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#1 ·
Post news & discuss agriculture on the continent...

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Fertiliser Trees Prove a Hit in Southern Africa
allAfrica

Hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in southern Africa are adopting fast-growing trees and shrubs to fertilise their fields naturally, for improved yields and incomes, according to a study.

Scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a non-profit research organisation in Kenya, analysed two decades-worth of efforts to bring 'fertiliser trees' to African farms and announced their findings - which were published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability - last month (14 October).

Fertiliser trees, such as the acacia tree, capture nitrogen from the air and transfer it to the soil in a process known as nitrogen-fixing. This restores nutrients and increases crop productivity, with the potential to double or even triple harvests. They also improve water efficiency on farms and help prevent soil erosion.

"Four hundred thousand farmers in southern Africa [Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe] are growing the trees to boost their farm yields, and there are still millions of resource-poor smallholders who could benefit from them," said Oluyede Ajayi, lead author of the study and a senior scientist at ICRAF.

The study found that maize yields and farmers' incomes are significantly higher in areas where the trees are used. In Zambia, for example, incomes for farmers using fertiliser trees averaged US$230-330 per hectare, while those who did not use the trees earned just US$130.
This increase in income provided food for up to 114 extra days.

Jackson Mulatya, a senior scientist at the Kenya Forest Research Institute, said that the practice [of planting these trees] could increase productivity and be widely adopted in Africa. "Herbaceous plants have been used to boost soil fertility since time immemorial ... scientists have modified the practice," he said.
 
#223 ·
Cameroon exports 300,000 tons of bananas to EU per year



Cameroon exports an average of 300,000 tons of bananas per year to the European Union (EU), the new EU ambassador and head of delegation announced on Monday.According to Hans-Peter Schadek, who is increasing contacts with the Cameroonian authorities, partnership between the EU and Cameroon must be strengthen in several sectors of activity.

On supporting the banana sector, he said, “that this is an important action that has been going on for some time and that has now reached a cruising speed of nearly 300,000 tons of bananas exported each year by Cameroon to the European Union market.

In any case, “it is about maintaining, or even improving, the competitiveness of Cameroonian bananas so that they can more easily access the European market. Especially since the product is very popular with the advantage that it passes without quota or customs duty under the provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) into force since August 4, 2016,” he added.

....

https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-exports-300000-tons-of-bananas-to-eu-per-year/


Cameroon: Banana Production - the Way Out of Danger

The drop in banana production due mainly to climate change has pushed stakeholders back to the drawing table for a lasting solution.

Nature has attacked one of the most important crops in the country. Authorities of the three main agro-industries involved in the production of banana, an important cash crop to the Cameroonian economy have been spending sleepless nights to see how best and how far they can counter the effects of climate change, one of the main factors responsible for crop destruction this season.

While at the Cameroon Development Corporation [CDC], production is said to have dropped by 19,000 metric tons, authorities of the Plantations du Haut Penja are licking their wounds over the 300 to 400 hectares of plantation destroyed by tornados. In effect, the CDC expected to produce 119, 000 metric tons this year, but may not be able to attain 100,000 metric tons.

As if that were not enough, there have been widespread fungal and mushroom attacks on the plant as well as on the fruits. This situation has not kept the main buyers of the European Union indifferent. Cameroon, it should be recalled, is the highest supplier of banana among African countries on the European market.

....

http://allafrica.com/stories/201712070228.html
 
#224 ·
How Monsanto’s GM cotton sowed trouble in Africa



When America’s biotech giant tried to export its know-how to small cotton farmers in Burkina Faso, there was a problem: The quality sank.

BOBO-DIOULASSO, Burkina Faso - In 2000, farmers in Burkina Faso, Africa’s top cotton grower, were desperate. Their cotton fetched top prices because its high-quality fibre lent a luxurious sheen to clothing and bedsheets. But pests – bollworms – were threatening the crop.

Even when you dropped the bollworm larvae into a bucket of poison, farmers said, they kept swimming.

U.S. seeds and pesticide company Monsanto proposed an answer: a genetically modified strain of cotton called Bollgard II, which it had already introduced in America and was marketing worldwide. GM was established in large-scale farming in South Africa, but not among the smallholders who produce most African cotton. The Burkina farmers agreed to a trial and the country introduced seeds with the gene in 2008.

The resulting cotton was pest-free, and the harvest more abundant. By 2015, three-quarters of all Burkina Faso’s production was GM, and it became a showcase for the technology among smallholders in Africa. From 2007 to 2015, delegations from at least 17 different African nations visited Burkina to see it.

