Author: Giza Mdoe

• The AfDB and ECOWAS have signed a $11.78 million grant to boost rice production across West Africa, aiming to reduce the region’s reliance on costly imports and enhance food security.
• The five-year REWARD-ECOWAS project will support policy reforms, input regulation, and digital monitoring to strengthen regional rice value chains.
• This initiative aligns with broader strategies to increase agricultural productivity and build resilience against global market shocks.

Commercial rice production is at the centre of the African Development Bank’s renewed push for food security in Africa, following the signing of a $11.78 million financing agreement with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission.

The agreement includes a $11.78 million grant from AfDB to bolster rice production across West Africa. ECOWAS will co-finance the initiative with $1.18 million, underlining the region’s shared goal of reducing reliance on costly rice imports.

“Increases in rice production will help ensure food security and …

• U.S. President Donald Trump reversed his controversial tariff policy after intense pressure from Republicans, business leaders, and a tanking bond market.
• The tariffs had triggered global financial turmoil, job losses, and sharp stock declines before Trump finally admitted the need for flexibility.
• Though the markets rebounded after the pause, the episode exposed the impulsive and chaotic nature of the policy’s creation and execution.

Trump tariffs took a dramatic turn this week, as President Donald Trump reversed course under a storm of pressure from Republican allies, business leaders, and even close confidants—all warning that his hardline trade stance was steering the U.S. toward economic disaster.

News outlet, CNN, in a report titled “Inside Trump’s tariff retreat: How fears of a bond market catastrophe convinced Trump to hit the pause button,” revealed that the president ultimately yielded to market realities and bipartisan concern.

A sudden turnaround under

• Tanzania is intensifying efforts to shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture by tripling its agriculture budget and investing in new grain storage infrastructure.
• Recently, President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched the construction of 28 rural warehouses and announced plans to boost national grain storage capacity to 3 million tonnes by 2030 to address food insecurity and reduce post-harvest losses.
• With an anticipated bumper maize harvest, Tanzania is also engaging regional trade opportunities while tightening export restrictions to protect local farmers and stabilize prices.

Tanzania has reiterated its commitment to transitioning from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. To achieve this ambitious goal, the country is scaling up its agricultural industry and is already anticipating a bumper harvest this season.

In line with this vision, Tanzania has significantly increased the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture. Notably, the ministry’s budget has tripled over the past three years—from 460 billion shillings (US$172 million) in …

• Precision Air, a Tanzanian airline, faces severe financial crisis, including a $26 million UK lawsuit over unpaid aircraft leases, government refusal for a bailout, and investor Kenya Airways reconsidering its stake.
• The airline is technically insolvent, with liabilities exceeding assets, massive losses, and struggles to repay debts, mirroring broader challenges in Africa’s aviation sector.
• Despite CEO optimism about recovery strategies, including cost-cutting and fleet upgrades, the airline’s future remains uncertain amid industry-wide turbulence and skeptical investors.

After years of reported financial problems, Tanzania’s Precision Air is now facing legal action in the UK with reports indicating that the Tanzanian government has rejected a bailout plea, and its key investor, Kenya Airways, is reconsidering its stake.

According to Global Trade Review, Export Development Canada (EDC)—a Canadian export credit agency—is suing Precision Air in the UK High Court over an unsettled debt of nearly $26 million from an aircraft financing agreement. The …

• Availability of mobile phones, internet increasing agriculture digitization.
• Smallholder farmers still lag in adapting digital solutions in farming.
• Policymakers urged to prioritize digitalization  interventions for smallholder farmers.

Across Africa, a new era of agriculture is unfolding, driven by the rise of farming AI (artificial intelligence)—a powerful tool that promises to revolutionize food production and meet the demands of a growing population. Increasingly, farming Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ‘future present’ of agriculture development as rising number of smallholder farmers in Africa adopt various digital solutions to increase productivity.

In a recent research that looked into rural farmers’ experiences and attitudes toward digital tools and services in Africa, the findings show that the trend is less than promising, comparatively speaking.

