During times of drought, herder Buchu Boru has to walk tens of kilometres in search of pasture for his animals - with no guarantee he will find it. "Somebody tells you by word of mouth that there is pasture but on arriving you don't (find) any," said the 60-year-old, who has had to walk from his home all the way across the Ethiopian border to find grass some years.
Sixty-seven-year old Sarudzai Msipa heavily blows air in and out of her mouth, seated in the open-air on a goat skin mat outside her hut as she battles to revive a dying fire on her cooking place set up in the middle of her yard at her remote home in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province. Just three sticks are in the fire to keep it alive and there is no sign of leftover firewood nearby.
One of the main causes of food insecurity for farmers in rural areas is limited access to agricultural inputs. In a bid to combat that, international donors and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) have instigated input trade fairs and voucher schemes to provide poor, vulnerable and food insecure farmers with access to seeds, fertilisers and tools. Similar schemes are being promoted by the EU, which has placed support for ‘resilience’ in farming and food security at the heart of its projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
Agri-Vie, a private investment fund focused on food and the food industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Norfund, the Norwegian investment fund for developing countries, have jointly invested $17 million in Marginpar Flower Group Holdings, a company specialised in the sale of flowers in East Africa. Herman Marais, the co-founder of Agri-Vie, which includes among its backers the private equity arm of South African insurer Sanlam, said the aim of the investment was to provide sustainable support for the growth of Marginpar, which operates in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and even Zimbabwe.
On Friday 13th April 2018, the governor of the Hauts-Bassins region, Antoine Atiou, presided over the official launch ceremony of the ‘Integrated Programme for the Diversification of Production and Improvement of Nutrition in the Hauts-Bassins region’ (PADIS project).This project, financed by the German Ministry of Cooperation and Development BMZ, has been launched by the NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF) in partnership with CBM (Christoffel Blindenmission).
Agribusiness stakeholders in the country are set for a trade mission to the Netherlands to study innovative food production systems and agricultural export models. The three-day mission will largely focus on horticulture, but integrate general agribusiness, seeking to expose Kenya to the Dutch’s developed and sustainable economy, mainly driven by innovative agribusiness production.
The European Union (EU) on Wednesday inaugurated 956,000 euros (about N4.3 billion) projects in support of Person With Albinisms (PWAs), provision of water and sanitation management in the Niger Delta The EU Head of Delegation and Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ketil Karlsen, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of project inauguration ceremony in Abuja. Mr Karlsen said that the projects were part of EU activities to promote, protect human rights in Nigeria and mitigate the conflict in Niger Delta region by addressing the cause of unrest and violence.
A new expert group is to be created by the European Commission to provide expertise, advice and possible recommendations on enhancing the role of the EU agri-food and agro-industrial sector in the sustainable economic development of Africa. The first step in the creation of the Task Force Rural Africa (TFRA) is the call for applications for the selection of members, which will run until 23 March 2018. The group will consist of 11 members, all of whom should be experts with high level expertise and experience in agriculture, agri-business or agroindustry, trade, development policy or migration-related issues and with first-hand knowledge of the agri-food sector in Africa.
During an official visit to Tanzania, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica signed a €50 million programme to support rural electrification in the country. The new financing agreement will support the access of Tanzanian citizens to affordable and sustainable energy through extending energy grids as well as expanding distribution networks. During the signing ceremony, Commissioner Mimica said: "Our important programme worth €50 million will help accelerate the Tanzanian people's access to modern energy. It will provide electricity to over 3600 villages in rural regions of Tanzania, essentially benefitting 1 million people. And this access to energy is vital: it will increase the quality of life in rural areas, improve health and educational services and bring clear benefits, particularly to women and children."
Around 264 million children worldwide don’t go to school. The Education Coalition in France denounces the country’s lack of education focus on development aid programs. EURACTIV France reports. The Education Coalition, uniting 16 civil society organisations, met with Brigitte Macron on Monday (6 November) to discuss the country’s commitment to boosting education abroad. The French president wants to spend 0.7% of the nation’s GDP on development aid by 2030 (and 0.55% by 2022). This means an increase of at least €3 billion.