....

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/monsanto-burkina-cotton/
 
#225 ·
South Africa poultry group calls for probe of forced labor in Brazil

South Africa’s poultry industry body has asked the government to investigate allegations of forced labor in the sector in Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) said it had asked its government to seek “urgent comment” after a report said thousands of workers in Brazil’s meat and poultry sectors were victims of forced labor and inhumane work conditions.

The report by the Washington-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), released last month to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said slave labor in Brazil’s poultry sector is “endemic”.

SAPA said this needed to be investigated immediately.

“Thousands of South African workers have lost their jobs because of dumped chicken imports from countries including Brazil, which has now been exposed as a country where workers are subject to degrading working conditions and forced labor,” SAPA said in a statement.

The poultry business in South Africa has been fighting against competition from producers in Brazil, the European Union and the United States for several years.

Domestic producers have long complained about cheap imports from overseas companies of chicken portions still on the bone, popular locally but generally less favored by consumers in the United States and Europe.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...probe-of-forced-labor-in-brazil-idUSKBN1E52K5
 
#227 ·
Nigeria’s ‘first’ agrictech startup gets $1m for local farmers

Farmcrowdy, Nigeria’s first and leading digital agriculture platform which allows Nigerians to venture in and sponsor agriculture, says it has closed-in on seed funding of $1 million from international and local investors.

The inverstors include: Cox Enterprises, Techstars Ventures, Social Capital, Hallett Capital and Right-Side Capital; as well as angel investors Tyler Scriven, Michael Cohn, Josephine Group, FC Agro Allied SPV and Dr. Christof Walter.

Launched just over 12 months ago, Farmcrowdy, the only African startup from Techstars Atlanta’s 2017 cohort, connects small scale farmers with sponsors, who invest in farm cycles.

A farm cycle can be anything from poultry [3-5 months] to cassava [9 months]. The farmers receive on-the-ground advice from Farmcrowdy’s Technical Field Specialists who also give them training in better agriculture practices and provide them with quality farm input.

Prior to harvest, Farmcrowdy works with pre-arranged buyers who assist the farmers sell their yield at harvest and earn a decent margin.

...

https://www.thecable.ng/nigerias-first-agrictech-startup-gets-1m-local-farmers
 
#228 ·
South Africa wine harvest expected to drop sharply in 2018


South Africa, the world's seventh biggest wine producer, is expected to see the smallest harvest in more than a decade in 2018 after drought and lower plantings hit yields, industry experts said.

The winelands are mostly in the coastal Western Cape province which was declared a disaster area in May due to a severe drought that has dried up dams and led to water restrictions for residents and industry.

The 2018 harvest is expected to be much smaller than the estimated 1,434,328 tonnes produced in the 2017 crop, based on a survey conducted in the last week of November by industry body South African Wine Industry Information and Systems (Sawis).

Sawis, which will give its final crop estimate in August, did not give a figure for 2018 but said it would likely be less than in 2017.

"If in certain areas we don't get rain it could end up smaller," Sawis chief executive officer Yvette van der Merwe told Reuters.

South Africa's wine industry, which exports 440 million litres of wine a year and sells 400 million litres locally, could see higher prices if the crop is significantly decreased.

Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/agricul...harply-in-2018-20171219-h07ljg##ixzz51l3vdRDu
 
#230 ·
1st white farmer gets land back under Zimbabwe's new leader

A white Zimbabwean farmer evicted by gun-wielding police and a mob associated with the ruling party has returned to a hero's welcome, in a sign that the new president is charting a path away from predecessor Robert Mugabe on an issue that had hastened the country's international isolation.

With a military escort, Robert Smart made his way into Lesbury farm about 200km east of the capital, Harare, on Thursday to cheers and song by dozens of workers and community members.

Such scenes were once unthinkable in a country where land ownership is an emotional issue with political and racial overtones.

"We have come to reclaim our farm," sang black women and men, rushing into the compound.

Two decades ago, their arrival would have meant that Smart and his family would have to leave. Ruling Zanu-PF party supporters, led by veterans of the 1970s war against white minority rule, evicted many of Zimbabwe's white farmers under an often violent land reform program led by Mugabe.

Whites make up less than 1 percent of the southern African country's population, but they owned huge tracts of land while blacks remained in largely unproductive areas.

