The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global …
HARARE – Zimbabwe, which is recovering from drought and battling a pest outbreak that threatens its maize crop, has budgeted $140-million (R1,8-billion) to buy maize from farmers for its strategic reserve, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told parliament on Thursday. Harare is holding 250,000 tons of maize in strategic reserves, half …
Zimbabwe's response to the outbreak of the fall armyworm has been hampered by farmer's lack of information and pesticides to fight it. This has worsened the food insecurity situation as it targets staple crop-maize. A report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) warned that a tenth of Zimbabwe's maize …
The United Nations said it was ramping up deliveries of fishing kits to famine-hit areas of South Sudan to help some of the 100,000 people facing imminent starvation in the war-ravaged country. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it plans to hand out fishing lines, hooks and nets …
Subsidies should end for many types of biomass, a new Chatham House report argues, because they are failing to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. The report adds that policymakers should tighten up accounting rules to ensure the full extent of biomass emissions are included. The analysis outlines how policies intended …
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a new initiative to support and empower rural women across the country. The organisation last week launched the second phase of Rural Women Economic Empowerment (RWEE) project to help accelerate economic empowerment for women. The $400,000 (about Rwf330m) project is a …
JUBA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Parts of war-ravaged South Sudan have been hit by famine, a government official said on Monday, saying nearly half the country's population would lack reliable access to affordable food by July. Oil-rich South Sudan has been mired in civil war since 2013, when President Salva …
Drought in East Africa has sent prices of staples such as maize and sorghum soaring, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said late Tuesday, warning that a sharp increase in food prices could lead to renewed hunger in the region. Prices of staple cereals have doubled in some markets, reaching …
Zimbabwe is likely to be the hardest hit country from an outbreak of armyworms that is destroying crops and threatening food security in southern Africa, the United Nations (U.N.) food agency said on Thursday. The U.N's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement up to 130,000 hectares of …
A musical protest at the Rio carnival will stress the damaging impacts of factory farming on indigenous people and on global warming. Concern about the environmental impact of industrialised farming through the use of pesticides and the destruction of the rainforest has even spread to Brazil’s famous Rio carnival. One …
If you thought the current drought ravaging many parts of the country was bad enough, then brace yourself for an invasion of the armyworm. Experts have warned that an invasion of the maize destroying armyworm in Southern Africa could spread towards East Africa in the next few months. This comes …
JOHANNESBURG - Government is assessing the full extent of damage caused by Fall armyworm infestations. Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana is planning to visit affected farms in Limpopo. He'll be accompanied by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. The migratory pest -- native to South and Central America -- is new …
Maputo — The World Food Program (WFP) plans to assist 700,000 people via its food aid programs in central and southern Mozambique, the agency announced Tuesday in Maputo. The assistance is part of the response to the weak agricultural performance negatively influenced by droughts that has hit the country in …
A million trees are to be planted in Ethiopia to fight deforestation around camps hosting hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees who rely almost entirely on wood for fuel, a United Nations agency said on Wednesday. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the trees would be planted …
Johannesburg - A UN report says that more than 120 000 Nigerians likely will suffer "catastrophic" famine-like conditions caused by Boko Haram's Islamic uprising, among 11 million confronting severe food shortages this year. The report from the Food and Agriculture Organization predicts Africa's biggest humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria likely …
Native to North and South America, armyworm, a kind of caterpillar that burrows deep into corncobs and more than 100 other kinds of plants, was detected on the African continent last year. It has already spread to seven nations, including Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, and South Africa, according to Reuters. Armyworms …
An invasive pest known as the armyworm is rapidly spreading in the African continent, destroying maize crops. If left unchecked, the caterpillar might reach tropical Asia and the Mediterranean, scientists have warned. The Britain-based Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (Cabi) said the pest, native to Americas, could very well …
Scientists are calling for urgent action to halt the spread of a pest that is destroying maize crops is spreading rapidly across Africa. The fall armyworm poses a major threat to food security and agricultural trade, warns the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (Cabi). It says farmers' livelihoods are …
Rome — Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 per cent in untreated susceptible wheat, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with the United Nations. The reports, highlighted …
ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The areas surrounding the Sahara desert which decades ago were covered with forests, crops and grasslands, can be restored - a significant chunk of them by 2030 - agriculture experts said after viewing the results of a detailed survey of the region. For the first …
Lira — The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that Uganda could lose Shs260 billion to rising temperatures by 2050 due to climate changes. While at the World Food Day celebrations at Ngetta Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute in Lira District last Sunday, the UN agency noted that …
