African Agriculture

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2012-11-04T16:57:00.001Z

1. Have Indian farm investors bitten off more than they can chew in Africa? 2. Film maker shocked by Cameroon banana plantation work conditions 3. Contradiction between climate change findings and crop cultivation recommendations to Africa 4. Uganda 2012 cotton output almost doubles over 2011 5. Liberian president 'aware' of land grabbing complaints 6. Southern Africa region's

Have Indian farm investors bitten off more than they can chew in Africa?

2012-11-04T16:48:00.003Z

That's the question Aman Sethi asks in one of the surprisingly few articles that asks how the wave of farmland investors from India into countries like Ethiopia have fared. Most of what usually comes to light are the public relations-type announcements of the millions of dollars one or another company is said to be investing into a country. There is usually little or no explanatory detail behind

Film maker shocked by Cameroon banana plantation work conditions

2012-11-04T16:48:00.000Z

A British film maker is shocked and disturbed to find pregnant women among Cameroonian workers exposed to toxic chemicals in the handling of bananas for export to the UK.Jan Nimmo said, “The women were unfolding blue bags which are used to protect bananas from pests. The bags are coated with a chemical called chlorpyrifos which can cause numbness, weight loss, birth defects, loss of libido,

Contradiction between climate change findings and crop cultivation recommendations to Africa

2012-11-04T16:47:00.001Z

There are now many studies which suggest that rising temperatures and reduced rainfall will make the farming of many African staples more difficult. So there is nothing particularly new or surprising about a new CGIAR study that says yields of maize, wheat and rice may significantly decrease as a result of climate change. Among other things, the study says that in Africa maize output may

Uganda 2012 cotton output almost doubles over 2011 yield

2012-11-04T16:47:00.000Z

Uganda produced 254,036 bales of cotton in the 2011/12 season, compared to 147,000 bales in 2010/2011. Production of one of the country's most important cash crops began to go down with the decline of world prices in the 1980s. Instability in the northern Ugandan cotton-growing areas also had an effect. With peace restored, this has contributed to the recovery of the cotton sector. New Vision

Liberian president 'aware' of land grabbing complaints

2012-11-04T16:46:00.003Z

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is generally treated as democratic hero who has brought a measure of stability and the beginnings of post-war development to her country. In 2011, just before an election that won her a second term, she was the joint recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize. But her tenure has gradually been dogged by controversy, including charges of nepotism after she appointed

Southern Africa region's cereal deficit

2012-11-04T16:46:00.002Z

by Irene !Hoaës The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region recorded a drop of about 7 percent in cereal production from 33.81 million tonnes in 2011 to 31.47 million tonnes in 2012. However, according to a brief of the SADC agricultural desk issued in August, this is slightly up by 2 percent compared to the past five-year average (2007–2011) cereal production. Most countries, at

South African president's land reform proposal widely criticized

2012-11-04T16:46:00.001Z

South African president Jacob Zuma has recently proposed new ideas to transfer more land from the country's white minority to its black majority. He proposes localizing land reform to district level, and suggests giving white commercial farmers "the option of assisting (land) transfer to black farmers." The president's proposal has been met with widespread derision, with one critic dubbing it '

South African sugar producers expand into Mozambique

2012-10-24T05:31:00.002Z

Tariff rebates by the European Union on Mozambican products are one reason South African companies producers are finding it attractive to grow and process sugar cane in that country. Lower labor costs and a growing local sugar demand are other reasons.THe South African CEO of major sugar producer Tongaat Hulett says, "Sugar production in Mozambique is expected to grow by 30% over the next three

Virus-resistant gene-modified cassava developed

2012-10-24T05:24:00.002Z

A Swiss team has developed a strain of cassava resistant to cassava mosaic disease and cassava brown streak virus.The gene-modification technology involved to accomplish is being shared with laboratories in several African countries. It is hoped that this 'localization' of the techniques will help to overcome some of the resistance that many African countries have shown to gene modification. It

Kenya expects record maize harvest in 2012

2012-10-24T05:24:00.000Z

Kenya is expecting to harvest a record 38 million 90kg bags of maize in the current season despite the devastating effects of a disease that has destroyed thousands of hectares of the crop. “General maize production has gone up from 30 million bags. We expect 38 million bags. Demand is 38--39 million,” said an agriculture ministry official. Coastweek

The campaign against GMOs, biotechnology is based on misinformation and fear

2012-10-24T05:23:00.002Z

Everybody seems to come to the debate with their minds already made up one way or the other, but the discussion for or against GMOs is as heated and passionate as it ever was. Alex Berezow gives his reasons and examples of why he feels "the world must embrace GMOs." Among his points: * gene modification of rice to produce more beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor) will save the eyesight of many

