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The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group and the Centre for Disaster Protection have entered into a partnership agreement to mutually promote technical collaboration on capacity building, research, and advocacy through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) jointly signed by the chief executives of both institutions. Under the MoU, the parties will explore opportunities and leverage their…
The world’s soils, which provide 95% of humanity’s food, are “under great pressure”, according to a UN report on soil pollution. Soils are also the largest active store of carbon, after the oceans, and therefore crucial in fighting the climate crisis. But the report said industrial pollution, mining, farming, and poor waste management are poisoning soils,…
By Charles Dhewa While the profile of indigenous food has been rising over the past few years across Africa, policymakers are yet to direct policies and public spending to the majority of indigenous commodities. A lot of support continues to be directed at exotic commodities that are being threatened more by a changing climate. Sweet…
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA’s) is mooting the establishment of an agro-industrial park (AIP) for Zambia and Zimbabwe. This emerged during the ECA Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa’s virtual validation session for a study assessing the feasibility of establishing and managing a common Agro-Industrial Park (AIP) between the two countries held on Monday. An…
By Charles Dhewa Knowledge retention is still to receive the attention it deserves in sustaining African agriculture and rural development. Most efforts focus on knowledge generation and sharing which is mostly a supply-driven approach. As long as communities and farmers do not have mechanisms for retaining knowledge, it remains difficult for them to sustain their…
Environmentalists made this call during the third session of a dryland fellowship thematic training organised by Climate Tracker which was held virtually, Thursday. Amidst a profound surge in the negative impacts of land degradation due to human activities across the continent of Africa, sustainable environmental practices advocates have called for the intensification of proactive and…
The majority of farms worldwide are small farms. New FAO research sheds a light on these farms and their contribution to the world food supply. The world’s smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food, according to new research published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in April…
Stakeholders have been urged to prevent veld fires whose impacts are multifaceted and a threat to the biophysical, social and economic environment because of their trail of destruction that cuts across all sectors of the economy. Wildfires constitute 10% of the world’s emissions and nearly half of this is related to Southern Africa. In Southern…
By Charles Dhewa Market literacy is more important than financial literacy Financial literacy has gained prominence as a necessary intervention in most developing countries. However, what has become clear in most agro-based African countries is that market literacy is more important than financial literacy because the market provides the broader context in which financial literacy…
By Charles Dhewa While the majority of youths in African countries are still interested in white-collar jobs, a monthly salary, or wage, agriculture offers new platforms for young people to participate in creating their own employment. These opportunities extend from communal to urban farming. The growth of urban agriculture has been driven by the need…
The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) drew to a close with a call to recognize and enhance the role of soil organisms in sustaining life on Earth. Soils are one of the main global reservoirs of biodiversity. They host more than 25 percent…
Healthy forests are key to “building back better”, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General QU Dongyu said last week in his video address to the high-level round table at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF, 26-30 April 2021). In his remarks, the Director-General extolled the many virtues of forests, including ensuring people’s food security…
IFAD said it aimed to provide an additional US$1.5 billion to Africa to support national efforts to transform food and agricultural systems over the next three years A coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners has pledged over US$17 billion in financing on Friday during a high-level forum, in a bold bid to address…
By Charles Dhewa Except in Burkina Faso and Uganda, parliamentary debates in the majority of agro-based African economies are completely disconnected from issues that affect ordinary people daily. Ideally, Members of Parliament (MPs) from production zones should be conversant with issues in their constituencies to be able to articulate the situation convincingly. Unfortunately, that is…
by Pat Mooney The idea of a Food Systems Summit seemed timely when it was announced in 2019 by the World Economic Forum and the UN Secretary-General’s Office. But while the need was widely appreciated, the unorthodox proposal by Davos to expand “stakeholder capitalism” to encompass the United Nations alarmed some involved in the food movement….
