Swaziland will assume the chairmanship of the 15 member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa or COMESA at the end of August. We caught up with Swaziland's Minister of Trade, Commerce and Industry, Jabulile Mashwana and asked her about the role Swaziland hopes to play in reforming economic policies within COMESA Read more...
New Cassava Varieties Save Zanzibar's Food Security
25 July 2010, source: nourishingtheplanet URL: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/61531
By: nourishingtheplanet Sunday July 25, 2010 4:00 pm
By Catherine Njuguna
Millions of cassava farmers in eastern and central Africa are in distress from viral cassava diseases that are sweeping across the region and ravaging their crops. But their counterparts on the popular tourist island of Zanzibar are undergoing a quiet revolution using new disease-resistant and high-yielding varieties that were introduced three years ago... Read more...
Agribusiness: Solution to Africa's rural seed demand
25 July 2010, source: Truth About Trade URL: http://www.truthabouttrade.org/news/latest-news/16299-agribusiness-solution-to-africas-rural-seed-demand
KAMPALA, UGANDA - A network of African agribusinesses wants greater support for the development of private entrepreneurship in rural areas. Participants of the first ever Strategic Planning Workshop on Agrodealer Development in Kampala, Uganda recently, raised the need for more training and capacity building in business management, greater access to finance, and higher quality farm inputs, particularly improved seeds, to meet increased farmer demand in support of an Africa-wide effort to transform small-scale agriculture from subsistence to business... Read more...
Improving African agricultural sector is the most promising strategy against food insecurity
25 July 2010, source: Cocorioko Newspaper URL: http://www.cocorioko.net/?p=436
To effectively fight against food crisis that threatens certain regions of Africa, agriculture is perceived today by the major international institutions and African countries as a vital solution. Agricultural development has become the central concern of the continent in the recent years. The idea is to use agriculture as a tool for the continent’s development... Read more...
African Union Summit: Gordon Brown outlines dreams for Africa's growth
Gordon Brown outlines dreams for Africa's growth - The Immediate past British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on Saturday offered a rare praise to African leaders, saying the regular peer review of Africa's leadership was a model for the world."The peer review you have created is something in Africa that is a model in the world," Brown said in a landmark speech greeted by smiles from a dozen African leaders present during the opening session of a NEPAD leaders Summit, which opened ahead of the main African Union Summit on Sunday... Read more...
Kenya launches Agricultural strategy
24 July 2010, source: Capital News URL: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Kenya-launches-Agricultural-strategy-9207.html
BY SIMON NDONG’A and PPS
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 - President Mwai Kibaki officially launched the Kenya Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) and witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme [CAADP] on Saturday.
Following the signing of CAADP, Kenya can now access major funding from the World Bank for Agricultural development in the country... Read more...
Why Africa must harness partnerships
24 July 2010, source: The Citizen URL: http://thecitizen.co.tz/sunday-citizen/43-sunday-citizen-opinion-editorial/3203-why-africa-must-harness-partnerships.html
By Rwakakamba MorrisonThe African Union Private Sector Forum was convened mid this week as a strategic curtain raiser and fodder to the Investors Round Table and the Summit of 53 African Heads of State that is scheduled for today. Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) and African Union Commission (AUC) were the joint conveners of the forum, structured in a kind of fireplace dialogue style to allow freer and deeper business interactions... Read more...
SA, Brazil mull cooperation on aerospace, agriculture, health and energy
By: Keith Campbell
Aerospace, agriculture, health, nuclear energy and shipbuilding were all sectors highlighted for cooperation between South Africa and Brazil during the recent visit to this country by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Few details were, however, released.
Addressing a South Africa-Brazil Business Forum, in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, on July 9, South African Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies reported that the two sides “had some fruitful discussions on cooperation in aerospace”... Read more...
Pohamba to take over SADC chairmanship
23 July 2010, source: New Era URL: http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=12142
Written by Mxolisi Ncube
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 08:11
JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe is one of the African countries expected to participate at the second NEPAD Summit - a special business networking service for the continent, which was introduced last year.This year’s summit, dubbed the “NEPAD Transport and Infrastructure Summit 2010 and Africa Expo”, is slated for October 13-15 in Midrand, north of Johannesburg... Read more...
Imported cattle threaten African livestock diversity and continent's food supply
Posted by Susan MacMillan under Africa, Animal Breeding, Biodiversity,
‘Even though locally-adapted, diversified agriculture and farming is a key component of both food security today and in a warmer more climate-stressed future, the Big Ag trend is still towards less crop diversity and more uniformity... Read more...
Written by Lienette Goosen
Friday, 23 July 2010 10:01
The Namibian Coast Conservation and Management (NACOMA) Project, together with other stakeholders in the Erongo region, will address the biodiversity challenges in Africa with a Coastal Biodiversity Weekend on 30 and 31 July 2010... Read more...
New Organization Links African Agricultural Professionals
Newswise — A new organization will link African agricultural professionals abroad and in Africa together to strengthen the continent’s agricultural and rural development.
The Association of African Agricultural Professionals in the Diaspora, or AAAPD, wants to help transform African smallholder agriculture into an engine of economic growth in the continent... Read more...
Banks, Policymakers and Researchers call for Increased Access to Finances for African Farmers
Ouagadougou — “We should all commit ourselves to mobilising the resources that are required in order for us to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). We need to look very carefully at how we can increase national budgetary and private sector support for our farmers”, said Dr... Read more...
Africa Can Grow Biofuel Crops Without Harming Food, Habitats, Study Shows
Africa can grow biofuel crops on a “significant scale” without damaging food production or natural habitats, researchers said.
A study of biofuel production in Senegal, Mali, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique found enough land is available to “significantly” raise cultivation of sugar cane, sorghum and jatropha for energy production without reducing food output, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, or FARA, said in a statement today... Read more...
Fund to invest in improved seed production
22 July 2010, source URL: http://www.modernghana.com/news/285453/1/fund-to-invest-in-improved-seed-production.html
By: Daniel Nonorimproved seeds The West Africa Agricultural Investment Fund (WAAIF) and Injaro Investments Limited (Injaro) have announced the First Closing of the first ever West African fund focused on investing in indigenous seed production companies. The initial investors in the fund are -The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Lundin for Africa Society, a Vancouver-based foundation... Read more...
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