Africa agribusiness, a US$1 trillion business by 2030. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 9, 2018/ — As project sponsors, borrowers, lenders and investors gathered at the Africa Investment Forum to make deals on investment opportunities, leaders of the continent’s top agribusiness companies shared their thoughts on the future of the industry. With its vast agricultural potential, Africa’s agribusiness sector is predicted to reach US$1 trillion by 2030. Agribusiness will become the ‘new oil” on the continent, African Investment Forum participants said, fueling the motor of inclusive growth.
“Agriculture is a key priority for the African Development Bank, through our Feed Africa strategy,” said Jennifer Blanke, the African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. Some agribusiness leaders said there is a need to invest US$45 billion per year to harness the power of agriculture and move up the value chain to create jobs and wealth. At present, only US$7 billion is invested in the sector. Only modernised commercial farms will fill Africa's plate, economists warn | Global development. African farming must modernise and replace its ageing workforce if the continent is going to be able to feed its rising population, a report by leading economists has warned.
A transformation from small-scale subsistence farms to mechanised, more commercially viable farms is essential, said experts at the Ghana-based African Centre for Economic Transformation, who outlined a bold plan to revolutionise agriculture and fuel economic growth in a report launched Tuesday at an African finance ministers meeting at the World Bank and backed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. Their recommendations are that governments increase the rights of female farmers and embrace modern technology, such as drones and satellites, and change land tenure systems, if the agricultural sector is going to be transformed to meet the needs of the continent’s population. Ansu insisted that this does not mean large, corporate farms. “This is not just an economic argument.
Aquaculture in sub-Saharan Africa: small successes, bigger prospects? - Forbes Africa - Forbes Africa. If you don’t know what aquaculture is, you’re not alone: a 2009 survey found that a remarkable 85% of South Africans had never even heard the term, and most are still unaware of its importance. The situation hasn’t improved much, more people have heard of it but few actually know what it is. Aquaculture is the aquatic equivalent of agriculture. It involves essentially “growing” animals and plants that live in lakes, rivers or the sea, mostly for human consumption. It has been one of the world’s fastest growing industries in recent decades. In fact, today, you’re more likely to be eating “farmed” fish than fish from the wild. But that is not true in South Africa, yet.
In 2014 the supply of fish for human consumption from aquaculture exceeded that from wild-caught fisheries for the first time. As the supply of fish and seafood through fishing becomes less sustainable, the global challenge is to replace it sustainably through aquaculture. The industry has grown slowly in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa’s wheat challenge | World Grain. March 6, 2017 - by Arvin Donley Dr. Hans-Joachim Braun is one of the 27 renowned scientific and practical experts set to give a lecture at the Global Miller’s Symposium, on the challenges and solutions in the international milling industry. With better suited seed, modern cultivation techniques, an expanding infrastructure and improved economic and political conditions, many African countries may be able to cover their demand for wheat to a large extent by themselves.
This theory is represented by Dr. Hans-Joachim Braun, Global Wheat Program Director at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). At the Global Miller’s Symposium, April 20-21 in Hamburg, Germany, the renowned agricultural expert will show how this vision could become reality. World Grain recently discussed this topic with Dr. World Grain: Mr. World Grain: What are the main points of weakness at the moment? World Grain: How are the climatic conditions in Africa? AfDB To Invest $24bn In 10-year Agric Transformation Plan. The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr Akinwumi Adesina has said the bank through its Feed Africa Strategy, would invest $24 billion over the next 10 years to help drive the agricultural transformation of Africa. This he said is a 400 per cent increase in financing to the agricultural sector by the bank. According to Akinwumi, “The bank’s calculation is that transforming African agriculture will cost approximately $315 billion over 10 years, but will create new markets worth roughly $85 billion per year in incremental revenue by 2025.”
He urged that, for its part, Africa must concentrate on adding value within Africa. “There has to be a shift from the export of raw agricultural products to a more productive and wealth-enhancing strategy, namely the generation and consolidation of value along the agricultural production chains. Africa’s First Postharvest Loss Reduction Innovation Conference and Competition – Food Tank. Farmers, academics, entrepreneurs, and policymakers will gather at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, from March 28 to 31, 2017, for a conference on Reducing Postharvest Food Losses: Sustainable Solutions for Africa.
