Tag Archives: Agriculture

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” “Every adversity carries with it the seed of equal or greater benefit.” Across Africa and the globe, these and countless similar proverbs are used to mean the same thing: Hidden in adversity is opportunity. First, Africa’s challenge in adversity When we talk of…

Infrastructure investment remains at the core of African economic development, says Akinwumi Adesina, president of African Development Bank (AfDB), as the bank rolls out its 2018 African Economic Outlook. “Infrastructure, when well managed, provides the financial resources to do everything else,” said Adesina, speaking from the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte…

Women from Kenya and Nigeria are among five people singled out as everyday heroes by philanthropist Bill Gates in a recent post on his popular Gates Notes blog. “No masks or capes but these heroes are saving the world,” writes Gates before listing Segenet Kelemu and Adaora Okoli among them….

Japan says it’s committing USD$3 million to combat the spread of Fall armyworm pests in South Sudan, where the scarcity of food amid protracted conflict means that its people can ill afford additional insect damage to crops. “Under the current situation where nearly half of South Sudan’s population is estimated…

Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, this year’s recipient of the World Food Prize, says that Africa has the potential to help feed the world but needs assistance to cultivate a modern agribusiness sector and infrastructure to support it. “Africa cannot grow in the dark,” said Adesina in remarks made this week while…

This year’s World Food Prize will go to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), whose name was announced earlier this week in the United States. The prestigious USD$250,000 prize awarded to Adesina honors his leadership in improving the practice and production of food in Africa, and in “galvanizing the…

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, speaking at a session on Africa and the G7 during the weekend summit in Italy, emphasized six strategies for advancing growth across the continent while reducing the risks that unemployment and economic frustration create for peace and security. Guterres noted the challenges facing fragile…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India will participate Tuesday alongside Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), at the bank’s annual meeting in Ahmedabad in India’s western Gujarat state. The meeting, which runs through Friday, will focus on India’s partnership with African nations in key development areas, with…

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday ended his official visit to India with a business forum in New Delhi, where he chaired a meeting with Indian business leaders focused on investment in Kenya. Kenyatta urged Indian firms to establish operations in Kenya, which can serve as a “launch pad” to access…

In a sign of their strengthening ties, the nations of Rwanda and Israel began an official political dialogue this week that marks the first such meeting in the history of the relations of the two countries. “Today in Kigali, many of my partners in promoting Israel’s ties with Africa took…

Climate action on agricultural sustainability is a priority for reducing carbon emissions, and much of that work is being done among Africa’s smallholders. The support for local food systems and related anti-poverty efforts in rural regions of the continent is among the priorities laid out in the UN State of…

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall to 1.6 percent in 2016, but despite reaching the lowest level in two decades is expected to make a modest recovery in 2017. Real GDP is forecast to grow 2.9 percent in 2017, then rise to 3.6 percent in 2018. That’s…