- The latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Report highlighted drought as one of the key factors contributing to the continuing rise in the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa. And in South Africa, the Government’s Crop Estimates Committee announced that the country would harvest 20 percent less maizein 2019 because of drought conditions.

African women are often at the heart of communities dealing with huge changes related to economic development and shoulder the burden of environmental mismanagement.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come to occupy an important role in Beijing’s ‘Made in China 2025’ blueprint. China wants to become a global leader in the field by 2030 and now has an edge in terms of academic papers, patents and both cross-border and global AI funding. 

Angola would be an excellent place to start a dairy in Africa because there is a large population with an economy fueled by the oil industry.

TROPICAL FORESTS GLOBALLY are being lost at a rate of 61,000 square miles a year. And despite conservation efforts, the global rate of loss is accelerating. In 2016, it reached a 15-year high, with 114,000 square miles cleared.

Any private sector investments in Africa’s food sector must take account of Africa’s smallholder farmers if the investments are to survive, particularly with climate change.

Africa’s legal cannabis industry could generate more than $ 7.1bn a year by 2023 if more of the continent’s major markets open up and follow the trend of legalisation seen in the US, Canada and Europe, according to a new report released.

The African continent is far from being self-sufficient in wheat production. The 2018/19 wheat imports are estimated at 51 million tonnes, which is almost double the volume produced in the same season.

The dwindling agrarian and small farming communities around the world have certainly not had it easy during the last 50 years or so.

African economies have grown rapidly over the past two decades. Growth between 2009 and 2017 averaged 3.8 percent per year, compared to the world average of 2.5 percent. Africa’s growth has been driven not only by high commodity prices but also economic reforms that have improved the macroeconomic and business environments.

African farming must modernise and replace its ageing workforce if the continent is going to be able to feed its rising population, a report by leading economists has warned.

Over the last decade we have become increasingly alarmed at the amount of plastic in our oceans. More than 8 million tons of it ends up in the ocean every year. If we continue to pollute at this rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Insects, diseases and weeds are a farmer’s worst nightmare — pests cause severe crop damage and jeopardize harvests. Modern crop protection can help a farmer overcome these challenges and produce sufficient safe and affordable crops. In most cases, stress factors affecting plants are only detected when much damage has already been done. At this point, there is often little choice but to apply crop protection products to cure what little can still be saved.

Although its size makes it fearsome looking, the hippo is often one of the most underrated animals in Africa in terms of its fearless and potentially bad-tempered nature. Hippos rank as one of the largest animals in Africa and are not known for their sunny dispositions, causing more human deaths in Africa annually than lions, leopards, crocodiles, or any other of the major predators.

What will the supply of avocados to China look like in a decade's time? Will it still tilt almost entirely to Latin America? Or could it have a strong African component?

The 40,000 sq km Serengeti-Mara plain that straddles the border of Kenya and Tanzania is famous for its abundant and diverse wildlife. It is also home to one of the wonders of the world: the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. Each year about two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelles migrate from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara in search of food and water.

As the packing of table grapes is South Africa’s late region continues to dwindle, it appears that this year’s total shipments could be below last year’s figure.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) said on Tuesday that it had noted with alarm that the insidious dumping of chicken from Brazil that plagues the local industry has also taken root in Namibia.

Action is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). As the principle connection between people and planet, sustainable food and agriculture can fuel positive change. FAO’s new publication, Transforming food and agriculture to achieve the SDGs, presents 20 actions to help countries in incorporating sustainable agriculture and rural development into their broader development goals. These 20 actions offer a practical guide to implementing the 2030 Agenda. Here are some examples:

 Conflict and insecurity, climate shocks and economic turbulence continued to play a key role in global food insecurity, according to “Global Report on Food Crises,” a new report from the Food Security Information Network (FSIN). Food insecurity refers to the lack of secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.