Organizers of the event expect more than 300 people to convene with hopes to identify practical solutions to reduce food losses and waste in Africa. The conference is the first of its kind on the continent and will provide an excellent platform for all stakeholders in the food supply chain. Attendees will be able to learn, share information, build partnerships, and innovate with others concerned about food waste. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about one-third of food produced globally is lost or wasted along supply chains.
The FAO further reports that food waste is worse in developing countries because 40 percent of food is lost postharvest. The deadline for entry submission is February 17, 2017. Join the Conversation: AfricaRice publie son rapport annuel pour l'année 2015. AfricaRice, un centre de recherche du CGIAR, publie son rapport annuel 2015 sous le titre : « Investing in rice research and innovation for Africa ».
Le rapport de 2015 présente les principales réalisations du Centre, en particulier dans le domaine du développement et de la livraison des produits, et présente d'importantes questions émergentes liées au secteur du riz, notamment la résilience aux changements climatiques, l'amélioration des ressources génétiques du riz et le développement variétal, la réponse aux catastrophes et l'autosuffisance du riz. Le rapport mentionne les faits saillants de la recherche et de l'innovation : la production de riz qui devient plus résistante aux changements climatiques, un modèle de culture optimisant l'utilisation des ressources et le revenu agricole, la garantie de l'avenir grâce aux ressources génétiques, la gestion des tensions sur le riz au profit des agriculteurs africains, la lutte contre les maladies du riz africain, et de nombreux autres.
Africa: A Pivotal Moment for Biofortification. Photo: Fabiola Ortiz/IPS Joane Nkuliye, a rural entrepreneur from Rwanda’s Eastern Province, grows biofortified beans on a commercial scale. By Howarth Bouis Washington DC — This year's World Food Prize pays tribute to biofortification, an intervention that strengthens efforts to address one of the world's most insidious and pervasive public health challenges--hidden hunger.
That is good news for the majority of the two billion people globally who suffer from hidden hunger, and likewise for those fighting to end the epidemic. Hidden hunger is the lack of essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) necessary for a healthy and productive life. According to the World Health Organization, zinc, iron and vitamin A are among the micronutrients most lacking in diets globally. The deficiency in these particular micronutrients can lead to blindness, stunting, mental retardation, learning disabilities, low work capacity, and even premature death. Women and young children are hardest hit.
Can Mars' bid to publish genetic maps of historic African crops boost nutrition? | Global development. A multi-million dollar research group co-founded by the confectionery company Mars is set to publish the genetic maps to five traditional African crops as part of an ambitious project that it says could help end malnutrition on the continent. The project is applying modern biotechnology to African “orphan crops” – including finger millet and the “superfood” moringa – with the goal of breeding new versions that are more productive or more tolerant to drought or disease. It is one of several new initiatives to develop improved varieties of crops that have been grown by small-scale farmers for generations but long-overlooked by international researchers and industry focused on globally traded staples like wheat and maize.
The researchers say they will publish the crops’ genome sequences online for anyone to download for free; they are also training hundreds of African plant breeders on how to use the data. But he stressed they are not a magic bullet. “We’re saying our information is free. Le projet de Grande Muraille verte anti-désertification à mi-parcours : La Revue de l’Afrique. Lutte contre la désertification : La « Grande Muraille verte » à mi-parcours Le projet titanesque de Grande Muraille verte arrive à mi-parcours.
A terme, les 7 775 kilomètres de plantations permettront de freiner la désertification et amélioreront les conditions de vie des populations locales. Du Sénégal, sur la côte Atlantique, jusqu’à Djibouti, sur le Golfe d’Aden, l’édifaication d’une « Grande Muraille verte » va bon train. S’étendant sur 7 775 kilomètres, une rangée d’arbres de 15 kilomètres de large traversera le Sahara pour stopper l’avancée du désert. L’Union africaine avait inauguré officiellement, en 2007, un programme intitulé précisément la « Grande Muraille verte du Sahara et du Sahel ».
