Volume 10. Issue 5. Sept/October 2022
Cover Image: Poultry Africa 2019
Executive Editor
Anthony Kiganda
editor@farmersreviewafrica.com
sub Editor
Anita Anyango
Contributing writers
Lawrence Paganga Zimbabwe
Nqobile Bhebhe Zimbabwe
Oscar Nkala Botswana Bertha M South Africa
Jane Marsh Environment.co
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sales & Marketing
Gladmore. N gladmoren@farmersreviewafrica.com
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The New 6-Cylinder on the Block: The John Deere 6140B CAB Tractor
From the land to the lab, tested maize products become a livelihood for rural women
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ways to store freshly harvested fruit and vegetables is a big problem for smallholder farmers in Africa.
Produce can rot quickly in outdoor temperatures, and transporting it to market isn’t an option for many small-scale farmers.
Having cold storage solution in farms could be a game changer especially for perishable products. Africa has the advantage of strong sunshine throughout the year allowing the continent to use modern cold storage facilities that use solar energy.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, About a third of all food produced globally – around 1.3 billion tonnes – is wasted, Africa being hard hit.
And when we waste food, we waste the labour, money and precious resources that go into making the food, not to mention the resources that go into transporting it.
By using solar powered cold storage, farmers in Africa would not only enjoy zero power costs but also help in reducing greenhouse gas emission and overall ensure food security on the continent.
This calls for a concerted effort and cooperation among all stakeholders including farmers, governments, NGOs and international donors such as International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Remember to attend the Poultry Africa Event scheduled for 5-6 October in Kigali, Rwanda.
editor@farmersreviewafrica.com
Africa should turn to solar powered cold storage to reduce post-harvest losses
for a Greener Agricultural Shipping Sector in Africa
Africa
“Kenya” Beehives Raise Incomes in Burkina Faso
Morocco launches “Irrisat” programme to optimise irrigation water
The North African kingdom is affected by drought, which causes water stress and land degradation. Thus the programme is based on two approaches. First, the estimation of plant water consumption and needs will be combined to propose results at the agricultural plot, irrigated sector and watershed levels. It is also planned to evaluate the impact of irrigation methods, produce a water resource balance, etc.
An irrigation management tool will then be developed to rationalise the use of irrigation water in Morocco, without reducing agricultural yields. The CRTS is receiving scientific support for this programme from the French-based Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and the Scape Climate Observatory (SCO).
Morocco has launched the “Irrisat-Morocco” irrigation programme to optimise water supplies for irrigation using satellite data, in response to the drought. The programme, Initiated by the Royal Centre for Remote Sensing (CRTS), is based on the combination of parameters generated from satellite data and
modelling. It is set to provide farmers, agricultural development offices, basin agencies and the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture with targeted information for a better irrigation strategy. Director of the Royal Centre for Remote Sensing (CRTS), Driss El Hadani performed the launch ceremony.
The irrigation programme launched in the Kingdom of Morocco supports the Satellite for Irrigation Scheduling (SAT’IRR) project, initiated by the IRD-UMR CESBIO in collaboration with Cadi Ayad University in Marrakech, on the Haouz irrigated area.
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has disclosed that his outfit is going for a US $36M loan from the African Development Bank to fund the Savannah Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project as well as help transition, smallholder farmers, into commercial ventures. Speaking at the launch of the Ghanaian Farmer Tourism Club, Dr. Akoto indicated that more investments is needed to revolutionise the agric sector.
“Commercial farming is booming in the Savannah belt and we have a project to accelerate the process. I’ve gone to the African Development Bank to get a loan of $36 million for a project called SAPIP where we’re turning smallholder farmers into commercial farms. Farmers who used to produce 20 acres of maize are now doing 100 acres and more and people are queuing to join the club,” he stated.
The Savannah Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project designed with a total cost of $56.3 million was launched in May 2018. The project was to reach out to 50,000 direct beneficiaries and 250,000 farmers nationwide through the input subsidy programme of the
Planting for Food and Jobs initiative. The project is expected to end this year.
Count on Crops Hub, an agric advocacy firm, launched the Ghanaian Farmer Tourism Club. The club seeks to provide an opportunity for Ghanaian farmers to travel to other countries to learn new agronomic practices and vice versa.
“Agro tourism is an untapped market where farmers have not actually discovered. So as a company that is into agriculture innovations, we
thought is wise to take some farmers from Ghana to visit other parts of Africa and even Europe to visit some commercial farms, agro-processing companies and strengthen export and import of goods. So it’s just an experience, exposure we want to give to farmers,” said Chief Executive of Count on Crops Hub, Enyonam Manye.
Count on Crops Hub is partnering with Adansi Travels and RwandAir on this initiative. Managing Director of Adansi Travels, Gideon Asare outlined their packages available to farmers. “We have designed very beautiful packages starting with a trip to Rwanda. Our first trip will be in November. So we’re taking care of the arrangements and also ensuring that the cost is not unbearable for the Ghanaian farmer.”
Country Manager of RwandAir, Robert Okumu lauded the initiative and stated that his outfit is glad to partner a project that seeks to improve Africa. “I ask myself why African countries have to import dairy, poultry from the West, yet we have both the natural resources and human resources. So as RwandAir, we’re glad to support this project and in the spirit of pan Africanism, we will work together to grow this,” he said.
Thegovernment of Nigeria through the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, has inaugurated the regional offices and hostels for Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) in Abuja.
The facilities according to the minister aims to fast-track agricultural techniques, boost production and generate foreign exchange by providing requisite training for stakeholders in agricultural sector. He said the Institute would help the ministry in achieving its mandate to ensure food security in crops, livestock and fisheries.
The minister said this would also stimulate agricultural employment and services. He
added that the facilitators of the institute would be provided with work space which has the ambiance required to imbue knowledge in the participants.
The institute had been building fast-growing networks and collaborations with local and international agencies in the area of capacity building in the agriculture and rural development. the institute has also signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with organisations such as the Washington State University (WSU) on capacity building in Organic agriculture, and common wealth of learning.
Abubakar noted the need to build more mutual benefiting networks and grow with relevant stakeholders in the agricultural and rural
management capacity building sub sector. He lauded the management of the institute for capacity development and empowerment of thousands of small holders farmers as well as other actors along agricultural commodity value chains.
The Executive Director, ARMTI, Dr Olufemi Oladunni said that the development of the RTC of the institute was done in phases.
“The Abuja RTC was very strategic in the pursuit of the institute’s mandate. Given its location in the heart of FCT and direct connection to the rest of the world, a very good number of our partners and collaborators in the sector prefer Abuja RTC for their programmes,” he said.
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has disclosed that his outfit is going for a US $36M loan from the African Development Bank to fund the Savannah Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project as well as help transition, smallholder farmers, into commercial ventures. Speaking at the launch of the Ghanaian Farmer Tourism Club, Dr. Akoto indicated that more investments is needed to revolutionise the agric sector.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced its commitment to prioritising processing of agriculture produce. The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry Agriculture and Rural
Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe revealed the plans and said the move aims to increase the sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product. The government is set to prioritise its processing capacity through the establishment of several cottage industries for the production of staple food products in a competitive and comparative advantage manner.
Umakhihe, while speaking at the opening ceremony of 45th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) in Jos, Plateau State, said government would ensure a steady off-take of produce from out-growers, enhance the income of farmers and
entrepreneurs across all commodity value chains. He said their aim was to achieve the desired success in government’s commitment to the provision of incentives, increase the output and quality of agricultural commodities to meet and surpass national requirements as well as achieve a diversified economic base with agriculture leading the way for the non-oil sectors of the economy.
The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director, Department of Agriculture Land and Climate Change Management Services, Shehu Bello, revealed plans by government to collaborate with the states among other stakeholders, to improve agricultural commodity value chain development in the sector to enhance livelihood of the smallholder farmers as well as modify the commodity Value Chain Development processes.
Fund to be scaled-up and promote Nature-based solutions to be scaled up as mitigation initiatives. Other calls for Zambia to lobby are the inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge to Africa’s response to Climate Change; innovation and Technology transfer must be supported among countries from the North towards the most vulnerable countries in the south.
The approach of Just Climate Action through a gender lens should be a conversation holistically discussed at this year’s COP as African women make up 80% of rural farmers who are in the frontlines of the crisis.
The effects of climate change in Zambia that washed away the country’s agriculture wealth in recent seasons will now be mitigated through legal reforms and budget funding for sustained control of the environment until 2026 as demanded by President Hakainde Hichilema.
Zambia mooted a four year 8th National Development Plan for the period 2022 to 2026 last April and is anchored on economic transformation and job creation, human and social development, environmental sustainability, and good governance environment as the four pillars. It aspires to promote decentralization by devolution of power to the grassroots and ensure enhanced service delivery at the local level including promoting agriculture growth at household levels.
Speaking through minister of Green Economy and Environment-Collins Nzovu during the launch of the Africa Climate Week President Hichilema has directed the inclusion of various interventions in the strategic plan to ensure the environment is protected to avoid economic losses.
Efforts have been stepped up through law drafters to devise legal and policy reforms on the environment, and on ensuring that climate change was combated and ultimately protect the environment to benefit future generations.
“President Hichilema does not mince his words when it comes to the environment: he has included climate change in the eighth national development plan (8NDP). The inclusion of intervention measures in the 8ndp is to ensure that by 2026, the new dawn government will be measured on how well it would have protected the environment during its first term of office.”
Part of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF)-funding intended for developing local communities in all 10 provinces will be disbursed through the budgeted K26 million (US$1.5 million) to protect the environment.
President Hichilema implored all interest groups, including civil society organisations to join hands in remedying the effects of the climatic changes that have reversed economic gains made in the country after failed crops, damage to infrastructure, forcing the use of other resources in the treasury to mitigate.
And Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) country director-Nkombo Nachilala speaking through her acting chief conservation officer Beauty Mbaleread commended Zambia for various efforts into initiating a Green and Clean economy climate action agenda for Zambia, a move that has helped the country to be recognized globally ahead of the 27th Session on the Climate Change Conference of Parties (Commonly known as COP27) in Egypt next November.
Ms. Nachilala noted Africa’s vulnerabilities and potential exposure of the controversial issue towards loss and damage. The oncoming COP27, dubbed ‘this year’s African COP’ it is hoped, would resolve concerns of climate financing from donors that remains unfulfilled unlike pledges.
WWF is cognissant of Africa’s potential to be a sustainability leader for green growth but needs countervailing measures to avert climate change effects now and in the future with a call for all to act responsibly and be united as African nations. WWF urged Zambia as the current chair to lobby and ensure the fulfillment US$100 billion climate change financing is actualized, priority of Adaptation initiatives through the Adaptation
The Africa Climate Week was held from August 29 to September 1 and hosted under the auspices of the UN Climate Change in collaboration with global partners UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank Group.
This year’s climate change week seeks to explore Africa’s resilience against climate risks, the transition to a low-emission economy and create partnerships to solve pressing climate change challenges.
During the Stockholm +50 summit in Sweden last June, Minister Nzovu called for increased green and sustainable development to help unlock chances of mobilising institutional and private investments for greening developing economies. Many African Developing countries face problems in accessing financial resources from various accredited entity of the financial mechanisms and called for simplification of modalities for accessing adaptation funds.
African Governments, he contended many African countries are drawing on their national budgets for adaptation or responding to climate related disaster.
There us enough scientific justification for the requirement for increasing financial resources for adaptation needs, as outlined in the recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Africa’s adaptation is an absolute necessity and means a difference between survival and starvation for most of people, especially in rural communities.
“While we do appreciate and acknowledge that there is a role for private sector in scaling up financing, we are mindful of the limitations, especially as it relates to adaptation funding,” Mr. Nzovu told the meeting.
organizations, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to implement Cairo’s ambitious program to increase 10 gigawatts of new and renewable energy. Fouad, for her part, underscored the need for the US continuous support for Egypt’s “Nowfi” program which is the link between food, water projects and energy, and aims to mobilize concessional development finance, technical support, and investments by the private sector for a package of priority green development projects within the framework of Egypt’s 2050 Comprehensive National Climate Strategy.
Egypt and the United States have inked a deal to launch an initiative to adapt to clime changes. This came during a meeting between US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Egypt’s Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad on the sidelines of the 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Dakar, Senegal.
Kerry underlined the efforts exerted by the two sides to launch an initiative to adapt to climate changes on the sidelines of the upcoming COP27 climate summit. He called for advancing climate action at COP27 as a conference for implementation, despite the current global challenges. The envoy said he has coordinated with various countries and international
The Minister stressed the need for developed countries to fulfill their commitments and work on doubling financing for adaptation, especially the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, before the summit. She also emphasized the need to come up with a special mitigation program to maintain the Earth’s temperature in the range of 1.5 degrees Celsius, in accordance with the recommendations and outcomes of the Glasgow Conference (COP26).
The government of Botswana has announced plans to mull more than 10,000 cattle in a bid to fight an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Assistant Minister for Agriculture Molebatsi Molebatsi announced the plans and said the move to kill affected livestock was taken following consultations with disease control experts. Botswana which is Africa’s largest beef producers, was forced in August to halt beef exports over the virus, including to the lucrative European Union.
The plans will be first implemented in the country’s northeast. Molebatsi said 19,000 cattle are in the affected zone, which is near the Zimbabwe border, and more than 10,000 will be slaughtered. Some goats and sheep will also be culled.
“The decision to depopulate is the one we have taken. We took the decision after consultation with experts. We don’t want any traces of the virus to remain or to have any further viral circulation,” Molebatsi said.
Veterinarian Mbatshi Mazwinduma said culling means farmers must be compensated.
“It comes at a great cost because it means people have to be compensated,” Mazwinduma said. “And there is also environmental issues of animals that have been slaughtered ... on how do you dispose of them safely.”
Mazwinduma said in disease control, there should be certain considerations, particularly for the affected farmers.
“When you are trying to control the disease, you have to consider the economic, social and often political impact. Politically speaking, remember at times you are going to be slaughtering animals that belong to farmers, and you might push them further into abject poverty. Most of the time, the compensation of animals that are slaughtered is nowhere near the equivalent value if they were to sell them at the market,” Mazwinduma said.
