With vast arable lands, why is Africa dependent on imported grain?

Despite having vast amounts of arable land, nutritious indigenous crops and a booming agricultural sector, Africa still imports most of its grain. The Russian army’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and the ripple effects of Western sanctions against Moscow have raised international food and fuel prices, leaving millions of Africans facing an “unprecedented food emergency” this year, the World Food […]
Afghanistan: FAO appeals to urgently save rural livelihoods

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today called for urgent assistance to help save Afghanistan’s next wheat harvest, keep life-sustaining farm animals alive, and avoid a deterioration of the country’s already severe humanitarian crises. FAO is seeking $36 million to speed up its support to Afghan […]
COVID-19 imperils ‘historic advances’ in children’s access to school meals: UN report

According to WFP’s report, State of School Feeding Worldwide, 370 million children in 199 countries and territories were suddenly deprived of school meals, when schools closed due to the pandemic. That meal was for many their only nutritious food of the day. David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, highlighted the importance of what’s been lost: “That one meal a day […]
COVID-19: UN agencies warn against rising hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean

The number of people in Latin America and the Caribbean living in extreme poverty could surpass 83 million this year due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a significant rise in hunger, according to a UN report released on 16 June 2020 on Preventing the COVID-19 crisis from becoming a food crisis: Urgent […]