Africa

Botswana recently reported a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Ngamiland to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Lesotho has granted one of its first licences for the production of medical marijuana to South African company, Verve Dynamics. The company has a branch in Lesotho.

An agricultural commodities market is being set up near Benin City in Nigeria, as part of the Nigerian government’s efforts to resuscitate the farming industry and reduce the country’s reliance on the struggling oil industry.

Commercial Zimbabwean farmers have launched the SADC Tribunal Rights Watch to seek compensation for the loss of their farms and livelihoods, and to stop farm seizures. This was according to a statement from the organisation.

Smallholder cattle farmers in Zambia’s Northern Province were reportedly set to see their livelihoods improve under a recently launched livestock improvement project.

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has contracted the South African-based African Fertilizer Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) to train agro-dealers in order to boost fertiliser access by smallholder farmers in Ghana and Cameroon, two of the top cocoa producing countries in the world.

Tongaat Hulett has begun construction on its first sugar refinery in Mozambique, to capitalise on the shortage of locally refined sugar.

Subsistence farmers’ traditional wheat trait selection, has, for the first time, been mapped against modern genome selection methods.

Zimbabwe is evaluating the efficacy of a new, more energy-efficient method of curing tobacco with a view to switching from traditional approaches that burn too much coal and firewood.

A potato seed trial in Kenya has passed initial tests and the plants are now growing well in three locations in the country.

African Development Bank (ADB) president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has been announced as the 2017 World Food Prize (WFP) laureate.

From 1 July this year Zimbabwe will enforce its mandatory food fortification programme to fight malnutrition among people, especially women and children.