| MYANMAR: Cyclone survivors struggle with debt burden |
 OUTKWIN, 3 July 2009 (IRIN Asia) - A year ago, Soe Soe was US$20 in debt. Like many survivors of Nargis who lost their homes, she had no choice but to borrow from money lenders to feed her family - often at extortionate interest rates.
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GLOBAL: Rice production high but imports steady |  DAKAR, 3 July 2009 (IRIN Global) - Paddy rice production in Africa is forecast to be 25.6 million tons this year, virtually unchanged from the record harvest of 2008 (link). But despite the projections most countries are also expected to increase rice imports, says the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
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GLOBAL: “Hunger season” neglected |  DAKAR, 3 July 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Most of the world’s 600 million hungry and under-nourished people suffer seasonal hunger rather than effects of conflict or natural disasters, but donors and governments often treat recurring nutritional problems as one-off emergencies and this weakens their response actions.
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SENEGAL: Casamance residents warn of attacks’ impact |  ZIGUINCHOR, 3 July 2009 (IRIN Africa) - In Senegal’s Casamance region one youth remains missing five days after armed men attacked a group of people collecting cashews, one of the region’s main cash crops.
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DRC: Violence forcing North Kivu civilians out of homes |  KINSHASA, 1 July 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Continuing clashes between armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have forced civilians to abandon their homes in North Kivu and affected aid operations, a UN official said.
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GLOBAL: El Niño an early warning for food insecurity |  JOHANNESBURG, 1 July 2009 (IRIN Global) - Rising sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean herald El Niño, which could disrupt the rains in major cereal producing regions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned.
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ZIMBABWE: No winds of change at the Grain Marketing Board |  HARARE, 1 July 2009 (IRIN Africa) - The Zimbabwean government has announced new measures to boost local cereal purchases through its crisis-ridden Grain Marketing Board (GMB), but farmers are not convinced the plan will work.
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AFRICA: Helping small farmers feed a continent |  DAKAR, 1 July 2009 (IRIN Africa) - As an African Union summit on agricultural investments opens in Libya, donors and non-profits are calling participants' attention to the role smallholder farmers – mostly women – can have in feeding their communities.
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SOMALIA: Somaliland in plea for food aid |  HARGEISA, 29 June 2009 (IRIN Africa) - The authorities in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland have urged the international community to come to its aid to avert severe food shortages and hunger due to a prolonged drought in the region.
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KENYA: Tensions over pasture in drought-hit Isiolo, Laikipia |  ISIOLO, 29 June 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Five people were killed and hundreds of families displaced in fighting over pasture land on 27-28 June in Isiolo and Laikipia districts, northern Kenya, aid agencies and local officials have said.
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