Fatima goes orange

After unsuccessful spell at the Big Brother Africa season 8, The Chase, Fatima Nkata has decided to join mainstream politics with one destiny, the orange house of People’s Party. 

It was Malawi’s Vice president Khumbo Kachali who introduced her to President Joyce Banda t a political rally in Lilongwe.

Obasanjo may mediate Lake Nyasa dispute

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo could be angling for a
mediation role in the Lake Nyasa border conflict between Tanzania and
Malawi. Mr Obasanjo is reported to have gone to Lilongwe in early June
to meet President Joyce Banda.

According to the latest issue of the influential Africa Energy
Intelligence Report, talks between Joyce Banda and Mr Obasanjo were
dominated by the Lake Nyasa dispute. The newsletter said the former
president, who ruled Nigeria between 1976 and 1979 and between 1999
and 2007, also intended to visit President Jakaya Kikwete before the
end of July to secure a diplomatic solution.

Sierra Leone land grabs increase poverty and food shortages, says new report

The rush for farmland by foreign investors engaged in industrial-scale plantation agriculture in Sierra Leone has increased poverty and food shortages among communities who have lost their access to land, new research shows.
 

An estimated fifth of the country’s arable land has been leased since 2009 to industrial farming concerns, many of them foreign companies producing biofuels from crops such as oil palm and sugar cane. 

Sierra Leone land grabs increase poverty and food shortages, says new report

The rush for farmland by foreign investors engaged in industrial-scale plantation agriculture in Sierra Leone has increased poverty and food shortages among communities who have lost their access to land, new research shows.

An estimated fifth of the country’s arable land has been leased since 2009 to industrial farming concerns, many of them foreign companies producing biofuels from crops such as oil palm and sugar cane.

New book by land-grab expert shows how african deals can benefit both investors and affected communities

The time is ripe for a new approach to the large-scale land deals that ultimately connect millions of consumers and savers in rich nations with millions of poor rural farmers in Africa, says a new book by one of the world’s leading experts in such deals.  

Zed Books will launch “The Great African Land Grab?” by Dr Lorenzo Cotula, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, on 15 July in London.

Chibwana remarks on one party rule dangerous-British High Commissioner

The British High Commissioner to Malawi Michael Nevin has described  remarks made by the People’s Party (PP) Secretary General Henry Chibwana as dangerous to the future of this country.

Nevin made the remarks in Lilongwe during the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting organized by the Youth Consultative Forum (YCF).

African health ministers agree to tackle unsafe abortion

Health ministers from several African countries have vowed to tackle the high number of deaths of women due to unsafe and crude abortion by among other efforts, expanding the provision of safe abortion services.

The commitment was made by ministers of health and gender and senior government officials from Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia at a regional meeting of ministers on unsafe abortion and maternal mortality in Africa.

22 PP members join DPP

Over 22 Peoples Party (PP) officials and members from the Central Region have defected to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Some of the top officials include Frazer Chulu who was Central Province Secretary, Regional Treasure Lloyd Issa and Alex Sakala who was a member in the party’s main Board.

The members were officially received at DPP’s central region headquarters at a function which was presided over by the party’s president Peter Arthur Mutharika.

Feeding the World: Why we must do more than just increase yields

A new paper published today by the journal Science argues that to ensure sustainable food supplies for the Earth’s growing population, policymakers must focus on more than just food production.

The paper urges a rethink of the increasingly popular policy goal of “sustainable intensification”, which aims to produce more food per unit area in ways that exert less pressure on the environment.