Four farmers whose farmlands were washed away by the flood that has ravaged Nigeria's central Kogi state, among other states, have committed suicide, the local media reported Monday. The reports quoted President Goodluck Jonathan as making the revelation during a tour of the camps for those displaced by the flood in his home state of Bayelsa.

Countries where people lack adequate access to land rights, water and energy - are among the worst performers in the annual Global Hunger Index (GHI). 'We find there is a definite correlation between these resources and food insecurity,' said Claudia Ringler, a co-author of this year’s GHI study, which was produced jointly by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the NGOs Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

Questions are being raised about how Tanzania’s plentiful mining sector will be affected by a potential gold rush from Canadian extractive companies, after the two countries concluded a foreign investment agreement. Jamie Kneen, a spokesperson for Mining Watch Canada who deals with Canadian companies operating in Africa, said the agreement is mostly just 'a political gesture'. Some of the explorations are happening in fragile ecosystems, including a wetland area and a game reserve, he argued, and local community groups are already beginning to voice concerns.

A Sunday Times report has said that government planned to pump partially treated acid mine drainage (AMD) into the Vaal River. Earlier, the weekly reported that underground pumps would be used to pipe water from the central basin - underneath Johannesburg - into a treatment plant where it would be partially cleaned, or neutralised. This water would then be released into the Vaal, diluted with clean water from the Lesotho Highlands Project to minimise the harmful impact.

Africa can ensure food security by producing wheat. New research presented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this week shows that the continent has the potential to be self-sufficient. The demand for wheat is growing faster than for any other crop, according to statistics of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Researchers are looking into the possibility of making Africa a major wheat producer, as the continent is the biggest wheat importer worldwide. It is expected that this year alone, Africa will spend 12 billion dollars on importing 40 million tonnes of wheat.

The vast majority of pirate vessels illegally fishing off Sierra Leone are accredited to export their catches to Europe, an environmentalist group says. A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation says West Africa has the highest levels of illegal fishing in the world. Its says pirate fishermen fish inside exclusion zones, attack local fisherman and refuse to pay fines.

Insurgents said they shelled the main city in Sudan's oil-producing South Kordofan state near the border with South Sudan on Wednesday 10 October, the second time that week. Sudan's army has been battling SPLM-North insurgents in the state since June last year, shortly before South Sudan seceded from Sudan, but the South Kordofan capital Kadugli has been mostly isolated from the fighting.

Despite ongoing concerns from Egypt and Sudan over Ethiopia’s ambitious Renaissance Dam project along the Blue Nile River, the Nile Tripartite Committee is in the country to study the impacts the dam will have along the country’s Nile River. The International Panel of Experts (IPoE), consists of six experts from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, and another four international experts. The experts committee, so far in its study has hinted that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will have no negative impact to down stream countries; Egypt and Sudan. However, its final findings and recommendations on the impacts of the controversial project will be submitted to the governments of the three countries in less than 9 months.

Oil and gas are likely to play an ever more prominent role in Ghana’s fast-growing economy following new discoveries both in the Jubilee field and the Tano Basin. Italian giant Eni, made a major discovery last month in the offshore Cape Three Points block, some 50 kilometres from the coast. Eni is continuing to drill other wells to confirm the feasibility of commercial development, but the production test revealed that this new well is capable of producing about 5,000 high quality barrels of oil per day (bpd).

Anglo-Dutch oil and gas super major, Shell, will appear in a Dutch court to account for damage it caused in Nigeria. This is the first time in history, an European company is appearing in a Dutch court. Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) made this known to AkanimoReports in an online statement.

The extraction of the much needed water from a large underground aquifer in northern Namibia may need to wait for further studies, officials have warned at a water investment conference. The aquifer, discovered in July, may contain enough water to sustain about one million people living in the area for 400 years at the current consumption rate, as well as boost development through irrigation in this poor, heavily overgrazed area where women and children walk for hours to get fresh water from boreholes.

Cameroonians are burning increasing amounts of charcoal for cooking and heating as the country’s electricity and gas supplies fail to keep pace with demand, raising concerns among environmentalists about growing deforestation and carbon emissions in the country. At local markets in Yaounde, the country’s capital, sales of charcoal are booming. The trade is especially attractive to young people who are jumping at a rare employment opportunity, and even older traders are now changing their wares.

Nigeria's attorney general said the country would not appeal an international ruling that handed the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon ten years ago, despite calls from the Senate to re-open the dispute. Nigeria gave up Bakassi in 2008 after years of political disputes, legal skirmishes and violence that killed dozens of people and nearly pushed the two nations into war. Its decision not to pursue a legal challenge was an attempt to avoid a new diplomatic row over the disputed territory.

In May 2012, Olam International announced a REDD project for 'sustainable forest management' in the Republic of Congo. The project is a public-private partnership between Olam International’s subsidiary CIB (Congolaise Industrielle des Bois) and the Government of the Republic of Congo. The little information that is available about this proposed REDD project sets off just about all the REDD alarm bells, says this post from Olam International is notorious for its involvement in illegal logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2007, the World Bank’s private sector arm the International Finance Corporation sold its shares in Olam International. Greenpeace described Olam International as a 'Congo-trashing company'.

Oil and gas discovers in East Africa have re-ignited long-standing territorial disputes in areas believed to possess significant petroleum deposits. This week, Malawi announced it would take Tanzania to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, over the disputed ownership of Lake Malawi, known in Tanzania as Lake Nyasa. Tanzania claims that colonial era treaties between Great Britain and Germany demarcated the border down the middle of the lake but since independence Malawi has claimed sovereignty over the whole of its northern reaches.

Cameroon has received heavy rain and flooding during the past year. Some experts attribute the unusual weather to climate change, while others point to poor management of dams, reports Global Press Institute.

Malawi has reacted angrily to sightings of a Tanzanian motor boat on lake Malawi and the release of a new map of Tanzania that claims part of the lake. Malawi president Joyce Banda announced that Malawi will pull out of the talks with Tanzania as Tanzania has failed to respect the route of dialogue that Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete had assured her at a meeting in Mozambique earlier this year.

Oil has turned post-war Angola into one of the world's fastest growing economies and Cabinda, which produces a daily average of 500,000 barrels, is the source of nearly a third of its very lucrative export. But for all the liquid gold and associated development, Cabinda remains one of the most under-developed regions in Angola.

Ethiopia has announced plans to lease 100,000 hectares of land both to local and foreign investors, despite recent reports that foreign investors were grabbing large chunks of land. The Ethiopian Ministry of Agricultures said details on the leases will be provided in this year's budget. The ministry indicated that it had prepared large fertile tracts of land in Gambella, Benshangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Amhara states to be offered to investors.

While some parts of Africa are reporting floods this year, others are suffering for lack of water. Lake Chilwa in Malawi supports 70,000 families who depend on it for fish and water. But over the last two years the lake has been shrinking. Read this Farm Radio Weekly article about what effect this is having on fishers and farmers like Oscar Wemba and Yohane Chikosa and their families.