Africa

Traditional studies may be underestimating the impact of climate change on agriculture, because they don’t take into account “farmers’ reactions to climate shocks,” says a new study in Nature Climate Change.

One of the strongest El Niño weather patterns in half a century is bringing the second consecutive year of low rainfall and high temperatures to southern Africa, humanitarian agencies report. They warn that food shortages could be the worst since a 2002-03 food crisis.

With rainfall far below normal and the growing season advancing this year, southern Africa will increasingly deplete its food supplies and cash reserves to buy food, said the World Food Program.

The World Bank projected the portion of the world living in extreme poverty will fall below 10 percent this year, the lowest rate ever. In a statement, the Bank said the projections were "fresh evidence that a quarter-century-long sustained reduction in poverty is moving the world closer to the historic goal of ending poverty by 2030."

The world population will grow by one-third, to 9.7 billion people, by mid-century, the United Nations estimates. And with the population surging in poor countries, it will be harder to assure enough food for everyone.

An extended dry spell will slash the corn harvest in southern Africa by 26 percent from last year's bumper harvest, according to a quarterly FAO report. Corn is the major grain in the region, accounting for 80 percent of cereal production.

South Africa to resume imports of U.S. bone-in chicken meat, "initially 65,000 tonnes a year, under an agreement reach by the two countries," said Reuters.

The Canadian charity Farm Radio International says getting farmers and farm science on the air in sub-Saharan Africa can improve the adoption of new and more productive agricultural practices, reports SciDev.Net.

While the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership and U.S.-EU trade pacts get the headlines, the African Growth and Opportunity Act also is due for action this year.

Wheat growers in Kenya are battling a variant of the Ug99 rust fungus, which chokes nutrients in the wheat stem and prevents wheat kernels from forming properly.

The mosquito nets distributed in Africa to combat malaria are being used "from the mud flats of Nigeria to the coral reefs off Mozambique" as fishing nets, says the New York Times...

The Gates Foundation is to announce its goals for the next 15 years. "Among them: financing programs to help Africa feed itself," says the New York Times.

The outbreak of Ebola infections in western Africa is disrupting food production so that hundreds of thousands of people will face hunger in coming months, says The Atlantic.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aided by a giant U.S. seed company, "are testing a new approach to improve the production of corn among the millions of poor, small-scale farmers who dominate African agriculture," says the...

Production from fish farms will grow by as much as 4.14 percent annually through 2022 - faster than a forecast made earlier this year - and offering a chance of better nutrition for millions of people, especially in Africa and Asia, said a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Food prices are rising and supplies are short in the three west African nations affected by the outbreak of the Ebola virus and the harvest season is imperiled by labor shortages due to restrictions on travel, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a special alert. FAO reported "panic buying, food shortages and significant food price hikes on some commodities, especially in urban centers." With harvest-time near for rice and corn, travel restriction "will seriously impact farm production," said the alert.

During a speech to the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, President Obama summarized $33 billion in new investment in the continent and said stable societies with forward-looking governments would be the foundation for economic growth.

The United States is hosting a three day summit with leaders of four dozen nations in Africa that focuses " largely on the economic potential that Africa offers the United States - provided that the two can solve ongoing problems around electricity supply, agriculture, security threats and democratic governance," says the Washington Post.