Agritech Bata Industries...................................................IFC

Uganda boosts agricultural commercialization with help of Chinese technologies

About 70% of Uganda’s population derives its livelihood from agriculture and as such the country has adapted the use of modern farming technologies such as using of machinery and drones are practiced, and is striving to speed up commercialization of agriculture to increase local household incomes.

The country together with China have been operating the China-Uganda South-South cooperation project over the years through a tripartite agreement with FAO. Through the project, small scale farmers in rural Uganda will benefit from the on-the-farm training to boost production. Chinese technicians and experts will continue to share skills and technology on the agronomic practices with local farmers.

Antonio Querido, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country representative told Xinhua in a recent interview that the three parties are working on the third phase of the cooperation project. “It is an opportunity to learn from China and the Chinese people on how they went about transforming their agriculture system and how this can be shared with countries of the South,” Querido said.

At the end of the second phase of the project in 2017, about 3,000 farmers were trained in cereals, horticulture, aquaculture and livestock in Uganda, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Herbert Agaba is one of the farmers who got the opportunity to be trained on the use the technologies. On the lush green rice paddies at a Chinese-run farm in the central Ugandan district of Kalungu, he is seen preparing flying drones to spray pesticides. The Chinese technicians introduced the growth of Chinese hybrid rice to local farmers. Official studies showed that the hybrid rice can yield up to 10 metric tons per hectare compared with the conventional rice which yields 4.5 metric tons per hectare.

Peter Muhimbo, an expert at Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture and acting project coordinator of the Uganda-China South-South Project, told Xinhua that the third phase is to develop a complete value chain with access to the market, which would be able to ensure food security and improve people’s wellbeing.

He is optimistic that during the third phase, innovative ways would be developed to help farmers sell their agricultural products to the market amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Querido said the lockdown measures affected some farmers as borders were closed and their products could not reach the market. “We are doing fine in terms of food security. The first lockdown created some constraints, but it did not take us to a point of total collapse of our food system. We should continue to plan ahead for any situation that can create any constraint to the food system in Uganda,” he said.

On the lush green rice paddies at a Chinese-run farm in the central Ugandan district of Kalungu, Herbert Agaba has got prepared for flying drones to spray pesticides.

Government figures show that about 70% of Uganda’s population derives its livelihood from agriculture. Uganda and China have been operating the China-Uganda South-South cooperation project over the years through a tripartite agreement with FAO.

Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) ventures into gardening to supplement soldiers’ feeding budget

The Gambia Armed Forces has ventured into gardening to supplement the allocated budget given to them for the soldiers’ feeding. Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Mamat O. Cham made the announcement and said they have already made the first harvest of their pilot gardening project.

“Most of the cash money we spend daily in the markets is now spent on these items to supplement the feeding and provide nutritious food for our soldiers,” he said. 26 soldiers with civilians who voluntarily joined the forces harvested garden eggs, okra, bitter tomato and tomato. Major General Cham said the engagement of the forces into agriculture is also to build training skills for the soldiers so that when they finish their national service, they would have skills and techniques to contribute as ordinary citizens into meaningful agriculture for the feeding of themselves and their families as well as build the agricultural chain in the country.

“This harvest is a clear testimony that if given the support, GAF in line with its constitutional mandate to venture into productive activities such as agriculture, education, health and engineering will be able to take part in the socio-economic development of the country,” said General Mamat. Deputy CDS Cham said the soldiers that took part in the pilot project will be sent back to their various units to replicate the activities learned.

He believed that in the long run, GAF will be able to supplement its feeding and if a surplus is generated, they will be able to dispose of them through middle women to enhance their livelihood. The next pilot project is to start a poultry project.

Kenyan youth to tap untapped potential in agriculture

TOne of the most pressing challenges among Kenya’s educated youth is unemployment. According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya’s literacy rate for those aged between 15 and 24 years has oscillated between 82% and 94%. Approximately 35.7 million Kenyans (75% of the population) are below 35 years. Some 13.7 million (29% of the population) are aged between 18 and 35 years.

To ameliorate the problem of unemployment, the growing population of young Kenyans should exploring the continent’s huge market of 1.2 billion people (projected to reach 2.5 billion people by 2050) and a combined GDP of US $2.5 trillion.

This provides a massive opportunity for Kenya where manufacturing has remained stagnant at 11% of the GDP for over a decade. Kenya exports only US$11 of processed agricultural products per capita, compared with South Africa’s US$83 and Côte D’Ivoire’s US $77.

