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Scientists at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Rice Research and Extension Center seek to develop rice that is more resilient in the face of climate change and usable water depletion. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station scientists Nick Bateman, associate professor and extension entomologist, and Stan De Guzman, assistant professor and rice breeder, have…
By Charles Dhewa Answering the above question is at the centre of a campaign being implemented by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in more than 13 African countries including Zimbabwe. Dubbed My Food is Africa, the campaign started in 2022 with baseline surveys to understand local people’s perceptions of African food. In…
Genome editing is one of the new and emerging technologies that falls under the biotechnology umbrella, the application of which can potentially enhance the agricultural sector through improved crop resistance to pests and adverse environmental conditions, a senior government official has said. Professor Fanuel Tagwira, the Permant Secretary for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary…
By Josep Borrell 24 February 2022 will forever be recalled as the day when Russia started its brutal, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine. This was and remains a case of pure aggression and a clear-cut breach of the UN Charter. This war is neither ‘just a European issue’, nor is it about the ‘West…
The regional conference bringing African leaders together in Zimbabwe for the first FAO regional workshop on National Water Roadmaps is meant to proffer solutions to the challenges of water availability and access. In his address read on his behalf by Dr. Anxious Masuku, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, President Emmerson…
The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill currently being debated is intended to reform the mining laws in the country and comes with joy among stakeholders since the process has been envisaged with minimum success and over a long period with attempts to amend the Bill in 2007 and 2018. Addressing delegates at the Key Stakeholder…
By Charles Dhewa Besides the loss of autonomy and exposure to external shocks, countries that are obsessed with foreign currency tend to marginalize the majority of citizens from participating in socio-economic development. Ideally, development should be seen in the well-being of local people. It is through investment in data collection and analyses that policymakers can…
By Charles Dhewa Across the world, bankers and financial institutions are succeeding in turning “financial inclusion” and “financial literacy” into buzzwords. However, what is not emphasized enough is the fact that finance is just a catalyst because money is not a stand-alone ingredient. In fact, it is business literacy that gives more meaning to finance…
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is of the view that diversity, not false solutions, is the key to achieving food sovereignty on the African continent. Below, is the AFSA statement on the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s Dakar 2 Food Summit: As 34 heads of state and 70 ministers return home after three…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal: The government of Botswana secured a deal from the African Development Bank to develop a special agro-processing industrial zone for beef. This was revealed by the president of the African Development Bank Dr. Akwinumi Adesina, on the margins of the second Dakar Summit on feed Africa, in Senegal last week….
A handover of vehicles to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development by the European Union (EU) under the Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Services (ZAKIS) project will bridge mobility gaps in the sector. In his speech, read today by Chief Director for Irrigation for the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water…
By Nhau Mangirazi There is a need for Hurungwe agro-business to help health facilities facing challenges. United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean philanthropist Gratiano Paul Mhunduru called on locals to help out in a small way as it makes a difference. He said this when he handed over 140 blankets, 140 sheets, and 3 BP checking machines to Hurungwe…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal The African Development Bank, in partnership with the government of Canada, is geared at financing agricultural small and medium enterprises, in the quest to feed Africa. The initiative was launched on the margins of the Dakar Second Summit on Food in Africa, which was held in Dakar, Senegal, last week….
