Zimbabwe has lifted the ban on some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but aid agencies have been cautious in their response.

In normal times, the weekly market in Badessa town, Damot Woyde district of Wolayita zone in Ethiopia's Southern Region, fills with fresh food as farmers and traders bring in crops from the surrounding hills.

The rising cost of goods and services is expected to ease in the coming months to settle between 10 and 20 per cent.

Ordinary Malawians, cheered by the prospect of cheaper food, have welcomed government's ban on the private trading of maize, but food security experts and businesses have expressed concern.

The government has finally said it will lift a ban on food aid and allow humanitarian aid agencies to distribute much needed food in the country.

A US$500,000 project by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is using Madagascar's agricultural off-season to decrease food aid dependency and offset the effects of high food prices.

The Federal Government and the World Bank will, during the next four years, inject N15.7 billion into the agricultural sector through the Commercial Farming project.

Minister of Agriculture Christiaan De Graaff says that government continues to put in place measures that will help Botswana meet her food security challenges.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is helping Madagascar boost its local food supply, particularly rice, to avoid importing large quantities at high prices to meet the country's food needs for this year.

It has become a daily routine for villagers in this dry and dusty region. Each morning they forage through the hinterlands in search of wildlife and fruits that have become their only source of sustenance.

The Nigerian Union of Fishermen and Seafood Dealers Association has blamed the increasing militancy in the Niger Delta region on the neglect by successive governments to harness the fishery potentials of the country noting that with the huge potential of fishing in the country, the government could drastically reduce the activities of militants if these potentials are utilized.

African MPs called for increased investment in agriculture to ensure food security on the continent.

Many households are staring hunger in the face in the Kavango Region and are appealing to the Government to speed up its food distribution programme before they face starvation.

An African developmental body wants African countries to raise agricultural productivity by six percent annually to end food shortages.

The  Black Nossob Conservancy held its sixth annual communal day for farmworkers on Wednesday.

Namibian officials from the Directorate of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF) donated cattle to their Angolan counterparts and military officials at Oshikango's Santa Clara this week.

THE National Cocoa Development Committee and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria began a two-day sensitisation workshop in Asaba, Delta State yesterday on European Union Regulation on Pesticides Residue, which takes effect from the 1st of September this year.

Communal farmers exhibiting at the Harare Agricultural Show will all go home smiling after Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono this week pledged to immediately allocate each of them ox-drawn scotch-carts and ploughs, among other farming implements.

Time was when agriculture used to be the main stay of the Nigerian economy with the country's defunct regions having their competencies. The food crisis being experienced around the globe appears to be bringing agriculture to the front burner once more. Blessed with enormous arable land, Nasarawa State is said to be capable of feeding the nation given a conducive environment. George Okoh writes

Angolan head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, is travelling Friday to southern Huila province for a few hours visit to that region.

Farmers have pledged to increase maize production in the 2008/9 summer season if the Government provides adequate inputs on time.

A recently retired permanent secretary, Mr Wilfred Nyachia is now the new chief executive officer of the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture.

OVER 500 meat dealers at Kampala's leading abattoir (lufula) yesterday went on strike, protesting increased taxes levied by Bassajjabalaba Hides and Skins Company.

HIGH oil prices and increasing demand have kept food prices up, a weekly mini-survey in Kampala's major markets has shown.

UGANDA will not have any Nile perch to export in the next two years if illegal fishing is not curbed immediately.