This is an opportunity that the youth should exploit. They should realise that education is not necessarily meant to earn them jobs, but to furnish them with knowledge to solve societal problems, identify gaps to fill then get rewarded for it. The youth should look at farmlands as huge agribusiness opportunity, after all, 32 million of those aged below 35 years live in the rural areas. Post-harvest losses stand at 20-50 per cent in numerable value-chains. They can choose to blame brokers for post-harvest losses or view the predicament as an opportunity for agroprocessing. They can choose to look at 80 per cent of Kenya as arid and semi-arid or see a mammoth opportunity for innovation in irrigation.

Youth can explore new products and services along the innumerable value-chains or choose to inherit the hoes of their forefathers or migrate to the urban areas where formal employment has stagnated at three million jobs for about two decades.

This year’s International Youth Week was themed: Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health. But the bitter truth is that food systems will scarcely transform without mindset transformation.

Partnerships between the youth and the public/ private sectors should be nurtured in a symbiotic mutually beneficial environment. Cognisant of that, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has partnered with various arms of government, development partners, SMEs and Captains of Industry to ensure that youth-driven enterprises across diverse sectors are equipped for business development.

An example is the KEPSA Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Training and Mentorship Programme that has a county outreach and is positively impacting on SMEs, majorly run by youth across to help them achieve a better future.

Youth may as well tap from the wisdom of Dr Akinwumi Adesina, president of the Africa Development Bank, who said “millionaires and billionaires will not be coming from the oil and gas sector, rather from the agriculture sector.”

Green technology for irrigation launched in Rwanda

Agreen technology for irrigation has been launched in Ngoma District in Rwanda. The Rwf271 million hillside irrigation scheme to water fruits and vegetables in sectors of Zaza and Mutender uses solar energy to distribute water on 20 hectares of smallholder farmers’ lands.

Targeted to benefit around 1,200 residents, the project established solar pumping systems and constructed two water reservoirs of 500m3 each to irrigate 10 hectares in the Zaza and 10 hectares in Mutenderi, using Lake Mugesera water in Zaza and source water in Mutenderi.

Currently, farmers have planted at Zaza site crops including bell peppers, French beans, watermelon, and eggplants, while in Mutenderi site, there are bell peppers, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, onions, and eggplants.

“The only role of the lake was water for home use. We used to plant two seasons a year, but now we will plant anytime. This will help us grow financially. Of course there will be a big difference,” declared Sophia Mukamukiza, 25year old farmer from Nyakariba, Ruhinga Cell, Zaza.

To secure the sustainability of the scheme, the farmers were grouped into a cooperative, with the committee making sure the farmers pay maintenance fees at the end of the season, in order to repair damaged materials. The project was introduced to increase the capacity of farmers in terms of horticultural productivity, climate resilience, and access to markets for a better livelihood of vulnerable groups in the two sectors, implemented by Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative (RWARRI) and funded by Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA).

“The sun that previously caused drought is now changing people’s lives as it is now the source of power to irrigate the crops,” stated Uwizeye Belange, the Executive Secretary of RWARRI. Everywhere around the district, the farmers are able to buy small-scale irrigation technologies and get a 50% subsidy from the government. Around 400 irrigation systems were provided to the farmers in the district over the last two years, according to Vice Mayor Mapambano. Ngoma has a total of 1,643 hectares of irrigated land, and the government targets to irrigate 2,300 hectares by 2024.

Kenya seeks importation of fresh oregano, parsley to USA

Kenya is seeking US market access for fresh oregano, parsley. The country has asked the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) to authorise the importation of fresh oregano and parsley to the US.

On their side Aphis has drafted a pest risk assessment that describes potential pests associated with the commodities ahead of the possible approval process. The agency is making the assessment available for public comment before it finalises its draft assessment that identifies pest control measures in the import approval process.

The US Department of Agriculture said the draft pest risk assessment for oregano for consumption from Kenya will be available for review and comment until October 13.

“Based on the market access request submitted by the government of Kenya, the pathway was considered to include fresh shoots of oregano shipped by air in cartons,” said the agecny.

In April this year, the US allowed the importation of previously banned carnations from Kenya without any restrictions, with local flower farmers saying it is a welcome boost to the horticultural market.