By Charles Dhewa That Climate Change and Food Sovereignty are defining issues of our time is no longer debatable. It follows wherever elections are done across the world, from local councilor to President, leaders should be voted on the basis of their plans to tackle climate change and food sovereignty. It is good that climate…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal: Heavy debt burdens following the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, unrest and conflicts in Africa, rising food prices, and the war in Ukraine have added more to Africa’s food insecurity. The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever with more than one in five Africans; a record 278 million people…
Climate change is making it harder to grow enough nutritious food, but a unique programme is training African scientists in harnessing cutting-edge breeding tools to adapt agriculture to new threats. The African Plant Breeding Academy, a programme for top plant breeders to upgrade their skills in advanced crop breeding, is training 11 doctorate-level scientists from…
The African Development Bank Group will commit $10 billion over the next five years to boost Africa’s efforts to end hunger and become a primary food provider for itself and the rest of the world. Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, announced Wednesday at the Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit in Diamniadio, east of the…
Carbon offsetting is a popular strategy for individuals and companies looking to offset their carbon footprint and mitigate the effects of climate change. One way to do this is through planting forests or trees. While this approach has its benefits, it also has its drawbacks Forest carbon offsets and REDD+ can help reduce deforestation and…
By Charles Dhewa Food hand-outs and free inputs have been over-used to address poverty and food insecurity in most developing countries, yet providing a ready market for existing commodities could be a better solution. In communities where local food like indigenous chickens, goats, sheep, small grains, and wild fruits like baobab are major socio-economic drivers,…
By Charles Dhewa A very important step in decolonizing African food systems is re-defining and contextualizing the meaning of a gene bank. The conventional scientific notion of a gene bank[1] as a type of bio-repository that preserves genetic material ignores the socio-cultural dimension of genetic material. For instance, scientific gene banks for plants are built through vitro storage, freezing…
Nestlé has unveiled the Nescafé́ Plan 2030 to help drive regenerative agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve farmer livelihoods. Every year, Nescafé supports around 100,000 coffee farmers and buys more than 800,000 metric tons of green coffee – that’s more than 13 million bags from more than 20 countries. This carefully measured feat would…
By Charles Dhewa Decolonizing public procurement by governments and development organizations will improve consumer access to diverse and healthy diets while also increasing the incomes of smallholder farmers. In countries like Zimbabwe, government institutions like colleges, schools, and hospitals cannot buy food directly from farmers. These formal institutions have to buy food through companies registered…
By Charles Dhewa African countries have no shortage of documents on how aggregating agricultural commodities can change lives of farmers and low-income consumers. Some agricultural consultants and development agencies have made a living from advising government departments and farming communities on how to design value chain strategies. Slogans like making markets work for the poor have…
By Nomatter Mubhawu (29) My name is Nomatter Mubhawu. I am 29 years old and I’m from Chinyika village in Gutu district in Masvingo province. Farming is something I have always enjoyed from a tender age. When I completed my studies I stayed home to farm. I didn’t chase other dreams or leave my home…
By Tobacco Research Board Introduction The Tobacco Research Board (TRB), has received several reports of pre-mature flowering and early flowering of tobacco crops this season (2022-23). Early flowering was observed at all stages of crop growth and across all varieties, in both the irrigated and rainfed tobacco crops. In the farm visits that ensued,…
The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) (http://ICIEC.isdb.org) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Al-Rajhi International Investment Company (RAII) of Saudi Arabia whereby the two parties would cooperate in synergizing coordination, business development and efficient implementation of projects in the vital agricultural and food security sectors in ICIEC’s…
By Hillary Munedzi The United States of America is focusing on Africa as the continent holds 60% of the world’s unused arable land as it reaffirms the commitment of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), and the Malabo Declaration and its call to Action at the recently held US-Africa Leaders Summit. The Malabo Declaration…
African leaders gathered for a three-day meeting to draw attention to the 2022 African Union Year of Nutrition. The meeting ended with the signing of an “Abidjan Declaration” African Union Member States met in Abidjan and called on governments to speed up investment, coordination, and implementation of programs to improve nutrition and food security in…
By Charles Dhewa If there was more harmony and consolidation between agricultural interventions in Africa, most African countries would have defeated food and nutrition insecurity many years ago. Unfortunately, it seems there are people who benefit more from projectizing agricultural interventions than properly organizing and coordinating food systems. Fragmentation is due to the fact that…
By Claire Robinson of GMWatch with technical advice from Dr. Michael Antoniou and Dr. Yves Bertheau Currently, governments around the world are moving to scrap regulatory safeguards around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are claimed to contain no foreign genes or foreign DNA. They choose to believe GMO lobby assertions that GM gene-edited plants and…
By Baboloki Semele Eradicating hunger in Africa by 2030 is possible, said global agriculture leaders in Rome. Meeting ahead of the African Food Summit (Dakar 2) to be hosted by President Macky Sall in Dakar, Senegal, from 25-27 January 2023, President of the African Development Bank Group Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the International Fund for Agricultural…
The Sprout Women Empowerment Trust (SWET) hosted a successful Food, Seed, and Cultural Fair with the support of the Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre on Monday. Caroline Mutimbanyoka, the Director of SWET told Spiked Online Media that the seed fair had many benefits for women who constitute the majority of the labour force in the agricultural sector….
