western Africa

The food startup that began as Hampton Creek is now known as JUST, and its newest product is a nutrient-fortified cassava porridge named Power Gari that it says is the solution to malnutrition in western Africa, reports the Washington Post. "JUST believes that its product will increase Africans' intake of critical vitamins and minerals by including them in a product that tastes good and is sold at retail in slick branded bags, unlike the fortified foods currently offered by development organizations."

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 outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus resulted in a decline "on the order of 20 percent" of rice production in parts of Liberia, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Rampant hunger is appearing in Liberia, one of the west African nations hit by ebola, says Mother Jones magazine. It cites a spot check by Mercy Corps, a charity, of three parts of the country heavily affected by the disease.

The Agriculture Department is taking a supporting role in assuring food security in countries struggling with an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in West Africa.

The agriculture ministers of Liberia and Sierra Leone say the ebola outbreak in western Africa is "exacerbating hunger and wrecking any plans to revitalize the region's farm production," says DTN from the World Food Prize symposium in Iowa.

The ebola outbreak in western Africa could disrupt the cocoa harvest in two of the world's largest growers of the crop that yields chocolate and affect prices, says Politico.

The global Food Price Index is down for the sixth month in a row, says the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Sugar and dairy prices dropped by the largest amounts, followed by grains and oils.

The World Bank says international food prices fell by 6 percent over a four-month stretch and are the lowest in four years. Lower wheat prices drove the decline, says the bank's Food Price Watch.