| CALL FOR PAPERS - 7th African Conference of Agricultural Economists |
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The AAAE wishes to announce the 1st Call for Papers for the 7th African Conference of Agricultural Economists that will take place on 18 - 21 September 2023, in Durban, South Africa. The conference will be a joint event with the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA). Follow this link for guidelines on paper submission. 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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| AWARD-ICWAE Special Mentoring Program |
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The International Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (ICWAE) is announcing applications for the Second Cohort Mentoring Program For Women Agricultural Economists in the Global South. This is a collaboration of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and the International Association of Agricultural Economics (IAAE) through its International Committee of Women in Agricultural Economics (ICWAE). AWARD and ICWAE build on their common vision for the development and strengthening of a community of women agricultural economists with a transformative mindset of leadership to influence policy and practice and trigger agricultural transformation in the developing world. Mentoring plays a pivotal role in achieving this common vision because it is a powerful tool for developing unique skills, leveraging and capitalizing on learning opportunities to support personal and professional growth. The two-year virtual and non-residential Mentoring Program aims to equip women in the profession with the core skills, networks and practical resources to develop themselves, enhance their visibility and increase their legitimacy and relevance. Please refer to the details on the program to apply as mentees or mentors. And please share this announcement widely with your networks. Applications for the second cohort of the AWARD-ICWAE mentoring program are due on August 21, 2022. Read more.
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| The world food crisis is about to get worse |
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Six months of fighting between Russia and Ukraine — two farming powerhouses — has plunged a teetering global food system into full-blown catastrophe, leaving millions of people facing starvation. The war is exacerbating a crisis already fueled by climate change, soaring costs of living and a fertilizer price hike that is creating the most acute global food crisis in decades. A U.N.-brokered agreement to reopen the Black Sea for food ships may not be enough to bring relief to the millions of people struggling to eat across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. “I’ve been working in this sector now for more than 15 years and this for me is the worst crisis we've seen," said Carin Smaller, executive director of the Shamba Centre, a think tank working to end global hunger. Read more
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| Cornell, Together With CIMMYT, Presents Advanced Wheat Improvement Course |
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CIMMYT and Cornell University are offering an innovative online course to empower global scientists with the most advanced training in wheat improvement. For the first time, CIMMYT’s Advanced Wheat Improvement Course will be taught through Cornell and the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative. The course combines CIMMYT’s and Cornell’s global expertise in agricultural education and research. Offered Sept. 19 to Oct. 14 as part of the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project, the Advanced Wheat Improvement Course includes webinars and virtual one-on-one sessions with leading scientists from Cornell, CIMMYT and partner institutions. The course is free but limited to 20 participants. Applications are being accepted online and are due by August 26. Read more
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| What are nature-based solutions? Your questions answered |
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The best way forward, we think, is through nature-based solutions (NbS). But what are NbS, and why do we think they’re so great? We’re here to answer your questions about this useful approach. Until recently, the climate, biodiversity, and even human and social well-being were treated as separate issues needing separate solutions. NbS, by contrast, take a holistic approach, treating all of them as part of the same system. When the components of a system are treated separately, action on one might have negative impacts on another. For example, you could plant thousands of trees to sequester carbon, but if they’re all the same species, biodiversity is lost. An NbS approach takes into account both the positive and negative impacts of interventions. It chooses the ones that have co-benefits across the whole system, without negative effects in other parts. Read more
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| The other reason why food prices are rising |
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The United Nations’ worst-case scenario calculation is that global food prices will rise by an additional 8.5% by 2027. More expensive fertilizers are contributed to those higher costs, with some fertilizers spiking 300% since September 2020, according to the American Farm Bureau. “Last year [fertilizer] was around $270 per ton and now it’s over $1,400 per ton,” Meagan Kaiser, of Kaiser Family Farms and farmer-director of the United Soybean Board, told NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt.” “It’s scary. It turns my stomach a little bit to think about the amount of risk that our family farm is taking right now.” Farmers are finding themselves forced to pass some of those costs along to customers, resulting in higher grocery prices. Read more
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| Africa’s Agribusiness Sector to Reach US$1 Trillion by 2030: What Role Does the Youth Play? |
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Africa harbors the youngest population worldwide in terms of average age, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population being under the age of 30. However, the dire employment situation hinders the continent to fully incorporate the potential of the energetic workforce, creating a fruitful ground for youth unemployment. Because of that, most of Africa’s youth resort to informal work, many are underemployed or remain in poverty despite having work due to a weak social safety net and low wages. According to the African Development Bank, the youth face roughly double the unemployment rate of adults, varying from country to country. Read more
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| As many as 828 million people are hungry in the world. |
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There are almost 2.5 times more people facing hunger worldwide than the entire population of the United States of America. Read the FAO's interactive story to learn more |
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| Ukraine: First humanitarian grain ship leaves port for Africa |
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The Lebanese-flagged cargo ship Brave Commander left Ukraine headed for the port of Djibouti carrying some 23,000 metric tons of wheat aboard, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said. The slump in grain exports from Ukraine since the start of the war has driven up global food prices, sparking fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East. Read more
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| Why John Deere invested in Africa’s Hello Tractor |
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American ag machinery behemoth Deere & Company — more commonly known as John Deere, recently invested in Hello Tractor, a Nigeria-headquartered marketplace and fleet management technology for African farmers to rent tractors. The startup was one of the first participants in John Deere’s Startup Collaborator program, which launched in 2019 to help the company engage with tech startups and trial their innovations with customers without a formal partnership. Another early participant was Bear Flag Robotics, which was acquired by John Deere earlier this year. 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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