Africa

Farmers in the Horn of Africa need urgent support to recover from consecutive lost harvests and to keep their breeding livestock healthy and productive at a time that pastures are the driest in years. Photo: FAO News.

With continued drought, Horn of Africa braces for another hunger season

by FAO News December 21, 2016

Countries in the Horn of Africa are likely to see a rise in hunger and further decline of local livelihoods in the coming months, as farming families struggle with the knock-on effects of multiple droughts that hit the region this year, FAO warned today. Growing numbers of refugees in East Africa, m...

Map from FEWSNET

A Famine likely occurred in Northeast Nigeria and may be ongoing in inaccessible areas of Borno State

by Special Report FEWSNET December 13, 2016

Key Messages:  In Nigeria, a famine "likely occurred in Bama and Banki towns during 2016...although this conclusion cannot be fully verified, a preponderance of the available evidence, including a representative mortality survey, suggests that Famine (IPC Phase 5) occurred in Bama LGA during 2016,...

Photo: Zimbabweland

Farmer-led irrigation in Africa: Driving a new Green Revolution?

by Ian Scoones Zimbabweland December 10, 2016

A new open access review paper is just out in the Journal of Peasant Studies on farmer-led irrigation in Africa.  The paper offers a fantastically useful overview of the debate about what form of irrigation is most likely to support increases in smallholder production and livelihoods in Africa. ...

A suspected oil thief is pulled out of a crane in Elechi Beach. Photo: Magnus Boding Hansen/IRIN
A suspected oil thief is pulled out of a crane in Elechi Beach. Photo:  ©  Magnus Boding Hansen/IRIN

Can $10 billion end Nigeria’s century-long oil war?

by Magnus Boding Hansen IRIN November 23, 2016

Militant groups are fighting for a greater share of Niger Delta's vast oil wealth.   See full story at http://features.irinnews.org/nigera-oil-conflict...

Grazing on the outskirts of Kibera, a Nairobi slum. Photo: Andrew Renneisen / The New York Times
Grazing on the outskirts of Kibera, a Nairobi slum. As the city’s population swells, fences go up, big roads chop the wilderness into smaller pieces, rural turns suburban and suburban turns urban. Photo:  ©   Andrew Renneisen / The New York Times  Also see video.

As grasslands dwindle, Kenya’s shepherds seek urban pastures

by Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times November 21, 2016

NAIROBI, Kenya — Allan Lemayian is what you would call an urban shepherd. He goes where the green grass grows. It doesn’t matter if that grass grows along a four-lane highway or in front of a Shell station or o...

Woman farming.
Southern Africa has been suffering from an extreme drought due to El Nino, as this video explains.

The massive food crisis you haven’t heard about (video)

by Center for Strategic & International Studies November 8, 2016

In Southern Africa almost 40 million people will likely need emergency assistance before the year is out. The weather system El Nino is causing abnormal weather conditions, wreaking havoc in the region. CSIS saw the impact for itself in June, during a visit to Mozambique and Malawi. ...

Mozambique farmer. Photo: Bread for the World
Mozambique farmer.  The ProSavanah project in Mozambique, which was supposed to transform 35 million acres into foreign-owned soybean plantations has failed, but many other projects continue, according to the new report, “Land Matrix Analytical Report II: International Land Deals for Agriculture.”  Photo: Bread for the World

Land grab update: Mozambique, Africa still in crosshairs

by Timothy A. Wise Food Tank November 3, 2016

More than 1,000 large-scale foreign land deals are now under contract for agriculture covering more than 26 million hectares of land, according to the new report, "Land Matrix Analytical Report II: Internation...

Women wait for food to be distributed at an internally displaced persons camp in Monguno, Nigeria. Photo: Jane Hahn/The Washington Post
Women wait for food to be distributed at an internally displaced persons camp in Monguno, Nigeria. Very little aid has reached those in need in Borno State, where it is estimated that more than 3 million people have been affected by a long-running conflict. Photo: Jane Hahn/The Washington Post

75,000 children in Nigeria could die from hunger over the next year

by Kevin Sieff Washington Post November 1, 2016

The crisis in northeastern Nigeria has morphed into something much more deadly. Boko Haram is no longer the biggest threat. Now, it’s hunger.   See full story at ...

Pulses, such as chickpeas, lentils and kidney beans, are good for nutrition and income, particularly for women farmers who look after household food security, like those shown here at a village outside Lusaka, Zambia. Photo: © Busani Bafana/IPS
Pulses, such as chickpeas, lentils and kidney beans, are good for nutrition and income, particularly for women farmers who look after household food security, like those shown here at a village outside Lusaka, Zambia. Photo: © Busani Bafana/IPS

The beating pulse of food security in Africa

by Busani Bafana Inter Press Service October 17, 2016

MASVINGO, Zimbabwe - Elizabeth Mpofu is a fighter. She is one of a select group of farmers who equate food security with the war against hunger and shun poor agricultural practices which destroy the environment and impoverish farmers, especially women. Mpofu grows ma...

A Djiboutian soldier enters a dark building during a night vision goggle training exercise in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Oct. 10, 2016. The Djiboutian troops prepare for a two-year deployment to Somalia. Photo: Staff Sgt. Benjamin Raughton/U.S. Airforce
A Djiboutian soldier enters a dark building during a night vision goggle training exercise conducted by U.S. Army trainers in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Oct. 10, 2016.  The Djiboutian troops prepare for a two-year deployment to Somalia, as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia’s effort to remove al-Shabaab from the region.  Photo: Staff Sgt. Benjamin Raughton/U.S. Airforce  See larger photo and full story.

In Somalia, U.S. escalates a shadow war

by Mark Mazzetti, Jeffrey Gettleman and Eric Schmitt New York Times October 17, 2016

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified a clandestine war in Somalia over the past year, using Sp...

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
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  • For the past 40 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
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    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.