APHIS said at the time it would allow the importation of carnation cuttings from Kenya without post-entry quarantine requirements as long as they will pose no disease or pests threats to the US. Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya CEO Okisegere Ojepat at the time termed the approval a landmark move for Kenya saying it would expand the basket of cut flowers exported to the US boosting jobs and income for Kenyans.

Oregano is a herb used to add flavour to dishes and to treat health conditions. Parsley is often used as a garnish, but it can also enhance flavour and benefit human health, according to health experts.

Nigerian tech-enables spices exporter Agricorp raise Series A funding round

Nigerian startup Agricorp, which is utilising technology in a bid to become the largest spices exporter on the continent, has raised US$17.5 million in Series A funding to help it increase its production capacity to 7,000 metric tonnes.

Founded in 2018 by Kenneth Obiajulu and Wale Omotimirin, Agricorp has so far supported over 5,000 smallholder farmers with inputs and training on good agronomic practices, and built a 0.5MT/hour spice processing plant in Kaduna that produces value-added products for the export market. The startup has developed proprietary technology, Farmbase, that registers, aggregates, and pays farmers for produce sold. In a market where farmers are largely undocumented and unbanked, Agricorp collates data that can help provide detailed analysis for stakeholders to make informed agricultural decisions, and also helps with traceability of all farmer activities from the need for farm input to disbursement to sales of products and, eventually, payment.

Financial institutions can also use this information to provide loans, credit facilities, and insurance to interested parties. It is now seeking greater scale and impact, and has therefore raised a US$17.5 million Series A round. The Nigeria-based Vami led the funding round with US$11.5 million in equity, while One Capital LLC and AFEX provided working capital financing for the company.

The funding will be used to expand Agricorp’s spices processing capacity to hit 7,000MT per annum, set up regional sales operations in South Africa and East Africa, acquire certifications for food safety and hygiene, increase staff strength to meet growing demand, and improve marketing efforts.

“We believe that by increasing our capacity to 7,000MT, we will maximise the potential to boost Nigeria’s forex earnings through export, contribute our quota to improving the Nigerian GDP from agriculture, and serve as a worthy model to African youths who aspire to be agribusiness owners. We want to show them it is possible and very rewarding as well,” said Obiajulu, Agricorp’s chief executive officer (CEO).

AgriCorp’s founders raised US$330,000 in seed capital back in 2018 to get the company started, and One Capital has previously invested an undisclosed amount in convertible notes to help it scale operations. The company has also raised several debt notes to meet its working capital requirements for buying raw materials from farmers within its network.

2021 Africa Agriculture Status Report launched

The 2021 Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR21) has been launched at the 11th Edition of the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) summit taking place in Kenya.

AGRF is an annual gathering that will run for the next three days and usually brings together heads of state and government, agriculture ministers, members of the civil society, private sector leaders, scientists and farmers in discussions that define the future of Africa’s food systems.

The report addresses the challenges and opportunities in the creation of sustainable and resilient Agri-food systems in Africa. The report has called for necessary actions by governments, pan African organizations, bilateral and multilateral development partners and the private sector. According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has registered the most rapid rate of agricultural production growth since 2000 of any regions of the world. However, three quarters of this growth is driven by the expansion of crop land, over yield increases.

With Africa’s population expected to double to nearly 2.5 billion by 2050, the report says that now is the time for stakeholders to put the steps in place to increase production without compromising the continent’s natural resources.

The report further outlines the priorities and next steps that must be taken by all stakeholders to achieve the transformation that will lead to sustainable and resilient Agri-food systems.

The AGRF meeting is running under the theme, Pathways to Recovery and Resilient Food Systems, and the summit expects to explore the pathways and actions needed to steer the continent towards food systems that deliver sufficient and nutritious food, protect the environment and create sustainable jobs.

Kenyan, Nigerian firm win US $1.5M grant for agritech innovation

Hello Tractor, a Kenyan firm and Nigerian’s ColdHubs have won a US $1.5 million grant to fund expansion plans in a bid to provide services to smallholder farmers.

The two firms were declared winners of the inaugural Agriculture, Youth and Technology (AYuTe) Africa Challenge by Heifer International picked. Hello Tractor was feted for creative solutions to Africa’s farm machinery challenges. The company is known in Africa as the “Uber of tractors.”

