Spells of drought in southern African this year have hit agricultural output and hurt economic growth in countries such as Zambia and Angola, underscoring the lingering importance of farming to the

Zambia has agreed to a $50 million loan from the World Bank for water projects including the construction of small dams to help moderate damage from drought and floods in the southern African natio

Zimbabwe faces its worst food shortages in four years following a drought and poor harvest, the U.N.

More than 6 million people across Angola, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe are at risk of severe food shortages because of repeated cycles of drought and flooding, the global humanitarian body IFRC sai

Zimbabwe has lost a total of 190 elephants due to water shortage this year, according to wildlife authorities.

New Delhi A week ahead of the next meeting of the WHO framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC), the tobacco farmers world over have sought representation in the meeting scheduled for discussing the issue of shifting to alternative crop because of health hazards due to rising tobacco consumption.

Articles 17 and 18 of FCTC, which India is a signatory, deal with provisions related to taking up of alternative crop by tobacco growers and environmental impact of tobacco crop.

New Delhi Over 1.7 lakh farmers from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, who grow the lucrative Flue Cure Virginia (FCV), have asked for representation in the upcoming WHO framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC) in South Korea during November 12-17.

FCV is the finest quality of tobacco used in cigarettes. Only health ministry officials have been invited to the FCTC meeting that seeks to reduce tobacco crop size across the globe. India, being signatory to the WHO FCTC, has committed to reduce the crop size so that a large chunk of agricultural land used for tobacco production could be used for grain production.