Benguet provincial agriculturist Lolita Bentrez Friday said despite the hot summer weather, local farmers have maintained a daily harvest average of more than 2,000 metric tons of vegetables and root crops.

What is commonly regarded as farm waste is yielding huge income for banana farmers in this town. Banana stalk, or in particular the pseudostem, is a good source of silk grade fiber, which currently has a huge demand in Japan as high as five tons per month. "Since we have steady income as banana fruit contract growers, we disregard the use of its trunk [pseudostem] and just allow it to rot in our plantation," said Avito Magdalaga, chair of Marsman Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (MARBCo). Elmer Degorio, municipal agriculture officer said they had long been convin

By Sylvia Westall and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - YDBWith croissants, baguettes and bagels spilling off metal trolleys at the bakery where Mohammed Alif works in central Cairo, food is not scarce, but profits certainly are. The Egyptian pound has lost more than 8 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since the end of December as concern deepens about the state of the economy, which is being undermined by political instability and rioting.