BULAWAYO, 5 August 2008 (IRIN) - Political violence, routine power cuts and fertiliser shortages are all but putting paid to any chance of Zimbabwe harvesting a winter wheat crop that will ease its chronic food shortages.

Once the bread basket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe has become dependent on donor food in a few short years. A recent UN report estimates that by early 2009 more than 5 million of Zimbabwe's estimated 12 million people will require food assistance, with the winter...

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Johannesburg - South Africans in the suburbs, townships and rural areas should all start producing their own food.

This was the overwhelming message from the Agriculture, Conservation and Environmental Affairs MEC in Gauteng, Khabisi Mosunkutu and the national Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister, Lulu Xingwana.

The two government leaders were speaking at the opening of a two-day Food Summit held in Midrand to help coordinate a comprehensive response to the mounting...

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Japan – The United Nations agencies working to alleviate global hunger have called for decisive action by the Group of Eight (G8) most industrialised countries, currently meeting in Japan, to boost investment in agriculture to help feed the world.

The three Rome-based agencies – the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – pointed out that one of the main causes of the current...

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