South Africa's Land Bank to reduce lending rates

2012-10-24T05:23:00.000Z

South Africa's agriculture minister announced in mid October that the country's Land Bank would extend a special loan interest rate of the prime lending rate minus 5% to both small scale and large scale farmers. more...Business Day

As Kenya officially accepts GM technology, anti-GM activists shift focus to mandatory labeling

2012-10-16T22:20:00.007Z

Kenya made big headlines in mid 2011 when the the government made it legal to import gene-modified maize. Many were surprised by the development but shouldn't have been. It was the culmination of several years of behind the scenes work at several levels to bring Kenya into the GM fold. In the next few years it is expected that the local cultivation of a number of GM crops, euphemistically said to

South Africa to require labeling of GM foods

2012-10-16T22:20:00.004Z

In the African countries where GM foods are a discussion topic at all, it is usually whether it is 'good' or 'bad' to allow their importation/use/cultivation. In South Africa, GM crops have been a fact of life for years. South African anti-GM activists accept that the toothpaste cannot be put back in its tube. The African Centre for Biosafety has therefore been fighting a long battle for at

Japanese tobacco company to source from Zambian farmers

2012-10-16T22:20:00.002Z

Japan Tobacco Inc. has signed a contract to source the leaf from 7,000 Zambian farmers. The company has had a presence as a buyer of Zambian tobacco for some years. Zambia Daily Mail

Agri-value chain certification schemes may not quite deliver what they suggest

2012-10-16T22:20:00.001Z

Certification schemes have in recent years been very successful at creating a niche for themselves in the value chains for various products. Amongst the best known are the ISO, Globalgap, the Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and various 'organic' certification schemes. Each promises to deliver various socio-economic standards for the cultivating and sourcing of raw materials to producers,

An example of blended agro-ecological and conventional farming: growing maize with 'fertilizer trees' and reduced inorganic fertilizer

2012-10-16T22:19:00.004Z

Nitrogen-fixing 'fertilizer trees' have long been used by farmers in farming-difficult areas such as parts of the Sahel. Rainfall is poor, the soils are often sandy and infertile, and yet there are several varieties of acacia and other nitrogen-fixing trees which do well there. That these trees benefit other crops growing under or between them has long been known. What is perhaps fairly new in

Zimbabwe farmers' group calls for acceptance of gene-modified seed

2012-10-16T22:18:00.003Z

The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union has called on the government to drop its long-held opposition to GM seed and cultivation in order ' to increase agricultural output.'Despite the government's opposition, many maize and soya bean products imported from neighbouring South Africa are on ZImbabwe's store shelves. A significant proportion of those crops grown in South Africa are of the GM variety.

Small holder farmers in East Africa innovate climate change-coping strategies

2012-10-16T22:17:00.001Z

Sometimes the news coverage about climate change and agriculture gives the impression that farmers are sitting around waiting for 'experts' at various conferences to come and show them how to cope with rapid changes in climate. But the fact is that constant adaptation to all sorts of variables is an integral part of farming. This is confirmed by a study analyzing changing farming practices in

Zambian farmers complain of late payments for maize sales to grain reserve body

2012-10-11T23:50:00.003Z

The 2012/13 rain/cropping season in Zambia is just beginning, and some maize farmers complain that they are yet to be paid by the Food Reserve Agency for deliveries of last season's harvest. Vice President Guy Scott has apologised and appealed to small scale farmers to remain calm, saying government was working on speeding up the payment process to farmers who supplied their maize to the FRA.

Indebted Nambian grape farm faces liquidation

2012-10-11T23:50:00.002Z

Among other debtors it presently can't pay, Komsberg Farming owes the Agricultural Bank of Namibia N$133 milliion (US$15 million). Komsberg Farming grows grapes and dates for export on a 33,000 hectares estate. The company was placed under provisional liquidation in July after it was found to be “factually and commercially insolvent.”The company disputes the amount owing to Agribank, and pleads

World Bank rejects call to halt land deals

2012-10-11T23:49:00.004Z

The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries. “We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report,” the bank stated in an unusually lengthy public rebuttal to the Oxfam Report.

Increased use of pesticides to raise health, environmental costs: UN

2012-10-11T23:49:00.003Z

Rising pesticide use in Africa is causing elevated levels of related illnesses which could cause as much as $90 billion to deal with in the fifteen year period between 2005 and 2020, according to the United Nations UN Environment Programme (UNEP.) ...the increasing production of chemicals, especially in emerging economies where there are weaker safeguards, is damaging the environment and

Flood waters wash away crops in Nigeria

2012-10-11T23:49:00.001Z

Floods described as the the worst in several decades have caused devastation in large parts of Nigeria, including the submerging of crops across wide areas, causing fears of a food crisis. Up to 24 of the country's 36 states are reported to have experienced severe flooding. Chairman of Bayelsa State Cassava Growers Association, Mr. Ekiye Akainza described this as a disaster year. Many