The evictions were meant to address colonial land ownership imbalances skewed against blacks, Mugabe said. Some in the international community responded with outrage and sanctions.

Of the roughly 4 500 white farmers before the land reforms began in 2000, only a few hundred are left.







https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimba...land-back-under-zimbabwes-new-leader-20171222
 
#231 ·
#233 ·
Zimbabwe's farmers brace for return of destructive new pests

MAFUKE, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Farmers in Zimbabwe are anxiously watching their crops, fearing the return of a plethora of new pests that recently spread to the southern African nation and devastated harvests this year.

Many cannot afford pesticide - or lack the knowledge - to control fall armyworm, tomato leafminer, cotton mealybug and other newcomer pests that arrived as climate change creates warmer, more conducive conditions.

We don’t know what is happening,” said Lovemore Muradzikwa, a small-scale maize farmer in the Mafuke area of eastern Zimbabwe, who said he has already seen some of the pests return.

“There are small worms destroying our crops. They are eating even wild plants. We don’t know what they are,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

....

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-farming-pests/zimbabwes-farmers-brace-for-return-of-destructive-new-pests-idUSKBN1EK0GL
 
#237 ·
Mali becomes again Africa's largest cotton producer



The African champion of cotton is again Mali. With 1 million 330 bales of white fiber, 90,000 bales more than last year, the country exceeds Burkina Faso, according to estimates by the US Department of Agriculture, the USDA.

The cotton fields have been extended to Mali. But it is especially the decline of Burkina Faso, the former African champion of cotton, which allowed Mali to double it. Burkina Faso has not produced more than one million 300 bullets, 10,000 less than last year and 30,000 less than Mali.

Burkina Faso, however, had planted more cotton, and in larger proportions than its Malian competitor. But Burkina Faso yields have collapsed. They are the worst for 22 years: 333 kilos per hectare.

An invasion of armyworms in Burkina Faso

Drought is partially involved. But it is above all the lack of care given to cotton that explains the Burkinabè setback. Since the abandonment of GMO seeds, which did not give as good fiber quality but had an integrated insecticide, farmers had to return to conventional cotton. And they have to apply pesticides six to eight times a year, as opposed to just twice a year for Monsanto's Bt cotton. But this year, pesticides have been heavily diverted from cotton for corn, invaded by armyworms.

Record yields in Cameroon

In the rest of West Africa, the only other cotton country to see its production fall is Chad: phytosanitary products have failed and the price to the producer is low, 220 FCFA per kilo, while the remuneration has been reduced. maintained or even increased elsewhere, up to 300 FCFA per kilo in Senegal.

In the latter country, a small cotton producer with 40,000 bales of fiber this year, yields had not been as good in nine years. Yields also rising in Benin and Ivory Coast.

But it is in Cameroon, in Central Africa, that they cross the 500 kilos per hectare, even if, rainfed requires, it is obviously very far from 2000 kilos per hectare of irrigated and mechanized cotton of Australia or the United States.

Le Mali redevient le premier producteur africain de coton

Le champion africain du coton est à nouveau le Mali. Avec 1 million 330 balles de fibre blanche, soit 90 000 balles de plus que l'an dernier, le pays dépasse le Burkina Faso, selon les estimations du département américain à l'agriculture, l'USDA.

Les champs de coton ont été étendus au Mali. Mais c’est surtout le recul du Burkina Faso, l’ancien champion africain du coton, qui a permis au Mali de le doubler. Le Burkina Faso n’a pas produit plus d’un million 300 balles, 10 000 de moins que l’an dernier et 30 000 de moins que le Mali.

Le Burkina Faso avait pourtant lui aussi planté plus de coton, et dans des proportions plus importantes que son concurrent malien. Mais les rendements burkinabè se sont effondrés. Ils sont les plus mauvais depuis 22 ans : 333 kilos à l’hectare.

....
http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20171229-le-mali-redevient-le-premier-producteur-africain-coton

https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/cotton.pdf
 
#239 ·
Land at the heart of Liberians' concerns



George Weah, who will succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf this month to head Liberia, has made food security one of her priorities. 60% of Liberians work in agriculture, large companies have huge concessions, yet the country imports 80% of its commodities. Since 2014, the country has been trying to adopt a new land law that would guarantee rural communities rights to their land.

The civil wars of the 1990s forced Liberians to abandon their lands. And the return of peace saw the emergence of a thorny problem, that of land rights. During her two terms, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf attempted to resolve the issue. But the law on the earth has been in a drawer since 2014. However, problems are multiplying. The state has granted concessions to foreign groups, causing additional tension in the countryside. For the political scientist Harold Aido, the new president will have to tackle the task.

