Africa > Agriculture

Agriculture in Africa

  • Winter Maize Gets Lifeline Tagged in Zimbabwe

    ZIMBABWE, 2015/06/07 Lowveld sugar producer Tongaat Hulett has revived winter maize production in Chiredzi, with 329 hectares instantly under development to plant the staple crop. This is part of efforts to mitigate effects of successive crippling droughts experienced across Masvingo in recent seasons. The move by Tongaat followed a request from Government and the Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial leadership led by secretary for production Cde Josaya Hungwe. At least 1 000 tonnes of maize will be produced under the project, with harvesting of the winter crop expected around September this year.
  • The Gambia Government will continue to support women to increase subsistence crop yields

    GAMBIA, 2015/06/06 The Initial Lady, Her Excellency Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh has assured that The Gambia Government will continue to support women to increase subsistence crop yields to produce surplus for sale through the increased provision of production inputs, implements, labour saving devises, and post-harvest processing to avoid losses. She added that they will as well support women in land development for increased rice production, promote the NERICA seed multiplication project and rehabilitation of vegetable gardens, supporting the establishment of food preservation, processing, storage and distribution inclunding improve divisional transportation networks for wider market access.
  • Agriculture Must Be Treated As a Business in Nigeria

    NIGERIA, 2015/06/06 In order to accelerate the development of Nigeria's agricultural sector and ensure food security, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that agriculture must be treated as a business. The president stated this in Calabar yesterday while declaring open the 55th annual general conference of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). Buhari who was represented by the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals, Alhaji Baba-Umar Farouk, as well advocated the active participation of the private sector towards developing agriculture in Nigeria.
  • Mozambique’s president inaugurates silo complex in Sofala province

    MOZAMBIQUE, 2015/05/14 A complex of silos in the town of Nhamatanda in Sofala province was ceremoniously opened on Tuesday by Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, the Mozambique Commodities Exchange (BMM) reports in a statement. The complex has capacity to store 8,000 tons of maize, beans, soy, sesame and other agricultural products. It cost US$3 million and will be used by producers, associations, unions and farmer cooperatives, and as well by merchants, agricultural processing companies and exchange operators, the document indicates.
  • Burkina Faso: IFC, Société Générale Invest in Burkina Faso's Cotton Sector At a Critical Time

    BURKINA FASO, 2015/05/14 IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Société Générale announced the launch of a €70 million facility to help Burkina Faso's biggest cotton company, SOFITEX, support local farmers and finance the 2014/15 cotton campaign. Signed under IFC's World Warehouse Finance Program, the facility will allow SOFITEX to purchase raw cotton from over 160,000 farmers in Burkina Faso to process and export to international markets. Cotton is the major cash crop in Burkina Faso, which is currently under a transitional government. Shifts in world request and commodity prices make it difficult for cotton companies to fasten finance. Through the facility, IFC, GAFSP and Société Générale will lend to SOFITEX against warehoused commodities, providing the company with liquidity to finance its crop purchases.
  • Forestry in Equatorial Guinea - EG offers huge investment opportunities in the agriculture and forestry sectors

    EQUATORIAL GUINEA, 2015/04/27 COMALI has been 15 years successfully exploiting EG’s forests, and is presently set to go further adding price to EG’s demanded wood. How is the wood sector in Equatorial Guinea? Equatorial Guinea is a welcoming country. We have been here for 15 years. Here you respect people and people respect you. Life is good. Our industry, timber, is fine. It needs some modifications to improve the conditions of forest management and to achieve a higher profit. We need additional ideas, technology and additional training for the people in woodworking. The logs that are left in the forest can be converted into energy. One of the priority areas to be developed by the government is agriculture. You were by presently telling us that there are opportunities to add price to the sector with transformation.
  • Egypt, Saudi Arabia Agree On Increasing Agricultural Investments

    EGYPT, 2015/04/25 Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed on increasing the Saudi investments in Egypt so as to remove the obstacles in front of activating the Arab investments particularly in the field of agriculture. It was as well agreed to form a technical committee to inspect the investment sites and prepare full studies about the soil, water and atmosphere around the year inclunding the uses of the new and renewable energies. These remarks came during discussion session held in Cairo between the Egyptian Agriculture Minister Salah Helal and his Saudi counterpart Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen al Fadhli and his accompanying delegation.
  • Mali's Farmers Count On National Fund to Expand Climate Insurance

    MALI, 2015/04/25 A lack of rain among last season caused Seydou Diarassouba's sorghum crop to fail. Presently the emaciated 43-year old farmer must wait for the next rains, due in late June, to start growing a new crop in his impoverished village of Dialakoroba in southern Mali. Climate-linked agriculture risks like these should be covered by a national fund being set up by Mali's government and due to start operating this year, according to Ibrahima Coulibaly of the CNOP, a federation of Malian farmers' organisations. The fund was initial mooted under Mali's 2005 Agriculture Orientation Law, aimed at improving production and helping small-scale farmers modernise.
  • Is Southern Africa's Agro-Industry Delivering Food Security?

    ZIMBABWE, 2015/03/19 Has the predominance of the agricultural sector in Southern Africa translated into food and nutrition security in the region? Evidently not! Food security remains a major socio-economic and political challenge in the region with some analysts arguing that food insecurity is a new threat to national security. Agriculture is the dominant economic sector in the SADC regional economy contributing up to 35 % to its GDP. Approximately 70 % of the people in Southern Africa depend on agriculture for food, gain and employment while agricultural commodities and produce are the principal exports in a lot of nations, on average contributing approximately 13 % to total export earnings and 66 % to the price of intra-regional trade.
  • Ethiopia's Tiny Secret Going Global

    ETHIOPIA, 2015/03/19 Ethiopia's indigenous grain teff is garnering world interest as a new super food, while Ethiopia's government tries to ensure local prices don't rocket for Ethiopians. Each six days a week an Ethiopian Airlines flight departs Addis Ababa for Washington in the US with a fresh batch of 3,000 injera on board. This pancake-shaped grey spongy bread is a centuries-old Ethiopian staple made from teff, a tiny grain presently making a health food name for itself globally. "For the next this company is planning to distribute Ethiopian traditional food all over the world," said Hailu Tessema, founder of Mama Fresh, Ethiopia's initial large-scale factory producing teff-based products.