Mr. Pardon Njerere, a Value Chain Expert under the COMESA’s European Union-funded Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Market Programme (RECAMP), commended the role of Climate Smart Agriculture initiatives in catapulting production gains of food systems to promote regional trade and integration. He made the remarks during the COMESA Regional Dissemination Meeting on Climate-smart Agriculture…
n response to persistent criticism for producing job seekers, not entrepreneurs, several African governments have been setting up centers of innovation and entrepreneurship at universities. While this is a noble cause, it has given the impression that entrepreneurship is something that can be taught in universities. On the contrary, the level of entrepreneurship happening in…
The Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) is implementing 5 Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) pilot projects in the Kingdom of Eswatini, Madagascar, Seychelles, Uganda, and Zimbabwe with funding from the European Union (EU) under the Intra-ACP (Organisation of Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States) and the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+)…
By Elvis Dumba Yomba, Raffingora – The innovative Agriculture for SHE programme designed to increase women’s participation in agriculture activities has been hailed as a game changer for the fairer sex. The program will see women benefit from small-scale irrigation schemes under Irrigation for SHE, Horticulture for SHE, and cotton for SHE programmes among other…
By Calisto Nhamo (32) Before I adopted agroecology, my farming focused only on growing rain fed maize and gardening. This routine did not give me much in terms of diverse food for my family or income. However, in October 2022 I attended an agroecology workshop that was organised by Schools and Colleges Permaculture (SCOPE) Zimbabwe,…
Ecoethics Global Movement, a non-governmental organization founded by US-based young climate activist, Madhvi Chittoor, on Saturday spearheaded an awareness tree planting programme that incorporated persons with disabilities. The International Day for Persons with Disabilities is celebrated on the 3rd of December on annual basis and this merely coincides with Tree Planting Day which is commemorated…
By Tafadzwa Muranganwa There are calls to amend the Seeds Act to promote community seed systems that are resilient to climate change. This was heard recently at an agroecology media training organised by Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Zimbabwe, recently. A community seed company, Champion Farmer Seeds, has revealed that there are many hurdles…
Young parliamentarians have been challenged to take the lead in the formulation of policies and strategies that enhance the full participation of the African youth in political and decision-making processes. The call was made yesterday at the official opening of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Youth Dialogue, hosted by the Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco,…
By Nhau Mangirazi in Cape Town, South Africa Shehzad Joomun, a journalist from Mauritius is suffering from emotional pressure affecting communities against the effects of climate change that has resulted in property damages, food insecurity, and health challenges in his home country. Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometers off…
Diverse actors from 30 countries call for a comprehensive Africa Food Policy that addresses Africa’s need to feed itself in the face of global uncertainty and climate change. The social movements’ call came following the conclusion of the 4th Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) Biennial Food Systems Conference, which was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon,…
By Mathew M. Abang (Ph.D., MBA) One of the main constraints to food security, poverty alleviation, and economic growth in the SADC region is low agricultural productivity, which is partly attributed to the underuse of fertilizers that are at times of poor quality. An adequate supply of, and access to, good quality fertilizer that is…
By Fitzgerald Munyoro The government of Zimbabwe through an amalgamation of the ministry of land, agriculture, fisheries, and rural development and the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services has partnered with an African development conglomerate, Smart Africa, in the development of a real time agricultural data mapping system called Agriculture Information Management…
By David Kamau and Peiman Milani The world is facing a global food crisis like none other, with food prices at historic highs, supply chains disrupted by war and disease, and climate change threatening harvests in virtually all geographies. Global food insecurity is rising so rapidly that hunger pushes one child per minute into severe malnutrition and in 2021, up to 828…