ColdHubs provides solar-powered, walk-in coolers for smallholder vegetable farmers to keep their produce fresh. Hello Tractor founder and CEO Jehiel Oliver and ColdHubs founder and CEO Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu who are winners of the 2021 AYuTe Africa champions were chosen from young agritech innovators from across the continent, during the ongoing 2021 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Summit. “Across Africa today, young, creative professionals are deploying tech innovations that are reimagining farming and food production,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice president of Africa Programs at Heifer International.

“We want to do our part to help companies like Hello Tractor and ColdHubs as they provide Africa’s smallholder farmers with much-needed products and services to develop sustainable, profitable business,” he said.

The companies will also receive support from a team of expert advisers and accomplished business veterans, to help them translate their funding into an aggressive expansion strategy. This is part of Heifer International’s efforts to support young entrepreneurs to develop affordable tech innovations.

Hello Tractor provides technology that allows farmers to connect with local tractor owners on the Hello Tractor marketplace and book a machine for as long as they need it. ColdHubs owns and operates dozens of compact, walk-in, solar-powered coolers at rural produce markets in central Nigeria. The transportable, standalone units help farmers keep beans, pepper and tomatoes fresh for long to reduce waste.

CMGP and ADP II were advised by Derenia Capital, Smyle Finance, PwC and Allen & Overy. CAS was advised by BMCE Capital Conseil and Norton Rose Fullbright. AfricInvest was advised by DLA Piper.

Kenya proposes Sh 670M budget to mitigate drought

Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture’s has proposed a Sh 670million budget to the Treasury for mitigating drought, adverse weather conditions experienced in the country’s arid and semi-arid regions.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had recently declared drought a national disaster. Consequently, he instructed the National Treasury and the Ministry of Interior to spearhead Government efforts to assist affected households including water and relief food distribution as well as livestock uptake. In the latest food security monitoring report, the State Department of Livestock (SDL) noted that funds will be used to manage the implications of the forecasted depressed rainfall which is likely to deteriorate the region’s food security and nutrition.

The report indicated that livestock in Marsabit, Isiolo, Tana River, Wajir, Turkana, Kilifi, Kitui, and Laikipia counties have experienced poor body conditions which affects milk production and market prices.

“The food security and nutrition situation in most parts of the arid and semi-arid (ASALs) areas in the northern and eastern parts of Kenya is likely to deteriorate. SDL has submitted a drought interventions budget and is awaiting the release of funds by the National Treasury,” the ministry noted.

“Outlook for the Oct-Nov-Dec (OND) 2021 “Short Rains” season indicates that most parts of the country are likely to experience depressed rainfall. Analysis of the rainfall performance indicates that most parts of the country especially eastern and northern Kenya experienced rainfall deficit,” the ministry added.

As part of the proposed interventions, the ministry says efforts should be directed towards Livestock disease surveillance, control, and treatment, livestock breeds improvement and increased purchase of livestock supplementary feeds.

Farmers in Ntungamo District, Uganda count losses over fire blaze

Atotal of 112 farmers in Ntungamo and Itojo sub-counties of Ntungamo District are counting losses after a fire destroyed several crops, trees and other projects in the Butaare- Ruhanga hills on. Farmers have been using Butaare-Ruhanga hills that stretch for about two square kilometres for both agriculture and settlement. Area residents suspect that it could have been work of an arsonist.

The Ntungamo sub-county councillor, Mr Naboth Mpirirwe, said some individuals, especially herdsmen, burn hills during the dry spell on claims that it would help improve the pastures once the rainy season sets in. “We have tried to sensitise people that they abandon the practice of burning the pastures. We shall engage the police to hunt suspect and make sure they serve as examples. You can’t destroy people’s investments like that.” Mr Mpirirwe said.

Mr Enock Mwesigye, one of the affected farmers, revealed that he lost 21 acres of crops and 140 beehives in the fire.

“I have lost almost all my commercial crops. I started growing these crops about eight years ago after returning from training in Israel, under a project funded by the First Lady. We were taught how to grow crops on hills. I put in all the money I had but now I don’t know where to start from,” said Mr Enock Mwesigye.

The Ntungamo natural resources officer, Ms Dinah Tumwebaze, said they were working on supporting the affected farmers whom she said had been aiding conservation of the hills.

