News stories by Busani Bafana, page 20

Picking spots for cattle to graze could reverse desertification and even do its bit to retard climate change, new experiments in Zimbabwe have shown. It’s what is coming to be called the Brown Revolution.

Using hybridisation and selective breeding, researchers in Nigeria have developed three new yellow varieties of cassava, a staple crop in much of Africa, which they say will help fight malnutrition caused by vitamin A deficiency in the region.

Zambian dairy farmer, Effatah Jele, does not believe in farming luck but in pragmatism because of climate change.

The Southern Africa Development Community wants water to be tabled as a standalone item on climate change negotiations — describing it as too important to leave on the periphery.

Toxic water from derelict gold and uranium mines has reportedly destroyed Elize Strydom's dream to be a farmer in her retirement.

While Africa has successfully avoided conflict over shared water courses, it will need greater diplomacy to keep the peace as new research warns that climate change will have an effect on food productivity.

For many months now, a hosepipe connected to a leaking cistern in Isaac Mooi's outside toilet daily pours an estimated 100 litres of wasted water into the aged sewer system of the Emfuleni Municipality, in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg.

With effective political and economic policies, Africa can be a haven for multinational companies (MNCs) even in the continent's least developed countries.

Earth mounds running across her field hold back the water that Caroline Ndlovu uses to grow maize, pumpkins, beans and watermelons long after the short rainy season in this arid part of Zimbabwe.

Allocating just one percent of GDP to social protection could make a massive difference to the lives of the continent’s poorest children.