Africa

Agriculture in Namibia presents great opportunities for economic growth, employment creation, food security and poverty eradication.

Following a failed court bid to force the government of Lesotho to withdraw the recently gazetted Agricultural Marketing (Wool and Mohair Licensing) Regulations of 2018, wool and mohair producers in that country are appealing to industry stakeholders in neighbouring countries for assistance.

The Harare Agricultural Show, Zimbabwe’s biggest farming exhibition, started on 27 August 2018, with 575 local and foreign exhibitors participating.

At least 10 000 pangolins are trafficked out of Africa every year, according to Catherine Ritchie, marketing and communications manager of the newly launched NGO, Pangolin.Africa.

The Tanzanian Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) has announced that it was lifting the ban on meat and meat products imported from South Africa.

As part of the ‘My Hippo Story’ competition the manufacturers of Hippo Mills, ABC Hansen, asked Hippo hammer mill owners to share their stories of how Hippo had impacted their lives in terms of creating work and opportunities, not only for themselves, but their entire community or village.

The Fall Armyworm Agri Tech Prize, aimed at finding digital solutions to identify, track and protect crops in Africa against fall armyworm, has attracted more than 200 entries.

It appears that only a handful of farmers will be able to cash in on the new opportunities generated by Zimbabwe’s legalisation of cannabis production for medicinal and scientific purposes.

The decimation of Namibia’s kudu population due to rabies, especially on game-fenced farms, poses a severe and long-term threat to the country’s game industry.

Fifteen African countries have recalled certain processed meat products as a result of the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that large-scale livestock losses as a result of drought have severely impacted the livelihoods of farmers, which could exacerbate Somalia’s food security.

Farmers in Botswana have expressed concern about that country’s government continuing to allocate low budgets to the agricultural sector.

A total of 78 donkeys have been euthanised over a four month period at what would have been Zimbabwe’s first abattoir for these animals, after inspectors found that they were either ill or badly injured.

The first Malabo Biennial Report on the Malabo Commitment to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation in Africa was released last month.

The maize crop in Zimbabwe's south-western Matabeleland region is suffering serious moisture stress that could result in permanent wilting if the dry spell continues, farmers in the region have said.

Since its outbreak in the northern parts of Zambia in April 2017, African swine fever has resulted in the culling of more than 20 000 pigs.

Rwanda has banned imports of meat, dairy products, vegetables and fruit from South Africa as a result of the recent outbreak of the foodborne disease, listeria, across the country.

While many African agribusinesses are keen to expand their operations into other countries on the continent, they reportedly remain wary of doing so.

The African Development Bank Group (ADBG) has approved a R1 billion loan to finance Namibia’s Agricultural Mechanisation and Seed Improvement Project.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) were identified as key areas with which young people could be attracted to agriculture.