"The government must first pass a new land law, a new law on land rights, to resolve all outstanding issues. The new president and his administration are facing a real challenge, because there are so many problems currently about land issues. As for example, the distribution of hundreds of thousands of hectares to foreign multinationals. We still have many thousands of village communities waiting to receive compensation for the lots that have been distributed! Many of these communities have not agreed to the grant of their land. "

Some question this model of concessions. Rubber or palm oil plantations do not help to enrich the farming world, according to James Yarsiah, activist in a peasant NGO.

"The concession model in Liberia, which has been around for decades, does not work. There are problems. And I think there is an opportunity for a new government to talk to shareholders and review the whole model. Because I think this system is counterproductive, especially for the small farmers who are the backbone of our agricultural sector. "

In the business community, we advocate a policy of transformation of primary products. This is the case of Leelai Kpukuyou, head of the Liberian Business Association.

"We have the Firestone Company in Liberia for over a hundred years. For decades, we were the largest rubber producers in the world. Until today, we still do not have the slightest processing unit of latex on our soil! It is not fair ! It can not last! All our latex leaves Liberia and returns in the form of processed products. Tires, soles ... and we buy these things! Why do not we consider the possibility of making a part of it at home? To create jobs and create markets? ".

Despite abundant land, Liberians import most of their staple foods, George Weah wants to turn the tide, and make his country an export power.

La terre au coeur des préoccupations des Libériens

Georges Weah qui succèdera ce mois-ci a Ellen Johnson Sirleaf à la tête du Libéria a fait de la sécurité alimentaire l'une de ses priorités. 60% des Liberiens travaillent dans l'agriculture, de grandes compagnies possèdent des concessions immenses mais pourtant le pays importe 80% de ses produits de base. Depuis 2014, le pays tente d'adopter une nouvelle loi sur le foncier qui garantirait aux communautés rurales des droits sur leurs terres.

Les guerres civiles des années 90 ont contraint les Libériens à abandonner leurs terres. Et le retour de la paix a vu émerger un problème épineux, celui du droit foncier. Durant ses deux mandats, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf a tenté de résoudre la question. Mais la loi sur la terre est dans un tiroir depuis 2014. Pourtant, les problèmes se multiplient. L'Etat a attribué des concessions à des groupes étrangers, provoquant des tensions supplémentaires dans les campagnes. Pour le politologue Harold Aido, le nouveau président va devoir s'atteler à la tâche.

...
http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20180105-terre-coeur-preoccupations-liberiens
 
#240 ·
Unlocking Zimbabwe’s pond aquaculture potential

Following Robert Mugabe’s resignation as president in November, Zimbabwe's new government has launched an ambitious $432 million project that should help improve the country's aquaculture output.

Zimbabwe holds an estimated 60 percent of all the dammed water in southern Africa and is home to the largest freshwater fish farm in Africa. Yet less than 5 percent of the 400,000 hectares suitable for inland aquaculture is currently being utilised for fish production, according to the Zimbabwe Fish ProducersÂ’ Association.However, the government is working to develop fish farming and fish consumption in the country. In launching the policy, Muchinguri Kashiri said the government-led programme will fund projects in reservoirs and ponds across the country.
We now have [fewer] dams because we lost some of them due to flooding and poor maintenance, she said. I want to make sure that most of them are fully utilised because some of them had become white elephants. In support of this command programme, through the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, my ministry’s primary focus shall be to ensure that all dams are fully stocked with fingerlings for the benefit of surrounding communities, thereby ensuring that their food and nutrition needs are met. To date 350 requests have been received from individuals and entities desiring to participate in the command fisheries programme.” Three not-for-profit organisations – World Vision, Basilwizi Trust and Aquaculture Zimbabwe – are implementing the European Commission (EC) backed initiative in eight districts – Binga, Hwange, Insiza, Masvingo rural, Kariba, Umzingwane, Mwenezi and Beitbridge.

Clive Garaushoma, the fisheries co-ordinator at World Vision Zimbabwe, says the project has helped to improve the incomes, nutrition and fish farming skills of co-operative members. Some people who used to fish illegally in western Zimbabwe have had their operations formalised and market access enhanced, and are now able to bargain for better prices for their produce. In Hwange District, where Basilwizi Trust is the ECÂ’s implementing partner, the project has tempered the game of hide-and-seek that went on between fish poachers and the police.

