from Africa Science News Written by Venter Mwongera In an interview to the Africa Science News Service at her Nairobi-based office, the Chief Executive Officer for Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International (AHBFI), Prof Florence Wambugu said access to inputs- machinery, targeted subsidy and credit programs, secure land tenure system especially for women to increase farmers capacity to use and invest in new technology; are the best starting points to build a stable economy. She said increased investment in water technologies, increased agricultural extension services, development of new crop varieties resistant to drought, pest and diseases are other milestones needed towards alleviating poverty in developing countries. She however attributed changing global climatic...
from the Mail and Guardian This article profiles new food co-operatives in South Africa that are being used to combat rising food prices. - Kaleby NOSIMILO NDLOVU Salaminah Motsoagae (23) is a single mother who lives in an informal settlement in Orange Farm, Gauteng. She lives with her mother, who is a domestic worker and the only income earner in the family.Rising food prices have put a financial strain on Motsoagae's family, leaving them with less money than before to buy food. "We are down to two meals a day," she says."Things are especially tough on people in my community who are HIV-positive because they must eat a nutritional meal each time they have to take their antiretrovirals (ARVs). Most of the time there just isn't enough for them to eat and they become very ill. Our...
from the Gulf Times This article show how high inflation has effected farmers in Kenya. - KaleKAGIO, Kenya: Twenty years ago, Benson staked all his assets to venture into lucrative export crops and started growing the French beans so prized by European consumers.But with rampant inflation pushing up his costs and a slumping market for French beans, the ageing Kenyan farmer decided to revert to subsistence crops and “plant for his stomach”.“When prices were good, I was able to build a house, I got a wife and I was able to raise my family,” says Benson Murimi Munga.“Then, the buyers started dropping prices... I was facing losses in terms of what I had invested in the farm in buying fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and labour, I could not recover.”Now the 49-year-old has stopped...
from Reuters, UK We dont often find stories about the China Development Bank. But here is one that talks about their plans to invest more in African Farming. Governor of the Bank, Chen Yuan spoke to African finace ministers on Friday.NOUAKCHOTT - "China Development Bank is anxious to work in the area of agriculture. Given the current scenario of a great shortage of food and food price hikes I believe African countries should put agricultural development as their top priority," he said.Addressing the IMF and World Bank Africa Caucus in Mauritania, Chen said African countries should grow cereals as well as cash crops such as rubber and pine, and upgrade their processing capacity to make value added agricultural projects."China Development Bank is willing to share its experience and...
from Eldis Here is a link to a document that studies how the recent economic partnership agreements made between Africa and Europe can help African Farming. Some of the findings are listed below. - Kale * African agriculture suffers from a lack of funding and low yields. Agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is declining, thereby threatening food security and tearing at the social fabric in both rural and urban areas. In this context, a new framework for economic and trade cooperation like the EPAs could help strengthen the agricultural sector of sub-Saharan Africa * even by recognising that EPAs will never be able to solve all the problems of African agriculture, intervention and cooperation must be based on four main points: support for the implementation of a...
from the Baltimore Sun Better farming might take a few years to achieve. This story shows what Africa must do to improve agriculture. - KaleAWASH MELKASA, Ethiopia - Hussein Ibrahim walks solemnly past tidy rows of bright green cabbages, vines bursting with tomatoes and trees weighed down with plump avocados.This modern, thriving farm - a rarity in drought-ravaged Ethiopia - filled Hussein with envy. Like so many other farmers across the Horn of Africa, he has no hope for his own crops this year."We are behind all the other people in the world," said Hussein, who tends his land in southern Ethiopia the way his ancestors did hundreds of years ago - with rain, if it comes, and oxen, as long as they're healthy.To break out of endless cycles of drought, poverty and hunger, experts say,...