ABIDJAN, March 21 (Reuters) - Rising demand for cashew nuts has fuelled smuggling from Ivory Coast to Ghana and other countries, damaging the quality of exports from the world's top producer, farmers and exporters said on Tuesday.

LONDON/ABIDJAN, March 21 (Reuters) - West Africa's push to increase cocoa production risks backfiring as a global glut leaves farmers desperate to find buyers while their products perish.

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibia's president said Tuesday that the government is considering radical land expropriation to spur the transfer of property to the country's black majority.

NYASHANA, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Tanzanian widow Ruth Zacharia raised her right arm to protect her skull from a volley of machete blows, her three attackers sliced through her hand.

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 6,000 migrants have been rescued on the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy in the last few days, as greater numbers take to the sea in warmer weather, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's new prime minister named a 26-strong cabinet on Tuesday, including a former foreign affairs chief as finance minister and a BBC journalist as the country's top diplomat.

BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - The head of anti-piracy operations in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia said he had been fired for speaking out about illegal fishing, which he claims could trigger a new outbreak of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Passengers on some U.S.-bound foreign airline flights will have to check electronic devices larger than a cell phone once U.S. authorities formalize a new ban in response to an unspecified terrorism threat, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 26 people died from hunger in the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region of southern Somalia in just a day an a half, federal government radio said on its website.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hollywood actor Ben Stiller has teamed up with social media stars to raise $2 million for people facing starvation in Somalia amid a devastating drought.

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Higher temperatures and more erratic rainfall caused by climate change threaten to cut harvests in the poorest and hungriest region of Uganda that already depends heavily on food handouts, a study showed on Monday.

* Awarded a contract by Eni Ghana E&P Limited (a subsidiary of Eni, GNPC and Vitol), for onshore part of OCTP development of Sankofa field

* TechnipFMC has been awarded a contract by ENI Ghana E&P Limited (a subsidiary of ENI, GNPC and Vitol), for the onshore part of the OCTP development of the Sankofa field, offshore Ghana.

The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Tuesday. - - - - - EVENTS: NIGERIA - The central bank sets lending rates. A Reuters poll showed markets expect the benchmark rate to be unchanged. GLOBAL MARKETS Asian shares hit 15-month highs on Tuesday while the dollar and U.S. bond yields were on the back foot on the prospect of a less-hawkish Federal Reserve policy trajectory.