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Swarm locust epidemic hits the bloc

Cashew nuts target missed in Tanzania 12

Legislators delay mass cannabis farming 14

Looming maize shortage pushes prices up in Kenya 15

Tanzania’s coffee farmers eye international market 15

Technology key to achieving Agenda 2030 19

Masiyiwa calls for farming to leverage on technology 22

January - March 2020Volume 9 / Issue 1 US $6.30

EAST AFRICAN


EAST AFRICAN

INDEX

AGRICO IFC

IMPEX 5

PRIYA CHEMICALS 7

MEYN 8

HC 9

KAHL 10

ORCHARD-RITE 12

CALPEDA GROUP 17

NARDI 20

TSGC 23

URALKALI OBC

Contents Editorial Comment

Locust threaten bumper harvest :.......5

Cover Story

Swarm locust epidemic hits the bloc :.......6

Business, Companies & Markets

New Holland and Case grab Massey Ferguson market share :.......7

Regional News

Kenya approves genetically engineered cotton planting :.......9 Cashew nuts target missed in Tanzania :.......12Legislators delay mass cannabis farming :.......14 Looming maize shortage pushes prices up in Kenya :.......15Tanzania’s coffee farmers eye international market :.......15 Uganda reengineers farming value chain :.......16

Insight

Sub-standard seeds rob the region’s farmers’ bountiful harvest :.......18Technology key to achieving Agenda 2030 :.......19

International News

AGCO expert lands post at Nigerian agricultural college :.......21

Technology News

Masiyiwa calls for farming to leverage on technology :.......22


Publisher

Evans Mumba

General ManagerArnold Chinyembar

EditorAndrew Maramwidze

Associate EditorAndrew Miti

Editorial Contributor(s)Esnala Banda

Potipher TemboObert SimwanzaJeffrey Sinkamba

Sam Phiri

Graphics and Productions Merlin Wilson (Pty) Ltd

Advertisement SalesPrecious Chimbuchimbu

Agnes MumbaChilopa Majorie Kasoma

Doris LikondeDowell Sichitalwe

Don ChuluNkosilathi Mudiyi

Musa ChigijiJoseph Nyirenda

Michael Chiku MondolokaJoshua Chibwe

TANZANIA

Old Bagamoyo Road, Mayfair Plaza Mini Mall,

Office Suite 105/106P.O Box 75564 Da Es Salaam, Tanzania

Tel: +255 767 658840 | 768 189602Fax: +255 798 465530

KENYA

Old Airport Road, Nairobi , KenyaTel: +254 717 939 214

[email protected]

65,000 Printed CopiesThe East African Agrinews Magazine is distributed to profes-sionals who are involved in the agriculture industry, interna-

tional business, and investment in East Africa and around the world. These professionals are always looking for new ideas, products and services. With a print run of 65,000 copies per issue, the East African Agrinews Magazine’s estimated read-ership per issue is over 180,000. The East African Agrinews Magazine is printed quarterly and is distributed in both hard copy and electronic version (E-Magazine). 40% distribution is done through corporate and individual subscription, 20%

through retail outlets, the rest through agriculture expos, shows and events as well as through strategic agriculture unions and

associations.

Electronic copies are sent via email to our data base of 92,500 active online subscribers. Over 120,000

e-Magazines are downloaded from our website.

The readership profile of the East African AgriNews Magazine is key decision makers such as CEOs, Directors, Farm owners, Government departments, Procurement Managers, Farm man-agers, Agronomists, Small scale farmers, Commercial farmers as well as many other professionals within the agricultural sec-

tor in the East African region.

The publication has strategic alliances and partnerships with a number of regional and international agricultural and business

organisations.


Editorial Comment

Locust threaten bumper harvest

ompliments of the new season are a common tradition at this time of the season. And we also take this opportunity to wish the bloc a prosperous agricultural year, amid the challenges the region face.

As we celebrate some triumphs, other un-foreseen challenges also continue to haunt different stakeholders’ efforts to have a well oiled and smooth functioning sector.

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This year, a bounty harvest is being threatened by swarm of locust, coun-tries may be forced to dig deeper into their pockets to feed their citizens.

Remember in 2018, the region survived on importing maize from Zambia, Southern Africa. We hope authorities will act swift to avert potential shortage of maize, as the reigning locust breed across the nation.

