Rome, 19 February 2011 - Africa has the land and the people to develop an agricultural system that can provide enough surplus to ensure global food security in decades to come, Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said this morning at the annual meeting of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Annan, a former United Nations Secretary-General,

At a press conference in the Ghanaian capital, the bank said it will put 100 million dollars (78 million euros) into the fund over three years and AGRA will provide a 10-million-dollar loan guarantee fund.

The fund will operate in Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. The interest rates to be paid by the beneficiary

"Investment in agriculture, more than other sectors, provides four times the returns," said Kanayo Nwanze, vice-president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a UN agency working to end rural poverty.

"There are some countries, like Ghana, which have made tremendous progress in the last seven years, and

In Ghana nearly 800,000 people have been affected by torrential rains which have devastated farms and destroyed crops.

At least 17 people have died as a result and the government has declared Ghana's three northern regions a disaster area.

ActionAid is responding to the disaster, distributing food and clothes in the Upper East Region, the area most affected by the floods.

We are also responding in the Northern

Ghana has been hardest hit by torrential rains which have left close to 275,000 people displaced in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions. In the Upper East Region, over 25 people have died and more than 51,000 are internally displaced. Three regions

Some of the most widespread flooding in years has swept across Sub-Saharan Africa, from Ghana, Niger, Mali, and Togo in the west to Ethiopia, Uganda, and Sudan in the east. In the last 24 hours, the International Red Cross (IFRC) has added Burkina Faso to its emergency rolls after 33 deaths were reported and more than 75-hundred homes destroyed in torrential rains. In addition, the UN World Food Program (WFP) is appealing for three-point eight million dollars to feed 470-thousand victims in Mauritania, where saturated supplies

Nairobi, Kenya, September 24, 2007-World Vision is providing relief supplies to countries in Western and Eastern Africa hit hard by the recent torrential rains and flooding. Assessment staff fear the flooded areas could become a breeding ground for waterborne diseases.

"Along with the need to prevent and treat possible disease, immediate needs are for shelter and food, as many houses and crops have been washed away," said Paul Sitnam, World

Four million euros will go to the victims of the floods in Uganda and West Africa, and seven million to Sudan.

Large areas of West and East Africa have been hit by serious flooding and around 300,000 people are affected. Rainfall in the north and east of Uganda has been exceptionally heavy since July. Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso have been hit the hardest by the flooding in West Africa, and some 500,000 people in the region face food shortages

« Au nom de tous les Canadiens, je tiens à exprimer ma sympathie à toutes les personnes dont les vies ont été bouleversées par les inondations, a affirmé le ministre Bernier. Je loue les efforts