“In the district at Msuna, we are not working with co-operatives but fishermen who used to be poachers,” he says. “Now they are operating legally, each earning between US$300 and US$400 a month. Before we started working with them they could not bargain effectively for better prices so they got US$1-US$2 per kilogram but now they earn $2-$2.50 per kilogram.” Both the government’s command fisheries initiative and the EC’s project to boost co-operative pond farming should help to reduce the production gap in Zimbabwe’s domestic market for fish. The country currently produces about 18,400 tonnes of fish every year, far below the potential national demand of 60,000 tonnes. https://thefishsite.com/articles/unlocking-zimbabwes-pond-aquaculture-potential
 
#241 ·
Zim:Govt to resuscitate Horticulture

Michael Tome Business Reporter
Government has stepped up efforts to resuscitate the Horticulture Promotion Council (HPC) to enable the horticulture sector reclaim its position as the second major foreign currency earner in the country after tobacco.

At its peak in 1999, the sector earned the country US$143 million from exports and since then, it has been on the downward trend. Exports fell to about US$72 million in 2005 and US$40 million in 2009, mainly as a result of the demise of the HPC. However, 2017 witnessed a rebound in volume of exports of horticulture produce to US$86 million, riding on a deliberate import substitution policy. Addressing stakeholders at a workshop on strategies to revive the horticulture sector on Wednesday, Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Retired Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri, said his ministry was interested in revamping the HPC among a set of other initiatives meant to bolster production in the sector.

“My ministry is keen to see the Horticulture Promotion Council come back to life to drive the horticulture sector. You may be aware that my ministry is already working on an Agriculture Marketing and Trade Policy, a Horticulture Development Policy and a Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Policy and has its foot on the ease of doing business paddle,” Minister Shiri said.

He called upon the private sector to take the central role in tackling issues bedeviling the sector, while Government will focus on creating production friendly environment to encourage competitiveness.

“Government is keen to see the private sector take the leading role in addressing the challenges that face the sector, while it focuses more on creating an enabling trade and investment environment characterised by incentives and ease of doing business to allow regional and international competitiveness.

“I challenge this workshop to explore among other important issues, the establishment of a standing committee on the Horticulture Sector Resuscitation, Promotion and Expansion that comprise public and private sectors as well as development partners and civil society,” added Minister Shiri.

He lauded the Horticulture Development Strategy being spearheaded by the European Union in partnership with the private sector, as it was an insurmountable task for Government to resuscitate the sector alone.
 
#242 ·
Tyson Foods invests, Tanzania major poultry player

Global poultry business Tyson Foods has joined forces with South African-based agricultural firm Irvines to launch a range of large breeding sites in the foothills of Kilimanjaro and hatching factories in the coastal region.

Fourth largest poultry producer

The investment by the two firms will make the Tanzania the fourth largest poultry producer in Africa and halt its, and potential neighbouring nations’, dependency on imported poultry from Brazil and the United States.

Imports have caused thousands of farmers to lose income and to lay off workers, but the funding at the Kiliwest farms in the Siha district of Kilmanjaro and at Kerege Hatchery in Bagamoyo district will make a huge difference.

...



http://www.poultryworld.net/Meat/Articles/2018/1/Tyson-Foods-invests-Tanzania-major-poultry-player-231151E/
 
#243 ·
INFOGRAPHICS: Thailand’s rice export to Nigeria drops dramatically — but increases in Benin Rep

Rice exports from Thailand to Nigeria dropped from 1.23 million metric tonnes in 2014 to 23,192mt as at November 2017.

According to data on the Thai Rice Exporters Association website, the value of these exports dropped to 324 million Thai baht (฿) from 8.2 billion Thai bhat (฿).

Curiously though, Nigeria’s neighbours, Republic of Benin, recorded an increase in rice imports from Thailand, from 805,765mt in 2015 to 1,647,387mt as at November 2017 — leading to suspicion that the staple might have been smuggled to Nigeria through land borders.

On June 23, 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it would no longer provide foreign exchange for 41 items including rice, cement and tooth picks.

....



http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/export%20by%20country%202017.html

https://www.thecable.ng/infographic-drastic-drop-thailands-rice-export-nigeria
 
#244 ·
Nigeria earns N284bn from cashew exports in three years7

Between 2015 and 2017, Nigeria earned $813.05m (N284.5bn) in foreign exchange from the exportation of cashew.