The authorities should quickly address this challenge for a better tomorrow, remember, we should not let food in-security threaten us, therefore a unit-ed front is critical at this point: ‘to-gether we stand and divide we fall’.

Already the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has said it believes heavy rainfall in the bloc has contributed to the growth of locust swarms in the area.

USAID plans to work with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to prevent and control the spread of lo-custs, its office of communication says.

The agency is training more than 300

pest experts and providing 5,000 sets of protective equipment for locust fighters.

Our leaders should leverage on this support and make the fight against the locust impactful, to ensure ex-pected bumper harvest is realised.

It’s sad to note that on receiving the heavy rainfall, other challenges emerge and become a headache. With these pe-rennial challenges in the agriculture sec-tor, leaders with resilience are required to drive the sector into greater heights.

Remember to share your com-ments, letters and sugges-tions to [email protected]

Enjoy the read!

Andrew Maramwidze (Editor)


Cover Story

Swarm locust epidemic hits the bloc ocusts have invaded several countries in the region, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia with the possibility of spreading further.

Media reports have indicated that a new round of locust swarms has hit Ethiopia, threatening crops and food security.

Dereje Hirpha, the Oromia region’s head of locust control said the fast-moving swarm is threatening crops in a country where more than 80 percent of the popu-lation depends on agriculture for its live-lihood.

The U.S. Agency for International Devel-opment (USAID) has said it believes heavyrainfall in the bloc has contributed to thegrowth of locust swarms in the area. US-AID plans to work with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to prevent and control the spread of locusts, its of-fice of communication has said.

The agency is training more than 300 pest experts and providing 5,000 sets of pro-tective equipment for locust fighters.

Though they have not yet crossed into Rwanda, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Geraldine Mukeshi-

mana said the country was in a position to tackle the threat.

“If they do not spread to Rwanda, well and good. But, in case they cross the border, people should get ready to fight them as they did the fall armyworm,” she observed.

“Farmers should be prepared, visit their farms so that we can partner to combat the pest in case it strikes,” the minister said. Locusts began crossing into Kenya around December 28, 2019, initially de-stroying pastures in semi-arid counties mainly occupied by pastoralist commu-nities.

Early December 2019, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that desert locusts, which had hit first Ethiopia and Somalia, would spread to other Eastern Africa countries including Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya and South Sudan if early and sustained measures were not taken.

The UK news agency, Reuters, report-ed that they had already destroyed over 70,000 hectares (175,000 acres) of farm-land in Somalia and Ethiopia, threatening food supplies and livelihoods of farm-

ing communities in both countries in the worst locust invasion in 70 years.

An average swarm will destroy crops that could feed 2,500 people for a year, FAO said. A desert locust swarm can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million insects into less than half a square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day.

According to the National Geographic So-ciety (NGS), a scientific and educational organisation headquartered in the US, lo-cust swarms devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage and attendant human misery—famine and starvation.

They occur in many parts of the world, but today locusts are most destructive in sus-tenance farming regions of Africa.The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is notorious, it said. Found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit some 60 countries and can cover one-fifth of Earth’s land surface.

Desert locust plagues may threaten the economic livelihood of one-tenth of the world’s humans.

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Business, Companies & Markets

New Holland and Case grab Massey Ferguson market share slump in the popularity of Massey Ferguson tractors has seen the brand’s market share of new sales fall to less than 10 percent in 2018.

Data published by the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), an umbrella group for machinery manufacturers, revealed that it was a tough year for the Agco brand, with Fendt sales also in decline but Valtra sales slightly up.

The figures are a reversal in fortune for Massey after it grew its market share in 2017 to more than 14% – its biggest share of the market for five years.

The AEA also revealed that close to one in three tractor buy-ers chose John Deere, solidifying its position as the number-one brand in the UK. It sold 4,405 tractors – 12.5 percent more than

the 3,915 it sold in 2017. However, the biggest growth in market share came from New Holland and Case IH owner, CNH Industri-al.The two brands combined sold 4,032 units, with Case seeing a whopping 45.9 percent increase in sales from 1,028 to 1,500, and New Holland increasing by 16.1 percent from 2,180 to 2,532 tractors.

This meant the combined CNH group grew by six percent to 29.2 percent of the new tractor market, allowing it to replace Agco as the second largest new tractor retailer in the UK.

The AEA publishes monthly figures on total tractor sales, but has to delay splitting them by manufacturer due to European com-petition law.

