With diminished access to European markets threatening to cost African farmers millions of dollars in lost exports, an international assemblage of banana experts meeting in Kenya last week warned that African growers must move quickly to take advantage of many local and regional opportunities for expanding production and boosting incomes.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Gbankula Cashew Farmers Association in the Bole District, Mr. Adam Tampuri, has warned cashew farmers in the area, to refrain from engaging minors or persons under the age of 18, as farm labourers within the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Districts.

A total of 108 people have died of starvation in Moroto district since January, the district authorities have said.

The World Bank has awarded $4m to innovative agricultural projects across the globe, including three based in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.

The frequent clashes between farmers and herdsmen have been blamed on lack of adequate grazing reserve and encroachment into cattle routes.

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) has appointed Dr Isaac Bakalo IIRR President effective January 1, 2009, the institute said in a statement.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, will this morning, declare open this year's edition of the National Agricultural Show 2008, with the theme : Food Security and National Economic Growth, at the National Agricultural Show Ground , located along kilometre 28 Abuja , Keffi Road Tudun Wada , Nasarawa State .

As part of efforts to ensure that the non-oil sector contributes its quota to the economic growth of the country, the Federal Government has guaranteed a loan of N3,820.10 million under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) between January and September this year.

A campaign to have nomadic livestock keepers cut down the size of their herds seems not to be un popular move even to the most revered Maasai royal, Laibon Meshuku Ole Mapi in Makuyuni area of western Arusha.

Those who had managed Sambo Farms included Dr Sani Abubakar Luggard (Wazirin Katsina) and now Secretary of Katsina Islamic Foundation (Proprietor of Katsina State University) in 1983. Luggard managed the farm on a contract basis for a year and a half, after the departure of its pioneer manager, one Mr Greemshow, a Briton, who nursed the farm to maturity.

So much has been talked about Uganda becoming a food basket in Africa, and without doubt, with proper planning, this can be achieved.

Economic losses in marine fisheries, resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and over-fishing, add up to a staggering US$50 billion per year, according to a new World Bank-FAO report released yesterday.

Commonwealth countries have called for stiffer regulation and surveillance of financial institutions to stop the spread of the current crisis.

In spite of an ongoing quarantine and ban on sale of meat in Kamuli District, butchers there have turned to secretly slaughtering animals in unauthorised places and selling the meat, veterinary authorities have said.

Zimbabweans should not expect to buy imported goods at prices similar to those prevailing in other countries, National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) chairman Goodwills Masimirembwa has said.

Proceeding with public examinations for primary and secondary schools tomorrow could have disastrous consequences for the future of students because the education system is in disarray, The Standard has learnt.

Starving teachers in the rural Masvingo central constituency have resorted to eating porridge meant for primary school children for survival as hunger blights the province.

A total of 473 students graduated today in Degree and Diploma from the Hamelmalo College of Agriculture.

Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Oma Djebah, has asked youths in the state to embrace agriculture, as a legitimate means of livelihood in order to complement government's effort at food sufficiency.

It is no longer a secret that the highly esteemed corruption-free agency, National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), is beginning to unmask its pretense by the day.

Prof. Bamidele Solomon, Director-General of National Bio-technology Development Agency (NABDA), said yesterday that biotechnology had the potential to address poverty and food security in developing countries.

One thousand tons of cold rooms are to be constructed round Rivers State as part of steps taken by the government to establish fish farms all over the state.

I want bread. Mom, can I have some more bread? "No my dear, bread is finished, but I heard your dad park the car a few minutes ago, go see if he has bought some."

Speculations that the ban on the importation of brown rice will soon be lifted were put to rest yesterday as the Federal Government reiterated commitment to sustain the ban.

General (RG) Tobaiwa Mudede last week evicted the last of the five plot holders settled for the past seven years on a farm in Mashonaland Central.