Bose Sethupa, a farmer from the affected region,
said while the livelihoods of many people will be affected, the government has to contain the disease.
“It is a good move to try and contain the spread of the disease, but at the same time, it is not too good to the farmers because the government compensation is lower than the value of what the farmer will be having. But apart from that the move is good. It is truly meant to protect the export market, which is very key to our economy,” Sethupa said.
Roughly half of Botswana’s beef exports or about 9,000 tons are sent to the EU each year.
Ghana has received US $2.5miliion support from the International Development (USAID) to enable smallholder farmers to get access to affordable fertiliser supply to increase food production.
The USAID/Ghana Missions Director, Kimberly Rosen made the announcement and said the initiative was in partnership with the private sector and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). An estimated 100,000 smallholder farmers in the Bono, Ashanti and Bono East Regions would benefit from the package.
Kimberly Rosen, speaking at the launch of the programme in Techiman, Ms Rosen, noted that the programme sought to help address challenges smallholder farmers face to become competitive.
It is aimed at increasing investments that will enhance smallholder farmers, including women resilience through access to improve agricultural technologies, inputs and financing and markets. This, she noted had a dire consequence on food
productivity and security as well as livelihoods of the people, particularly the rural folk.
“We know that this year a confluence of crisis threatens to push many Ghanaians into hunger. Food and fertiliser prizes are already high because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices have soared even higher due to the Russia and Ukraine conflict. With sub-Saharan Africa hardest hit, we know this puts many families at risk,” she noted.
According to her, the US government flagship food security programme – Feed the Future was working with the private sector and the government to address the issue.
Madam Elizabeth Dwamena, Chief Executive Officer of Northgate Agro, Supplier Credit Guarantee Dealer on her part said the support by USAID and its partners would not only benefit farmers, but fertiliser suppliers as well, adding that “Agro dealers will our utmost best to ensure effective implementation of the initiative.”
organization World Neighbors has introduced farmers to a clay hive. Clay hives can be produced for $20, compared to $72 for wooden hives. Villages purchase the hives with loans from savings and credit groups, in which they deposit very small amounts each month. Loans taken out at low interest are paid back from profits from honey sales.
Given the productivity of the Kenya hive, beekeepers can harvest honey—and other products-- every quarter. Farmers harvest on average 30k of raw honey. If sold in this form, farmers earn $7.68 per kilogram.
Burkina
Faso’s economy is based on agriculture. The only effective way to raise incomes is to increase agricultural output and productivity. This can be done with low-cost innovations.
Innovations like the Kenya Top Bar Beehive.
This is a particular type of hive popularized in
Kenya. It’s a trapezoidal hive usually made of wood with wooden bars to which the bees attach their combs. The hive is unusually favorable for honey production, which is high in both quantity and quality. The design makes harvesting honey easy.
They Kenya hive is usually made of wood. In Burkina Faso, international development
With more investment, farmers can become extractors. From 30k of raw honey each quarter, these producers obtain 8 liters of filtered honey, which sells for $6.72 per liter. They also extract and sell wax used to make soap and other products. Wax is sold for $38- 48 per kilogram. Finally, there is other residue that can be used or sold as animal feed.
Efficient Kenya beehives are an easy and lowcost way for farmers in Burkina Faso to diversify their output and significantly increase income.
Rwanda’s agricultural exports increased by 44 per cent to over $640.9 million (over Rwf663 billion) in 2021-2022, from $444.8 million (over Rwf460 billion) in the previous financial year.
The report which was released by the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) reveals that the country received over $196 million (or Rwf201 billion) from its agricultural exports. This additional export revenue is more than Rwf160 billion which was allocated to funding agriculture sector projects in the current fiscal year.
The increase in terms of revenues is attributed to the economic recovery measures and movement of goods and people in 2021-2022 compared to 2020-2021, where cross borders movements were restricted by the coronavirus pandemic preventive measures. During the period in review, traditional export commodities - coffee, tea, and pyrethrum - increased by 18%, while nontraditional export commodities (those that are relatively new for Rwanda, such as horticulture and cereals), increased by 58%.
In comparison to the fiscal year 2020/2021, horticulture accounted for 6.7% of total agroexport revenues as they generated $42.8 million. Vegetable and fruit export earnings rose by 63% and 87% respectively.
However, flower export quantities and revenues
decreased by 5% and 13, respectively as a result of the ongoing political crisis between Russia and Ukraine, both of which are major importers of flowers. Cereals and grains’ export revenues increased by 44%, accounting for 20.8% of total agro-export revenues.
“We are pleased that, in addition to other opportunities, the agro-export sector contributes significantly to job retention and creation. We will build on this year’s strong performance by looking for new and innovative ways to keep Rwanda’s agribusiness environment adaptable and competitive while drawing in the interest of international markets,” said NAEB’s Chief Executive Officer, Claude Bizimana, while commenting on the annual agricultural export performance.
In the fiscal year 2021-2022, coffee export volumes amounted to over 15 million kilogrammes (kgs), and generated over $75.5 million. The
TheKorea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in collaboration with Ministry of Food and Agriculture has held a three-day training for 25 farmer leaders on improving rice production capacities of farmers in the Central Region. The programme formed part of the rice value chain improvement project, a four-year bilateral cooperation between South Korea and Ghana to strengthen and build the capacity of smaller rice farmers in the Central Region.
An amount of $8 million had been provided by the South Korean government for five districts, namely; Gomoa East, Assin Foso, Assin North, Assin South and Twifo Atti-Morkwa under the project. The workshop sought to improve rice processing and packaging, increase rice production, strengthen the Farmer-Based Organisation (FBO) capacity in branding and marketing, and strengthen post-harvest management capacity and to increase farmer income by 15%.
Participants drawn from the beneficiary districts, were taken through practical handling of machines and equipment meant for rice production. They were expected to also train members of their farmer groups.
The Central Regional Director of Agriculture, Dr Peter Omega, encouraged the participants to put into practice whatever they learnt during the training period to benefit individual rice farmers within their district. He noted that 52 tractor operators were trained last year to assist farmers to expand their farms, adding that the 25 trained at the workshop would facilitate rice production.
“Last year, we were able to cultivate 10,800 acres of land for farming purposes the number increased to 10,965 acres of land in 2022 and this workshop is going to enhance rice production”, he said. He underscored the need for the farmers to ensure regular maintenance and repairs of the machines and equipment, saying, “We are to
increase of about 23% in coffee revenues from July 2021 to June 2022 in comparison with the same period of 2021, is attributed to good prices registered in this period.In the period under review, the average price was $4.58/kg against $3.62/kg of 2021.
Export of made (processed) tea in July 2021-June 2022 amounted to over 35 million kilogrammes, which fetched$103.4 million. In the same period of the previous fiscal year, more than 34 million kilogrammes of tea were sold at the international market for $90 million.
The increase of 15% in tea revenues comes from two factors, namely the high volume of tea sold in 2021-2022 (2.94 per cent increment), and the good price registered in 2021- 2022 in comparison with the previous year.In the 2020-2021 period, a kilogramme of tea was $2.92, higher than $2.62% in the previous period. Meanwhile, cereal export revenues rose by 44% to $133 million in the financial year which concluded on June 30 this year, compared to $92 million in the previous one.
Export quantities of the same commodity went up to more than 254 million kilogrammes from 194 million kilogrammes.It is worth mentioning that Rwanda seeks to expand its agricultural export base through commodity diversification as it seeks to able to generate $1 billion (over Rwf1 trillion) in annual foreign agricultural revenues by 2024.
note that we are holding the machines in trust of our rice farmers to improve their Livelihood. We therefore, appealed for the provision of additional farming machines and equipment to boost rice production in the five beneficiary districts and the region in general.”
The Project Manager of KOICA, Dr Chung Haegun, in an address, reiterated the commitment of his organisation towards supporting initiatives aimed at increasing rice production in the Central Region. The adoption of mechanised farming technique, he indicated, would boost rice production in the Central Region and Ghana as a whole.
The Manager of Benda Services Group, one of the implementing partners, Benjamin Edusah, in his remarks noted that the skills acquired by the participants would ensure the proper operations and handling of the machines. Responding, team leader for the trainees, Prince Opoku, expressed his appreciation to KOICA and Benda Services Group for updating their skills with regard to the use of rice farming equipment during the training. Certificate of participation were awarded to the participants.
is one of the most hazardous industries in the world, with its 1.3 billion strong workforce at risk of occupational accidents and ill health every day.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), at least 170,000 agriculture workers are killed every year, while millions more face serious injury as a result of workplace accidents involving machinery or incidents with pesticides or other agrochemicals.
The industry has made some progress in raising awareness around the issue of health and safety, but as a sector with one of the highest fatality rates in the world, much more must still be done.
Raising awareness and increasing adoption of basic risk management practices – as well as avoiding unnecessary risk taking – are the most effective ways to reduce accidents in the industry. However, the rise in adoption of new, digital Agritech and Internet of Things technologies can also help improve the health and safety of workers across the sector.
The primary benefit of most Internet of Things (IoT) solutions – otherwise known as Agritech solutions – revolves around their ability to remotely monitor field or farm conditions to improve management practices and reduce costs, however enhanced worker safety is also often a positive by-product of such tech. The use of technology-based solutions means that less time is spent scouting fields and visiting remote sites, reducing lone working and the inherent risks associated with this.
For example, water trough or tank monitoring is a popular IoT solution often employed by livestock farmers and ranchers across Australia, the US and various other countries. The primary benefit of such solutions is their ability to save time spent
driving to sites to check there is enough water available for cattle, however with most farmers conducting these ‘water runs’ alone in very remote areas, an added benefit is the reduction in the risks associated with such solo travel.
Similar benefits can also be seen in the aquaculture sector, where sites are often remote and inaccessible. Remote monitoring of water quality and fish activity enable automated feeding and treatment which helps reduce feed costs, but also results in fewer risky site trips for workers.
Specific IoT solutions for lone workers have been used across multiple industries for years. These often come in the form of wearable tags for staff which can be monitored from a central dashboard, providing auto-alerts for inactivity or if workers are found in an unexpected location, as well as flagging if staff have had an accident while working.
As well as enabling improved safety measures for agricultural workers themselves, IoT solutions also have the potential to reduce health and safety risks for local communities and downstream consumers more broadly.
Weather stations, which remotely monitor weather conditions in the field, enable farmers to make more informed decisions about the timing of potentially hazardous operations such as pesticide application. Ensuring they spray such materials only at times where wind speed is low helps to minimise any pesticide drift which can have an adverse effect on adjacent natural environments and local communities.
While awareness of and access to the right IoT solutions is important to improve worker safety, farmers cannot make the most of these tools without access to robust, reliable connectivity
in order to ensure data flows seamlessly from sensors to central platforms.
For the most part, these technologies rely on publicly available terrestrial networks, however in the remote, rural environments that agriculture businesses often operate in these networks can be unreliable or even non-existent.
Global satellite connectivity, such as that provided by Inmarsat’s L-Band network, can ensure a highly reliable, cost-efficient solution, utilising lightweight machine-to-machine devices able to endure exposure to harsh environments and deliver optimal results.
We currently work with a number of Agritech businesses across our ELEVATE partner programme, providing industry-leading connectivity to support mission critical use cases and expect to develop further partnerships across the sector more broadly over the coming years.
Some of our current partners include Farmbot, an industry leading business helping farmers reduce costs and achieve peace of mind by monitoring water levels in tanks, troughs and dams, and Sensoterra, a tech-led business enabling farmers to make better decisions about their irrigation practices through smart soil moisture measurements.
Ultimately, the key to unlocking the potential health and safety benefits of IoT technology – as well as their operational and commercial benefits – lies in farmers’ ability to secure robust, reliable connectivity to power these solutions, and providers such as Inmarsat will be absolutely vital to achieving this now and over the longer term.
Without it, farmers risk inaccuracies, delays and complete outages to their data supply – which could be the difference between life and death in some situations.
As global stakeholders work towards COP27, the next climate change conference, and accelerate efforts to confront the climate crisis, there has been increasing focus on “regenerative agriculture” – a term that is widely used but not always well understood. How it is defined globally will have a major impact on how it is applied. To ensure that the global application accounts for African practices, it is imperative that we, as Africans, define regenerative agriculture for ourselves and share our local practices and indigenous knowledge with the world.
Regenerative agriculture describes an agriculture production system that aims to have lower, or even a net-positive, environmental
impact. Regenerative practices thus avoid the key problems of highly industrialized agriculture production that damage soil health, including vast tracts of mono-cultivated land, chemical runoffs, overexploitation of water resources, and high chemical and hormonal residue levels in food.
How does this definition translate to the African context, particularly for the continent’s tens of millions of smallholder farmer families that are amongst the world’s most vulnerable to climate change?
We believe that the solution lies in high-yielding, resilient, and adaptive practices (HYRAP) that constitute an African approach to climate-smart
agriculture. High-yielding because the approach must contribute to feeding people and improving livelihoods in food systems. Resilient, because practices must be diversified to be able to bounce back and thrive under the the inevitable impacts of climate change, and adaptive because weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable – an enormous challenge given the continent’s almost exclusive reliance on rainfall rather than irrigation.
HYRAP is not new to Africa. African farmers already use these practices across the continent in soil systems, cropping systems, and integrated systems. Moving forward, focus should be placed on recognizing existence of these practices where they are in place, and further supporting
their adoption and scaling. Soil systems. Farmers are increasingly adopting no tilling and low tilling, where a crop is sown directly into soil that has been uncultivated or only slightly cultivated since the previous harvest. Some also incorporate crop residue as a mulch. Approximately 30% of South African farmers use this type of soil system.
Another example is water harvesting and irrigation. Although this practice is an effective way to reduce reliance on rain, application is hugely underexploited with only about 5% of agricultural land in Africa being irrigated. One approach that is becoming more prevalent is solar-powered irrigation systems, which have the benefit of delivering predictable amounts of water while avoiding the environmental challenges of conventional petrochemical powered systems.