Last year, there were total sales of 12,333 tractors.

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Regional News

Kenya approves genetically engineered cotton planting ommercial planting of GMO cotton by authorities in the Kenya is expected to boost productivity, lowering the cost of production.

Kenyan cabinet has approved commercial planting of GMO cot-ton following positive results from five years of field trials of the crop.

The development is expected to spur the country’s 50,000 cot-ton farmers that produce 30,000 bales against a yearly demand of 368,000 bales.

Media reports from Kenya indicate that adoption of BT cotton which is genetically engineered to resist the destructive African bollworm infestation is expected to boost productivity from the current estimate of 572 kg/ha to 2500kg/ha, and lower the cost of production by 40 percent.

Kenya is not alone in fighting African bollworm. Uganda has also indicated that its cotton production is at its lowest affecting tex-tile industry, due to the scourge.

Figures from Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS, Procurement of Cash Crops) indicate that Uganda exported 43,258 tons of cotton in 2012 and that in 2015 the amount reduced to 20,480 tons.

Meanwhile GM cotton, seeds, otherwise referred to as BT cotton seeds, will be available to farmers in all of Kenya’s cotton-grow-ing counties by March 2020.

BT cotton is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Sudan, South Africa, Mexico, Paraguay Columbia, and Costa Rica.

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Cashew nuts target missed in Tanzania uthorities in Tanzania have confirmed the country is set to miss target of collecting 290,000 tonnes of cashew nuts.

Tanzania’s agriculture minister Japhet Hasunga made the announcement while evaluating the country’s cashew nuts trading for the 2019/2020 harvesting sea-son recently.

Hasunga revealed that 192,095.8 tonnes of raw cashew nuts (RCNs) worth Sh507.707 billion had been sold by De-cember 31, 2019, adding that the amount is part of the 196,389.6 tonnes of the crop which had been collected by the end of last year.

“The government will evaluate the situ-ation to ascertain whether or not all the harvested cashew nuts have been col-lected and sent to Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (Amcos). It is this assessment that will inform us whether to

close or extend the season,” he said.He stressed that the government would take stern measures against any coop-erative unions negligenting or otherwise remiss in delaying payment to cashew farmers in some regions.

“The number of traders who are usually involved in illegal cashew dealings has significantly dropped this season - prob-ably due to increased education and gov-ernment warnings,” he said.

Government has registered 279,659 ca-shew farmers across the country - equiv-alent to 87 per cent of the 318,407 tar-geted.According to provisional statistics by the Customs and Excise Department of the Tanzania Revenue Authority, about 204,500 tonnes of cashew nuts were ex-ported during August, September and October 2019, out of the 225,000 tonnes which had been collected.

The minister said improving cashew nuts production by replacing old cashew trees with new varies will be done to boost yields.

However, a recent report by the Ca-shewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT) post-ed on its website states that cashew nut farmers earned Sh484.756 billion from 181,273.23 tonnes of RCNs during the period from October 31, 2019, to Decem-ber 22, 2019.

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Regional News

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Regional News

Legislators delay mass cannabis farming he regulatory, infrastructural and market handicaps are slowing down Africa’s en mass adoption of cannabis farming.

Analysts have observed that legislators are delaying to approve cannabis grow-ing in Africa by peasants, as marijuana is associated with delinquency and depres-sion.

Civil organisation, African Cannabis Re-port by Prohibition Partners, which tracks the sector, has already warned on chal-lenges associated with cannabis farming.“Any path towards the inauguration of a legalised and regulated cannabis industry will present challenges.

“The laws governing cannabis use in Af-rica are both opaque and open to inter-pretation,” said Daragh Anglim, African Cannabis Report by Prohibition Partners

Managing Director in the report.

As the complexity in cannabis regulation is evident across Africa, Kenya and Ugan-da intercept daily loads of contraband.

In Embu and Meru regions on the slopes of Mount Kenya, cannabis is known to be grown in protected areas like forest reserves; often shielded by local admin-istrators.

Despite, these regulatory hurdles, Israeli firm Together Pharma and its local partner Industrial Hemp Ltd have been seeking a licence to grow cannabis for hemp, which is used in making fibre, since 2012, ac-cording to director Cadet Benjamin.

Away from regulation, the analysts point at infrastructure constraints. Cannabis would have to be grown under tight con-trols for safety reasons, it is unlikely to be

allowed in open fields.Other countries Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa have embarked on regulat-ed farming under greenhouses, with the farms also serving as bonded warehous-es.

