Author: allafricans

Dubai to import lemons from Mozambique

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WAM | 29 January 2017

Jaranda Agricultura Norte is owned by Jacaranda Development Limited Mauritius, which is reportedly owned by South Africans.

Nampula (Mozambique), 26th January, 2017 (WAM/AIM) — A company in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula is to begin producing lemons for export to Dubai later this year.

 The company, Jacaranda Agricultura Norte, is already producing bananas commercially, and its citrus operation will begin with ten hectares dedicated to producing lemons.
According to the General Manager of Jacaranda, Abilio Chipupure, if the business proves sustainable, the company will increase the area devoted to lemons in the near future. “The contract with Dubai is pretty much firmed up”, said Chipupure. “There are just a few technical details to be finalised, such as the forms of packaging and exporting the product. The market is guaranteed. When it’s all fixed, lemon production will take off with the prospect of gradually increasing the area under production.”

South Africa: Agriculture to get boost from foreign investment

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Ghanaweb | 25 January 2017

– Afriyie-Akoto 

Minister-designate for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriye-Akoto

The Agric Minister-designate says the sector under the current administration will pursue foreign investments in a bid to increase production.

 Dr Owusu Afriyie-Akoto revealed Tuesday that investors from South African and the United States have already undertaken preliminary feasibility studies and, coupled with assurances from the government to support the sector, seem satisfied.
“Last week, a group came from South Africa, I sent them out to the field to Afram plains, to Kintampo and other places and they came back very excited based on the assurances that I gave them that this government is going to support the sector with infrastructure, roads and so on and all that, and they are coming back with a boat load of cattle, young cattle, sheep and goat,” he said.
The incoming minister made the revelations in Parliament Tuesday when he came before the Appointments Committee for vetting. http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26873-agriculture-to-get-boost-from-foreign-investment-afriyie-akoto

Algerian firm signs $300 million farming deal with U.S. group

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Reuters| 25 January 2017

A farmer harvests cauliflowers for sale at the field in Tipaza, west of Algiers, Algeria June 3, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Ramzi Boudina

An Algerian company has signed a deal with a U.S. group to set up agricultural projects worth $300 million in the North African country as it seeks to reduce dependence on imports, Algeria’s agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

Under the deal, privately-owned Algerian dairy company Tifralait and the American International Agriculture Group (AIAG) will set up a joint venture to develop projects over an area of 25,000 hectares covering cereals, potato, fertilizers, dairy and cattle feed, the ministry said.

Algeria imports most of its agriculture-related products because of weak domestic output, but has promised to develop the farming sector as part of efforts to diversify the economy away from oil and gas after a drop in oil prices hit state finances.

It has also approved a new investment law offering incentives to foreign and local private firms willing to invest in the non-oil sector…http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26871-algerian-firm-signs-300-million-farming-deal-with-u-s-group

Khartoum provides Saudi investors new guarantees

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Asharq Al-Awsat | 24 January 2016

 by Fahd Baqmi

 

Jeddah- Council of Saudi Chambers is discussing forming a delegation of its councils and the business sector to tackle the potential agricultural and food security investments – this coincides with Khartoum hosting the third Arab Conference to be held by Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment Development (AAID).
“Our Food .Our Responsibility” will be the theme under which AAID will hold on 27-28 February the third Arab Conference, with the patronage of President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir. According to the authority, organizing the conference launches from its vision to reinforce Arab food security.
The conference will host an elite group of senior officials from Arab countries, businessmen and investors in the agricultural sector, international and Arab organizations, representatives of farmers and economists unions and other researchers in the agricultural sector.
The conference aims to highlight the significance of creating an attractive investment climate to increase agricultural investment in Arab countries, particularly those rich in agricultural resources.
The conference will be held in Sudan given the country’s promising investments in agriculture sector and its compliance to al-Bashir Food Security Initiative…http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26868-khartoum-provides-saudi-investors-new-guarantees

Gabon: The battle over palm oil

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African Business| 24 January 2017

by Neil Ford

Firstly, the new Gabonese operations of agricultural trading company Olam International was heavily criticised by US environmental NGO Mighty Earth in December. Then Dimensional Fund Advisors, a big US investment firm that had previously been criticised for continuing to invest in palm oil companies, decided to divest two of its portfolios of all such assets, including equity in Wilmar International and Olam.

The campaign against palm oil could have profound implications for the sector’s development in Africa. Palm oil cultivation has become controversial because ecologically diverse areas of rainforest are often cut down to allow cultivation to take place. Huge areas of forest have been felled in Indonesia and Malaysia, affecting flora and fauna, and producing air pollution caused by forest fires when land is being cleared for palm oil plantation.