Cropping systems. One prominent type of cropping system is crop rotation, the practice of growing different and diversified crops in succession on the same land to preserve the soil’s productive capacity and manage pest and disease. The rotation of legumes such as beans with maize is one example of the remarkable practices that farmers have been using in various parts of Africa for centuries. They understand that rotating crops improves soil quality, reduces pests and diseases, improves crop performance, and reduces dependency on pesticides. Similarly, intercropping (growing one crop next to another) improves farm biodiversity and soil quality, and helps farmers reduce their dependence on one crop.
Another common approach is to grow droughtand heat-resistant crops to maintain food and biomass production during drought conditions. Fonio millet, perhaps Africa’s oldest cultivated cereal crop, is grown in many parts of Western Africa, including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Chad. This extremely fast-growing grain is highly resistant to drought conditions. It is also more nutrient-dense than alternative grains like wheat. In addition to providing food for human consumption, it is also a good source of fodder for livestock.
Integrated systems. This method deploys various mechanisms to control pests. Kenya, for example, has used pheromone traps to combat fruit flies in its mango crops. Other countries have made changes to their irrigation practices to reduce the chance of pest problems, such as avoiding too much water, which can increase root disease and weeds.
Agroforestry, which incorporates the cultivation of trees, is in use in Kenya and Zambia. It is also gaining traction across Africa through various initiatives such as the Grand African Savannah Green Up.
The adoption of HYRAP has the potential to improve the livelihoods and resilience of farmers, processors, and consumers. It can also help restore natural systems which, in the case of Africa, are highly eroded from centuries of farming.
Pilots across the continent are actively exploring strategies that reward individual farmers who are implementing HYRAP with carbon finance enabled by mobile and fintech. Yet so far, small and mid-size food processing companies have generally been overlooked. These companies, which source from smallholder farmers and sell to African consumers, play an essential role in the food supply chain and deserve to be included in such initiatives.
It is also imperative that aggregators, logistics providers, processors, and distributors work across priority value chains to reduce postharvest losses and invest in solutions that are both cost-effective and climate-friendly.
We recommend that public, private and social sector take the following actions to support the implementation of HYRAP.
Tax incentives. National governments can demonstrate their commitment to HYRAP in their agricultural policies and budgets. This includes tax incentives for manufacturers, farmers, and processors who provide inputs for diverse, nutrient-dense, and sustainable foods. Governments could also impose taxes on imported food to encourage local production.
HYRAP extension. To enhance resilience and improve livelihoods, governments can enact policies on HYRAP and promulgate them through the extension system. They can also codify local Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) that enhance resilience and natural outcomes of food production.
Subsidies. In addition, governments can create subsidies to reduce the cost of inputs needed for boosting the adoption of HYRAP across value chains. This is particularly important for heat, drought, and flood-tolerant seeds.
Facilitate cross-border and intercontinental trade of agricultural inputs and raw materials
To support production and inter-regional value chain development, it will be important for governments to ease the customs process, introducing one stop shops that recognize the perishable nature of agricultural goods.
Unlock access to capital
Priority sector lending. Banks can be required to direct higher portions of their loan books to agriculture and food systems investments. Priority sector lending in India, which requires banks to allocate 30% of their balance sheets to the rural economy, provides a good model to follow. This policy has been a significant contributor to growth of the Indian agriculture sector overall, with notable examples in ag-tech.
Blended finance. Philanthropic and donor capital can be used to reduce the risk of lending to agriculture and food companies, thereby enabling lower interest rates and borrowing costs. One such approach involves using firstloss guarantees (a mechanism where a thirdparty agrees to cover a certain amount of loss for lenders to reduce the risk) in conjunction with incentive payments. Aceli Africa, and the ABC Fund provide great examples.
This lower-cost capital should be even more accessible for farmers using HYRAP, and for food companies sourcing from them, to produce and distribute diverse, high-quality foods – those that are nutrient-dense, sustainable, affordable, and desirable. The companies providing the HYRAP inputs (such as solar powered irrigation, improved seeds and fertilizers, organic soil nutrients, integrated pest management solutions and more) also need this financing to scale their operations.
Drive a shift in consumer demand. Engaging media campaigns as well as purchasing incentives are needed to encourage consumers to purchase food that is HYRAP-compliant, thereby fueling demand and driving sustainable change across priority value chains. Such efforts can be supported by a variety of actors, including food companies, industry bodies, and governments.
The transition to HYRAP means a move to better productivity for small holder farmers in Africa— while addressing the needs of environmental sustainability. Adopting HYRAP is not a choice – it is a necessity – if we truly wish to confront climate change. The continent must become more self-sufficient and work towards not only food security but food abundance as well. We must ensure the adoption of practices that will deliver sufficient, sustainable, and nutritious food for Africa today – and for a future where the continent is a leading exporter of food worldwide.
The authors would like to thank Chris Mitchell and Biruh Demilew for their significant contributions to this piece.
• The 6140B Cab Tractor is equipped with the John Deere
6 Cylinder Turbo Charged Tier III engine, incorporating the latest John Deere engine technology.
• The 6140B complements customer needs in grain, hay and forage, sugar cane, timber, and high-value crop production systems.
The new PowrReverser™, with its tiltable and telescopic steering column, high-performance air conditioning and suspended seat, make every minute in your workplace an enjoyable experience.
Correct weight distribution and flexible ballasting are essential for maximum power transfer and efficient work. The 6B dimensions, structural chassis, wheelbase and ballasting flexibilities make this universal tractor series ready for every job.
The electrohydraulic PTO switch provides fingertip control for engagement and disengagement.
John Deere Africa Middle East recently introduced their 6140B Cab Tractor as an addition to the current 6B model lineup. All farmers can benefit from the stability of this machine, especially those working in primary operations.
What makes the 6140B Cab Tractor different?
This new model is equipped with the John Deere 6 Cylinder Turbo Charged Tier III engine, incorporating the latest John Deere engine technology. This includes; the electronically controlled high-pressure common rail fuel injection system, intercooler and heavy-duty Power Core air filter system.
Optimised fuel efficiency, immediate torque response, and supreme engine reliability are all advantages of this state-of-the-art engine technology. Moreover, this high-quality, wellbalanced heavy-duty tractor can execute any application ranging from heavy tillage, planting, spraying, spreading, mowing, baling, and material handling to transport work, providing peace of mind for your operation. This machine can also
Available in a Standard and Deluxe model, the 6140B Cab Tractor comes equipped with either a 12F/4R TSS 40 km/h transmission with wet clutch or 24F/12R TSS 40 km/h transmission with HiLo, Power Reverser and wet clutch. This allows customers to choose the tractor solution that best fits their farming needs.
Adding to the versatility offered by the transmissions, optimised performance and efficiency are further enhanced by the heavyduty CAT II 3-point hitch with 5400kg hitch lift capacity, three SCVs with the 200 bar open center constant flow hydraulics, and a 540/100 rpm reversible PTO.
What more can you expect from the 6140B?
The 6B’s modern cab makes your working environment more pleasant and efficient.
With the new PowerReverser™ transmission, travel direction changes are now comfortable, more convenient and faster for the highest work efficiency.
The two power shiftable Hi/Lo gears allow an increase in productivity of up to 15% and an improvement in fuel efficiency of up to 13% during heavy draft applications, thanks to shifting without traction loss.
Service points are easy to access, and the cooling system is easy to clean, thanks to the tilting system units.
This well-balanced 6140B Cab Tractor with heavy-duty frame offers specification and performance features that fully complement customer needs in grain, hay and forage, sugar cane, timber, and high-value crop production systems. To learn more about the new 6 Cylinder 6140B Cab Tractor, visit www.deere.africa or contact your local dealer.
accommodate implements such as rippers, speed discs, field cultivators, 8-row planters, and sprayers.shift is taking place across the energy industry. As the world becomes increasingly aware of the need to reduce our reliance on traditional methods of power generation to combat climate change, investment in the development of renewable energy sources is going from strength to strength. This shift is paving the way for a transition to a more sustainable global energy system and is already having a significant impact on the agriculture sector in particular.
One of the implications of this shift is a dramatic change to the existing electrical distribution network and the provider/consumer relationship. The move to renewable energy sources provides greater opportunities for households and commercial customers to generate power locally and operate semi-independent micro-grids.
The climate in Africa is particularly well suited to renewable energy generation via solar power and with recent advancements in Agrivoltaics (solar systems mounted several meters above ground, allowing crops to grow underneath), it is now possible for farmers to generate renewable energy locally without having to sacrifice valuable land space.
The ability to generate energy locally and operate their own semi-independent micro-grid offers
farmers numerous benefits, including providing a more cost effective and reliable method to power vital farm processes, such as irrigation systems, etc. It also enables farmers to operate as an ‘island’ during interruptions in service from the central grid, providing improved resilience and continuity of power supply.
The move towards distributed energy generation (multiple local power sources contributing to a state or national grid) can also provide farmers with an additional revenue stream by offering them the chance to resell excess energy.
More widely, independently generated energy can be shared via local micro-grids to provide electricity to rural areas and help support the wider community. This could prove instrumental to ongoing development across the continent with less than 45% of Sub-Saharan Africa currently benefitting from access to electricity .
Smart tech and reliable connectivity are key In order to create the most efficient network possible, smart grid technology and reliable connectivity are essential.
Particularly in cases where a micro-grid is connected to a state or national grid, smart tech and robust connectivity are often necessary to meet the requirements of their supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), as well as effectively managing the energy exchange process between them. Even though
the data exchanges that take place on smart grids are often very small, they are absolutely mission critical, making reliable connectivity all the more vital to ensuring their successful operation.
Terrestrial connectivity, even in countries with good geographic network coverage, is often insufficiently reliable for this application, so for micro-grids operating in remote rural African regions finding robust connectivity can be even more challenging.
This is where global satellite connectivity, such as that provided by Inmarsat’s L-Band network, can ensure a highly reliable, cost-efficient solution. Inmarsat provides connectivity over its ELERA network using small, lightweight machine-tomachine devices able to endure exposure to harsh environments and providing a tried and tested solution for farmers.
As the energy sector continues to transition from traditional methods of power generation to renewable energy sources, we all have a part to play in supporting this global shift. Helpfully, for those able to do so with the right tools and support behind them, there are also significant opportunities to benefit individually and contribute to the development of the wider community along the way too.
Damian Lewis, Market Development Manager, Enterprise, at Inmarsat
Dr Du Toit says that through community training and product development, as well as business model development, many socio-economic challenges and food insecurity in low-income communities can be addressed in South Africa.
PhD and master’s students in the department have worked to develop recipes and products that could be easily produced, packaged, and marketed by women from low-income communities. In August 2021, a recipe booklet containing twenty developed recipes was produced and supplied to Grain SA.
“Maize is widely regarded as one of the most crucial agricultural products globally, serving as a staple food in many countries. It is estimated that by 2050, the demand for maize in developing countries would have doubled and that by 2025, it will become the crop with the highest global production,” says Dr Alba du Toit, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development.
She believes the efficient use of grains such as maize could reduce food insecurity and malnutrition in South Africa.
In 2021, the department – with its expertise and state-of-the-art facilities for food product development and sensory analysis – joined forces with Grain SA in a project to develop innovative food products for low-income communities in South Africa. In this project, which will address two of South Africa’s major challenges, namely household food security and job creation, the group of scientists looked at a process called nixtamalisation.
Dr Du Toit explains the nixtamalisation process.
“In this exercise, the dried maize kernels are cooked and soaked overnight in an alkaline solution (lime water), washed, and hulled. The cooking and soaking process causes the outer covering of the maize to soften, resulting in it being easily separated and washed from the maize kernels. This product is now called nixtamal.”
“After washing, the nixtamal could be ground to form a soft maize dough called masa. The nixtamal could also be ground coarsely to make
wet masa crumbs that are dried in the oven. Once the masa crumbs are dry, they are ground even more finely to make a more refined flour that could be used in the same way as regular maize meal,” she adds.
Although most people prefer white maize, yellow maize or any colour of dried maize kernels is safe for human food use and can make tasty and nutritious masa.
Nixtamalisation provides several benefits over unprocessed grains and can address some of the nutritional issues facing South Africans.
One of the benefits of nixtamalisation is that it removes 100% of aflatoxins, the toxic compounds produced by moulds during the storage of dried maize kernels, which can cause liver damage and cancer. The nixtamalisation process can also increase the nutritional value of maize, preventing malnourishment, especially the disease known as pellagra. The starch granules that are easier to digest; the maize that is easier to ground and processed, and the flavour of the maize that is improved, are some of the other benefits of this process.
Dr Du Toit says that any dish made with regular maize flour can be made using nixtamalised maize flour, with the benefit that it contains more nutrients.
Besides its ability to contribute to food security, the project also has the likelihood of empowering women to start their own businesses.
The products that were developed, only used equipment that is available to the women. “A coffee mug serves as a measuring cup, a bottle as a rolling pin, and an upside-down jar as a cookie-cutter for the corn chips,” describes Dr Du Toit.
According to her, they initially tested several products in the university’s state-of-the-art Sensory Lab. However, the two products that have been selected and are currently being developed, are dried putu pap (to be reconstituted in a flash) by Sisipho Rebe, and crispy corn chips by Taylon Colbert, both master’s students.
Testing consumers’ interest and reaction, the product was subjected to a range of tests. Under the guidance of Dr Carina Bothma, expert adviser in the Sensory Lab and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, they used the jar test as well as the consumers’ overall liking test.
“A jar score means that 75% of the participants in the sensory tests give the just-about-right score to attributes such as taste, mouthfeel (texture), appearance, and aroma. Only then can the product be approved as being good enough. Using hedonic scaling in the consumer test, they determined the acceptability of the products’ appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and overall acceptability,” explains Dr Du Toit.
She says in the final step of the project, they will identify potential entrepreneurs who will receive guidance and training in business start-up, rollout, and application. Pilot businesses will be set up and monitored; based on research, it will be decided whether these businesses will be upscaled to fully commercial and economically viable units.
