| 7TH AFRICAN CONFERENCE OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS (7th ACAE) |
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The Executive Board of the AAAE wishes to announce that the 7th African Conference of Agricultural Economists will take place in the same city from 18-21 September 2023. THEME: THROUGH CRISES: BUILDING RESILIENT AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS IN AFRICA KEY DATES: - First Call for Papers: 13 July 2022
- Conference website opens: 05 August 2022
- Early Bird registration opens: 22 August 2022
- Second Call for Papers: 22 August 2022
- Final Call for Papers: 26 September 2022
- Submission of proposals for Symposia and Invited Panels: 08 December 2022
- Deadline for all Contributed Papers, Invited Panels and Organized Symposium submissions: 07 March 2023
- Notification of acceptance of papers: 06 June 2023
- Early Bird registration deadline/ Regular registration: 20 June 2023
- Presenting authors registration deadline: 17 July 2023
- Deadline for revised papers submissions: 24 July 2023
- 7th ACAE, Durban, South Africa: 18 - 21 Sept. 2023
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| Searching For Young Talents For Doctoral Research In Sustainable Development |
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Are you enthusiastic about analyzing and promoting sustainable development? And do you have a creative research idea related to climate change, food security, agricultural development, poverty, governance, biodiversity, gender, health, or related topics? An idea that needs interdisciplinary perspectives to be addressed? The Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University Bonn is the best place for you to do such research. ZEF is among the top international development research institutes at one of Germany’s Excellence Universities. ZEF is led by three directors from different disciplines and employs about 50 senior researchers from all parts of the world. They supervise your doctoral research and support you in becoming a leading development scholar of the next generation. ZEF hosts a structured, interdisciplinary doctoral program, the Bonn International Graduate School for Development Research (BIGS-DR). BIGS-DR supports you step by step to your doctorate: with disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses, so skill trainings, and strategic knowledge about further career steps. Being member of a batch of international doctoral researchers, you become part of a stimulating study environment and have a peer group of like-minded scholars. We are looking for scholars from the Global South for so called EPOS-scholarships funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Application deadline for this program is 31st of August 2022. Details about the application requirements, timelines and procedures can be found here. Apart from DAAD funding, you can also look yourself for other doctoral stipends to join BIGS-DR, for instance from your home-country government or other organizations. Read more Further information about other scholarship options can be found here: Read more
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| Ideas and strategies to make money in Africa’s agribusiness and food industry |
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Singapore-headquartered GUUD has implemented a number of tech-enabled solutions to streamline trade in Africa. For instance, in the East African Community, it has developed a Single Customs Territory platform, and in Togo, it introduced a digital trade certification system. GUUD has developed Singapore’s first digital B2B seafood marketplace that helps traders sell their goods more effectively. The company believes there is potential for similar platforms in Africa, and is already in discussions with stakeholders in several African countries with large fishing industries. GUUD’s marketplaces are differentiated from platforms like Alibaba, in that they target specific industries. “Our take on B2B platforms is to focus on an industry and then bring all the stakeholders in that industry together and create a community,” says founder and CEO Desmond Tay. Read more
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| With vast arable lands, why does Africa need to import grain? |
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Despite having vast amounts of arable land, nutritious indigenous crops and a booming agricultural sector, Africa still imports most of its grain. The Russian army’s blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports and the ripple effects of Western sanctions against Moscow have raised international food and fuel prices, leaving millions of Africans facing an "unprecedented food emergency" this year, the World Food Programme has said. Kenya, Somalia and large parts of Ethiopia are at risk of acute food insecurity, the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization said this week. In Sahel and West Africa, more than 40 million people could go hungry in 2022, according to the FAO, up from 10.8 million people in 2019. Even before the Russian invasion in late February, the pandemic and a long period of drought had already hit African economies hard. The war in Ukraine made things critically worse since the continent imported about a third of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. With food prices skyrocketing in global markets, even those countries not reliant on imports from Russia and Ukraine are suffering. Over the past decade, Africa's food import bill has nearly tripled, but its agricultural sector has also been growing steadily. The continent has immense potential for feeding itself, with vast amounts of arable lands. But why is it still dependent on imported grain? Read more
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| African Women in Agriculture celebrates Youth Day with a farming seminar |
