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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…
By Charles Dhewa Middlemen are often blamed for reaping off farmers and consumers. However, most of the criticism is based on a poor understanding of how markets function and the gaps closed by middlemen. All markets have unique ways of assigning roles to different actors. If middlemen were not important in coordinating supply chains and…
Dr. Solomon Matsa, the President of the Business Economic Empowerment Federation (BEEF) has implored Zimbabweans from all walks of life to take ownership of businesses and drive the economy. Founded in November 2017 by Zimbabwean business entrepreneurs, BEEF seeks to promote business and economic empowerment of native businesspeople, including citizens in the diaspora. “As a…
By Elvis Dumba The African Empowerment Fund -Organic Africa, is set to go into partnership with Farmers for Economic Development for herbal farming. Farmers for Economic Development National Chairperson, Tapiwa Chitate, said his organisation is targeting at least 5 000 hectares of land along the Zambezi Escarpment for the project. Chitate revealed this when he…
Kenya is set to benefit from a US$3 billion Country Programme from African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). This was announced during a meeting between Kenya’s President, His Excellency Dr. William Ruto, and Professor Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank. During the meeting held at State House Nairobi, Prof. Oramah…
By Elvis Dumba Katawa – Women, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable community members in Zvimba North Constituency’s wards 15, 30, and 33 got empowered through the Presidential Rural Poultry Program. Hundreds of people received road runner chicks which were handed over by Zvimba North Constituency legislator and ZANU PF Central Committee member, Hon Marian…
By Kudakwashe Tagwireyi The unpredictable weather conditions that were being experienced in Mutasa South District and the persistent cyclones that had ravaged Manicaland, had placed women in the surrounding villages, in the limelight of dependency syndrome to their husbands and the donor community. Fate however has been in their favour this year as with the…
Research organisations based in Kenya are fast-tracking a joint deal to introduce new technologies that would produce maize varieties that are tolerant to the spread of the Fall Army Worm (FAW). Leveraging the knowledge of the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CiMMYT), scientists argue that the initiatives will boost food security in Kenya…
The President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), H.E Hon Chief Fortune Charumbira attended an African Union (AU) High-Level Ministerial Dinner on the implementation of the Green Recovery Action Plan (AU GRAP) 2021-2027, adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in February 2022. The event took place on the sidelines of the ongoing 27th annual Conference…
Egypt’s COP27 Presidency and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation or FAST, at COP27 yesterday. The new initiative will increase climate finance contributions for agriculture and food systems to support the most vulnerable communities. FAST will reimagine agrifood systems to deliver triple wins for people, climate action, and nature….
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is pushing legislation toward the promotion of food and nutrition security on the continent as evidenced by a model law on the theme that it tabled during the first session of its sixth Parliament in Midrand, South Africa while the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) is leading the awareness of the…
COP27’s thematic day dedicated to Decarbonization called for urgent action to reduce emissions across the industry with a specific focus on the most carbon-intensive sectors including steel, oil, gas, and fertilizers. The agenda featured several sessions that launched initiatives including the Sharm El Sheikh Methane Reduction Roadmap and East Mediterranean Gas Forum decarbonization initiative. “The…
By Hillary Munedzi Nestlé in conjunction with Africa Food Prize will award US$ 100 000 to individuals and institutions that are pioneering agricultural and transforming food systems in Africa and strengthening the continent’s food security as rich and emerging economies come together under a “climate solidarity pact to keep the 1.5 degrees celsius within reach.”…
Malawi’s Mzimba North West parliamentarian Hon Enoch Chihana, who is a member of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) is again off-tangent regarding Zimbabwe’s land reform programme, Hon Dr. Tatenda Mavetera has said. This emerged today in Midrand, South Africa, the seat of the PAP, during a debate on the Model Law on Food Security and…
AFC Holdings, partnered with a consortium of insurance companies and the Government of Zimbabwe to run a pilot project on Area Yield Index Insurance for farmers who received Pfumvudza inputs in the 2021/2022 Season in Rushinga and Mwenezi districts. The project was monitored and evaluated through the assistance of PULA, a technical advisor on Area…
By Nhau Mangirazi The government has been challenged to consult widely communities most affected by human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) before the endorsement of funding compensation announced by the cabinet last week. Members of Parliament whose constituencies are affected called for community input before endorsement of the funding. Mbire Member of Parliament Douglas Karoro said his constituency…
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 6 November 2022 – The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 opened today with the key aim of ensuring full implementation of the Paris Agreement. Discussions at COP27 begin near the end of a year that has seen devastating floods and unprecedented heat waves, severe droughts and formidable storms, all unequivocal signs of the…
