Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | A German state-owned bank has found itself at the centre of a battle in the Democratic Republic of Congo over agricultural land dating back to the Belgian colonial period, AFP learned Monday. Representatives from nine communities in the DRC last week called on DEG …
Read More »COMMENT: Say no to agricultural gene drives
Africans are now confronting a new and serious threat to our land, biodiversity, rights, and food supply COMMENT | MARIANN BASSEY-OROVWUJE | First, the agribusiness giants came to take our land and disrupt our food systems with synthetic pesticides, fertilisers, proprietary seeds, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Now, these firms’ hired …
Read More »Sudan lifts Egypt produce ban as Sisi visits Khartoum
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday lifted a 17-month long ban on agricultural imports from Egypt, during an official visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Khartoum. “I signed today a decision cancelling the ban on imports of Egyptian products,” Bashir told reporters after …
Read More »Agriculture: digital tools supporting rural farmers
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Experts in agriculture and information technology want farming communities to be supported through digital tools such as phones as a mechanism of encouraging them not to leave agriculture. The tools such as phones are popularly being used as avenues to facilitate communication and payments to …
Read More »Commercial agriculture is the key to wealth, says Museveni
Kyotera, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has re-echoed the need for Ugandans to change their mindset and carry out commercialized agriculture so as to increase their household income and become wealthy. The President was addressing the nation during the 56th Independence Day celebrations held at Kasasa …
Read More »Agric shifts fertiliser, seed distribution from RAB
Kampala, Uganda | STEPHEN NUWAGIRA | Rwanda’s agriculture ministry is changing the process of seed and fertiliser distribution, according to the Minister of State minister for Agriculture, Fulgence Nsengiyumva. Nsengiyumva said Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), which has hitherto been central in the process, will no longer be directly involved, leaving the …
Read More »West African states in joint fight against root crop ‘Ebola’
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop “Ebola” — a viral disease that could wreck the region’s staple food and condemn millions to hunger. Their enemy: cassava brown …
Read More »2018/19 budget: Rwanda invest more in Agriculture
Rwanda invest more in Agriculture Targets making sector climate resilient, more productive Kampala, Uganda | FRANCIS BYARUHANGA | Rwanda has again increased its budget allocation to agriculture sector and edged closer to meeting the Maputo and Malabo declarations which require member states of the African Union to allocate at least 10% of …
Read More »Africa struggles for weapons against armyworm curse
Kisumu, Kenya | AFP | On farms across Africa, a seemingly innocuous brown and beige caterpillar is waging a silent war, devastating rural incomes and posing a major threat to the continent’s food supply. In just two years, the so-called fall armyworm has colonised three-quarters of Africa, according to the …
Read More »Mozambique cracks open its cashews to boost the economy
Nampula, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique is going nuts about cashews, and they’re boosting the economy’s health. The country’s cashew nut industry, one of the world’s biggest, was dealt a body blow first by the 1977-1992 civil war and then by a controversial World Bank assistance package. Now, the government …
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