World Vision Ghana provides small ruminants to farmers in Bawku West

World Vision Ghana, a Christian humanitarian and development organization has provided 220 small ruminants to 110 farmers in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region to rear as economic empowerment venture for improved livelihoods.The beneficiaries, with each receiving two female goats comprised 70 women and 40 men were selected from Galaka, Kari- Natinga, Adonsi, Kusanaba-Kukua, Kusanaba-Namoo, Zongoyire, Soogo, Googo, Bulinga and Winnaba communities. About 30 of the beneficiaries have various forms of disabilities such as visual and hearing impairments, physical challenges among others. The support was part of the implementation of the Re-greening Africa Project being implemented in Bawku West, Garu and Tempane Districts by World Vision Ghana with funding from the European Union (EU).

At separate communities to present the goats to the farmers, Mr Edward Akunyagra Anaba, the Project Manager for the Re-greening Africa Project in charge of the Bawku West Cluster, noted that it was seeking to create a sustained approach to reversing land degradation and integrating food production through agroforestry. He explained that as a result through approaches such as the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) and tree planting, the project has restored 208,057 hectares of land across the three districts. Wild fires have also been brought to the barest minimum in these districts through the activities of firefighting stewards formed by the project, he added.

“The project addresses pressing challenges of the savannah areas of Ghana such as acute and prolonged dry seasons, overgrazing (livestock pressure), rampant bush burning, and indiscreet felling of trees that culminated in the decline of the forest cover, loss of indigenous biodiversity and increased soil infertility,” he said.

“The project’s objective is to improve livelihoods, food security and resilience to climate change by smallholder farmers in Africa and restore ecosystem services, particularly through evergreen agriculture.” To leverage the impact of the project, Mr Anaba said the smallholder farmers were supported with the small ruminants to take advantage of the restored natural resources and fodder available and enter into rearing as a lucrative business venture to improve on their livelihood.

He added that the gesture was to reward the communities for their efforts in restoring the environment. The Project Manager who entreated the beneficiaries to take good care of the animals said while the animals would provide food and source of income for the farmers, it would motivate the communities to ensure sustainable project to protect the environment.

Kenya’s agriculture sector posts second best growth in five years

Kenya’s agriculture growth has recorded a 5.4% in 2020, posing a second best growth in five years. This is according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

The rise signifies the sector’s resilience despite last year’s desert locust invasion in various parts of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic and the short rains which posed a threat to farmers’ harvests. The rise has been partly attributed to the increased production of tea and food crops such as beans, rice, sorghum and millet.

Adequate rainfall in tea growing areas contributed to a 24.1% increase in its production which rose to 569.5 thousand tonnes in 2019/20. crop year. KNBS said the volume of sugar cane deliveries increased from 4.4 million to 6.0 million tonnes in 2020 due to the ‘availability of mature sugar cane.”

On the other hand, the volume of marketed milk increased by 2.1 per cent from 668.2 million litres in 2019 to 682.3 million litres in 2020.

Maize production, however, decreased slightly from 44.0 million bags in 2019 to 42.1 million bags in 2020, similarly to coffee whose production dropped from 45.0 thousand tonnes in 2018/19 to 36.9 thousand tonnes in 2019/20.

“Multiple factors affected coffee production such as poor weather conditions in the coffee-growing areas, inadequate application of farm inputs by smallholder farmers and the shift in land use from

coffee farming to real estate among others,” the survey added.

The volume of horticultural exports decreased by 4.5% from 328.3 thousand tonnes in 2019 to 313.6 thousand tonnes in 2020. Overall, the value of marketed agricultural production increased by 9.3 per cent from Shs 466.3 billion in 2019 to KSh 509.7 billion in 2020.

“Crops contributed the highest share of the marketed production in 2020, at 68.0 per cent. Favourable weather conditions resulted in higher production and hence higher earnings for various commodities,” the survey added.

Morocco launches campaign to give UK food companies a taste of its produce

Morocco has launched its first food and drink export campaign in the UK to inspire British businesses and consumers to explore Morocco’s diverse food products, as well as promoting its offering as a quicker, more reliable and credible trading alternative.

The campaign marks the beginning of a wider awareness initiative from Morocco Foodex to promote the quality and importance of Moroccan agriculture. The multi-channel campaign includes a series of both B2B and B2C creative assets that highlight the importance of Moroccan agriculture and foodstuffs to the respective audiences, with a heavy focus on the quality and diversity of its food and drink sector, as well as its sustainable farming practices, competitive prices and reliability of the logistics involved to transport goods between the two countries.

