News

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided an additional $21.87 million to the Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP) project.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided an additional $21.87 million to the Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP) project

Nigeria Agribusiness Report Q2 2009 - new market and company analysis
In the Nigeria Agriculture Q209 report, we follow on from the content given in the Q109 report and look at the efforts made to redress the balance in agricultural production. We also introduce our new Business Environment Overview, which gives a more comprehensive feel to the entire outlook.

Critical for Africa to be part of the biofuels revolution
Africa’s low productivity of existing farming systems, combined with the large stretches of suitable crop- land, is making it the area with the world’s highest energy crop-production potential for the burgeoning global biofuels market and it is critical to the continent’s future to be part of this revolution, says the South African Biofuels Association (Saba).

Africa Called Booming Opportunity for US Investors
Despite the global economic crisis, US investors are being told to strongly consider putting their money in Africa. That'll be the message later this month when Washington hosts the 7th Biennial US/Africa Business Summit.

Outsourcing food and energy production – boon or curse?
number of articles over the past year have highlighted a new trend in Africa: wealthy countries in Europe, Asia and Middle East are buying or leasing huge tracts of land in African countries, growing food, and then shipping nearly all of it back home. Capital-starved governments are selling their ‘extra’ land to countries that export capital but import their food. Rich countries are, in effect, outsourcing their food production.

US urges food output boost to avert unrest
The US agriculture secretary has warned that unless countries take immediate steps to sharply boost agricultural productivity and food output and reduce hunger, the world risks fresh social instability.

SABMiller's Plan for Cheaper African Beer
Beer sales in developed markets are losing fizz, so the world's second largest brewer, SABMiller, is looking to the relatively untapped African market to help drive future growth. But with an estimated 315 million Africans living on less than $1 a day—roughly the same cost as a bottle of beer—commercial brews such as SABMiller's Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft are beyond the reach of vast swathes of the population.

Mars Sets Goal for Sustainable Cocoa Sources
McLean candy giant Mars said yesterday that all its chocolate products will be made from sustainable sources by 2020, and it will begin with a popular candy bar sold in Britain. The company said the move is intended to help secure a steady supply of a crop whose production is often threatened by harsh weather in West Africa and whose price is volatile.

Helping farmers at the touch of a button
The ability to correctly diagnose and treat crop diseases such as banana wilt via mobile phone is just one of endless possibilities for smallholder farmers if location-specific (geospatial) information were available, according to researchers.

G8 warns of hunger threat to stability
The world faces a permanent food crisis and global instability unless countries act now to feed a surging population by doubling agricultural output, a report drafted for ministers of the Group of Eight nations has warned.