Zambia’s cooperating partners want to be part of the agricultural revolution through smart, innovative and evidence-based investment planning to fight poverty and bolster the country’s aspiration to be the continent’s food basket and exporter.
Under the second National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP), Germany, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa [AGRA] and the Agriculture Consultative Forum [ACF], note the country’s untapped potential and offer to rejuvenate the capacity as espoused by the Government.
Officiating in Tuesday, in Lusaka at the High Level Inter-Ministerial Dialogue Meeting on Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP)/ Agriculture Support Programme (ASP) corporating partners representative, Suze Filippini affirmed donor’s investment commitment to become a net exporter of value-added produce.
Ms. Filippini reaffirmed unwavering support, having noting Zambia’s resolve to reignite the failed 2014-18 NAIP, arguably to facilitate and support the development of a sustainable, dynamic, diversified and competitive agricultural sector, assuring food security at household and national levels and maximizes the sector’s contribution to GDP.
The sector’s performance has been dismal-far below its potential to promote food and nutrition security, creating jobs for women and youth, while failing to generate the much-needed revenue through cross border trade-a call for action.
“It calls for smart, innovative and evidence-based investment planning for the agriculture sector, so as to enable it to contribute significantly to economic growth, poverty reduction, employment creation, and economic diversification.” Ms. Filippini, also FAO country representative, said. Most value chain support presently focuses on one or two specific commodities, and fails to motivate agricultural diversification, especially among smallholder farmers. The formulation process of the second generation NAIP would necessitate a comprehensive redress of all shortcomings for effective beneficiation.
The technical and financial donor support towards developing NAIP was a tool for operationalization of the Presidential Vision of comprehensively transforming Zambia’s agriculture sector.
The agriculture investment and policy support programmes were envisaged to accelerate NAIP formulation and actualization but should be Government driven, evidence-based, sufficiently inclusive and participatory in nature.
The resultant investment plan remains a strategic and comprehensive document, envisioned to plug key gaps and needs in Zambia’s agriculture sector in Zambia amid the government’s quest to revolutionise.
And NAIP consultant, Alain Onibon urged the Government to mobilize local resources and invest in the sector while reducing bureaucracy.
There is a need for unwavering political will and the involvement of women and youth for wholesome participation through aggregated groupings for financial sector’s attraction for loans at affordable rates.
There is a need to interrogate the pitfalls in the previous NAIP, encourage mechanization of the sector and speed up the progression of the transformation process noting: We need political will, commitment by the Government, otherwise it will be a failed project,” Mr. Onibon said.
Zambia, like many African countries, must join hands to reverse the import bill for Africa on food and agriculture products-averaging US$600
million through production of value added goods for foreign markets after COVID 19 and other calamities decimated economies.
But agriculture minister Reuben Mtolo, reiterated Zambia’s resolve to change the face of the sector, driven by consistent policy formulation noting that the reputation as Africa’s largest producer and exporter of seed was evidence enough to ascertain the future of the country.
Zambia seeks to become the continent’s fastest agriculture-driven country in the next two years with plans to open a 1.2 metric ton per annum fertiliser production plant by 2023, best fresh fruit and crop value added goods grower and producer as evidenced by efforts underway since last year. African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina recently bemoaned Africa’s failure to exploit the local resources it is endowed with yet stakeholders were keen to join hands with continental leaders to ‘fast-track’ Africa’s economic potential through agriculture.
It is time the continent broke the food import chain and aims for self-sufficiency in food production within the shortest possible time.
AfDB estimates show Africa’s annual food import bill averages $35 billion, and is projected to rise to $110 billion by 2025, but weakens African economies, decimates its agriculture and exports jobs from the continent.
The former Nigerian Agriculture Minister laments the negative effects that huge food imports had on the continent amid plenty of human and natural resources yet it is faced with power deficit and poor rural areas with potential to bolster agricultural output.
‘‘To rapidly support Africa to diversify its economies, and revive its rural areas, we have prioritized agriculture. We are taking action. The Bank has committed $24 billion towards agriculture in the next 10 years, with a sharp focus on food self-sufficiency and agricultural industrialization..’‘
Increased intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services can help reduce Africa’s annual food import bill, currently over US$80 billion, by local sourcing of import substitutes while at the same time expanding agricultural exports from a base of about US$60 billion per year.
Representatives drawn from governments, the private sector, civil society, academia, regional bodies and agricultural value chain associations from East Africa met for a three-day training workshop, from 29- 31 2022 August, on Food Safety and Coordination on Border Regulations towards improving the safe trade of agro-food commodities in the region. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for Eastern Africa and the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA); the training workshop aimed to strengthen the capacity of East African countries to comply with food safety, animal and plant health standards, and requirements to facilitate safe trade. The workshop explored the linkages between Sanitary
and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical barriers to trade agreements vis-a-vis trade facilitation.
Speaking on behalf of FAO’s Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa, Priya Gujadhur, Deputy Representative for FAO in Uganda, stressed the need for stakeholders in the agrofood value chain to meet appropriate food safety and quality requirements to trade regionally and internationally. Governments apply such standards to ensure food safety, protect animal, plant and environmental health, and meet the desired quality requirements of trade commodities.
Gujadhur further stated that food safety is at the heart of FAO’s work, supporting the achievement of Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life, leaving no one behind. “Food safety is a shared responsibility. There is no better time than this for the Eastern African region to harness efforts to improve food safety, promote cross-border food trade, and benefit from opportunities arising from the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Zero hunger will not be achieved without food safety, as if it is not safe, it is not food”.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the NCTTCA, Omae Nyarandi, noted that Eastern Africa owns several Trade and Transport Corridors such as the Central and the Northern Corridors. The Corridors provide access to markets, connect countries and provide access to seaports for the landlocked countries and play a critical role in facilitating both intra-African and international trade. “Improving food safety and our border regulations will go a long way in attracting external markets to our region and therefore ultimately determining the volumes of commodities traded between the trading partners at any given time,” Nyarandi added.
It is essential to enhance the capacity of the various competent authorities and cross-border trade stakeholders to address barriers that affect cross-border trade. This helps to enhance Eastern Africa’s competitiveness in transboundary trade, promote intra-Africa trade, and take advantage of the opportunities created by the (AfCFTA). The
At the Food Safety & Coordination of Border Regulations workshop, FAO‘s Priya Gujadhur applauded current efforts to strengthen Food Safety & Border Regulations coordination to improve cross-border trade in East Africa. /Image source: Twitter -@FAOEastAfricasuccessful implementation of AfCFTA requires addressing barriers around food safety and ensuring the agro-food commodities crossing the borders are up to the standards.
The workshop also deliberated on the critical role micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play in food supply chains, rural transformation, and overall economic growth. The cost of complying with some of these standards can be prohibitive, limiting their ability to benefit from trade opportunities, as the cost of non-compliance with food safety standards is ultimately higher than the cost of compliance. Unsafe food further limits access to markets with far-reaching impact on farmers and producers. Improved communication, awareness-raising, advocacy, coordination, and partnerships among stakeholders are crucial to enhancing food safety and quality systems and border regulations coordination to keep safe trade flowing.
In this regard, the training workshop served as a platform for an in-depth discussion and experience sharing on strengthening food safety & coordination on border regulations to facilitate trade in the East African Region. Key recommendations were put forth to address challenges faced by producers, suppliers, processors and logistics actors. Among the recommendations, the participants suggested
that for producers, awareness campaigns and training targeting farmers on proper inputs, Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), food safety and quality management systems, regulations and procedures are beneficial. Organizing smallholder farmers into cooperatives or associations to become bankable, supporting research on biological control products and improving infrastructure to transport produce from farms to markets are critical.
On the side of suppliers strengthening food regulatory systems, harmonizing product registration procedures, improving enforcement, monitoring, and surveillance capabilities, and promoting technologies on natural biological plant and animal health protection products were suggested.
In this regard, it is essential to support processors by improving awareness of food safety requirements and standards. It is critical to inform and engage MSMEs in food safety measures development and capacitate them to comply. Improving quality infrastructure, promoting selfregulation of food safety, investing in packaging materials, and improving processing equipment and facilities are critical.
On the logistics side, fortifying food safety standard compliance policy and regulatory
frameworks, supporting the private sector to comply with food safety standards, improving security and transport infrastructure in rural areas, avail aggregation centres, and improving clearance processes on border areas are paramount actions.
With the growing global food supply chain and transboundary movement of foods, the potential for the spread of food safety hazards is high. The importance of food safety cannot be understated as unsafe food leads to food-borne illnesses, malnutrition, food losses and waste, and reduced domestic and international market access.
In Africa, over 90 million people fall ill, while nearly 137,000 die each year, due to food-borne diseases. FAO hosts the Secretariats of two of the three standard-setting bodies recognized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements, namely the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX). The third body is World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). These standards-setting bodies have the mandate to develop international food safety and plant and animal health standards to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade.
It’s not necessary to receive all of them, but it’s great to consider options to see how to get the official stamp of eco-friendly shipping.
Exports from Africa are rising as it becomes a global contender in agricultural shipping. The continent has done this by diversifying the countries responsible for producing major exports of cocoa, coffee and cotton, including lower-income nations like Kenya and Ghana.
This can help make the shipping industry greener by decreasing transportation costs while empowering struggling regions. This is not a time to cut corners for less eco-friendly options.
The shipping industry in Africa is finding ways to decrease its carbon footprint. Africa can become a leader in green shipping in the agricultural sector by reflecting on its history and following precedents set by the growing environmental movement.
Sustainability equates to stability, and relying on a single commodity could break a business. Choosing ethically sourced agricultural products — such as fair trade, local and sustainably farmed — is important, but it’s also essential to vary a farm’s crop output as much as possible.
This trend has appeared in Africa’s agricultural history. Governments manipulated food prices to satisfy urban desires for cheap produce, which limited how much farms could diversify and commercialize. Crops that didn’t yield profits didn’t get planted.
The agricultural shipping industry cannot make sustainable strides if it doesn’t create a course of action to achieve greener goals. Incorporating sustainability into a business model is a longterm, high-intensity engagement, especially if there aren’t any current eco-friendly initiatives. Making a list of environmentally focused values to abide by will help employees understand their position with more purpose and a global perspective.
There are multiple factors to consider when storing and securing products. Agricultural products shipped across continents must stay protected. Having sustainable agriculture means not losing any of the items intended to be shipped. With several points of unrest causing disruptions in African agriculture, shipping companies must take heed.
Businesses have been looted or set on fire, and crops and livestock are affected. Farmers must find or create insurance policies for their exports so companies stay afloat sustainably.
Standards and certifications are Africa’s best and most authoritative ways to push for a greener agricultural shipping sector. These often require businesses to create mission statements and values to progress their green agenda.
Here are some of the guidelines and certifications in the shipping industry:
• Energy Efficiency Index
• ISO 14001
• Green Marine
• Environmental Ship Index
• Clean Cargo
• Green Award
The reality is access to food is limited and not distributed evenly worldwide, so it may be enticing to use less clean options to keep up with demand. Sustainability progresses through continued persistence. If agriculture and shipping can be green when business booms, they can maintain value when obstacles arise.
Boats transport 90% of global trade overseas that arrive in ports. Africa relies on its coastal environments, and creating new ports and upgrading current ones to be more eco-friendly is the obvious choice for greener shipping for agricultural products. They are naturally less obtrusive to the environment if appropriately structured.
One of the ways this can look is by creating multipurpose ports that are not just for shipping. Existing ports can also be changed to interact more efficiently with the aquatic environment, called bioenhancement. Restructuring port walls and removing sediment could improve biodiversity.
Ports are a hot topic regarding the future of sustainable shipping worldwide. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have even placed a high priority on implementing them since they influence multiple initiatives simultaneously.
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bringing together farmers, pastoralists, fishers, Indigenous peoples, faith groups, women’s movements, youth and consumer associations in a united voice for food sovereignty. It is a network of networks operating in 50 African countries, representing 200 million people.
A recent donor-commissioned evaluation confirmed that AGRA has failed to increase farmers’ yields, incomes and food security. In fact, studies show that since AGRA’s founding, food insecurity increased by 31 percent in the countries in which AGRA operates. AGRA has failed to achieve maize yields in over half of the countries studied. Of all these countries, only farmers in Burkina Faso have experienced an increase in net maize sales.
In addition, crop diversity has declined, and heavy agrochemical use has degraded soils. Nutritious, climate-resilient indigenous crops such as millet and sorghum have significantly fallen in production. The very few who AGRA can prove to have benefitted were wealthy, larger-scale male farmers, not small-scale farmers or women.
With the annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) underway, this week in Kigali Rwanda (from 6-9 September 2022) African civil society, faith groups and farmer leaders reiterate their call for an end to the failed Green Revolution in Africa. They say that AGRA is pushing a development model that reinforces dependency on foreign inputs, such as expensive fertilizer, which undermine the resilience of African food systems.
“We are calling upon all the funders to please stop funding AGRA. Redirect your funding towards systems that enable people to have their dignity, for all creation to have an equal chance to live, where there are no chemicals in our water, in our ground, and in our food.” — Gabriel Manyangadze, Climate Justice Coordinator at SAFCEI. Africa’s largest food producer networks and their allies demand a decisive shift away from imported fossil-fuel-based fertilizers and chemicals, and towards self-sufficient, ecological farming that revitalizes soil and protects ecosystems. These calls take place just before
AGRA’s annual forum, from September 5-9, where corporate executives, governments and donors will gather in Kigali, Rwanda, claiming “Bold Action for Resilient Food Systems.” However, a united alliance representing the largest network of food producers and faith leaders in Africa made clear that the ‘bold action’ they want is for AGRA’s donors to stop funding an initiative that has failed to improve productivity, incomes, and food security. AGRA’s donors include: the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, governments of UK, Germany, and others.
Last year, over 200 organizations signed on to a letter from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). The letter demands that donors withdraw support from AGRA, a project that continues to disenfranchise the very farmers that they claim to support, and toward agroecological farming. To date, these donors (and AGRA) have yet to change course.