Un demi-milliard de personnes impactées Au Sahel, vivent près d’un demi-milliard de personnes, qui luttent chaque jour contre l’aridité galopante et les effets du changement climatique, deux défis à l’obtention et à la pérennité des cultures vivrières. Eyes On 2025: African Union Launches Technical Networks For Agriculture. The experts from organisations implementing programs along the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) were under one roof to launch their role-specific technical networks.
With the motivation of “less talk and more action” the African Union Department of Agriculture and Rural Economy convened a two-day launch sitting in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday and Saturday. These networks, according to Ernest Ruzindana, senior adviser to the commissioner of the Department, HE Rhoda Tumusiime are meant to ease the implementation of the CAADP. “This is a delivery mechanism for what the Heads of State and Governments in Africa agreed on under the CAADP in 2003. They want to see more results and impact in this new decade towards 2025. We believe that the technical networks will be the best machinery to facilitate this,” Ruzindana says.
Ernest Ruzindana, Senior Advisor to the Commissioner A look at the CAADP Augustine Wambo, Head of the CAADP Who will do what? The vital needs. Africa urgently needs to be part of the microbial revolution sweeping through farming. Not too many years ago, global health advocates bemoaned the fact that it took decades for lifesaving vaccines to become widely accessible in poorer countries.
This resulted in the unnecessary deaths of millions of children every year. Today, childhood vaccines are available nearly everywhere as a result of global partnerships between governments, industry and philanthropists. The same is not true of agricultural technologies, which can also be lifesaving. In poor countries, low agricultural productivity and soil degradation are factors driving chronic hunger and malnutrition, and associated sickness and premature death.
Indeed, malnutrition contributes to almost half of all child deaths. The current revolution in agricultural technology that is reshaping Western agriculture has yet to reach poor countries in Africa. Microbial-based solutions are perhaps the best-kept secret among the innovations driving agriculture today. Monsanto and Novozymes created the BioAg Alliance. Kenya : Commodity exchanges bring new hope to Africa’s farmers - The Standard. At the recent African Green Revolution Forum in Nairobi, one of the outstanding take-outs was that Africa may need $400 billion (Sh40 trillion) in investment in food production over the next decade to meet its needs. But while finance is the problem, it is not the solution if we do not reorient its deployment. Many African countries and donor programmes have invested billions of dollars in the development of agriculture, focusing on increasing production and improving farmer yields, but there has been a less than comparative investment in broader market reforms.
Upping production without a corresponding effort to structure the market, and increase its size by creating platforms for farmers to link directly with domestic, regional and international markets, leads to plummeting prices. This truth is known and many models are being financed to address the market failures, from the new fad of outgrower schemes to the fading-in-popularity microfinance projects. Bargaining power. Africa: Irrigation On Rise As Farmers Face Erratic Weather. By Justus Wanzala Interest in irrigation is surging but better women's land rights, access to clean energy, loans and training are needed. Sub-Saharan Africa is seeing a surge of interest in irrigation among small-scale farmers as climate change brings more erratic weather and as rising populations in countries from Nigeria to Kenya mean demand for a reliable harvest is growing, agriculture and water experts say. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) estimates that more than a million hectares of small farms are now irrigated in the region, based on limited government data and satellite images.
In Tanzania, the area of small farms with access to irrigation has risen from just 33,500 hectares in 2010 to about 150,000 today, institute figures show. "Small-holder farmers' irrigation is a climate resilience option," said Dawit Mekonnen, an IFPRI researcher based in Ethiopia. "Women are more disadvantaged because they lack control over assets," Barron said.
The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) AGRA Plans to Invest $500 Million in African Seed Companies. TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa plans to invest $500 million over five years to help agricultural companies and governments on the continent produce seeds. The organization, founded in 2006 through a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has already invested $100 million in seed companies since 2006, said Joseph DeVries, its chief of agricultural transformation.
AGRA will start using the additional funds in January, he said. “We help them as angel investors during the first years,” he said in an interview Wednesday in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The companies that the organization has helped produced 125,000 metric tons of seeds in 2015 across 18 nations and include Maslaha Seed in Nigeria, Meru Agro-Tours & Consultants Co. in Tanzania, Dryland Seed Ltd. in Kenya and Naseco Seeds in Uganda.
