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- New $900,000 initiative aims to boost sustainable trade in Tanzania
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- Family planning drive in Kenya gets 450,000 self-injectable contraceptive doses from UK
- AfDB commits $2 billion to revolutionise clean cooking in Africa, save forests
- The harsh realities of family laws for African women revealed
- Kenyan home buyers shift preferences, seek affordable housing despite market downturn
Agribusiness
- Expensive loans remain a significant issue across populations engaged in agriculture in Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia.
- A report by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) says capital injection is a significant strategy agribusinesses use to survive.
- Moreover, agribusinesses face high operational costs from fuel prices and low-profit margins driven by currency devaluations.
The lack of agriculture-friendly financial systems saw agribusinesses turn down expensive loan options in the market, with only 15 per cent taking on commercial capital in 2023 and the rest sourcing capital from friends, family and their business savings.
The incentives by the government channelled towards agriculture failed to adequately cushion Agribusinesses from economic shocks, a new report by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has revealed.
The African Agribusiness Outlook survey is conducted annually to gain insights into the sector’s top priorities, how they address challenges, and what SMEs see as opportunities.
A reflection …
- Sustainable agriculture employs 65-70 percent of Africa’s labour force.
- Only two to three percent of African renewable water resources are usable compared to the 5 percent worldwide.
- In 2019 a report revealed that Africa produced more than 50 percent of the world’s cassava.
A severe drought has left millions of people in Africa dependent on grain from Ukraine, a country at war with Russia, yet a number of crops that could support more climate-resilient and healthful food systems in sub-Saharan Africa continue to receive limited attention.
Across Africa, cassava, sugarcane and maize stand out for supporting millions of families in governments’ quest to maintain food security
Sustainable agriculture is one of the highlights that support Africa’s economic development. For decades these cash crops in Africa have accounted for almost 20 percent of the entire continent’s revenue. It has further advanced and introduced concepts such as agritech, significantly teaching better farming …
- Limited internet access is inhibiting the uptake of agricultural innovations across Africa.
- While Agriculture remains the backbone of Africa’s economy, farmers in rural areas are yet to benefit from the innovative solutions designed to increase productivity within the sector.
- Innovative solutions are the key to boosting employment and increasing youth participation in the agricultural sector.
Limited internet access is inhibiting the uptake of agricultural innovations across Africa. This is according to Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda’s Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.
Speaking at the sidelines of the two-day Africa-Korea Agtech Innovation Summit held in Nairobi, Hon. Tumwebaze, said, “While Agriculture remains the backbone of Africa’s economy, farmers in rural areas are yet to benefit from the innovative solutions designed to increase productivity within the sector.”
The Uganda Minister emphasized the role of Governments’ investment in internet penetration across Africa’s rural areas. This will aid in adoption of …
Just days after Somalia announced that her diplomatic relations with Kenya had resumed, the bad blood between the two neighbors seem not to be ending any time soon.
Somalia had restored diplomatic relations with Kenya on Thursday after five months following mediation by Qatar led by Emir Sheikh Tamim Al Thani.
Somalia’s Ministry of Information said they were resuming the relations “in keeping with the interests of good neighbourliness”.
Acknowledging the development, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs ministry said it looks forward to further normalisation of relations by the Somali authorities.
However, Kenya on Monday suspended flights from Somalia in the latest show that relations between the two sides have not thawed as announced.
A Notice to Airmen (Notam) on Monday indicated that flights departing for or arriving from Somalia will not be allowed for three months from May 11 to August 9 this year. Only humanitarian deliveries and medical evacuation flights …
Nigeria has made a move to stop the rejection of the country’s crops by other nations.
The move is being spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), government agencies and private firms.
The plan was announced in a statement that was issued at the end of a one day workshop.
that was organized by Harvest field industries Limited and IITA.
The workshop was aimed at sharing results of aflatoxin levels in maize sampled nationwide under the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme 2020 Wet Season Project.
The plan to stop the rejection of crops produced in Nigeria follows the adoption of appropriate technologies for the reduction of aflatoxin in crops, food, feeds and livestock which is expected to help achieve zero rejection of commodities exported from Nigeria.
Also Read: Investors to pump $8.4billion into Nigeria’s economy
The one-day workshop in Abuja …
The report further notes that smallholder farmers across Africa are looking to science to boost farm productivity and to tackle emerging threats, partiuclarly with regards to climate change and pandemics as demonstrated by Covid-19. Gender and diversity in agricultural research are crucial to create and implement effective solutions to these critical issues and contribute to broader development goals.
Less than a quarter of agricultural researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa are women and only 14 per cent of those in leadership positions in agricultural research are women, according to 2017 research commissioned by AWARD. Furthermore, women account for less than 16 per cent of the research labour force in agricultural sciences in francophone African countries.…
The number and size of desert locust swarms in Ethiopia and Kenya has decreased significantly between January and March this year. While this is indicative that good progress has been achieved, particularly in Kenya where swarms are no longer arriving from the north, the FAO still cautions that the situation in northern Somalia is still dire, given that the swarms and hopper bands invasion are still persistent.
This is according to an analysis by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which also states that the decline is as a result of sustained control operations and delayed locust breeding due to limited rainfall. …
Kenya’s exports of cut-flower ornamentals to the United Kingdom could be subject to additional tariffs by the end of this year if the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is not ratified. The Kenyan parliament has refused to ratify it citing certain clauses that have raised concerns from some stakeholders. A section of parliamentarians consider that the EPA, having been adapted from that of the East African Community (EAC) and the European Union (EU), should be ratified with other member states doing the same.
The Kenya-UK trade deal worth £1.4 billion signed on December 8, 2020 provides Kenyan businesses duty-free access to the UK market. Meanwhile, Kenya will start phasing out duty and quota barriers on a set number of UK products 12 years after the EPA has come into force.
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Before the onset of Covid-19, women farmers were already grappling with challenges ranging from access to financing, poor bargaining power as well as the climate crisis.
Women are now bearing the brunt of rising hunger due to Covid-19 as they skip meals so that their children can eat and face rising levels of gender-based violence. This is according to a report by ActionAid. …