It coincides with the opening of a new direct shipping route between Tangier in Morocco and Poole in the UK, cutting journey times from more than six days by road to less than three. Until now, maritime trade between the two countries took place via two crossings, with the shipping route passing through Spain. The new route will significantly reduce emissions compared to previous logistic chains by road.

A country with a long-standing relationship with the UK and Europe, Morocco offers modern, secure and high quality manufacturing processes which meet top British standards at competitive prices, allowing buyers in the sector to offer credible, reliable alternatives at lower prices without compromising on quality.

“The special relationship between Morocco and the UK dates back over 800 years and it continues to get stronger every year,” said El Mehdi El Alami, Director of Export Promotion and Development at Morocco FoodEx. “And now, we have a real opportunity to take our economic and trade relations to a new level. Food is such an important part of Morocco’s history and identity and we’re passionate about the high-quality produce, authentic cuisine and sustainability of our food and drink offering. That’s what we want to celebrate and promote to the UK through this campaign.”

Morocco, a key exporter of produce including citrus fruits and market vegetables, fish and other processed and local produce, has a rich heritage in agriculture and agribusiness – a key pillar of its economy. With approximately 33,000 square miles of arable land and a temperate Mediterranean climate, the agricultural potential of Morocco is unmatched.

Cameroon initiates a program to boost rubber production

The government of Cameroon in collaboration with a number of experts have initiated a program to boost rubber production by 6,667 tons in 2022. The programme aims develop oil palm and rubber tree plantations in the country. This ambition will be fulfilled by notably providing various supports to small farmers, and restoring and redeveloping existing plantations to boost per-hectare yield. This projected increase in rubber production will comfort the upturn already announced by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) after a rather sluggish 2020 affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The program will also help bring in more revenues for farmers given the uptrend being recorded in rubber prices in international markets since 2020. Indeed, according to BEAC data, in Q32020, rubber (23.6%), palm oil (22.8%), and sugar (14.6%) were the CEMAC region’s export products that recorded the highest price rise on the international market. In Q4-2020, rubber once again recorded the highest price rise, up by 35.2% quarter to quarter.

This year natural rubber production in Cameroon will increase again, according to the business cycle forecast recently published by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). The central bank explains that this rise in production will be boosted by international demand and the renovation of rubber production fields in the Southwest.

This is good news for main local rubber producers such as Safacam, Hévécam, and Sud Cameroun Hévéa, whose activities were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Also, this will particularly help the operations of Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), the state-owned company that paid the heaviest price to the so-called Anglophone crisis raging in the North-West and South-West regions since late 2020.

Seed Co’s new US $13M plant to change face of farming in Zimbabwe

The US $13 million maize seed conditioning plant from SEED Co Limited commissioned in Zimbabwe by President Mnangagwa, is set to enhance the group’s seed maize supply capacity for both local and regional markets as the facility contributes to quick turnaround of production and productivity.

According to the group, the seed maize plant, whose installation started in 2019, has the ability to double cropping per unit area as well as produce early ensuring harvest crop. Mr David Long, the company’s chairman, said the seed maize conditioning plant would also result in a massive turnaround of agriculture in the country.

“The quality of seed maize has improved through elimination of pest challenges as seed maize harvesting can be done at 35% moisture content while the cost of producing seed will be reduced since other processes of harvesting are eliminated,” he said.

Double cropping

In 2019, Seed Co embarked on a project to install the drier plant, and the project would be done in four phases, the first of which would have the capacity for 5 000 tonnes of seed maize per season. Mr David said the technical commissioning of the plant was completed in June this year, and the project was completed for US $13 million with over 60% of the project cost benefiting local contractors and suppliers.

The new plant would start to process seed that will be harvested in February 2022, as the company already had enough dried seed in stock. It has capacity to open up land for double cropping, thereby ensuring increased crop range for farmers.

“We have enough seeds for the upcoming season. This plant, because we had already dried all the seed, it will start to dry seed that we will harvest in February, 2022, because the seed we will start to sell in September is already dried,” said Mr Morgan Nzwere, the group’s chief executive officer.

Civil society organisations seeks halt to funding for industrial agriculture

Civil society organisations have called on influential donors to stop funding industrial agriculture programmes.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) which represents 200 million small-scale food producers along with 165 organisations from 40 countries, have raised concerns that the funding harm smallholder farmers and the environment.

