Food security
Food security
Loan to Improve Agricultural Performance
The Executive Board of the World Bank has approved two credits for a total of US$50 million to improve Mozambique's agricultural performance.
The loans are intended to boost the country’s efforts to improve the performance of commercial agriculture and smallholder farmers, while also improving people's food and nutrition security.
One of the loans, for US$50 million, will support the government's First Agriculture Development Policy Operation, described as the first of three operations designed to promote private sector-led agriculture in order to improve access to food and better nutrition.
To read the article titled, “World Bank loans for agriculture,” click here.Source:All AfricaAfrica Urged to Invest in Food Production
According to Accenture South Africa, food production in sub-Saharan Africa must rise by 50 percent to feed an estimated population of 1.3 billion by 2030.
Managing director of strategy and sustainability at Accenture South Africa, Grant Hatch, points out that investment of about US$93 billion a year is needed to develop the infrastructure required to support the region’s agricultural sector.
Hatch warns that, "Failing to address production to meet growing demand has potentially dire consequences for many African countries; the challenge is to break dependence on resource exports and food imports."
To read the article titled, “Food production faltering in sub-Saharan Africa,” click here.Source:Business Day LiveGovt to Convene Food Security Summit
Minister in The Presidency, Trevor Manuel, has told residents of Khayelitsha, on the Cape Flats, that government is to convene a food summit to plan improved food security for cities.
Speaking at a presentation of the objectives, between now and 2030, of the National Planning Commission (NPC), which he heads, Manuel was responding to a recent survey that revealed that only one in 10 households in Khayelitsha and Philippi townships could be regarded as ‘food secure’.
Accompanied by ANC deputy president and NPC deputy chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa, Manuel said that though the government require active citizens, people could not be expected to act on their own.
To read the article titled, “Food security summit on government's to-do list,” click here.Source:Times LiveNatural Disasters Threaten Malawi’s Food Security
Malawi's reputation for improving food production could be in peril, according to Lameck Masina’s analysis published on the All Africa website
Masina states that after years developing its capacity to feed itself, Malawi has recently suffered a series of devastating natural setbacks with thousands currently facing food shortages.
He says besides last year's erratic rains and drought which reduced the maize harvest (the country's staple) by seven percent, the Southern African country has recently been hit by severe floods, displacing an estimated 10 000 households across ten districts.
To read the article titled, “Washed away - Food security hit by natural disasters,” click here.Source:All AfricaCSO Faults Govt on Food Security
The Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) has faulted the President Joyce Banda administration for claims that the previous government inflated maize harvest figures to show that Malawi was achieving maize surpluses.
CISANET national coordinator, Tamani Nkhono-Mvula, points out that, “We saw what happened that there was a tremendous improvement in the availability of food.”
Nkhono-Mvula is of the view that it will be unfortunate for the government of Malawi to be using some pockets of people who did not have food for one reason or another to say that the former president was lying.
To read the article titled, “Civil Society Agriculture Network faults govt on hunger,” click here.Source:Face of MalawiWB Says African Could Avoid Food Shortages
The World Bank says that Africa could avoid food shortages if it reduces the tangled web of rules, fees and high costs strangling regional food trade and by putting large swathes of uncultivated land to productive use.
The bank’s vice president for Africa, Makhtar Diop, points out that, "Too often borders get in the way of getting food to homes and communities which are struggling with too little to eat."
The bank believes that rules and regulations are preventing African farmers from using higher yielding seeds and better fertilisers, adding that in some countries, it can take two to three years for new seed varieties to be released, even if they are being used elsewhere in Africa.
To read the article titled, “Africa can avoid food shortages - WB,” click here.Source:News24South Africans Urged to Use Land ‘Productively’
President Jacob Zuma has reiterated his support for the campaign that encourages South Africans to productively use the land to improve food security for millions of citizens.
Zuma states that in order to reduce food insecurity in rural areas, government is promoting food gardens and other forms of subsistence agriculture, involving civil society.
He stresses the importance of people going back to the land and not to view social grants, wage employment and non-agricultural informal activities as the only source of income for rural households.
To read the article titled, “Zuma drums up support for agriculture campaign,” click here.Source:All AfricaWorld Grain Reserves Low - FAO
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that world grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a hunger crisis next year.
FAO senior economist, Abdolreza Abbassian, points out that, "We've not been producing as much as we are consuming. That is why stocks are being run down. Supplies are now very tight across the world and reserves are at a very low level, leaving no room for unexpected events next year.”
In addition, the agency’s figures released this month suggest that 870 million people are malnourished and the food crisis is growing in the Middle East and Africa.
To read the article titled, “UN warns of worldwide food crisis in 2013,” click here.Source:Mail & GuardianNGO, Govt, Fight Hunger and Poverty
Zambia has experienced more than a decade of food production declines which has resulted in widespread hunger and poverty in rural communities.
The organisation works with rural communities specifically and priority is given to income generating projects, which include small-scale enterprises in farming, beekeeping, aquaculture, agro-processing, carpentry and other skills training, in targeted communities.
This is good especially in a country where many rural poor people - both children and adults (especially women) - face hunger and poverty, which has increased malnutrition cases among children below five years.
To read the article titled, “Chipata NGO joins govt in rural hunger, poverty fight,” click here.Source:All Africa868 Million People Starve Worldwide, Says FAO
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that one out of every eight people in the world is chronically undernourished.
The UN agency warns that progress to reduce hunger has slowed since 2007/08 when high food prices sparked riots in several poor countries.
In its latest report on food insecurity, FAO estimates that 868 million people are suffering hunger in 2010-2012, or about 12.5 percent of the world's population, down more sharply than previously estimated from about 1 billion, or 18.6 percent in 1990-92.
To read the article titled, “1 in 8 in the world going hungry: UN,” click here.Source:News24
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