December 09, 2020 | No.14 |
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African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - Creating one African market
African Union Heads of State and Government have underscored the urgent need for member states to kick-start trading activities, under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The decision was adopted during a virtual meeting of the 13th Extra Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union on the AfCFTA, under the Chairmanship of South Africa President and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa. This comes just four weeks before the AfCFTA commences trading on the 1st of January 2021, to consider the adoption of the legal instruments that will facilitate its operation. READ MORE
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7th African Conference of Agricultural Economists, 19-22 Sep. 2022
The African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) has announced the official countdown to the 7th African Conference of Agricultural Economists 2022 (7th ACAE). The conference will be hosted by the city of Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The conference dates will be 19 – 22 September 2022. The four-day conference will feature experts and leaders who are driving the African agricultural revolution vision along with regional and international experts. READ MORE
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Report: Agribusiness in unprecedented times
We are living in unprecedented times. What a year it has been. We began planning for this survey in the last quarter of 2019. At the time, COVID-19 was a distant phenomenon, happening somewhere else, in another continent. Before we knew it, and as we launched the survey in March 2020, most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa had implemented lockdown procedures. Travel, in some cases, within country was banned. In 24 hours, many businesses had to close operations to comply with the measures aimed at containing the pandemic. Very few businesses could have planned for this drastic scenario. Governments faced a delicate balancing act – prevent the explosion of a public health crisis and the possible implosion of our health systems or preserve the economy. Either way, it was not an easy choice. READ MORE
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Competitive Research Grants to Develop and Validate Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions
The IMMANA Competitive Research Grants are aimed at accelerating the development of innovative and interdisciplinary methods, metrics and tools to advance the scientific understanding of the linkages between agriculture and food systems and health and nutrition outcomes, in order to better inform policy and programmatic actions to improve nutrition outcomes in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). READ MORE
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Unveiling Africa’s First Women in Agribusiness Digital Market Place: A place for women-owned agribusiness to grow and be noticed
During the month of October, AGRA officially became the new home for the VALUE4HERConnect, Africa’s first digital market place for women. The launch emphasized the urgent need to get more women agripreneurs in the continent connected to more networks, markets, financing and training opportunities in order to scale up their businesses. VALUE4HERConnect offers to connect women with diverse agribusiness women leaders, offer and source agricultural products and services, and discover and be discovered by finance and investment companies for business growth. Others are to learn new skills through live webinars, talk corners and other training initiatives. READ MORE
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Africa: integrating agriculture in National Adaptation Plans: what have we achieved and learned during program implementation?
With the FAO-UNDP joint programme on Integrating Agriculture into National Adaptation Plans (NAP-Ag) phasing out in 2020, the momentum and work achieved under the 5-year programme have not. NAP-Ag supported 11 partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The four African countries, Kenya, Uganda, the Gambia and Zambia recently shared their programme highlights and lesson learned during the NAP-Ag and how the work achieved over the past five years has built foundations and better positioned these countries in their overall climate change adaptation work. READ MORE
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An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development: How Much Can Africa Learn from Asia?"
While agricultural mechanization in Asia has grown significantly in recent decades, mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara has been stymied by challenges in both the demand for it and supply of machines. The latest IFPRI book, edited by Xinshen Diao, Hiroyuki Takeshima, and Xiaobo Zhang, aims to boost these prospects by increasing the exchange of South-South knowledge on the adoption of tractors and other farm machinery. By analyzing thirteen case studies, the authors provide detailed comparisons of the two regions' diverging mechanization journeys, and offer knowledge that will be crucial for policymakers and the development community alike. READ THE BOOK
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SunCulture wants to turn Africa into the world’s next bread basket, one solar water pump at a time
The world’s food supply must double by the year 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population, according to a report from the United Nations. And as pressure mounts to find new crop land to support the growth, the world’s eyes are increasingly turning to the African continent as the next potential global bread basket. While Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, according to the African Development Bank, the countries on the continent face significant obstacles as they look to boost the productivity of their agricultural industries. READ MORE
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Finding innovative solutions to support lower-income communities in Africa
Seedstars and Shell Foundation have joined forces to look for sustainable, scalable and innovative working towards access to energy, sustainable agriculture and mobility. The objective of this program is to support, catalyse and train early-stage (seed) tech startups addressing challenges related to access to energy (household energy, energy for business, energy nexus), sustainable agriculture (value chain innovations improving access to finance, technology, market or knowledge) or sustainable mobility (safe rural and last-mile mobility for people and goods) in Africa. READ MORE
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Relying on agroecology will jeopardize Africa’s food security
An international push for Africa to adopt agroecology as its main agricultural production method threatens to jeopardize the continent’s food security, warned Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture. Although agroecology is an acceptable form of production in some instances, it cannot be used to feed the growing world population, asserted Dr. Sagre Bambangi, an economist and Member of Parliament for the Walewale Constituency. READ MORE
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