Africa

Acting on behalf of 40 local environmental organisations, the Namibia Chamber of Environment has sent an open letter to the Chinese embassy in Windhoek, bemoaning the fact that some Chinese nationals continue to show a blatant disregard of Namibia’s legal and environmental values, said organisation CEO Dr Chris Brown.

Good rains were reported in Namibia during the first week of January, but the rains were sporadic and some parts of the country remained desperately dry, said Sakkie Coetzee, CEO of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) CEO.

Zambeef Products, Zambia’s largest integrated agribusiness and food processing company, has entered what chairperson, Dr Jacob Mwanza, described as a ‘new era’ of doing business.

Cold Storage Company (CSC), a meat processing and distribution parastatal, and ZimTrade, the national export promotion agency, have launched a training programme in Zimbabwe aimed at educating farmers on boosting goat production for exports.

South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, called on all stakeholders to support Africa’s vision of making the continent the breadbasket of the world.

According to Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, agriculture in Africa offers massive opportunities.

Tanzania wants to revive cotton production to stimulate economic growth in regions that once cultivated the crop.

A new solar-powered irrigation kit, developed by US company SunCulture, is helping small-scale farmers in Kenya achieve better yields.

A software engineer from Nigeria has won an international award for his cloud-based application that automatically notifies food retailers of food products approaching the end of their shelf-life. This allows the retailers  to offer discounts to charities.

Ghana’s rice industry has called on the private sector to invest more in domestic rice production in the form of machinery and logistics to complement government’s efforts to develop the country’s rice value chain, according to GhanaWeb.

Annually, Africa spends about R3 billion ($40 billion) on importing processed foods. This was according to Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who recently addressed delegates at the Emoyeni Estates in Johannesburg for the 20th anniversary celebration of the South African National Editors’ Forum.

According to Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture, the country will maintain its existing ban on maize exports until the next season’s harvest to safeguard national food security.