The organisations have written a letter to donors of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and other ‘Green Revolution’ organisations, urging them to redirect their support to African-led agroecology and low-input farming systems.

The green revolution of the 1950s to 1970s intensified agriculture by increasing the use of inputs — fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation for high-yielding modern crops.

“Only a very small amount of money is flowing into Africa for research. Government funders tend to give the money to western-based research institutes that is a sad fact. Farmers all over Africa have shown far more promising results sharing knowledge and working with scientists to establish low-input farming methods that leave the control of production in the hands of African farmers,” said Million Belay, AFSA co-founder.

AGRA’s funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. The programme provides African farmers with subsidies to buy commercial seeds such as maize, as well as fertilisers to help increase yield. It also funds research efforts in its 13 partner countries.

Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of the Nigeriabased Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said that this mindset of trying to bring knowledge to Africa, rather than relying on local expertise, was failing to address the problems within agriculture on the continent.

“AGRA or similar organisations do not have the knowledge that African governments or countries have. AGRA does not know Africa more than Africans. The very problem with these messianic interventions is a lack of respect for knowledge available in their areas of interest,” he told SciDev.Net.

The widening of the chainless diffuser required redesigning and replacement of many structures and components, including stage juice spray pipes and process piping and a new dewatering drum and kicker. A new juice distribution system, which comprises fully adjustable juice launders, allows optimum process control. Pumps and piping were relocated to suit the updated design.

New 3CR12 troughs, side-walls and roof sections, as well as a new structure on one side of the diffuser, have been installed and the existing rafters were extended. The project also required additional lifting screws, hydraulic cylinders, pumps, piping and new hydraulic structures. New civils and foundation works and reconstructed walkways and access ways were also installed.

This component of the project - comprising full process and mechanical design, project and construction management, fabrication, installation and new civil and foundation works - was executed in nine months.

As part of the expansion project, UCL also appointed Bosch Projects to design, fabricate, supervise installation and commission several critical process equipment items, to fast-track the procurement process and meet project timelines. The process equipment items supplied were a 45m3 “C” Continuous Vacuum Pan (CVP), a 2 500 m2 Long Tube Evaporator (LTE), two Strike Receivers (30m3 and 50m3 respectively), a 1.5m3 condensate vessel and a 17m2 rotary screen for draft juice screening.

The Bosch Projects equipment team was responsible for every aspect of these equipment supply projects – including design compliance, in accordance with project specific and regulatory pressure vessel standards and specifications, the fabrication and quality control of the fabrication, logistics, rigging and installation, as well the commissioning and hand-over under strict COVID-19 conditions.

Bosch Projects works closely with its technology partners and fabricators to ensure manufacture of all equipment adheres to stringent international quality standards and exact design specifications.

The company, with a network of offices in Africa, South and Central America and the United Kingdom, also has technology partners in the South East Asian region and the USA.

These recent projects undertaken by Bosch Projects, enhance the company’s extensive track record, as Bosch Holdings celebrates its 60th birthday this year.

Nigeria’s Sesame exports could rise to US $1.5bn

Nigeria’s Sesame could contribute US $1.5 billion to the country’s agriculture exports. This is according to Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN).

The review follows agriculture exports of N127 billion in Q1 2021 out of which Sesame topped the list of exported agriculture. The association said that the numbers can increase if maximized and also called for the support of the state government and collaboration of the private and organised sectors with FACAN in boosting agriculture exports in Nigeria.

Chairman of FACAN, Edo chapter, Mr Enahoro Ojiefoh, revealed that sesame topped the list of agro-export commodities, with an estimated export value of N41.9 billion, while cashew nuts, both in-shell and shelled, were valued at N13.7 billion, and added that Sesame was a huge opportunity for Nigeria to earn major FX and export revenue, forecasting export revenues of $1.5 billion.

“Sesame seeds come from a flowering plant, mostly grown in Northern Nigeria due to the drought-resistant nature of the seed. Aside the fact that it has numerous health and industrial benefits and is widely used for baking, medicine, cosmetics and animal feeds, it also has high oil content of about 44% to 60%,” Ojiefoh said.

“Reports have it that the global demand for the commodity is expected to grow at 4.2% compound annual growth rate between 2018 and 2024. Nigeria is expected to key into this, considering its land mass and the fact that the sesame is drought-resistant and requires minimal fertiliser, which makes it cheaper to cultivate than other crops,” he added.