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa is the largest civil society movement on the continent,
AGRA’s Green Revolution model is even less viable today, with fertilizer prices at double or triple their levels than just two years ago. This shift has only enriched agrochemical multinationals with record profits while hunger in Africa has surged to alarming levels. The past Green Revolutions in India, Mexico and the Philippines have created similar problems: erasure of local food systems, high dependency on costly inputs, the resulting farmer suicides, and destruction of local ecologies.
“Given this background, it is shocking that a number of international donors continue to prioritize corporate profits over people, leaving the necessary transition to sustainable agroecological practices underfunded. Ignoring the opposition of millions of African farmers and the evidence that exists of sustainable ways to increase yields and improve livelihoods, the African Development Bank is using the food price crisis to expand the use of industrial inputs to the benefit of agrochemical and agribusiness firms.”
— Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.
Celebrating diversity at a local seeds fair in Zimbabwe. Photo byNelson MudzingwaThe Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa has its own answer to large increases in fertilizer prices: a network of 15 farmer-managed centers across Africa producing bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides using low-cost, locally-available materials. Ample evidence and case studies on agroecology have led to widespread calls by farmers, civil society and U.N. agencies to transition towards these more sustainable models. These systems and practices demonstrably improve soil fertility, increase productivity with lower costs and higher incomes for farmers, while building climate resiliency.
“We have the expertise. The best people to solve problems in Africa are people from the continent itself. We need Afrocentric solutions. Our big question as African people is why should our problems be solved by entities outside the continent?” — Leonida Odongo, co-founder of Haki Nawiri Afrika
...Continued from page 18
While people build better shipping infrastructure, the agricultural foundation must be sound, sturdy and regenerative. The changes made to the environment may be for long-term environmental betterment, but implementing these changes must still be as minimally damaging as possible. Africa can continue to do this by executing climate-smart agriculture, which produces these outcomes:
• More productivity. Nutrition and income security will rise alongside greater food production.
• Greater resilience. Farms prioritize reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards like pests and climate risks for smoother adaptation to other influences.
• Reduced emissions. Methods include avoiding deforestation and using regenerative farming to absorb carbon if possible.
Africa is attempting to use hydrogen-derived fuels to obtain low to zero carbon emissions in marine transportation like tankers and bulk carriers. Biofuels and batteries are created with renewable
energy sources. Perfecting these will be a significant step in creating greener transportation, as South Africa is still heavily reliant on coal. Once engineered, the same energy methods could be applied to related industries to shipping and agriculture, like manufacturing.
Africa is made up of plenty of small plots and selfsufficient farms. Because of this, technological advancement has not increased at the same rate as in other parts of the world. Though adding technology such as machinery, sprinklers and fertilizers may appear to use resources, the increase in productivity will assist in keeping the land as healthy as possible while simultaneously increasing output.
The agricultural shipping sector in Africa has become greener alongside the rest of the world’s desire to be more sustainable. Initiatives like Europe’s Green New Deal are examples of how efforts outside of a continent can inspire and progress from all directions.
The shipping and agricultural industries are changing every day. Continued research will yield success in crafting an environmentally ideal model. This curiosity will transform into publicity, leading to collaborations and more significant impacts worldwide.
Experts circulate new ideas daily about how to make humanity more attentive to the planet. Agriculture relies on the Earth’s health, so greener shifts need to occur to find success and continue feeding the masses.
Kenya. PHOTO NEIL PALMER (CIAT) International Center for Tropical Agriculturecontinues to be a force of change in the consumer goods market.
In an IBM consumer survey, 80% of respondents indicate sustainability is important to them, while nearly six in 10 are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Sustainable alternatives in packaging can offer a solution to eco-conscious consumers wanting to shift their buying behaviour.
In the global beverage market, water is one of the biggest selling categories, driven by health and wellness trends, and this is where opportunities for sustainable alternatives to traditional packaging are gaining traction. Many water brands are turning to beverage cartons as a practical and eco-friendly packaging solution to meet the demands of sustainably minded consumers.
US-based Boxed Water® was launched in 2009, with the purpose of ‘changing the way packaged water is shipped, sold and enjoyed’, by choosing cartons instead of plastic bottles or aluminum cans. Since then, the brand has seen a growing appetite for sustainable solutions among consumers. Rob Koenen, Chief Revenue Officer for Boxed Water is Better, says, “Our customer base is also increasing and attracting the attention of the younger generations, which is critical – as Millennials and Gen Zs are the drivers for the future of our planet’s resources.”
Similarly, in Spain, Fontsoria aims to reduce the environmental impact of water packaging. As one of the pioneers to introduce natural spring water in cartons to the Spanish water market, the
company has seen sales more than double since launching its Agua enCaja Mejor, meaning “Water in Box is Better”, in 2017.
Why is water in beverage cartons considered sustainable? Working with liquid carton producer Elopak, these water brands are playing a part in the shift towards a low carbon circular economy. Elopak’s Pure-Pak® cartons are primarily made from paper fibre, a naturally renewable raw material sourced from responsibly managed forests, where new trees are continuously planted to replace the ones harvested for timber. The beverage cartons are recyclable where infrastructure is in place and can be used to manufacture other products.
The beverage cartons also offer a low carbon footprint, as the paper comes from a naturally renewable resource with significantly lower emissions than fossil raw materials, such as coal and petroleum. Shipping of pre-filled cartons is more effective than bottles, as cartons are flat, taking up less space during transportation.
In Italy, Fonte Margherita made the decision five years ago to ensure their packaging was to be as sustainable as possible while preserving the characteristics of their water product. Working with filling machine company Galdi, packaging producer Italpack, and FILLgood, which specialises in research and development for the food and beverage industry, Fonte Margherita launched the country’s first water in gable top cartons for the retail and hospitality sectors respectively in 2019.
“We were pleasantly surprised at how receptive the market was, both in the hospitality sector, with
the product now available at many restaurants, and also through new channels, like the vending machine market, where cartons have replaced plastic bottles,” says Nicola Sartore, Managing Director at Fonte Margherita. “The cooperation with FILLgood was so successful that, after the 500ml pack, we are now working on the 330ml version to tap into a market segment we are not reaching at the moment.”
It’s not just abroad where water in beverage cartons is gathering momentum. In South Africa, father and daughter Jan and Danielle Strydom made the decision to package the spring water on their farm near Potchestroom in an environmentally friendly way. They launched Boxy Water in 2020, partnering with Nampak Liquid Cartons to package their water in beverage cartons.
Jan says, “Danielle felt that the future for water packaging cannot be PET plastic because people, especially the younger generation, have become more in tune with environmental issues. They are more aware of the amount of plastic that gets dumped on a daily basis and what an impact that has on our environment.”
Boxy Water are now also filling 300ml and 500ml
cartons for other companies in South Africa that share the same view regarding sustainable packaging, and have promoted water in beverage cartons at numerous popular outdoor lifestyle events, such as the SA Cup Mountain Biking Race this year.
Another brand to choose cartons for their spring water is Fresco, part of the Bandini Group. The gable-top cartons not only provide an innovative, sustainable packaging alternative but ensure the water stays cool and germ-free, aligning with the brand’s promise of bringing a naturally pure product to consumers.
The aesthetic shelf- and brand appeal of water
in beverage cartons means they are able to make a strong impact in a competitive market. Beverage cartons also offer the opportunity for water producers to expand product lines and look for new partnerships that align brand purpose and consumer values, such as South African Ripple Water used by Levi’s to promote the clothing brand’s good water journey in its stores last year.
“As consumers are favouring brands who act sustainably, beverage cartons provide an innovative, environmentally conscious solution in the water market. Producers are beginning to see the advantages and opportunities to liquid paperboard packaging, and it’s been encouraging that a number of local businesses have turned to paperboard beverage cartons for their water packaging,” says Raymond Dube, Managing Director at Nampak Liquid Cartons.
With the growth of water in beverage cartons worldwide, producers need to act now if they are to get ahead of the pack in leveraging the benefits of this sustainable packaging alternative. As Koenen warns, it’s time for the industry to “catch up or get left behind.”
families on farms are looted and destroyed, and how irregular legal process are followed. This calls for an independent investigation.
The partnership aims to compile a comprehensive report on the abuse of liquidation processes. This will result in criminal complaints and disciplinary actions by professional bodies such as the Legal Practice Council.
Saai recommends that financial services institutions and banks contact them about farmers and families who may have been victims of the abuse of liquidation procedures so Saai can help manage the damage and risks. Saai also collects information on farmers and families who have lost everything in the process or are in danger of being liquidated.
Tostop the extensive liquidation of farmers by the Landbank, agricultural businesses and commercial banks, Saai entered into a partnership agreement with AfriForum, Adv. Gerrie Nel’s Private Prosecution Unit, and the forensic investigators André Pretorius and Dekker Naudé of Farm Rescue. They will investigate and expose specific cases of alleged wrongdoings and abuse of liquidation processes. This follows after Saai established a special investigation fund during its representative day
last week. Several businesses and farmers have already contributed generously to the fund.
Hundreds of farmers across South Africa have been liquidated under suspicious circumstances over the past few months for debts that amount to only a fraction of the value of their farms, crops, chattels and estates. Similar stories are told everywhere about how shocking especially the Landbank’s agents behave on farms, how estates and the livelihoods of hundreds of
The Landbank has not yet responded to Saai’s invitation to cooperate with the investigation team. According to the chairman of the Landbank’s board, Thabi Nkosi, the bank investigated complaints and found no irregularities.
Francois Rossouw, CEO of Saai, said they assembled the most formidable team of investigators available in the country. The team has already identified irregularities that will be investigated for possible prosecution.
Van links na regs: Dekker Naudé (forensic investigator), Francois Rossouw (CEO of Saai), Adv. Gerrie Nel (Head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit), André Pretorius (forensic investigator), dr Theo de Jager (Executive Board Chairperson of Saai) and Kallie Kriel (CEO of AfriForum).
Zambia
projects to more than double earnings to US$2 billion from exports of agriculture sector by 2026 following the unveiling of a five-year-blueprint to reinvigorate the economy through diversification from traditional copper mining to various growth sectors.
Under the 8th National Development Plan-2022-26-the Southern African state-seeks to bolster growth and add value to various traditional products and increase export earnings from the current US$756.2 million realised at the close of 2021.
According to the over K1 million blueprint unveiled by President Hakainde Hichilema dubbed: “ “Social Economic Transformation to Improve Livelihoods”, Zambia realises ten need for a diversified economy to overturn economic losses incurred through climate change, debt overhang and COVID 19 among other factors and will industrialise to fulfil its growth prospects. Increasing agriculture production and productivity, promoting mining of traditional and nontraditional minerals, promoting value addition and manufacturing, promoting rural industrialisation as well as tourism. The Government will implement a number of strategies that are among key strategies for raising the country’s export profile.
Other areas to upscale to maintain growth in the period under review include enhancing management and productive use of water resources, promotion of irrigation, raising generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.
It seeks to extend diversification to other renewable as well as clean alternative energy sources, enhancing the management of petroleum products, improving transport and logistics, upscaling the provision of industry relevant skills, investing in applied research and development, enhancing digital capacity and.
In collaboration with the private sector efforts are underway to create an enabling environment for private sector growth in the agriculture sector by providing a stable trade policy with emphasis on easing restrictions on exports of agricultural commodities and facilitating access to finance.
“ A robust comprehensive agriculture support programme will be implemented beginning from the 2022/2023 farming season.
“The programme will encompass the provision of inputs through the electronic agro-input system to include extension service support, support for value addition, storage and logistics. Further, the programme will provide for better targeting and equity across beneficiaries. “ read the blueprint.
Tree crop production and irrigation development will also be promoted. To support increased production in the sector, research and development will be promoted, particularly in the development of improved varieties and breeds of crops including tree crops, livestock and fish.
To increase hectarage under production and enhance productivity, agricultural mechanisation will be promoted. The Government will also promote farm block development with special focus on diversification of crops and expansion of the livestock and fisheries sub sectors.
The farm block concept entails the creation of specialised agricultural production and processing zones. Resettlement schemes will also be developed as centres for agricultural production.
Interventions in fisheries will aim at promoting investments for increased fingerling production and establishing and operationalising fish breeding and freezing centres, as measures to bridge the domestic fish deficit and expand into the regional market.
Livestock production will be enhanced through establishing community-managed livestock service centres, provincial livestock insemination centres and veterinary laboratories.
The Government will also devolve veterinary services to improve efficiency in the livestock subsector. These interventions are expected to result in an agricultural growth rate of at least 10 percent per annum over the Plan period.
Over the same period, agricultural exports are also expected to increase to above US$2 billion by 2026 from US$756.2 million in 2021.
On 2 September, President Hakainde Hichilema launched the blueprint with a call for hard work to actualize its objectives. The plan presents the country’s ambitious but bold steps for the country’s social-economic development.
The blueprint marks the country’s mediumterm blueprint to unlock the country’s potential in various sectors for sustainable, holistic and inclusive development.
“May we as a people of Zambia cherish the art of hard work. It is a necessary ingredient to achieve success,” he said.
The Government envisones that the macroeconomic objectives set in the 105-page plan are projected to place the economy on a higher growth trajectory. The vision is premised on restricting fiscal deficit, enhancing domestic revenue mobilization, and addressing and curtailing the accumulation of domestic arrears.
The plan was anchored on key measures targeted at addressing the debt problem, providing free education, scaling up social safety nets and taking service delivery and resources to the people.
Earlier, finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane described the plan as a strategic direction setting development priorities and implementation of strategies that will play a pivotal role as building blocks toward the attainment of the national vision.
Angola has an abundance of arable land and a diversity of climatic conditions that are suitable for producing a variety of agricultural products.
According to World Bank analysts, the country was once a major producer and exporter of agricultural products, including coffee, cotton, and bananas.
However, exports of these had virtually ceased by the 1990s as a result of the civil war (1975–2002), which led to the collapse of commercial agricultural production, and Angola’s agricultural potential has remained untapped since then.
Only 10% of the 35 million hectares of arable land in the country are currently being cultivated.
