Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwean banks Wednesday announced a massive 60 billion-Zimbabwean-dollar cropping loan for black peasants resettled by the government on farms re-possessed from whites. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Livestock keepers in Suba district, 400 km west of Nairobi are optimistic the ongoing six year-tsetse fly and trypanosomiasis eradication programme will end the heavy death toll of their animals. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), said in Washington Monday that increased agricultural production was not sufficient to combat the menace of hunger in developing countries. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Germany and Spain have earmarked 490,000 and 360,000 US dollars, respectively, for emergency food aid to Mauritania, the World Food Programme (WFP) said at the weekend. Full text...

Manica- Mozambique (PANA) -- Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (CCZ) and the Mozambican company, SOGIR are setting up a joint venture to promote cotton production in the central provinces of Tete and Manica. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Thailand and Zimbabwe Friday concluded a fertiliser trade agreement, under which the southern African country will immediately start importing the commodity, which is in short supply, from the Asian nation. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The outbreak of the Napier Stunting Disease, a virus that affects the Napier grass used as cattle fodder has been reported in Kenya's western province, threatening regional dairy and zero grazing projects. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Italian government and FAO have jointly embarked on a programme to increase the capacities of farmers' organisations in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal in agricultural development. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The European Union has pledged a further 310 million Euros (about 310 million US dollars) to help southern African countries facing a drought-related humanitarian crisis. Full text...

Huambo- Angola (PANA) -- At least 10 local companies dealing in agricultural products will represent Huambo Province at Angola's 2002 national production fair (Fenapro), opening Tuesday in Luanda. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan scientists have developed a new variety of beans that is able to yield seven to ten times more than locally available varieties, a top scientist with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) said Monday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Tightening the squeeze on embattled white farmers, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe Monday signed into law amendments to the country's controversial land laws passed by parliament in September. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A group of Kenyan farmers will learn modern farming and crop husbandry techniques under a three-year programme initiated by the UN Development Programme in conjunction with the Food Agriculture Organisation at a cost of 2. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- The Zimbabwe government Sunday warned militant white farmers spoiling for a fight with the authorities over controversial land reforms, of a crackdown if they persisted in efforts to rollback the programme. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe earned 369 million US dollars from tobacco this year, a mere 15 million dollar increase over 2001's 354 million dollars, industry officials said Friday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Unless donors come forward soon with contributions, the victims of fighting in northern Uganda will face severe food shortages, the UN World Food Programme warned Wednesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopia loses between 30 and 40 percent of its agricultural produce to pests, weeds and invasion by birds, an official of the Agriculture Ministry said in Addis Ababa Wednesday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Two leaders of Zimbabwe's beleaguered white farmers, facing mass evictions from their farms by the government, have stepped down, amid internal division on how to react to the farm seizures. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government has indicated it was looking forward to raising rice production to more than 200,000 tonnes in the 2002/2003 season with Zambezia, as pivot of the campaign, expected to meet the bulk of the target (120,000-150-000 tonnes). Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia's Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana on Tuesday reiterated his government's rejection of genetically modified (GM) maize due to the existing scientific uncertainty surrounding such foods. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP)of the United Nations has launched an urgent appeal for emergency relief food to Ethiopia and Eritrea, where more than 12 million people could face starvation over the next few months. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday launched an urgent appeal for emergency relief food donations for countries in the Horn of Africa, saying more than 12 million people could face starvation in the next months. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Agricultural production in Cape Verde would this year be 74 percent lower than last year's due to poor rains, official sources indicated Saturday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian poultry farmers are enjoying a big boost from the federal government's three-month ban on imported frozen poultry products, the private Guardian newspaper reported Sunday. Full text...

Saint Denis- La Reunion (PANA) -- Reunion has set up an authority for the organic certification of agricultural produce from the island. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Burkinabe Agriculture, Water and Fisheries Minister Salif Diallo hinted Thursday that the country expects a rise in agricultural production this year. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- UN Day was commemorated in Kenya Thursday with the honouring of Joseph M'eruaki, a Kenyan farmer, for his contribution to enhancing food security and reducing poverty in his drought-prone Mbeere District, east of the country. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- For several years, Benin has had no cereal surpluses, as farmers prefer growing cash crops like cotton, the country's key export product. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- The food crisis in Malawi looks set to worsen in the months ahead with stocks fast running out and food aid, reaching only 3. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Critics in the agricultural sector have attacked the Ugandan government for showing little interest in cocoa production at a time when world market prospects looked promising. Full text...

Addis Ababa- (PANA) -- The European Union (EU) has approved a grant of 24. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture is consulting with various stakeholders in the sector in a first step towards a National Irrigation and Drainage Policy that would revamp the irrigation sub-sector. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Ugandan authorities have expressed fears of a possible land crisis as farmers scramble for more arable land following enticing returns from grain exports to famine- stricken southern Africa. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The Fertilizer Society of South Africa (FSSA) has dispelled rumours of a looming shortage in the supply of fertilisers, affirming Friday that delivery in the current planting season was progressing well. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- The Cameroon Confederation of farmers' Organisations (CORCAM), has warned about an impending famine in the country's northern provinces. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritania's Rural Development and Environment Minister Moustapha ould Maouloud, has inaugurated five dams built with EU's financial support in the country's central region of Brakna. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger's Agricultural Development Minister, Wassalke Boukary, Wednesday reiterated government's determination to fight hunger and malnutrition in the country. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroon is to celebrate World Food Day on 16 October in spite of the famine which looms in its northern provinces, authorities say. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- As the world community observed World Food Day Tuesday, the World Food Programme (WFP) expressed concern about its inability to respond fully to ever-mounting hunger crises. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- A Congolese NGO, the Kinshasa-based National Solidarity for Economic and Social Development (SONADES) has put on the local market a new tomato variety dubbed 'Saint Pierre' developed from improved seeds. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Uganda's coffee sector is under stress from a coffee wilt disease that destroyed about a hundred million Robusta coffee trees during the past season. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The Zambian government was on Thursday pushing transporters to ferry scarce maize seed and fertilisers to remote parts of the country where rural communities were anxiously awaiting them. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe has doubled its tea export earnings this year to 4. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) director general Jacques Diouf hinted Tuesday in Lome that an agricultural development strategy for Africa was in the pipeline. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The Mauritius Central Bureau of Statistics (CSO) indicated Monday that fish production surged 26. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe government's veterinary services said Monday that a raging foot and mouth outbreak had spread to two more districts in the south and east of the country. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Israeli Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shalom Simhon is due here Tuesday for a three-day official visit, it was announced Sunday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A prolonged drought has seriously affected agricultural and livestock production in Eritrea this year, threatening the lives of more than a million people, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have said in a joint report issued from Rome, Italy. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya tea industry took its bid for recognition as the world's producer of the most wholesome, premium black teas to the global forum by demonstrating to a gathering of connoisseurs the best practices that ensure pesticide-free tea. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- China is to donate 4,500 metric tons of maize to alleviate famine in Zambia, which threatens about 13 million people in the southern African sub-region this year. Full text...