The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Tuesday that it is broadening its commitment to agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by signing a memorandum of understanding with a Brazilian government agency and providing a $2.5 million grant to the Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace, developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) to promote development in Africa through agricultural innovation. Read More...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today that the United States will contribute another $17 million for humanitarian relief from famine in the Horn of Africa, but called for continued support for the Obama administration’s “Feed the Future” initiative, which aids long-term agricultural development in the region. Read More...

United Nations officials and world agricultural leaders plan to help the Horn of Africa with its drought through a twin-track program of food aid and agricultural development, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. food agencies Ertharin Cousin said today. Read More...

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which this week declared a state of famine in two regions of southern Somalia, is convening an emergency ministerial-level meeting on Monday to address deteriorating drought conditions in the Horn of Africa and several other regions in the world. Read More...

The Obama administration’s “Feed the Future” initiative should focus more on fighting corruption and the rule of law in Africa, said a former Republican Agriculture Department official and lobbyist who now heads the Global Harvest Initiative. Read More...

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Agriculture Department today signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to explore ways to help smallholder farmers in Africa through coordinated research, exchanges, training and development activities. Read More...