By Charles Dhewa The COVID19 pandemic has provided sufficient reasons why agro-based countries should not wait until there is a crisis to invest in data collection, analyses, and sharing. Given the extent to which agriculture is a baseline for most African economies, the value of agricultural data is increasing daily. If organizations working in the…
By Habakkuk Trust Women in Bulilima Ward 11 have raised calls of despondency in the wake of heightened elephant invasions which are threatening to push them deeper into vulnerability. The elephant invasions which have been ongoing for the past three weeks have resulted in crop and field infrastructure losses. Habakkuk Trust Community Advocacy Action Team…
By Charles Dhewa Marginalized communities and farmers always find it difficult to access relevant and reliable information. Their capacity to objectively assess that information is also inadequate. The situation is worse during the marketing season when information overload increases especially from different buyers competing to portray themselves as offering the best deal for unsuspecting farmers….
After a dark 2020, a new year has brought new hope. In Africa, where up to 40 million more people were driven into extreme poverty and the continent experienced its first recession in 25 years, a brighter future beckons as the economy is forecast to return to growth this year. Africa now has an opportunity…
Cycads, the world’s oldest seed-producing plants, are facing extinction. Africa is home to a variety of cycad species and South Africa is regarded as a global hotspot for cycad diversity. One of the most prominent cycad taxa, the genus Encephalartos, is endemic to Africa and is categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This…
Young Africans’ career aspirations have little in common with current and projected labour demand in the region, which complicates their transition from school to work, according to Youth Aspirations and the Reality of Jobs in Africa. Evidence from ten countries – Benin, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda & Zambia- shows that…
The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) Seeds has collaborated with the Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) to drive the uptake of urban and climate-smart agriculture. This came to the fore during a Maize Field Day meeting held at the Harare South Retreat at a plot owned by Mrs. Shamiso Marumisa that was presided…
By Charles Dhewa African countries have remained stuck in colonial food systems and structures where grain silos, abattoirs, processing centres, and other important food handling facilities are located in cities. By now, silos and processing facilities should have been established at the community level, close to production zones. Why should maize leave rural areas to…
By Charles Dhewa The urgency with which farmers seek help, advice, and support increases during the harvesting season compared to the planting season. Production knowledge is now relatively abundant but the same cannot be said about knowledge on markets and their behaviours. During the planting season, the market is the one looking for commodities while…
Hunger in Zimbabwe’s urban areas has increased over the past year with 2.4 million people now struggling to meet their basic food needs, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) report coordinated by the Food and Nutrition Council. The lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 have dealt a severe blow to…
By Veritas It has become plain over the last few weeks that the full story behind the recent controversy over the Government’s plans for the development of the Chilonga area has yet to be told. The legal ramifications of the Government’s intentions, and those intentions themselves, remain unclear. It is not too early, however, to…
The Climate Research and Advocacy Trust (CRAT), a non-profit making organisation that focuses on providing strategies that help communities to adapt and mitigate climate change has stressed the need to practice sustainable agriculture to ensure that environment and nature are being protected. This comes after the organisation has noted with deep concern how population increase…
By Charles Dhewa Why does a bumper harvest not get as much attention from governments and development agencies as disasters like droughts and cyclones? When there is a drought, African governments are quick to declare a national disaster so that food aid starts being mobilized from outside with support from development agencies. On the contrary,…
Strengthening food systems must be an integral part of efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and to build resilience in Africa, said African Development Bank Director General for Southern Africa, Leila Mokaddem. Hunger is a greater threat to many Africans than the COVID-19 crisis, Mokaddem said in a session on sustainable food systems at the Southern…
In light of recent events, such as the mass kidnapping of the 343 schoolboys in Nigeria, the war in Tigray in the northernmost region of Ethiopia, as well as decades-long issues such as the Darfur war, the accumulating news headlines seems unequivocal: there is a growing link between climate change and conflict, and that link…