Yields Double. Africa may need $400bn to boost agriculture | IOL. Agriculture investment yields growth and nutrition gains for Africa - Pan African Visions. Les 5 pays africains qui cèdent le plus leurs terres aux investisseurs étrangers, selon Thinking Africa. The African Tree That Could Help Replace Palm Oil. Africa: New Era Beckons With Implementation of Illegal Fishing Treaty. Afrique, Augmentation du rendement agricole. L'agriculture bio sous les tropiques rapporterait 63% plus | Commodafrica. La production agricole en Afrique augmenterait davantage qu'en Asie ces 10 prochaines années | Commodafrica. La production agricole en Afrique augmenterait davantage qu'en Asie ces 10 prochaines années | Commodafrica.
Feed Africa- Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa 2016-2025. Agriculture : une 2e révolution verte en Afrique? A little pest causes a big problem for Africa's tomato farmers. ‘The world will look to Africa for food security in future’ Agribusiness Can Transform Africa's Farming - KT PRESS. Scientists discover a 700-year-old farming practice in West Africa that could help global climate change and food insecurity — Quartz. L'agriculture va peser 1000 Milliards d'ici 2030 REUSSIR BUSINESS - actualités - économiques - sénégal. High Demand for Beef, Poultry Meat and Eggs in Africa Creates Opportunities. L’Afrique subsaharienne consommera plus de blé que l’Afrique du nord dès 2025 (Rabobank) Le potentiel de hausse de la demande en blé sera en Afrique subsaharienne d’ici à 2025 | Commodafrica. Chaque année, l’Afrique injecte 15 milliards $ dans les importations de blé. IRIN | Blé africain — comment satisfaire les consommateurs et les producteurs ? FAO Study Identifies Small Fish With a Big Role to Play Feeding Africa’s Drylands.
OPINION: Why our stereotypes of African agriculture are all wrong. Spot TV ACORD sur le PDDAA. ONE Ripe for Change report EN. Africa: Group to Improve Africa's Chicken Production. Africa: 'Africa Feeding Africa' - New Mega Initiative to Transform Agriculture in Africa. Africa: 'Africa Feeding Africa' - New Mega Initiative to Transform Agriculture in Africa. Africa: Innovations Boost Income for Women Rice Farmers. FNB News - Outlook of cashew Industry in Africa | FNB News. Sowing the Seeds of a Farm Boom in Africa. Africa's Key Food Crops Threatened, Says Study. Africa: Too Many Boats Are Chasing Too Few Fish. Africa: Climate Change Impact On Food Will Go Beyond Production. Farming the Sahara. African Poultry Wrap: Africa Starts to Protect Poultry Markets, Boost Local Producers. Agriculture Investment in Africa: Top Countries to Focus on.
More African countries approve GM crop trials. Agriculture: Africa’s New Gold Mine. Cos must explore Africa for producing pulses, oilseed: Govt. Budgetary constraints impede Africa’s agricultural development. New seed varieties not reaching Africa's small farmers, study says. Drought-Stricken Africa Takes A New Look At GMOs. Regional agriculture stalls, food imports rise – who’s to blame? ‘Will Africa Feed China?’, by Deborah Brautigam. African Poultry Wrap: Africa's Poultry Industry Poised for Growth. Africa: Want to Cut Down On Meat but Can't Face Cold Turkey? Try 'Reducetarianism' African Cotton to Be Exported Duty, Quota-Free. L’Afrique : puissance agricole virtuelle. Vers la création d'une banque de vaccins de bétail en Afrique du Nord.
Structured commodities markets can help unlock Africa’s agricultural potential Soil wealth: Africa’s potential next growth frontier. Africa seeks agricultural transformation. L’okok et le Riz de Tonga bientôt labélisés | Business News 2015-11-05. L'Afrique, futur grenier de la francophonie? Agricultural transformation begins to take shape in Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo. New continental programme eyes boosting African seed sector - new Business Ethiopia (nBE) Brown Revolution - Conservation Agriculture Research & Resources. Africa's Agricultural Potential Begins On the Ground - allAfrica.com. The African Breadbasket by Paul Kagame and K.Y. Amoako.
Africa's agriculture needs young blood, says report. African govts vow to slash spend on food imports.