In recent years, however, agriculture’s share of Angola’s economy has grown rapidly, averaging 4.9% a year, thus leading to agriculture’s share of GDP increasing from 5.8% to 10% of Angola’s GDP during the 2011–2017 period. Similarly, irrigation, as a pathway to climate adaptation, currently plays a modest role in Angola, but offers great potential for supporting resilience in the agricultural sector against water-related risks.
Angola’s vulnerability to climate change and climate shocks has been increasing significantly, and the population is already experiencing its impact, making efforts to revitalize and adapt the agricultural sector all the more important.
Angola is currently facing its most severe drought in the last 40 years, directly impacting the food security of 1.58 million people in the country’s southern provinces.
According to the 2022 World Bank’s report Water Security and Drought Resilience in South Angola, the economic impacts of the drought across all sectors are estimated at over US$749 million, with the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries sectors being by far the most damaged.
As with other parts of the world, Angola has also seen a steep increase in food prices - especially wheat - due to the Russia–Ukraine war, which is having devastating impacts on the poorest.
Furthermore, the World Bank’s Angola Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) will support the government to develop a climateinformed investment and reform program to achieve its development goals in the context of
climate change, through climate resilience and energy decarbonisation pathways.
According to the CCDR’s Agriculture Deep Dive Note: “climate change projections show that yields of major crops will be negatively impacted by climate change by as much as 4% to30% by the 2050s, largely driven by shorter and more concentrated rainy seasons, higher temperatures, increased droughts, and water scarcity. The number of livestock affected by extreme climate conditions will reach up to 70% of total livestock populations, up from 40%.”
In its efforts to diversify the economy and address climate change, the Government of Angola has been revitalizing its rural economy and its vast agricultural resources.
The US$230 million Angola Commercial Agriculture Project (PDAC), co-financed by the World Bank and the French Agency for Development, aims to increase agricultural productivity and market access to more commercial farms.
PDAC’s innovative interventions to promote and support agribusiness development have led to the approval of 25 business plans with a
total of US$7.7 million in investments, of which US$2.,9 million were matching grants, and to the unprecedented issuance of 16 partial credit guarantees for the agricultural sector, amounting to more than $1 million in local investment.
On June 16, 2022, the World Bank also approved the US$300 million Smalllholder Agricultural Transformation Project (PROTAF), which will become effective on December 15, 2022, and will contribute to Angola’s efforts to transition from vulnerable subsistence farming to climateresilient farming.
“The PROTAF project will help farmers increase production, so they have surpluses to sell at local markets, expand access to agricultural extension through the institutionalization of the Farmer Field Schools, and support smallholder farmers to adopt climate- as well as nutrition-smart agriculture,” the World Bank report reads.
“Together, these efforts will increase resilience, food security, and nutrition and reduce both dependence on food imports and the agriculture sector’s environmental footprint. Additional climate co-benefits will be achieved by expanding access to improved production technologies, inputs, and extension services through public–private dialogue.
In addition, the US$300 million Bank-financed Climate Resilience and Water Security Project (RECLIMA), approved in March 2022 will support the government in its efforts to improve water supplies and strengthen water resource management for greater climate resilience in Angola.
To become an agricultural powerhouse on the African continent Angola’s agricultural sector will need to be transformed to meet the needs of its people (especially vulnerable farmers and livestock producers), economy, and environment. To achieve this, the Government of Angola is ramping up its own efforts and joining forces with development partners, like the World Bank Group, in the preparation and implementation of transformative projects.
Beans grown in the Cuanza Norte Province. Photo: Izabela Leao/The World Bank
TheSchoeman Group hosted its annual Day of Celebration today, 7 September 2022, to honour the emerging farmers in its Zamukele programme, specifically those who achieved outstanding results on their farms during the past year.
Zamukele means ‘adopt’ in Zulu, and is a national Schoeman Group CSI initiative that aims to empower emerging dry bean producers to become commercial farmers. Established in 2017, the project identifies and supports farmers of small white beans by providing access to mentorship, seed, fertiliser, and local and international markets.
This year four up-and-coming farmers, including one female farmer, were acknowledged for their success, in a season that was fraught with challenges related to the prevailing La Nina weather phenomenon.
These included 63-year-old Mothibi Pholo from Lichtenburg, North West, who netted the best yield at an average of 1.6 tons per hectare; 62-yearold Athalia Lolwane, also from Lichtenburg, who produced the cleanest grain with no foreign material; 56-year-old Petrus Tsotetsi from Kestell, Free State, who best maintained his fields and kept them weed-free throughout the season; and 53-year-old Ramodisa Monaisa from Gelukspan, North West, whose production improved the most over the past three years.
“At our Day of Celebration, we proudly honour these four farmers as our top producers. The
past season has not been easy; producers had to battle the heavy rains that caused flooding and crop damage in some parts of the country, and also had to face issues surrounding land ownership,” says HS van der Linde, Schoeman Group CEO of the Bean Division.
“We supported the farmers as much as possible during this time,” adds Success Mdluli, Zamukele Project Manager. “Together with TriFert, a Schoeman Group Company, we extended the initial budget to assist the farmers with top-dressing after the plant fertiliser mixture leached off due to heavy rains. We also hired an extension officer to provide technical support to the producers, and guided the farmers in pushing for 30-year land lease agreements.”
With the possibility of another La Nina weather event looming, Mdluli says the programme will take a different approach to the upcoming season. Farmers will be encouraged to plant earlier to avoid the early frost associated with La Nina, and the amount of hectares under cultivation in areas with poor drainage will be reduced to avoid nutrients being leached.
“The changing climate and its impact on yield definitely affects farmers. Many Zamukele producers are going to need a little encouragement to continue planting in the upcoming seasons, so hopefully we can secure with a lucrative price per ton for them,” Mdluli explains. “We expect to lose 10-15 farmers as a result of climate challenges, but we have 25 potential new farmers joining the programme for the new season.”
Zamukele currently supports 63 farmers across the Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North-West. Each farmer receives four to five visits from one of three mentors at critical times during the production stages throughout the year. The mentors advise on mechanisation and share other farmers’ success stories to inspire and teach producers.
During the 2021/22 production year, 220 commercial farmers across five provinces produced in excess of 14,000 tons of dry white beans for the Schoeman Group. The farmers deliver their dry white beans to the bean plant in Delmas on a contract basis, where they are cleaned and sorted before being supplied to the food processing industry.
The Zamukele programme has a number of strategic partners that assist producers: TriFert supplies fertiliser (the cost of which is deducted when the farmers deliver their beans); Laeveld Agrochem has developed a spray programme for optimum bean production (at the correct dosage); Agri Technovation provides leaf nutrition recommendations, soil samples and fertiliser recommendations; and Pannar provides seed discounts (and assistance during crop failure).
Zamukele is just one of the social responsibility programmes initiated and run by the Schoeman Group, which has a long history of local community investment and upliftment.
The Irrigation Show brings you the tools you need to improve your ag operation and make new connections. Join the Irrigation Association in lively Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec. 5-9, to be part of the largest trade show dedicated to irrigation.
• Meet leading ag irrigation companies, including tech startups looking to share their unique innovations with the industry.
• See the latest innovations in ag irrigation during the new product contest.
• Connect with industry experts who can answer your most pressing questions on ag irrigation.
• Enjoy our Craft Brewfest and explore all that Las Vegas has to offer.
Expand your ag irrigation knowledge. Explore unique solutions and new products.
The success of timber harvesting depends on the quality of tools deployed. We look at how modern machines are enhancing the efficiency of the sawmilling process.
have been manufacturing and perfecting saw blades for over 125 years. This is why you’ll find their range of blades available in over 100 countries worldwide including Africa, Australia and the USA.
Sawmilling, which is typically seen by many as a simple manufacturing process, is rather a complex technical workflow characterized by a substantial number of dissimilar processing elements, each one featuring a different level of automation that must be constantly monitored to maintain long-term profitability. It turns out that the important factors that affect the sawmilling operations are those related to the log supply, engineered production facilities, proper training of the operators, and analysis of raw material resources and product lines.
In some countries, many sawmills still rely on rather obsolete equipment and machines, if such equipment preserves an acceptable level of productivity. On the other hand, such operational configurations are likely to create many problems and jeopardize both the safety and health of the workers. In addition, they often determine the capacity of given facilities in terms of volumes processed annually, which is a criterion used to categorize the sawmills, and to differentiate “small” from “medium” and “large” mills.
In order to maintain a high volume of processed wood, medium and large sawmills usually adopt more efficient processing strategies in terms of equipment and methods that can increase the value or volume of the lumber produced from logs. Small sawmills, on the other hand, do not hold the ability to use advanced technologies due to various financial and technical reasons, and, therefore, traditional sawing practices are still being used in rural areas and underdeveloped territories. However, these practices result in lower performances, which makes it more difficult for small sawmills to survive in the current conditions of a highly competitive industry.
Even in such conditions, small sawmills are important components of the industry because they sustain several essential functions, such as substituting the large sawmills in those market conditions in which the latter could not operate feasibly.
They may also serve as auxiliaries that utilize timber of sizes and kinds not suitable for the large mills, sustain the local supply, substitute imports, support rural employment, and contribute to local
earnings by exports. For these reasons, the study of the production chain in small sawmills is of fundamental importance for a better management of the whole wood supply chain, and a way to increase the lumber value is to optimize the performance of cutting operations. In the wood products industry, research generally addresses the process efficiency and cost-competitiveness, such as, for instance, in the fields of harvesting and logistics and operational efficiency.
Selecting the right blade for your sawmill is critical for performance, safety and producing the results you want. It’s also important to choose the correct cutting tool for your machine to avoid blade damage.
Before you shop for a sawmill blade, you’ll need to know what to look for and the type of wood you plan to cut. Choosing a sawmill blade requires careful consideration. The wrong cutting tool for your machinery can result in various issues, from slowed productivity to a damaged blade. The type of materials you will be cutting When looking for a sawmill blade it is important to consider whether you need faster or slower feed rates, if it’s most important to have smooth cuts, whether you require both speed and smoothness, The thickness and quality of the blade, which will affect the width of the kerf.
The type of cuts the blade will make and the power of the sawmill.
Some industrial sawmills have the means to employ both circular saws and band saws. If you need to choose between one or the other, consider what’s most important for your business. Generally, circular blades are best for fast cutting while band saw blades produce the least amount of kerf.
Circular saw machines, or cold saws, use blades that are thicker and more rigid compared to band saw blades, to reduce vibration and provide a better finish. They require more power consumption and a rigid machine structure because they cut wider slots. Cutting wider slots does have the downfall of losing more material to scrap.
Circular saw machines with carbide tipped blades cut faster through the material without creating excess heat--especially on high alloy or stainless steel. This develops an accurate cut and high-quality finish that doesn’t require secondary finishing operations.
If there isn’t a need for higher productivity, a band saw is the better option. Band saw machines use thinner blades and cut fewer chips. The power consumption of band saws is significantly less than that of a circular saw, and the kerf loss (slot width) is about .08” (2 mm) compared to .25” (6 mm) or more.
Band saw machines are versatile and cut larger cross sections than circular saw machines, which are limited to a 80” (2 m) blade diameter. Bundlecutting is also an option for band saws, but they tend to fall short when it comes to quality finishes.
Factors such as how long you use the saw, how it’s used, and the quality of the blade determine how long it will last. If there is a noticeable safety concern or a crack or bend in the blade, it’s time to replace it.
Proper blade maintenance and treatment extends its life and enhances its performance. Sharpening is a major component of blade maintenance. Band saw blades must be swaged before they are sharpened. Ideally you should typically be able to get two to three sharpenings before you need to change your blade completely.
Orange is the colour of success for KwaZulu-Natal-based
Trewirgie Timber. The flourishing farming enterprise relies on an orange-liveried Wood-Mizer sawmill line at its Orange Farm Sawmill operation to produce a third of the agri-business’ total annual income.
Owner and proprietor of Trewirgie Timber Pty (Ltd) Ben Seele is humble while surveying the Seele farmstead from the hills above Orange Farm Sawmill. “I’m a fourthgeneration farmer, and I’m simply improving on the legacy that those that went before me created and the beauty and potential of this place,” Ben says.
His cross-generational mindset and sense of custodianship have shaped Ben’s thinking to provide a razor-sharp business mind with a lowimpact, balanced edge. In 2022 this has produced Trewirgie Timber, a multi-faceted, dynamic agribusiness that integrates Ben’s management style and worldview to unlock surplus opportunities in the sector. Ben’s father Carl purchased a dairy
Pine from Trewirgie’s commercial plantations. Roughy 600 ha is planted to pine, the same for wattle with the remainder of the 2400 ha planted to gum.
and beef farm in the hills above Baynesfield in 1979 and converted it into a timber farm. Ben took over in 2001, set up a sawmill and used the profits to purchase more land in the Richmond and Dargle areas.
In 2022 Trewirgie Timber (Pty) Ltd has an impressive 2400 ha under plantations with a total land area of 4300 ha available for further diversification, but timber remains the focus. “Diversification has proven to be an ideal strategy in dealing with fluctuating and volatile demand scenarios,” Ben says. “The strategy is to grow different species on different sites for different markets and applications. In doing we’ve been able to adapt to changing markets and react to market opportunities,” Ben says
The hills above Ben Seele’s Orange Farm Sawmill that forms part of Trewirgie Timber’s operations in the Kwa-Zulu Natal midlands of South Africa.It starts with trees. Pine, Eucalyptus and Wattle combine to deliver the feedstock for Trewirgie’s product mix. Pine is grown mainly for sawtimber and processed at the Orange farm Sawmill at Baynesfield, while wattle is managed for pulp and bark production. Several Eucalyptus species and clonal hybrids are grown for sawtimber production, pulp and eucalyptus oil from leaf harvesting.
Poles, pallet material, beef and avocados provide further choice with the final commission to tread softly on this place, the guiding principle that drives Trewirgie’s successes home.
The conservation management principles used on the farm are noteworthy. It starts with ensuring that timber farming activities do not pollute or degrade the environment and that specific
sites are left fallow to protect the eco-systems. Unplanted areas are used for grazing, but careful veld management retains its conservation value.
