Oxfam, amidst a food crisis that threatens 18 million people in the Sahel region of west and central Africa. Full text...

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...