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The African Women in Agriculture (AWiA) held a Youth Day celebration with an agriculture seminar to inspire the next generation of farmers and agri-entrepreneurs, on June 21. The seminar was held at the TLC Children’s Home in Bronkhorstfontein where the organisation has facilities where they teach women to become agri-entrepreneurs. The founder of AWiA, Agnes Hove, said: “Our main purpose is to promote, encourage and make social changes for women in the agricultural sector. We have created an incubator in the South of Johannesburg which provides training and support to socially disadvantaged females aspiring to great things. Read more
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| How tech is making farming, agribusiness ‘cool’ for youth |
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For many years, farming has been considered by the youths as a domain for old people. Upon completion of their studies, young people have been leaving farms in rural areas and trooping to cities and urban areas in search of white-collar jobs. However, things are changing, albeit gradually, thanks to new innovations in agriculture, which are helping farmers predict rainfalls, combat diseases, manage crops and sell products online. Sriram Bharatam founder of Kuza Biashara Limited, a social enterprise, reckons that Kenya is Africa’s Silicon Savannah with an endless range of agri-tech opportunities. "There are more than 60+ innovators especially in the digital agriculture space alone who have a direct presence here or through partners and there are so many innovations that are popping up,” Mr Bharatam says. These new innovations, he says, have attracted young people from urban settings to villages in the last three years in farming. Read more
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| Morocco – a top fertiliser producer – could hold a key to the world’s food supply |
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Morocco has a large fertiliser industry with huge production capacity and international reach. It is one of the world’s top four fertiliser exporters following Russia, China and Canada. Fertilisers tend to divide into three main categories; nitrogen fertilisers, phosphorus fertilisers, potassium fertilisers. In 2020 the fertiliser market size was about $190 billion. Morocco has distinct advantage in the production of phosphorus fertilisers. It possesses over 70% of the world’s phosphate rock reserves, from which the phosphorus used in fertilisers is derived. And this makes Morocco a gatekeeper of global food supply chains because all food crops require the element phosphorus to grow. Indeed, so does all plant life. Unlike other finite resources, such as fossil fuels, there is no alternative to phosphorus. Read more
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| Three challenges and three opportunities for food security in Eastern and Southern Africa |
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Eastern and Southern Africa — home to over 656 million people, many of whom are poor and face significant challenges accessing adequate, safe, and nutritious food every day— has some of the most vulnerable food systems in the world. The recently approved Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa will help tackle the underlying structural challenges of food insecurity and address the vulnerability to unpredictable shocks. Madagascar, where 7.8 million people are facing food insecurity, and Ethiopia, where up to 22.7 million people are food insecure, will benefit from the first phase of the project. Both countries are experiencing historically severe droughts exacerbated by climate change. The program directly responds to three food security challenges facing the region and taps into three opportunities to improve the resilience of food systems for stronger, healthier communities. Read more
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| Trade restrictions are inflaming the worst food crisis in a decade |
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The worst global food crisis in a decade was one of the top issues discussed at the 12th ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization last month. It is a crisis made worse by the growing number of countries that are banning or restricting exports of wheat and other commodities in a misguided attempt to put a lid on soaring domestic prices. These actions are counterproductive—they must be halted and reversed. The price of wheat, a key staple in many developing countries, has shot up by 34 percent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. Other food costs have also risen. In response, as of early June, 34 countries had imposed restrictions on exports on food and fertilizers – a figure approaching the 36 countries that used such controls during the food crisis of 2008-2012. These actions are self-defeating because they reduce global supply, driving food prices even higher. Other countries respond by imposing restrictions of their own, fueling an escalating cycle of trade actions that have a multiplier effect on prices. Read more
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| CGIAR and national partners move toward stronger crop breeding partnerships to benefit Sub-Saharan African farmers |
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Africa’s agricultural research institutes are on a clearer path to developing and delivering more and better nutrient-rich, climate-resilient crops through strengthened partnerships with CGIAR. Enhanced collaboration on crop breeding strategies and technologies is a major step towards developing varieties demanded by farmers and consumers. On June 27–28, 2022, senior leaders from over a dozen National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and CGIAR mapped out collaboration principles on improving breeding programs and delivering new varieties faster to smallholders. Sub-regional organizations and development partners also contributed to the high level meeting, titled NARES–CGIAR Genetic Innovation: Strengthening and Coordinating Engagement. Read more
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African Association of Agricultural Economists c/o University of Nairobi, C.A.V.S, Upper Kabete Campus Loresho Ridge Road, Nairobi, Kenya |
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