Fire breaks, riparian zones, indigenous forests and grasslands are kept free of invasive weeds, with this rehabilitation a crucial part of Ben’s soil management practices. Fire is sparingly used to maintain compartments with cool burns retaining the long-term productivity and sustainability of the soil.
Harvesting and silviculture work on the farms is done in-house, using traditional motor-manual felling systems, cross-cutting with chainsaws, and stripping bark off the gum and wattle by hand. The brush is stacked neatly to facilitate easy access and re-establishment of the compartment.
He only uses contractors to help with harvesting from time to time when he needs to deliver a lot of timber to market in a short space of time. This gives sustainable employment to 237 employees working in harvesting, silviculture, sawmilling, transport, security, cattle, and avocado production. The overall theme of Trewirgie is one of structured, astute management with a careful balance between profitability and low impact.
Ben’s journey in sawmilling started after his studies and a brief sojourn in Norway and the UK, working as chainsaw operator and harvester. His return to SA in 2011 saw his father Carl assisting him in buying his first Wood-Mizer LT30 sawmill to cut logs from Carl’s timber operation.
The proceeds from the sawmill then allowed Ben to buy timber farms in Richmond, Baynesfield and Dargle, consolidate the agri-business under the Trewirgie banner and lease the family farm in 2022 to generate a third of the total operation’s income from sawmilling.
The highly productive sawmill has a monthly intake of around 1000 tonnes, with a yield or output of approximately 500 cubic metres out. Recovery is between 43-55 % depending on the log sizes.
The mill is built around two processing lines, one for large diameter logs and the other to process thinnings. Both use Wood-Mizer equipment except for a Pinnacle Multirip on the thinnings line.
The large-diameter line consists of a Wood-Mizer LT70 Remote and LT30 producing slabs that pass through an EG800 multirip. Sawn material is then kiln dried for use in door manufacturing. The thinning line consists of a Wood-Mizer Twin Vertical Saw (TVS) that squares the log on two sides before passing through a Pinnacle Multirip.
A Wood-Mizer LT70 Remote working at Orange Farm Sawmill large A Wood-Mizer EG800 Multirip processing slabs into sawn timber. Two Wood-Mizer single head resaws takes care of recovery. Wattle bark stripped and ready for tannin production.The output from the thinnings line and material recovered from sideboards with two Wood-Mizer single head resaws goes to bed and lounge suite manufacturers or is used for pallets and fencing or sold wet-off saw for diverse other applications.
The simplicity of both lines contributes to the efficiency of the operation.
Cants ripped into sawn material require minimal labour, with recovery also kept very simple. The mill is highly productive despite the low manual inputs and basic and inexpensive material handling. Recovery is high; costs are kept low, and a diverse mix of products exit the mill to bolster profits using a renewable, well-managed
resource with people also benefitting – the classic triple bottom line result.
It’s a rare privilege to meet a forward-thinking, innovative farmer and sawmiller like Ben Seele. He’s proud of his heritage; he builds into the future understanding of what it’ll take to remain successful in the time to come.
Timber is the ultimate cash crop – it can grow forever if managed well, and it can build businesses that improve lives, and we can sit in its shade.
Ask Ben Seele; he knows.
Trewirgie Timber (Pty) Ltd’s Ben Seele on the left together with his sawmill manager, Conrad Strydom.
A Wood-Mizer TVS removing two sides off logs from Trewirgie’s thinnings operations with the cant then passing through a multirip. The finished product ready for kiln drying.
Dakin-Flathers have been manufacturing and perfecting saw blades for over 125 years. This is why you’ll find their range of blades available in over 100 countries worldwide including Africa, Australia and the USA.
Every blade is manufactured in the UK, at their purpose-built 24-hour facility, to strict quality standards to ensure high performance, longevity and reliability from every blade.
RipperS is their ‘must have’ sawmill blade. Strength, performance and economy all in one blade – everything you need to get the best from your sawmill. If you are serious about milling and would like to increase your output and profits, then RipperS is the blade for you.
Dakin-Flathers explains the key points you should consider when choosing your next blade and why it is important.
The key factor to consider for any sawyer when choosing a brand of blade is the technology used to manufacture them. You may think that in this day and age all manufacturers use the most cutting-edge technologies available, but you’d be wrong.
Many blade manufacturers still use traditional production methods for producing tooth profiles such as punching and sharpening. Old-fashioned methods like punching teeth puts unacceptable levels of stress on the blade before it ever gets used. The result of this can be reduced life, inconsistent performance and blades that often need to be re-sharpened before they can be put to work. Something many a sawyer will have experienced in their time.
Dakin-Flathers RipperS teeth are fully profile ground using a specially designed diamondgrinding process on state-of-the-art CNC machinery. The results are sharper, more reliable longer lasting blades. Something which every sawyer can truly appreciate.
The ‘finite model’ (Fig.1 and Fig.2) demonstrates the result of cheaper punched blades versus quality ground teeth. Red, yellow and green areas in the body and gullet indicate high stresses, which can lead to premature band breakage.
Producing the ‘perfect’ tooth set is critical in optimizing the performance of a blade. Consistency is key. Good balance from one side to another means the blade will cut straighter, and the optimum kerf allows the blade to cut freely, with lower feed pressure, whilst maximising yield and surface finish.
Even the smallest of differences in the set will result in a wider, uneven cut – creating a rough finish, more waste and a less finished product.
balance of set to be placed on every single tooth with exacting precision.
Hardening teeth is a fine science. Hardening that does not extend to sufficient depth on each tooth limits the number of re-grinds that can be performed during servicing, causing a loss of performance after a few re-grinds, and shortening the life of the blade. Conversely, hardening teeth too deep into the body of the blade increases the likelihood of the blade cracking and breaking.
There are several ways to harden teeth, including flame hardening, but the most accurate and effective way by far is induction hardening. Dakin-Flathers use induction hardening for their RipperS blades to maintain a predetermined hardness programme which is consistent and highly repeatable. This ensures every blade, no matter when it is manufactured, has the exact same specifications and tolerances.
The latest development in setting technology, utilised by Dakin-Flathers, is a proprietary dualcontact action process which passes through a highly accurate digital photometric gauge that automatically checks and adjusts any misaligned teeth. This enables the optimum degree and
When you demand the most dependable and economical primary processing wood cutting blade, the Ripper S sawmill blade is it, delivering…
• Unique “out-of-the-box” performance
• Minimal waste and maximum cutting power
• The perfect balance between strength and flexibility
• Reduced production costs and more profit for you and your company
• Improved quality of finish on the sawn timber
If you are interested to discover the true potential of your sawmill with Ripper S blades visit www.dakin-flathers.com or email info@dakin-flathers.com for more information.
The heart of any sawmill is the blade itself. Your sawmill will only ever be as good as the blade used on it, so choosing the correct one is critical to maximise your cutting performance and output.Fig.1 (Punched Teeth) Fig.2 (Ground Teeth)
Recent global crises - Ukraine War and COVID-19 coming to mind - have disrupted the supply chain, heightening food insecurity risk. And given this, the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) considers this as an adequate clarion call for African countries to build the capacity of local chicken production.
ThePoultry Africa Exhibition, being held in Kigali, Rwanda could not have come at a more perfect time. The Ukraine War has illustrated the precariousness of wholly relying on imports to meet domestic food demand (food security) in countries. Specifically, what has surfaced is that the biggest flaw with this approach is that imports are at the mercy of factors beyond the control of either the producers or the buyers. Currently, the two factors importers are contending with are regional instability or COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Imagine if Africa sourced the bulk of its chicken from Ukraine, with the War in Ukraine disrupting the global grain supply chain? In what scale of a pickle would countries be?
The lesson that can be drawn from the global grain supply shortfall is that the only way to ensure the predictability of the supply of chicken is by building sufficient capacity for domestic production. Izaak Breitenbach, the General Manager of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), shares this viewpoint with chicken producers and authorities responsible for industry oversight in other African countries. This is based on the South African experience.
Talking to Farmers Review Africa, Breitenbach says that, in the face of challenges, South African producers have demonstrated that there is a strong business case for increasing local chicken production in African countries. This is given that, noticeably, South Africa has remained immune to recent global supply chain disruption as local production has somehow sustained domestic demand.
A case in point, during riots in July 2021, imports could not come through the harbour and local production filled the void. Moreover, presently, there is no supply shortfall in the country with about 10% vacant capacity. “We currently slaughter less than 21 million birds per week. We have a capacity of slaughtering 22 million birds per week,” says, indicating the local chicken producers’ capacity.
Breitenbach acknowledges that, while meeting domestic demand has not been a challenge, the War in Ukraine has had an indirect impact on chicken prices. Inescapably, an increase in the price of course grain has translated into an increase in the chicken feed price, ultimately the chicken price.
While South Africa has demonstrated opportunities that can be unlocked to foster domestic chicken production, SAPA is of the view that a huge room for improvement abounds. He says that South Africa’s domestic chicken
production capacity should reach a level where reliance on imports is significantly reduced, just as other countries have done successfully. “In the USA and Brazil, less than 1% of chicken products is imported and in the EU only 7% of chicken is imported. Currently, in South Africa imports constitute about 24% to 30%. Thus, the gap can be met by utilising the 9.3% unused production capacity.”
In pursuit of increasing local production, one of the barriers that should be addressed urgently is the issue of dumping practices and illegal trading. Importation of cheap chicken portions, way below market prices, from overseas countries, is has been undermining the stability of local producers as they cannot compete. This lopsided playing field has been the industry’s biggest concern.
Looking ahead, it is the association’s position that it is high time the government put its foot down and makes deliberate decisions that alleviate the burden poultry farmers carry. “The government can alleviate the burden poultry farmers carry by adopting measures to stop the dumping of poultry products in the country. Particularly, there are two ways of achieving this – ensuring that a product is not declared under the wrong tariff heading to dodge tariffs, as well as fining importers that under-declare import prices to reduce the amount of tariff they pay,” explains.
In general, Breitenbach says SAPA is bullish about prospects for the growth of the capacity of local food production on the continent. That is why the association views Poultry Africa as a very relevant platform where ideas can be explored in times like these when the continent is facing an increasing risk of food insecurity, he explains. “It is during events like these where valuable information is shared to improve the competitiveness of the industry and where plans are hatched to improve food security,”
The complete BioChek package for diagnostics of poultry and swine diseases is used all over the world. We offer a tailor-made advanced diagnostic service, including ELISA and PCR test kits, worldwide support and monitoring software.
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Africa started in 2017 as a biennial B2B international trade show, and is now in its 3rd edition bringing the Feed to Food concept to the poultry industries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), which is one of the largest in the region, will be again the venue for this premium event. Rwanda, Kigali is a popular MICE destination in the East African region as highlighted by the press conference opening video “Meet in Remarkable Rwanda”.
“After a halt caused by the pandemic, the industry is looking forward to meeting again in person and doing business face-to-face. The excitement can clearly be seen in the exhibition space booking that has already been sold out to the capacity of 60% by May 2022,” said Ms. Nienke van Soest, Poultry Africa Assistant Project Manager. Some of the exhibitors you will meet at the show are: Agrotech, AgroMex / Champrix, Aviagen, CEVA,
Evonik Africa, Hendrix Genetics, Jacobs Global, Marel Poultry, Peruvian Pharmaceutical, Trouw Nutrition Middle East & Africa, Vencomatic Group.
During the Press Conference, Mr Peter-Bart Lichtenbeld, Sales Director at Vencomatic shone a light on why should international companies jointly enter the Sub-Saharan market and how
European suppliers can tackle local challenges together. He emphasized on how being one of the first key players of the livestock markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa will serve as a great advantage over competition. The final goal is to bring knowledge and sustainability to the region and grow together with the local farmers.
Following in the footsteps of the last edition, this year as well the show will be opened with the Leadership Conference taking place a day before the exhibition, on October 4, 2022 at the KCC –giving Poultry Africa just the right start.
The fast-growing market of Africa will represent 15% of the global poultry market growth and 12% of the global egg market growth until 2027.
The 3rd edition is scheduled on October 5 & 6 in Rwanda, preceded by a Leadership Conference on October 4.
After a successful 2nd edition in 2019 that solidified Poultry Africa’s grasp in the region, this international event comes back for the 3rd time in full swing. With over 100 exhibiting companies from Europe, North-America, Asia and Africa that represent more than 25 countries, this edition of Poultry Africa will be as big as the last one. The event is truly a Sub-Saharan platform with visitors coming from Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania and also from South Africa, Sudan, and more African countries. This year, the show is expected to welcome more than 2000 visitors, decision-makers, and buyers – nutritionists, vets, farmers and food manufacturers are the main target profiles for the event.
The sectors that will be highlighted during the show are: breeding and hatching, animal health, feed milling, feed ingredients and additives, farming and animal housing, slaughtering and processing, egg handling.
Mr Zhenja Antochin, Senior Project Manager at VNU Europe explains, “Poultry Africa 2022 will see a new addition to the usual poultry focus of the event – Horticulture. By providing high-quality content on this topic via dedicated conferences and seminars, we offer our attendees the tools to address the current challenges and solutions in the horticulture business in Africa.” A detailed lineup of these content-driven sessions will be made available in the coming weeks on the official show website.
Poultry Africa will also focus on increasing local production thereby decreasing dependency on imports. Bio-security, automation, farm management and cold chain solutions are the
other reoccurring themes that will be showcased during the show.
Femke Konatey-Dekker, program manager at NABC introduced during today’s press conference the Impact Cluster Kukua Na Kuku project, which was officially launched on May 26. This is a collaboration between Tanzania and the Netherlands to transform Tanzania’s poultry sector using Dutch technologies. The potential of the poultry sector in Tanzania opens up opportunities for investments, and Poultry Africa is honored to help facilitate this process by
bringing to the region a highly professional event for top suppliers to meet with local markets.
The show is supported by some of the most important associations and organizations from within the industry - Ministry of Agriculture in Rwanda (MINAGRI), Africa Agribusiness Academy, Dutch Poultry Centre (DPC), Netherlands-Africa Business Council (NABC), Traide, Poultry Association of Rwanda and World Poultry Science Association (WPSA).