“We like to look at how the adoption and application of digital services, and digital solutions directly and/or indirectly to agricultural processes and how farmers are fairing, if at all,” explains …

• Promoting global governance reform top agenda in BRICS 2025 summit.
• Dedollarizing global trade remains key BRICS focus.
• Brazil to host BRICS annual summit in July.

The 2025 BRICS annual summit will be held in Brazil, the trade bloc has announced. “This year, the BRICS summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro on July 6-7,” the Brazilian government said in a press statement last week.

According to the statement, Brazil will chair the bloc of developing economies through 2025 and it’s top priority will be promoting global governance reform. It will do this by promoting cooperation among Global South countries, says the statement issued by the federal government.

“We will make crucial decisions for development, cooperation, and improving the lives of all the inhabitants of these countries,” said Mauro Vieira, Brazil’s Foreign Minister in the statement.

BRICS is viewed as the counterbalance bloc against the Group of Seven leading industrialized …

• Dedollarization has more than economic ramifications.
• China, Russia are slowly dropping dollar in their trade payments.
• To counter the wave, US President Donald Trump has threatened 100% tariffs on all BRICS countries.

Dedollarization, the use of other currencies instead of the dollar for international trade, is gaining popularity among BRICS countries (and others), effectively undermining the dollar and threatening US global influence.

Dollarization: How the dollar came into power

Has the dollar always been the currency for global trade? The answer is a simple yet affirmative no.

It is the World Wars (and very forward thinking lobbyists) that propagated the dollar into its current dominant position above other currencies.

In 1944, the eve of the end of World War two, the Bretton Woods Agreement was signed paving the way for US dollar dominance in the post-war international monetary order.

“The agreement instituted a system of fixed exchange rates, where most …

• Critical minerals are vital for the green energy transition.
• The DRC is the world’s largest miner of critical minerals.
• DRC appeals to US to mine critical minerals and help stop rebel insurgency.

Critical minerals are defining the green energy transition and the DRC is the world’s largest producer. Critical minerals copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and others including rare earth elements, such as lanthanum and yttrium are vital for the green energy transition.

These minerals and metals are essential for emerging technologies powering electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and mobile phones among other modern digital devices and machines.

“The country Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently the world’s largest supplier of cobalt which has defence and aerospace applications as well as being essential for batteries in electric vehicles,” states Cobalt Institute’s factsheet titled “Powering the Green Economy.”

The report points out that most of the critical minerals mined in …

• By harnessing DRC’s vast cobalt reserves and Zambia’s copper wealth, a new joint project aims to create jobs, cut emissions, and position Africa as epicenter of green mobility.
• The DRC-Zambia transboundary Special Economic Zone is set to produce nickel, manganese and cobalt battery precursors.
• A BloombergNEF study established that the project was technically feasible and financially viable, at a cost of $2.7Bn.

In a continent where competition and conflict often overshadows collaboration, two neighbouring nations are defying the odds—and history itself. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, who share a border fraught with regional tensions, are joining forces in an audacious gamble: turning a potential conflict zone into the hub of Africa’s green energy push.

At first glance, the partnership seems improbable. Eastern DRC remains a flashpoint, with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels clashing with Kinshasa’s forces. Yet, just south of the turmoil, the two nations are pioneering a transboundary …

• AfDB calls for increased financing for smallholder farmers in Africa.
• Agriculture Ministers back AfDB call for smallholder farmers’ financing.
• Less than 20% of African smallholder farmers use improved seeds.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is betting big on Africa’s smallholder farmers—but will this historic financial push be enough to break the cycle of rural poverty? The bank has unveiled plans for a $500 million risk-sharing facility – designated to unlock upto $10 billion in financing for small-scale farmers and agribusinesses across the continent.

Speaking at the High-Level Conference on Scaling Finance for Smallholder Farmers in Nairobi, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina revealed that the bank is in final discussions with its Board of Directors to launch the initiative.

If approved, it could mark a turning point for millions of farmers trapped in subsistence agriculture—but skepticism remains. Will this funding reach those who need it most, or will bureaucracy and mismanagement …