Browsing: WFP

Monopolising Africa’s food systems: Is Kenya’s GMOs adoption corporate engineered?

Industry and Trade

Activists and agriculture lobbyist have already protested the move by the government to lift the 10-year ban on GM foods. A joint statement signed by Greenpeace Africa and lobbyist groups argued that, “food security is not just about the amount of food, but the quality and safety. Our cultural and indigenous foods have proved to be safer, with diverse nutrients and with less harmful chemical inputs.”

Lobbyists insist that public participation could have taken place, prior to lifting the ban; and are championing for its reinstatement. Furthermore, they are advocating for an inclusive participatory process to be instituted or a taskforce onboarded, to investigate long-term and sustainable solutions to attain food security.

The move has elicited divergent views across the region. Tanzania is firmly opposed to the use of biotechnology in food production, and considering its proximity to Kenya, has upgraded its vigilance to ensure GM food or cash crops…

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Quenching Africa’s Thirst: Solving the Water Crisis

Investing

In the wake of the ongoing devastating drought that continues to ravage the Horn of Africa at an alarming rate, it is imperative to urgently redress Africa’s perennial water crisis. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that communities in the Horn of Africa are experiencing one of the most severe La Niña-induced droughts leading Kenya and Somalia to declare national emergencies due to poor and unpredictable rainy seasons. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an estimated 13 million people are grappling with a major drought caused by the driest conditions since 1981.

This has been the aftermath of three failed rainy seasons in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia that have led to extreme water shortages, consequently leading to the decimation of crops and livestock deaths, forcing families from their homes and triggering conflict between communities. The root of this deleterious crisis has been climate…

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Elon Musk urges WFP solve world hunger

Investing
  • Elon Musk is ready to sell his Tesla shares if WFP will describe how it will spend it and display accounting reports
  • Nearly 42 million people are face starvation due to various factors including climate change 
  • 2 per cent of Elon Musk’s wealth could help the 42 million people facing hunger

Who would have thought that one man can solve a portion of global hunger?

The old saying, ‘numbers don’t lie’ has somehow shocked the world, as the director of the United Nation’s World Food Programme, David Beasley, recently challenged the world’s wealthiest individuals to ‘’step up now, on a one-time basis’’ and address global hunger.

“US$6 billion could help 42 million people that are going to die if we don’t reach them. It’s not complicated,” he added, as cited by CNN.

It seemed to be a normal statement, by when one of the most influential like Elon Musk, took …

Africa Development Bank Funds Starving Families In Madagascar

Countries

The support of more than 800 tons of critical food supplies comes at a critical time for Madagascar, which is suffering its worst drought in 40 years. Severe hunger has hit southern Madagascar as communities witness an almost total disappearance of food sources, creating a full-blown nutrition emergency. People have had to resort to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves. For the first time ever, pockets of IPC phase 5 or Catastrophe have been recorded signaling deepening hunger.

With each day that passes, more lives are at stake as hunger tightens its grip in southern Madagascar. This is the stark warning from two United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), as they seek to draw international attention to a humanitarian crisis that risks being invisible.

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Africa music industry poised for growth

Industry and Trade

The Afro-pop, Congolese zouk, and the Nigerian melodies, to mention the least have been the pinnacle of entertainment attention and musical success in Africa over the past decade. The ascension of modern technology, especially the decent access to internet services and gadgets has made Africa to be united in Music.

And yet, an array of Africa’s best musical talents is slated to put the region to a rather vital spotlight on Monday 25, 2020, to raise funds for thousands of people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

This means one more, the world will have unmetered access to see how the continent of more than 1 billion people, use music as an aggregator of relief but define the next step towards reopening its $2.5 trillion economies.

The Industry

Africa music industry is undoubtedly growing. Deezer a streaming platform which connects 14 million monthly active users around the world to 56 million …

African Green Resources launches $81 million farming scheme in Zambia

Countries

African Green Resources (AGR) in Zambia launched an $81 million financing programme on Sunday, whereby the company and its partner are slated to provide farm supplies and technology to farmers in exchange for grain

According to information from Reuters, the company chairperson Zuneid Yousuf said in a statement that, AGR plans to invest $150 million in the country, for projects including a 50-megawatt solar farm and irrigation dam, AGR will target 120 commercial farmers and 250,000 small and middle farmers with the new programme to boost food security in Zambia and the surrounding region.

However, the scheme—will cover 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser for wheat and soya farming worth $55 million and $26 million for projects such as the expansion of grain storage silos.

Hence, the scheme will be financed through regional and global banks, with the money repaid from the produce the programme yields

This scheme could be one of …