Poultry Africa 2022 will again prove to be the connecting bridge between the African and global players to take the industry forward by sharing knowledge, showcasing innovations, strengthening partnerships and building on new business relations.
To register as a visitor, please visit the official website www.poultryafricaevent.com. The event benefits from very good accessibility and visa on arrival, which makes it easy for foreign visitors and exhibitors to enter Rwanda, a country that is famous for its high level of safety & security in the region.
The Leadership Conference opening time on 4 October will be from 09:00 – 17:00. Poultry Africa exhibition opening time on 5 & 6 October will be from 10:00 – 17:00.
See you soon in Kigali, Rwanda at Poultry Africa 2022.
Meet 120 exhibitors from Europe, Asia, Middle East, America and Africa at Poultry Africa 2022
Ghana, Ethiopia but also South-Africa, Sudan, and many more countries. Meet the industry at Poultry Africa.
A strong line-up of international experts at the Poultry Africa Leadership Conference
On October 4th, one day prior to the Expo opening at the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), the Leadership Conference offers the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge from international experts. With a rich program tailor-made for SubSaharan poultry players, the conference will bring inspiration to a selection of attendees. The online pre-registration allows you to save 30% of the Leadership Conference onsite ticket price. Make sure you prebook bow.
Africa 2022 is ready to kick-off in early October in Rwanda. Leading suppliers will show you the best in poultry products and services at this unique B2B international trade show, powered by VIV worldwide. Already at its 3rd edition, the event brings once again the full supply chain from Feed to Food to the poultry industry professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa from October 5-6, 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda. Professional visitors’ access to the Expo is free upon registration available on www. poultryafricaevent.com.
Poultry Africa presents international and regional exhibitors of the poultry broiler and layer production sectors, including feed, feed ingredients & additives, compound feed milling equipment, animal health & pharmaceuticals, breeding & hatching, genetics, farm management systems, farm production, slaughtering, processing & handling.
Here are few exhibiting brands of this edition: Adisseo, Abusol, Aviagen, BAADER Food System, Big Dutchman, CEVA, Chore-Time, DANISCO, Evonik Africa, Güres, Hubbard, Jamesway, Lipidos Toledo (LIPTOSA), Petersime, Plasson, SKA Poultry Equipment, Yemtar, and many more. The complete exhibitor list is available on the official show website.
Meet the exhibitors at their booths and join their Technical Best Practice Seminars: a perfect opportunity to interact with the suppliers and shine a light on specific technical issues, increase your management skills and run your operations
more profitably. On October 6, for example, you can hear from Mr. Saad Gilani, Regional Technical Manager of Danisco Animal Nutrition & Health (IFF) on how to address the challenge of raw material prices and the key benefits of using enzymes.
As a member of the poultry industry, this is the most complete event you could attend in 2022 to find practical solutions, discover new products and bring your production to the next level. Visitor profiles include: farm owner; general manager, managing director, CEO, president; farm employee; marketing, sales manager, representative; consultant; technical manager, engineer, technician; veterinarian; government, institution, association; researcher; press; producer, processor; nutritionist; purchase manager, buyer; distributor, dealer; academic, professor; regulatory manager; retailer; and all the professional players in the poultry Industry.
The event is truly a Sub-Saharan platform, with visitors from Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya,
The Leadership Conference hosts high-level industry experts from Rabobank, WPSA, Traide, Vetworks, NABC and more. The program addresses key topics for successful poultry production, including:
• Market outlook: an overview of current events and opportunities in Rwanda and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Trade & Marketing: traditional Strategy Dual Purpose Poultry Marketing and customer relations.
• Eggs: development of egg production, consumption and opportunities in Africa.
• Farm Management: on biosecurity and the importance of farm management.
• Dutch Solutions: smart solutions for African Poultry Farms, by NABC and the Dutch Embassy.
• Data Management: using data for egg optimization and a hands-on workshop record keeping.
• Feed Management: managing feed and feed costs on poultry farms.
The event benefits from very good accessibility and visa on arrival, which makes it easy for all attendees to enter Rwanda, a country that is famous for its high level of safety & security in the region.
In addition, African visitors flying within Africa can make use of the special offer of RwandAir for Poultry Africa participants. Find more on www. poultryafricaevent.com/visit/travel-and-stay. Plan your visit now and join the business opportunities at Poultry Africa 2022 from 5-6 October, in Kigali, Rwanda.
Poultry Africa connects international suppliers with the fast-growing communities of feed production, poultry farming and food processing in Africa.
Animal Nutrition & Health (IFF) has an extensive history with phytase development and production. According to Danisco, its novel phytase enzyme Axtra® PHY GOLD, offers superior performance compared to other phytases on the market and results in cost savings for poultry and pork producers.
“Axtra® PHY GOLD is a reinforcement of our leadership in phytase enzymes, and it will bring a modern, more advanced offering to the animal
nutrition industry in Africa,” says Bart Hillen, Technical Director (EMEA).
Bart Hillen described the product as a novel phytase molecule which has not been seen before, offering superior bioefficacy and thermostability compared to all its competitors.
He added that “Our scientific studies show that we can formulate practical plant-based diets that are 100% inorganic phosphate free, without any
performance loss or animal welfare issues. This is a first.”
On 6 October 2022, Saad Gilani, Regional Technical Manager of Danisco Animal Nutrition & Health (IFF) will discuss how to address the challenge of raw material prices and the key benefits of using enzymes at the VIV Poultry Africa conference in Kigali Convention Center at 11.30 local time.
Natural ventilation in pig and poultry houses is a good option especially in regions without frost – and available at a reasonable price. To control the air exchange, roller curtains with electric winches are used on both long sides of the building, which is a well-proven concept to open and close the barn. In order to ensure an automatic as well as reliable curtain handling German livestock equipment supplier Big Dutchman has developed a computer which perfectly answers the purpose:
Based on the temperature and additionally supported by data from a weather station, Breezy controls the curtains automatically and
independently of the side. The computer was developed specifically for naturally ventilated barns and comes with the following features:
• coloured seven-inch display with a clear structure;
• with its twelve relays, Breezy controls, among other things, up to two recirculation fans and heating as well as cooling;
• available for connection are up to three temperature sensors, one CO2 sensor, one humidity sensor, and one water meter;
• integrated weather station to determine wind speed and direction.
www.bigdutchman.com
ContinentAfrica is getting more and more importance for the Vencomatic Group due to the increase of poultry production in emerging markets and modernization in excisting markets. Private sectors are more and more involved in agriculture growth, due to better infrastructures and easier access to financing institutes in the continent.
In 2013 the group started to focus more on Africa by appointing an regional director (Mr. PB Lichtenbeld) and an extra project manager (Mr. Nbandaman Aka), involved in sales, marketing,
aftersales and project coaching. During the period from 2013 until today, the team has expanded with a sales manager for the French speaken countries, being Mr. Pim van Hooff.
The growth of the Vencomatic Group has been possible by offering equipment and services adapted to local conditions and also not at least, by working together with dedicated African partners in good and bad times. Another very important point is that the owners of the Vencomaticgroup are fully committed to the fascinating continent of Africa.
Genetics is more than pleased to participate in the VIV Poultry Africa exhibition in Kigali. Representatives from SASSO, Hybrid, ISA Export and BU Layers will present all about our latest products developments, as the world of animal genetics is standing still.
We would like to highlight the launch of our Medium Hybrid Turkey breed, and our new range of colored traditional layers, which have been developed by the collaboration of Sasso, and Layers.
Next to this, we have launched fully revised commercial management guides, for all the different poultry species, and not to forget for the breeders. We have created management guides, fully dedicated to African countries with hot and tropical climates.
Our team members will be present in Kigali to provide you with the best advice on our poultry breeds and how to get the best performance out of them. Looking forward seeing you all and bring color to the VIV Poultry Africa exhibition 2022!
https://layinghens.hendrix-genetics.com/en/ technical-support/
During
Poultry Africa VDL Agrotech and VDL Jansen will jointly present themselves on stand C05. With a focus on innovation and making the food chain more sustainable we will present the latest developments of both companies.
VDL Agrotech launched the FlexBin a lightweight (4.9kg) and easy to handle hopper with a synthetic (HDPE) funnel that clearly shows the contour of the feed. For male feeding VDL Agrotech
launched the Gallox, a strong and durable feed pan for males with unique cups for a longer feeding time. The grill-less design prevent that combs get damaged and ensure optimal access to the feed.
VDL Jansen will introduce the renewed RearMaxx, a multitier system specially designed to train pullets effectively and use the house area optimally. Hope to meet you at Poultry Africa. www.vdlagrotech.com
routine treatments, the majority of veterinarians and producers prefer automatic injectors that are self-filling, via a tube either connection or bottle mount.
There are a range of products on the market today in plastic and metal with various dose sizes. Traditional, metal injectors offer farmers a versatile, robust design with spare parts and maintenance kits. In recent years, new, plastic, semi-disposable injectors built with medical-grade plastics offer users a lower cost, lighter weight alternative.
The new HSW F-Grip syringe combines the best of both – high quality materials, best performance and flexibility at an attractive price-benefit ratio. Due to its ergonomic design, fatigue-proof injections over a long period of time are ensured. The F-Grip syringes can be selected in dosage volumes of either 0.5ml, 1.0ml or 2.0ml. In addition, all models can be converted from a tube feed into a bottle mount version within a few seconds.
For more information, visit www. henkesasswolf.de
Versatile Use – Farm Vaccination with the HSW F-Grip Syringe
TThe group relies on its 8 research centres and its production sites based in Europe, USA, China and Thailand to design, produce and market nutritional solutions for sustainable animal feed. With more than 2,520 employees, it serves around 3,900 customers in over 110 different countries through its global distribution network.
The group most recent acquisition is FRAmelco in 2020, which is part of Adisseo’s strategy to boost Specialties growth to become one of the worldwide leaders of specialty feed ingredients in animal nutrition.
The Sustainable development is at the heart of Adisseos’ activities: Our products enable us to
reduce the environmental impact of livestock production and we are constantly improving our processes to optimize our resources and reduce waste.
Better still, we also have ambitious plans to protect the environment by offering highperformance nutritional solutions that reduce the consumption of energy resources, optimize the use of productive agricultural land, the judicious use of plant protection products and reduce the volume of organic waste generated by livestock farms.
Corporate website: https://www. adisseo.com/
Cevahas developed solutions for hatchery vaccination. By providing a complete range of innovative vaccines, equipment and services for safe and effective vaccination, Ceva goes “beyond animal health” to help make poultry production efficient and sustainable.
The number of day-old chick broilers vaccinated in hatchery with new technology vaccines has dramatically increased in the past 5 years.
Today, almost half of the broilers produced in the world each year are vaccinated in the hatchery, with these new technology products against Gumboro, Newcastle or Laryngotracheitis. We expect and will encourage this figure to grow.
Ceva is the leading company in vector and immune complex vaccine technology for broiler poultry production. These new vaccination technologies in the hatchery provides a strong and reliable solution. It represents in Africa, more than anywhere else in the world, a huge opportunity
To compensate for the 25% loss in maize and output of other crops last season, Zambia has maintained the number of beneficiaries of the fertilizer Support Programme in the 2022/23 season to bolster production, says agriculture minister Reuben Mtolo.
Last year, minister Mtolo had told lawmakers that the it was the desire of the Government to place 1, 024, 434 farmers on the FISP this year like was the case a year earlier and would each benefit six bags of fertilizer and a pocket of 10kilogrampack of seed per farmer in the 2023 season.
According to the projections, Zambia seeks to reverse the losses incurred the previous season because of among other factors delayed input distribution and that the estimated 1 million farmers, to be recruited in various parts of the country are expected to grow a variety of food including groundnuts, soya beans and legumes that have been added to the agriculture pack under the FISP.
Food forecast for the Southern African state and leading regional producer of maize dropped nearly 25% to 2.7 million tons in the 2021/2022 crop season from 3.6 million tons the previous season spurred by a reduction in the area planted and lower yields, minister Mtolo told FRA.
He allayed fears of food insecurity following a drop in the food output arguing that the country had a carryover stock of 1.5 million tons held by farmers, millers, grain traders and the nation’s Food Reserve Agency.
Earlier lawmakers, were in a ministerial statement by minister Mtolo, advised that the 1 million small holder farmers being maintained will remain beneficiaries and that each farmers would remit K400 US$60 as contribution to enhance access to inputs.
The government had decided that the FISP for the next agriculture season will be implemented using the direct input supply modality to allay uncertainty surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war which has affected fertilizer supply on the global market.
“Revision of the input pack under the program will be as follows: a total of six bags of fertilizer per farmer will be given out of which three will be basal dressing and three top dressing. A 10 kg of maize seed will be given to all the beneficiaries.”
“A supplementary bag of either 1 by 25 kg of soya bean seed or 1 by 20 kg of groundnut seed will be given to half of the group meaning 500, 000 farmers will get soya beans and the other 500, 000 will get groundnuts,” the minister said in a statement.
Earlier country’s agriculture think tank-the Indaba Agriculture Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) Senior Research Fellow Dr. Brian Mulenga in his 2021/2022 Crop Forecast Results and Food Balance sheet presentation noted that the season had significantly dropped below average from October 2021 to January this year citing the global and regional input prices that have risen steeply caused by the strained supply chain resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The expected rise in food prices was likely to hurt the poor, thus need for well-targeted social protection measures. During the meeting, minister Mtolo Phiri had announced that maize production for the 2021/2022 production season was expected to reduce by 25.24% from 3,620,125 Metric Tons (MT) in 2020/2021 to 2,706,243 MT in 2021/2022.
During the period under review, soya beans production was expected to increase by 15.63% from 411,115 MT to 475,353 MT, the highest the country has ever recorded. The smallholder farmers accounted for 96% of the total maize production for the 2021/2022 season while the commercial farmers accounted for only 4%.
The Minister assured maize and farmers o various crops intended for export of an open border policy in-line with the regional and international trade protocols. According to regional estimates, a ton of white maize is fetching around US$260.
The country’s largest farming group seeks to maximize to generate foreign exchange and recover investments in the sector.
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