Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced $14 million in Australian funding for the Sahel humanitarian crisis during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, bringing Australia’s total contribution so far to $44 million.

The Australian Government continues to be concerned about the situation across the Sahel region of West Africa. More than 18 million people are at risk of food insecurity, with more than four million children at risk of malnutrition.

Millions more will go hungry as world struggles to respond to unprecedented food crises and sharply rising prices – Oxfam

PM’s hunger summit welcome & should kick start reforms to end “scandal” of a billion hungry people – “we cannot keep relying on humanitarian agencies to pick up the pieces”

Rising global food prices will force millions more people to go hungry and put massive additional strain on already overstretched humanitarian agencies, Oxfam warned today ahead of this weekend’s global hunger summit in Downing Street.

SYDNEY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a new AUS$25 million contribution to fighting hunger worldwide, announced during the first official visit to Australia by the agency’s Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin.

Save the Children welcomes the announcement by Minister Carr to increase humanitarian aid to the Sahel region of West Africa where 13 million people are at risk of severe hunger.

The announcement lifts the Australian Government’s aid package to humanitarian relief organisations responding to the West Africa food crisis to $20 million, still way short of the $128 million contributed by the Australian Government to help tackle last year’s food crisis on the other side of the continent in the Horn of Africa.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced today that Australia will contribute an additional $16 million in much needed food and emergency medical assistance to respond to two major escalating crises in Africa.

Senator Carr said the money will assist millions of people affected by drought, local conflict, and the collapse of local markets.

"The food crises in West Africa and South Sudan are escalating at an alarming rate," Senator Carr said.

More plantings and neutral weather should support strong output in Asia

Bangkok, Thailand, 04 May 2012 -- The world rice harvest for 2012 is expected to surpass the strong showing of 2011 as the erratic climate conditions caused by the La Nina weather phenomenon dissipate and farmers increase their plantings, according to an initial forecast by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in its Rice Market Monitor released on Friday.

L’Australie s’est engagée à verser une contribution de 270 millions de dollars au Partenariat Mondial pour l’Éducation (PME) pour la période 2012-2015.Ce partenariat offre à des millions d’enfants des pays les plus pauvres de la planète, dont l’Afrique, la possibilité d’être scolarisés.