The President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria, Mr. Tola Fasheru, gave the figure in Abuja shortly after he led a delegation of the association to meet with the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Aisha Abubakar.

...

https://punchng.com/nigeria-earns-n284bn-from-cashew-exports-in-three-years/
 
#245 ·
Cotton: Mali, this champion of Africa

With record production this season, the country confirms its leading position in cotton production despite the threat to cropland.





Mali, new champion of African cotton for the 2017/2018 season. With 721,000 tons of fiber harvested, the country is certain to reach its initial target of 725,000 at the end of the season in March. This season, the country has benefited from a milder weather than planned, allowing it to overtake Burkina Faso, former leader of the sector. This year, the country will only reach 563,000 tons of cotton harvested, he had planted more seeds than his Malian competitor. But adverse weather conditions associated with insect attacks allow him to harvest only 333 kilos per hectare, its worst score in 22 years. Since the failed attempt on GM cotton, which was finally abandoned in 2016, Burkina Faso is struggling to obtain good yields. Difficulties that benefit his neighbor.

Cotton, historical engine of the Malian economy

At the heart of an economy still largely dominated by agriculture, "white gold" provides income to 40% of the Malian rural population. The sector also contributes to 22% of export earnings. Figures that make cotton farming a major economic lever, behind that of gold. A process begun in the twentieth century, successive governments since the country's independence in 1960 have focused on the development of production, managed by the Malian Textile Development Company (CMDT). The institution provides producers who sell all their production with the necessary equipment. It is also the CMDT which fixes the prices of raw cotton.

Environmental pollution, a long-term threat

As a generator of income and employment for families, cotton growing is no less threatened by several factors. First, long-term soil depletion, and pollution caused by the over-use of chemical fertilizers. Cotton attracts many parasites that devour leaves, capsules and roots, and the use of pesticides threatens the quality of the soil. It is for one of these reasons that Burkina adopted in 2008 the GM Bt cotton from the American firm Monsanto, with integrated pesticide. The seed proved to be powerless against pests, and gave a product of much less good quality than the fiber of then, known for its superior quality. Natural constraints that must be accommodated, just as it is necessary to adapt to the price of cotton on the world market, deemed unstable


A motor sector for the region

Cotton has become an agricultural export product par excellence in Mali, but also for the subregion. In value, it is the third product exported from West Africa, behind cocoa and coffee. West African exports are almost entirely destined for Asia: 90% of production is devoted to it, of which 60% is for China. Only 8% of production will leave for Europe, and 2% will be processed locally.

Coton : le Mali, ce champion d'Afrique

Le coton, moteur historique de l'économie malienne


Avec une production record cette saison, le pays confirme sa position de leader dans la production du coton malgré la menace qui pèse sur les terres cultivées.

Le Mali, nouveau champion du coton africain pour la saison 2017/2018. Avec déjà 721 000 tonnes de fibres récoltées, le pays est certain d'atteindre à la fin de la saison, au mois de mars, son objectif initial fixé à 725 000. Cette saison, le pays a profité d'une météo plus clémente que prévue, lui permettant de dépasser le Burkina Faso, ex-leader de la filière. Cette année, le pays n'atteindra que 563 000 tonnes de coton récoltées, il avait pourtant planté davantage de graines que son concurrent malien. Mais des conditions climatiques défavorables associées à des attaques d'insectes ne lui permettent de récolter que 333 kilos à l'hectare, son plus mauvais score depuis 22 ans. Depuis la tentative ratée du coton OGM, qui a finalement été abandonné en 2016, le Burkina Faso peine à obtenir de bons rendements. Des difficultés qui profitent donc à son voisin.

...
http://afrique.lepoint.fr/economie/coton-le-mali-persiste-et-signe-26-01-2018-2189827_2258.php
 
#247 ·
Zim shifts from Mugabe era policies as Mnangagwa govt offers remaining white farmers 99-year land leases

Zimbabwe’s land ministry has issued a directive that would see an end to the discrimination of white farmers as they have now been included on a 99-year land lease, says a report.

Under ex-president Robert Mugabe’s government white farmers were allowed to lease the land for only 5-years.

But according to New Zimbabwe.com, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has scrapped that policy, with the country's eight acting provincial resettlement officers being told that "there should be no more restrictive 5-year leases to white farmers".

The ministry said the 99-year leases were immediately bankable.

https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimba...ng-white-farmers-99-year-land-leases-20180201
 
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