Yes, we can change Africa from basket case to breadbasket

Agricultural Innovations in Africa, which was published in April, 2011, criticised the foreign development partners’ rigid policies. The book kicks off with praise for Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, who single-handedly rid his country of food insecurity. The Bretton Woods institutions were opposed to wa Mutharika’s agricultural subsidies, whose opponents argued that this would kill [...]

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Ensuring food security in Africa

Since 2008, Africa has been experiencing a food crisis, as global food prices increased, partly because of rising fuel prices, among other factors. According to most experts in the field agriculture remained the strength of most African economies, and if agriculture was given priority attention in Africa, the region had the capacity to withstand the [...]

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Private sector ‘key to food security’

In the first week of May, the World Economic Forum indicated businesses as part of the solution for global food security. Governments’ agricultural development initiatives would have limited success in increasing production to feed citizens without other stakeholders’ participation. The forum discussed a strategy, which was launched in Switzerland in January, to help provide long-term [...]

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Africa urged to ban food production for bio fuel

According to FAO’s 2010 estimate, 240 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa were chronically undernourished. The rising food prices and growth of Africa’s middle classes are having an enormous impact on the food production that also have had and are continuing to have an impact on Africa’s food security. To overcome two of Africa’s most [...]

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Markets key to achieving food security

The failure of many African countries to increase their spending on agriculture has been seen as a serious impediment to the continent’s mission to boost economic growth. But the story is different in a few countries. During the African Agricultural Markets Programme (AAMP) 5th regional policy seminar in Kigali recently, it was indicated that linking [...]

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Farmers decry low budget

Small-scale farmers have blamed their inability to prosper in agriculture on inadequate funding and poor co-ordination among actors. According to farmers, poor co-ordination has led to low capacity to effectively participate in the chain. Despite individual efforts to convince government about the importance of investment in agriculture to growth and poverty reduction, Uganda’s agricultural sector [...]

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Land policy: Key to food security in Africa

Land policy and food security in Africa are of particular relevance. 35 countries in Africa are net importers of food. There are many challenges and risks; and it is not only a consequence of environmental change, but also due to a lack of state structures. Recent investments in land could also be a great opportunity [...]

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Ethiopia: Are “land grab” deals a path to food security?

The push by multinational corporations and foreign governments in recent years to obtain fertile land in African countries such as Ethiopia, Madagascar and Tanzania has spurred debate over whether the move will lead to development or is simply a “land grab” that further threatens the continent’s food security. In Ethiopia, farmland is being bought or [...]

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Dar rice project to raise production fourfold

Tanzania plans to boost its rice production fourfold over the next decade to 3.6 million metric tonnes up from 900,000 tonnes. The project dubbed Improving Rice Profitability through Increased Productivity and Better Marketing, will see the country save more money on imports. The project will focus on seed development, paddy production and processing. The project [...]

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Zimbabwe cotton industry could grow with GMO crops

According to agro-industrial firm Aico Africa, Zimbabwe could quadruple its cotton output by 2015 if it starts to grow genetically modified (GMO) crops and increase support to farmers. The government had accepted in principle to allow the growing of GMO cotton. Aico provides seed and fertilizers to most of the small-scale farmers, who are contracted [...]

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