Small scale farmers in Kenya facing financial starvation

Chief Executive Ayodeji Balogun has announced that small scale agricultural sector in Kenya is the least funded sector despite it being the largest employer with more than 40% of the population.

Speaking during a session at the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), Balogun noted that the small scale farmers in Kenya are facing financial starvation inhibiting the growth of the agriculture sector. He observed that less than 5% of Kenyan small-scale farmers get access to formal borrowing.

“Possible reasons for the minimal allocation of credit to the sector in Kenya may range from the high-risk nature of the sector, information asymmetry in determining the creditworthiness of the Agri-sme, and the non-suitability of conventional financing instruments,” he added. “Lack of financing has led to the country experiencing chronic food shortages due to low productivity in most of the value chains. This is however not a Kenyan problem only, but an African problem. In Nigeria, domestic credit to the agriculture sector in the country was about 5.2 percent of the total credit in 2020,” he explained during the session themed “Rural and Markets Development”.

Balogun said the factors hampering the rural and market potential in Africa is a mix between financing and infrastructural deficits.

“The infrastructural deficits majorly speak to the availability of adequate and affordable storage for farmers among others,” he said.

AFEX operates over 80 warehouses in some of Africa’s grain-producing regions, accounting for over 100,000 metric tonnes of total storage capacity in the continent. Since 2014, the Exchange has connected over 160,000 farmers and traded 200,000 metric tonnes of commodities worth USD47.6 million (NGN17.1 billion).

Young Agri-Preneurs seek to drive up adoption of climate smart farming

In response to challenges in the affordability of climate-smart farms and related equipment for Rwandan farmers, a local agri-business group, Innovation for Impact (Infim) is using innovation to find alternatives. This vision has earned them ‘best youth-led agricultural organization across Africa’ in the Foundation of the Year (FOYA) Awards 2021.

The awarding ceremony that was held in Nairobi on August 31, awarded Infim team a nonmonetary prize of mentorship and matching the team with potential investors in agriculture. Climate smart farming is an approach to farming that increases productivity and resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Having graduated their high school in 2018, four agriculture students, Mugisha Ernest, Eric Sibomana, Benjamin Ntihemuka and Jean Damascene Kubwayo, identified a need to improve, develop and elevate innovative ideas to improve the health sector through agriculture.

To pursue their goals, they initiated Innovation for impact agriculture for transformation project (Infim) in 2019 with a strong belief of developing ideas from fundamental research to make a remarkable impact on Rwandan agriculture.

“During that research, we realized climate smart farming will be one of the solutions to the problems facing Rwandan agricultural system, because most of our farmers think that agriculture is all about digging and harvesting, but our research went further,” said Ernest Mugisha, head of Infim, citing that they wanted to educate farmers on the modern methods of farming. Unfortunately, Mugisha noted, that these farmers who are concerned solely about digging and harvesting get little in return and hence their improvement of standards of living remains low.

Upon adopting the improved farming styles of climate smart farming, the group rented up to two hectares of land to cultivate and apply the innovations they had brainstormed. They embraced horticultural farming, concentrating on tomatoes, onions and chili among other products.

Apart from embracing the new farming style and raising the farmers’ standards of living, the local startup also sought to change the bias that the agricultural sector is a low-income earning sector by raising awareness especially to the youths that this sector is also a sector of survival.

“We also wanted to open the eyes of the youth, inspire them and showcase the opportunities present in the agricultural sector,” added Mugisha. With limited skills, capital and the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic, Infim Agricultural Transform Africa settled its first premises in Gashora sector, Bugesera district, and started looking for funding for the project. The team presented to different groups, individuals and organizations and managed to raise Rwf 5 million as the capital, to commence their horticultural activities.

“In our first agricultural seasons, we have managed to produce more than 700 kilograms of onions but our go-to-market plan was drastically hindered by Covid-19, hence the profit was not the maximum as projected, but we are dealing with the supply of horticultural products with chili being exported to china,” commented Mugisha.

With their activities, more than 500 casual workers were employed in the previous agricultural seasons since 2019, who the group claims have improved their standards of living owing it to the wages they make from Infim.

Apart from horticultural production, Infim also provides agricultural consultation services. In 10 years to come, according to Mugisha, the team envisions Rwandan farmers having embraced smarter climate farming techniques like crop rotation and mulching among others.