According to Friends of the Earth and numerous other environmental NGOs, palm oil plantations are the fastest growing cause of rainforest destruction and an increasingly important cause of climate change. ..http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26867-gabon-the-battle-over-palm-oil

The new superpowers in the global land grab and how they operate

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The Conversation | 17 January 2017,  by Nikita Sud

Dealmakers: an investment conference in Cambodia. (Photo: EPA/Kith Serey)

Much of the global south – broadly comprising the continents of Asia, Africa, and Latin America – was shaped by colonialism. The so-called “great game” and the scrambles between Britain, Portugal, Belgium, France and other European states were for power, profit and – most visibly – for land.

 Today, new scrambles are afoot from Brazil and Nigeria, to Ethiopia and Indonesia. Once again, land is the prize.
In the past decade, almost 50m hectares of land have been leased or bought from individuals, communities and governments in the global south for the large-scale production of biofuels, food, forest resources, industrial goods, infrastructure, tourism and livestock. A complex network of multinational companies, financial institutions and governments in the north are the key beneficiaries.  http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26857-the-new-superpowers-in-the-global-land-grab-and-how-they-operate

Armed with apps and crops, women lead battle to save Senegal’s shrinking farmland

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By Nellie Peyton

NDIAEL, Senegal (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

 

Two women chat and laugh in Thiamene, Senegal, December 9, 2016. TRF/Nellie Peyton

Thomson Reuters Foundation | 16 Jan 2017

– The women of Thiamene, a tiny straw hut village in northern Senegal, used to scrape together a living by collecting wild baobab fruit and selling milk from their cows.

But their earnings have plummeted since an Italian-Senegalese agribusiness, Senhuile, took over the surrounding land five years ago, blocking their paths to the local market and river, and spraying pesticides that make their herds scatter, they say.

“Life here is precarious, especially for women,” said 42-year-old Fatimata Sow in the village square, gazing at the vast landscape of arid ground dotted with the stumps of trees.

http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26853-armed-with-apps-and-crops-women-lead-battle-to-save-senegal-s-shrinking-farmland

Crookes Brothers might be ripe for the picking

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Financial Mail | 16 January 2017

 
Multinational food processing and retailing company Associated British Foods swallowed SA’s biggest sugar industry player, Illovo, in May last year. The move by the British group (which, as it happens, owns cheap ‘n chic Primark) was part of a scramble for Sub-Saharan African agricultural assets. Crookes Brothers, another JSElisted player now stands out as another highly attractive potential target.
The stage for an eventual acquisition of Crookes could already be set thanks to the involvement of African agriculture-focused UK private equity firm SilverStreet Capital as the key shareholder through its Silverlands (SA) Plantations investment vehicle. As with all private equity firms, SilverStreet will exit at some point…http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26851-crookes-brothers-might-be-ripe-for-the-picking

Cassava pact with Chinese firm ‘a big boost’

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Tanzania Daily News | 16 January 2017

 The  government has described a-one billion US dollar partnership agreement on commercialisation of cassava farming and processing with Tanzania Agricultural Export Processing Zone Limited and Epoch Agriculture (TAEPZ) from China as a big boost towards industrialisation.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Adelhelm Meru said once the agreement fully implemented will transform living standards of farmers yet completing the government’s commitment of making Tanzania an industrialised country.
“With assurance of markets and good prices to our farmers, we will definitely increase cassava production, thereby increasing their income and creating employment. I, therefore, urge TAEPZ to ensure that farmers in their groups are well capacitated in terms of meeting the industry demand,” Dr Meru said.Speaking at a brief signing ceremony held in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, Dr Meru thanked the Chairperson of TAEPZ, Madam Dior Feng for choosing Tanzania as the…http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26869-cassava-pact-with-chinese-firm-a-big-boost

Development of new horticultural area in Ethiopia

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 Bloemisterij 13-01-2017 By Hans Neefjes, hneefjes@hortipoint.nl

 
The land won’t be exclusively for Dutch investors. But they are given priority because of the good relationships that developed over the years between various parties from the Netherlands and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia wants to double its agricultural production. The Netherlands support the Ethiopian government. The current focus is on the integrated development of a new horticultural and floricultural area north of Hawassa. In the meantime, the Dutch embassy is having a critical dialogue with Ethiopia and helping the Ethiopian government to start a conversation with its discontented population.

The activities near Hawassa, about 275 km south of Addis Abeba, might receive support this time round. Niek Bosmans, Counsellor for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality at the Dutch embassy in Ethiopia, explains that it concerns a 1,500-ha area. “It’s situated 1,600 m above sea level, not far from Lake Hawassa. There used to be a state company here, so the land is owned and used by the government. The large plot is divided by a ridge, so it’s actually split up into two parts, one of 1,000 ha and the other one of 500 ha.”

http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/26847-development-of-new-horticultural-area-in-ethiopia