News stories by Busani Bafana, page 17

LUANDA, Sep 03 (IPS) - Slums are a curse and blessing in fast urbanising Africa. They have challenged Africa's progress towards better living and working spaces but they also provide shelter for the swelling populations seeking a life in cities.

LUPANE, Zimbabwe, Jun 03 (IPS) - Seventy-seven-year-old Grace Ngwenya has an eye for detail. You will never catch her squinting as she effortlessly weaves ilala palm fronds into beautiful baskets.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Jan 29 (IPS) - With agriculture as one of the drivers of economic growth, Zimbabwe needs to invest in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who keep the country fed, experts say.

NTUNGAMO DISTRICT, Uganda, Jan 13 (IPS) - A report published last month by the Montpellier Panel - an eminent group of agriculture, ecology and trade experts from Africa and Europe - says about 65 percent of Africa's arable land is too damaged to sustain viable food production.

MARRAKECH, Oct 16 (IPS) - Africa has the capacity to access at least 200 billion dollars for sustainable development investment but it will remain a slave to foreign aid unless it improves the climate for investment and trade and plugs illicit financial flows, development experts say.

CHIMOIO, Mozambique, Sep 25 (IPS) - Eherculano Thomas Rice, is pleased to have harvested 40 bags of white maize from his eight-hectare field in Chimoio, in Mozambique's Manica Province. But he knows that his productivity and yield would be higher if he had been able to afford to buy fertiliser to add to his crop.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Apr 25 (IPS) - There is urgent need to increase the proportion of climate finance for adaptation in Africa by increasing public sector budgets for agriculture and exploring partnerships with the private sector.

BULAWAYO, Feb 11 (IPS) - Matthew Jacobs* has been married for two years but his wife doesn't know that he is also in a relationship with someone else. If his secret were discovered, it could result in him ending up in jail. His crime? Being in a same-sex relationship.

MASOPANE, South Africa, Jan 27 (IPS) - On a family farm tucked between the rolling hills of Masopane, 40 km outside of South Africa's capital, Pretoria, 35-year-old Sophie Mabhena is dreaming big about her crop of genetically modified (GM) maize.

ACCRA, Ghana, Jan 02 (IPS) - For the few plant breeders in Africa like Vivian Oduro, working for an international research institution is an obvious choice, with prestige and benefits any agricultural scientist would find hard to decline.