The Land and Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe has appointed a new board of directors. Addressing members of the media in Harare at Ngungunyana Offices on Friday, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Resettlement Minister, Dr. Anxious Masuka said the board was significant in ensuring a vibrant agricultural transformation of other relevant parastatals in the…
The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) said the International Women’s Day was an opportune time to reflect on progress made, to call for change, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by women and girls who have played an extraordinary role in the history of mankind including in the natural resource management sector. The…
By Charles Dhewa Good rainfall seasons across Africa are not only characterized by an abundance of domesticated crops and livestock but an increase in the availability of non-domesticated natural food resources. Such resources range from edible insects to indigenous fruits, tubers, vegetables, mushrooms, and small indigenous animals. While some are prevalent in high rainfall regions,…
By Believe Tevera (President of Tobacco Farmers Union of Zimbabwe) Tobacco Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (ToFUZ) wishes all tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe a swift and progressive 2021 tobacco selling season. As tobacco farmers, we faced numerous challenges last season that consequently resulted in a decrease in the number of farmers who registered to grow the…
By Joyce Mukucha Following successive droughts over the past few years that negatively affected agricultural growth in Zimbabwe, farmers in rural areas are overwhelmed with joy because the rains have remained above normal throughout the country in the 2020 -2021 cropping season. Spiked Online Media conducted interviews with various farmers in different provinces who expressed…
By Charles Dhewa 1. More than 90 percent of development agencies working in Africa are headquartered in the Global North where high populations and income levels make Northern countries a potentially reliable market for agricultural commodities from Africa. If they were sincere in alleviating poverty among African smallholder farmers, development agencies working in the agriculture sector…
There is a need for farmers to plant better seeds that can thrive in the changing climate, Dr Edward Mungai has said. The Kenya Climate Innovation Center CEO told Spice FM that the time has come for farmers to play their role in mitigating the impact of climate change. Further, he added that the use…
The SADC Regional Vulnerability Committee Chair, António Pacheco Dias Lima on 22 February 2021 called on member states, to find ways to share success stories, opportunities, and progress captured in the national Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis to inform food security interventions as the region battles COVID-19 and record high levels of food insecurity Dias Lima…
On the commemoration of the National Youth Day, the Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum (CSCJF) is urging the youths to take advantage of the land reform and grab the opportunity to venture into the idle opportunities presented in the agricultural sector. “The agricultural sector is the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy. In that regard,…
By Joyce Mukucha In the quest to improve agricultural productivity, the government is in the process of disbursing motorcycles and mobile tablets to the extension officers. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr John Basera told the media that the provision of extension services will play a crucial role in terms of transforming…
By John Wilson Following up on the theme of changing our ‘machine’-leaning mindsets, whenever we are dealing with life and not machines, I’ve been giving plenty of thought the last few weeks to what most people call ‘weeds’. Many people don’t like this term, especially those who eat them. I’m one of those. My laptop…
For those in the business of shipping and grain, 2020 was a rollercoaster ride. Second-quarter lockdowns prompted demand for some grain-based products to spike as consumers stockpiled and splurged on specific goods, including specialty flours. However, overall global economic demand for most commodities fell precipitously, and bulk carrier shipping spot and time charter rates slumped…
By Dr Raymond Chamba It is well. The story of Zimbabwe can never be complete without folks realizing at last that when it comes to this amazing nation now pitifully hobbled with ineptitude, administrative indifference, corruption, sanctions, and general loss of confidence in our greatness….nomatter what we feel, or think – we are sleeping on,…
By Believe Tevera Tobacco contract farming in Zimbabwe does not benefit the ordinary farmer, as it turns farmers into slaves to enrich the Contracting Companies. Farmers are turned into disguised workers for the contracting companies and they are always in debt, leaving them without surplus money to recapitalize and survive. The contracting companies do not…
By Charles Dhewa When policy makers, development agencies, the private sector and ordinary people talk about agricultural markets, they rarely talk about consumer power. There is often too much emphasis on producers, financing, cold chain, transportation, value addition and processing, yet all these are meaningless if efforts are not devoted to understanding the consumer base. Farmers and…
