U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa

Tel: +27 11 880 4633
Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 351
22 - 28 September 2007


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Cutting-edge farming methods boost production
ZIMBABWE: Shopping sprees increase tension with the country's
   neighbours
AFRICA: Food production to halve by 2020
MALAWI: Civil society attacks decision to close parliament
SWAZILAND: Foetuses in a stream highlight plight of women


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Cutting-edge farming methods boost production

While increasingly grim forecasts predict agricultural declines in 
southern Africa due to climate change, a farming method called 
Conservation Agriculture (CA) is showing promise for subsistence farmers 
already struggling with poor food security.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, and an increasing number of 
non-governmental organisations and regional governments have started 
promoting CA as an answer to years of conventional farming methods that 
have left vast areas of soil utterly depleted.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74478


ZIMBABWE: Shopping sprees increase tension with the country's neighbours

Some of South Africa's working class are blaming the increasing prices 
of basic commodities on shopping sprees by Zimbabweans, rather than the 
local single-digit but rising inflation rate.

There is little doubt that Zimbabwe's misfortunes - where inflation is 
above 6,000 percent and there are shortages of almost everything, 
including fuel, electricity, potable water, medicines and basic 
commodities - are a boon for South African shop owners.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74447


AFRICA: Food production to halve by 2020

Food security in Africa is likely to be "severely compromised" by 
climate change, with production expected to halve by 2020, according to 
climate change experts.

The projections are contained in a report launched last week in London 
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was followed by 
an experts' panel discussion. About 25 percent of Africa's population - 
nearly 200 million people - do not have easy access to water; that 
figure is expected to jump by another 50 million by 2020 and more than 
double by the 2050s, according to the report.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74481


MALAWI: Civil society attacks decision to close parliament

President Bingu wa Mutharika has earned the ire of civil society for not 
keeping his end of the bargain to discuss floor crossing, a tactic that 
has strengthened his political arm, now that parliament has approved the 
national budget.

Mutharika's decision to prorogue parliament soon after the budget was 
passed was seen as an attempt to stem any move by the opposition, who 
hold the majority of seats in the 193-seat house, to force the Speaker 
to table the issue of floor crossing.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74502


SWAZILAND: Foetuses in a stream highlight plight of women

The discovery of about eighty foetuses in a stream used by a peri-urban 
community in Swaziland has raised disturbing questions about the 
desperation of women in a country where unwanted pregnancies are common, 
abortion is illegal and two-thirds of the population live in poverty.

The first small corpse was found on Tuesday in a stream at Logoba, a 
community on the outskirts of the Matsapha Industrial Estate outside 
Manzini. The remaining foetuses were discovered by police, who continued 
searching the water and surrounding area. Logoba residents made a sweep 
of their informal shantytown and small farms nearby and evicted sex 
workers, who were accused of being responsible for the aborted fetuses.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74505


ZIMBABWE: Rural commuters are going nowhere

HARARE, 27 September 2007 (IRIN) - Rural commuters in Zimbabwe cannot 
catch a bus to their nearest clinic or shop anymore as the spiralling 
economic decline forces many transport operators to shut down their 
services in the countryside.

Erratic fuel supplies, caused by the lack of foreign exchange to import 
it in adequate quantities, had also forced operators to reduce the 
number of buses plying rural routes, leaving villagers unable to access 
health services, schools and even grocery stores.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74527


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