Browsing: Africa Continental Free Trade Area

• 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 …

Ghana hosts the 17th Meeting of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Negotiating Forum which began on Tuesday this week at the Accra International Conference Centre.

An official statement, issued by Ghana’s Public Relations Office of the Ministry of Trade said the three-day meeting would be followed by the 10th meeting of the Committee of Senior Trade Officials which will begin from December 12 to 13, 2019. While the African Ministers of Trade Meeting and the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Meeting will follow from December 14 to 15, 2019.

According to the statement, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Negotiating Forum will seek to finalise outstanding works on the first phase negotiations which deal with the trade in goods and services protocols and dispute settlement mechanisms.

The meeting will also see the establishment of technical Working Groups on investments, competition policy and intellectual property rights.

AfCFTA is a …

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has initiated Kenya Quality Award (KQA), a scheme aimed at promoting and entrenching a quality culture amongst Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya.

This comes in the wake of increased efforts to improve the quality of local products to meet international standards, which will help Kenyans manufacturers and producers increase Kenyan exports to foreign markets.

The move is also as a strategy to prepare local businesses to tap into the Africa Continental Free Trade Area which is slowly taking shape.

READ:What Africa stand to gain from ACFTA

Designed to recognize MSMEs striving to produce quality product and which already have a valid Standardization Mark of Quality (SMark), the KQA programme will additionally assist MSMEs to initiate, develop and implement quality management systems to a status of certification.

Speaking during the KQA launch ceremony, Kebs acting managing director Lt. Col. (Rtd). Bernard …