Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger, which suffered 163,000 tonnes in cereal deficit last year, harvested 297,000 tonnes surplus of the grain this year, a government statement said. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe is set to make the best of neighbouring South Africa's 300 000-tonne soybean import requirement, a local bank affirmed Wednesday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe Monday ruled that the government's agrarian reforms were lawful and complied with the constitution, dealing a big blow to white commercial farmers who had sought court intervention to block the take over of their farms by the government. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Kinshasa consumes some 27. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- Congo is facing the threat of a food shortage, following a fall in the production of the country's staple food, cassava, sources at the ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- An epidemic in the Libyan agricultural region of Sahl-Al-Jafara (south-west) has destroyed tens of thousands of chicken, the local daily "AL Chams" reported. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The authorities in Mozambique have approved 50 out of 63 requests from Zimbabwean commercial farmers seeking agricultural land in the central province of Manica. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican authorities have approved 50 out of 63 requests made by Zimbabwean commercial farmers for agricultural land in the central province of Manica, according to Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia. Full text...

Lobito- Angola (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) is sending some 8,000 tons of maize to the needy in Angola's central and eastern regions, the national news agency (ANGOP) has reported. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Mali's rural development minister Ahmed El Madani Diallo and the World Bank have signed in Washington a draft agreement to finance a programme for the country's Agricultural Services and Farming Associations (SPASFA). Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Sudan said it would increase its wheat growing acreage from 300,000 to 500,000 acres this winter, the country's agriculture ministry said Monday. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation will assist Niger in guaranteeing availability of agricultural inputs to farmers under an agreement signed here at the weekend. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe's embattled white commercial farmers Monday warned of a massive pullout of investment in the key agriculture industry if the government goes ahead with plans to slash their farm sizes as part of its controversial land reform programme. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger's minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Aïchatou Mindaoudou, has signed an agreement with the FAO on the implementation of phase II of a project promoting agricultural inputs among local producers. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- A national workshop on a pastoral code is underway in Ouagadougou, to regulate cattle breeding in Burkina Faso. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger expects cereal output of around 200,000 tonnes by the end of 2001, according to the monthly bulletin by the National Early Warning System on agriculture. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's minister for Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, is back in Pretoria after attending a conference in Uganda on improving service delivery. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Small agricultural producers in Niger are set to benefit from a 10-year credit programme launched this week by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Italy has pledged four million US dollars to support Mozambique's five-year National Agricultural Development Programme (PROAGRI), according to Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- A senior Zimbabwean agriculture official said Wednesday the country had clinched lucrative beef export deals with the DR Congo and Mozambique. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- The UN food agency, FAO, has donated seeds and ploughing tools to 1,000 farmers in the Ewo, Okoyo, Mbama, Etoumbi, Kellé and Mbomo districts in the West-Basin region of northern Congo, the agriculture ministry in Kinshasa said. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Dr Nguyen Duc Tao, a Vietnamese who readily admits he does not miss his native Hanoi, has been in Senegal since 1997 as head of the special food security programme (SFSP), a 15-country pilot project launched by the FAO in 1994, but approved only two years later at the 106th session of the agency's council. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambique's five-year National Agricultural Development Programme (PROAGRI), utilised only 49 million US dollars from its total budget of 202 million dollars in the past three years, according to Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- The UN food agency, FAO, has donated seeds of food crops and ploughing tools to 1,000 farmers in the districts of Ewo, Okoyo, Mbama, Etoumbi, Kellé and Mbomo in the West-Basin region of northern Congo, the agriculture ministry in Kinshasa said Monday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said Monday his administration was implementing policies and programmes to boost cocoa production in the country. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger and France have signed a food relief agreement worth 630 million CFA francs (about 840,000 US dollars), official sources said in Niamey. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The John Platter Guide, winner of the 2001 Prix du Champagne Lanson for best wine guide world-wide, has launched its 2002 edition with 66 brand new entries plus exciting fresh features and enhancements. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The World Food Programme has launched an urgent appeal for 18 million dollars needed to procure food for 1. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and some of his Ministers are among dignitaries expected to attend a special symposium 23 November, in honour of Lukas Brader, the outgoing Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), The 34-year-old Institute based in Nigeria's western city of Ibadan, said Wednesday the occasion would also feature scientific presentations and tributes to Brader, its fifth Director-General. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The African Development Bank (ADB) has granted Mali a loan of 19. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe Monday announced plans to resettle more than 50 000 new black farmers on commercial farms to be seized from whites under its controversial land reform programme. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan authorities have put into effect new tough measures meant to save dwindling fish stocks in Lake Victoria, the freshwater mass shared with neighbours Uganda and Tanzania. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Requirements for improved seeds for DR Congo are estimated at 25,000 tonnes per year with a renewal rate of 20 percent every five years, sources at the ministry of agriculture, fishing and livestock farming in Kinshasa said. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe Friday said it had secured a 25-million US dollars line of credit through a local bank to finance imports of maize from neighbouring South Africa. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Friesian cow breed preferred by most dairy farmers in Kenya is threatened by a genetic malformation that could affect local milk production, veterinary authorities disclosed to PANA Thursday. Full text...

Bulawayo- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Veterinary officials in Zimbabwe said Thursday that foot and mouth disease had broken out again in the main beef producing areas in the south of the country, just a month after an earlier outbreak in the region was brought under control. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe said Thursday it had foiled an attempt by white commercial farmers to illegally export huge quantities of wheat and maize, commodities which the southern African country is itself importing from Brazil and South Africa to meet a shortfall. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Tanzanian legislators Wednesday passed a bill setting up a new regulatory body to take charge of the country's shaky sugar industry. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The Mauritius National Conservation Parks and the British Royal Botanical Gardens have succeeded in producing 21 plants from a single cutting of a very rare coffee plant - the Ramosmania heterophylla - the only type to exist in the world. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- Some 94 onion growers in Boko district, south of Congo, have fixed 31 October as their annual Onion Promotion Day, Agriculture ministry officials in Brazzaville disclosed Tuesday. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) has provided 11,416 tonnes of cereals to several school canteens in the northern regions of Mali seriously affected by a food crisis due to a cereal deficit this year, a source said at the food agency. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Mali plans to liberalise its cotton sector by 2005, with a view to increasing production and improving competitiveness in the industry, a source close to the Malian Textile Development Company (CMDT) hinted Friday. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Thirteen of Burkina Faso's 45 provinces are likely to suffer cereal deficits this year, according to the Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) and the Burkinabe Agriculture and Livestock ministry. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The European Commission and the Mozambican government Friday signed an agreement in Maputo under which the commission will provide 17. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The Malian government recently approved a project for the development of 3,100 hectares in the rice producing area of the Niger (River) Authority, a source close to the Malian rural development ministry said on Friday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Tobacco growers from 18 countries have expressed outrage at the exclusion of two member countries from an important regional meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) held recently. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- A team from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is in Zimbabwe for preparatory talks with the government ahead of the visit by officials from the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) to explore ways of resolving the country's land crisis. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia may have to import maize again next year unless seeds and chemical fertilisers are urgently delivered to farmers ahead of the farming season, a church organisation has warned. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Experts from Southern and Eastern Africa are meeting in Maputo to discuss the crisis in cashew production in the region. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopia is to launch an irrigation and land conservation project that will involve 32,000 small producers in the western Amhara State, it was officially disclosed here Monday. Full text...