News stories by Busani Bafana, page 11

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Apr 30 (IPS) - In Rwanda, Benimana Uwera Gilberthe, a scholar and pepper producer, experienced first-hand the challenges of breaking into agribusiness.

While in Nigeria, Ayoola Adewale is trying to understand if poultry egg farming will prove a profitable and viable business opportunity to the youth of the continent's most populous nation. Also in Nigeria, Esther Alleluyanatha is understanding the link between young people leaving their villages for larger cities, the remittances they send home, and the implications on rural livelihoods and agriculture productivity.

IBADAN, Nigeria, Mar 18 (IPS) - With the increasing domestic and regional demand for diversified and processed food, there is a high opportunity to develop the agrifood business in Africa as well as a need to create opportunities to nurture agripreneurship among the continent's growing ranks of unemployed youth."

BULAWAYO, Feb 14 (IPS) - It produces 70 percent of the world's cocoa and yet Africa has very little hand in making the final product - chocolate. But one producer in Sao Tome and Principe is on a drive to become a global brand for African chocolate.

A premium chocolate maker in São Tomé and Príncipe is on a drive to promote the taste for "made in Africa" chocolate, and tap into a $100 billion global indulgence associated with Valentine's Day.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 11 (IPS) - Leading scientist and director general of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), NTERANYA SANGINGA, speaks to IPS correspondent Busani Bafana about how the institute is leveraging its successful research to push for greater investment in agricultural research.

Africa needs to invest in agriculture by putting more resources into innovative research and development that can boost food and nutritional security, according to leading scientist, Nteranya Sanginga.

BULAWAYO, Jan 16 (IPS) - Zimbabwe needs urgent economic and political reforms to transform its economy amidst a growing national crisis, researchers say in a new study that urges swift policy changes and a sound financial framework to attract investment.

IBADAN, Nigeria, Jan 09 (IPS) - Africa will starve or survive on expensive food imports because it is not growing new farmers, research shows. And the challenge remains among researchers, policy makers, public and private sector actors to get African youth interested in agriculture on a continent where a growing number of people go to bed hungry every night.

MILAN, Italy, Dec 04 (IPS) - Local knowledge systems rooted in traditional practices and culture passed down generations provide sustainable solutions to food and nutritional insecurity on the back of climate change, a conference heard this week.

MILAN, Italy, Dec 03 (IPS) - Global food systems are ripe for transformation if people are to be nourished and the planet sustainable, says Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur of the Right to Food of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Dec 02 (IPS) - A start-up in Zimbabwe is producing high nutrition foods using biofortified crops in a bid to fight micronutrient deficiency.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) leads to night blindness, illness and death from childhood infections. In Zimbabwe, 36 percent of children under five years of age suffer from Vitamin A deficiency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

MILAN, Italy, Dec 02 (IPS) - Inter Press Service (IPS) journalist Busani Bafana sat down with Busi Maziya-Dixon, a Senior Food and Nutrition Scientist at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) ahead of the 10th International Forum on Food and Nutrition.

Maziya-Dixon warns there is no country which will achieve economic development with an undernourished population.

More than 2 billion people in the world are suffering from malnutrition. This is the result of diets lacking essential micronutrients such as vitamins, iron and zinc, which are vital for the body to function, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).