News stories by Busani Bafana, page 13

BULAWAYO, Feb 27 (IPS) - When Lawrence Afere told his parents he was going into farming rather than getting a job in Nigeria's lucrative oil and gas sector, they swore he was bewitched.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 20 (IPS) - In 1992, replanting her father's ruined coffee farm seemed foolhardy at the time. But in retrospect it was the best business decision that Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, an international development consultant and broadcast journalist, could have made.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 18 (IPS) - The island state of Jamaica is vulnerable to climate change which has in turn threatened both its economy and food production. But the Caribbean nation is taking the threat seriously and it has constructed a robust policy framework to support national climate action, particularly when it comes to promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA).

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 11 (IPS) - Six years ago while wondering how best to use her engineering skills, Tanzanian ICT entrepreneur Rose Funja decided to enter an innovation competition. Years later she has turned a digital idea into a viable business that helps smallholder farmers across the East African nation access credit.   

WAGENINGEN, the Netherlands, Dec 22 (IPS) - Women entrepreneurs are playing an important role in transforming global food security for economic growth, but they have to work twice as hard as men to succeed in agribusiness.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Dec 19 (IPS) - The changing climate and extreme weather events are affecting agricultural productivity in Africa to such an extent that a panel of experts are urging governments to prioritise and invest in irrigation to ensure food security.

NAIROBI, Nov 28 (IPS) - Africa risks being the worst plastic-polluted place on earth within three decades overtaking Asia, says a continental network calling for African contributions to solving the growing threat of marine waste.

NAIROBI, Nov 26 (IPS) - Fish will soon be off the menu, unless global leaders strike a deal ending multi-billion dollar harmful fisheries subsidies blamed for threatening world fish stocks and widening the inequitable use of marine resources.

WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands, Nov 08 (IPS) - At every conference she has attended on the youth, Nawsheen Hosenally has been frustrated to hear that agriculture is not ‘cool’. The 29-year-old graduate in agricultural extension and information systems knew she wanted to do something to redeem the image of agriculture among young people.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Oct 15 (IPS) - In Africa, over 640 million people – almost double the population of United States – have no access to electricity, with many relying on dirty sources of energy sources for heating, cooking and lighting.

While not offering a solution to the electricity gap in Africa, Brian Kakembo Galabuzi, a Ugandan economics student, can offer a cleaner and cheaper solution.