Nathan Emery, Chief Executive Officer of Precision Cannabis Therapeutics Zimba-bwe, is quoted by Prohibition Partners as saying that the medicinal use of cannabis would spread rapidly in Africa given the quick adoption of plant-based treatments such as the African wild potato and the Moringa tree.

Markets with high pharmaceutical imports such as Nigeria, South Africa and Moroc-co are considered to be ripe for the use of cannabis as medicine so long as its cost is close to current spending on health.

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Regional News

Looming maize shortage pushes prices up in Kenya enya’s cash strapped National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has an uphill task buy-ing maize from farmers, as competition heightens from millers offering attractive prices. The development comes amid fears of a looming shortage of the staple crop.

As farmers opt to sell the produce to mill-ers, Managers of the Strategic Food Re-serve (SFR) have admitted may not realise the target of buying four million bags of maize, this season.

“We are likely to buy three million bags of maize mainly from small-scale farmers due to insufficient funds, considering that

millers and traders are offering high prices due to the projected shortage of the pro-duce,” Dr. Noah Wekesa, the SFR chair-man said.

Currently millers are offering between Sh3,400 to Sh3,400 per 90-kilogramme bag in panic buying to stockpile the sta-ple.

The anticipated shortage of maize oc-casioned by a drop in production by 11 million bags last season has seen millers flock to markets in the North Rift region, the country’s food basket.

Reports have indicated that Kitui, Mom-basa millers and Unga Limited are among

major milling firms which have pitched tent in the region to mob up the grain from farmers.

According to Agriculture ministry Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuim-ur, maize production is projected to drop from 44 million bags realised last season to 33 million bags due to reduced acre-age under the crop, prolonged drought during the planting season, repeated out-breaks of the dreaded fall armyworm and post-harvest losses as.

Tuimur said acreage under the crop re-duced from 2.2 million hectares last year to 1.5 million, this year.

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Tanzania’s coffee farmers eye international market offee farmers in Tanzania want to have direct access to international markets, as opposed to selling their produce to cooperatives.

Kashunju Runyogote, the chair of the Kyerwa District Council has appealed for discussion on the matter.

“We appeal for government intervention to make necessary amendments and al-low Agricultural and Marketing Coopera-tive Societies (AMCOS) in Kagera Region to sell their coffee direct at international markets instead of the present system where they are forced to hand the crop to Kagera Cooperative Union (KCU) and Karagwe District Cooperative Union (KDCU), because the Unions are a burden

to the farmers,” said Runyogote.Christo-pher Kiiza, a coffee farmer from Missenyi district also lamented the bureaucracies among cooperative unions adding that some of the assets are not benefiting the intended group.

”Many of the assets including hotels and real estates did not benefit the farmers such that there was need for improved control of coffee marketing system to en-able the farmers to enjoy their sweat.

“Coffee farmers in the country includ-ing those in Kagera Region will benefit through direct export system by getting attractive price for their crop. Cooperative Unions will also avoid paying high interest rates charged by financial institutions,”

he said. KCU comprises 133 Agricultur-al and Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS).

Out of the number, 53 are in Muleba, 51 in Bukoba Rural, 26 in Missenyi while three others are in Bukoba Urban. KDCU, on the other hand, comprises 126 AMCOS.

However, Kagera Regional Cooperative Development Officer, Robert Kitambo believes the cry stems from Cooperative Officers not doing enough capacity build-ing and appealed to Officers in Muleba, Missenyi, Bukoba, Karagwe, Kyerwa and Ngara districts to educate the farmers on the importance of the Warehouse Receipt System (WAR) whereby farmers get pay-ment through their bank accounts.

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Regional News

Uganda reengineers farming value chain uthorities in Uganda have announced that it’s all system go for the country’s new improved farming value chain system.

Deborah Kyarasiime, Executive Director of Uganda Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) Authority has urged farmers to en-sure quality, as the country’s value chain depends on how farmers handle the pri-mary production process.

Kyarasiime said ensuring that critical quality controls are put into consideration at the stages of planting, harvesting and post-harvesting are a key driver in the

success of the Warehouse Receipt Sys-tem.

The system is managed through a value chain, starts from crop farming and pro-gresses into other stages such as grad-ing, valuing, modern storage and market-ing and government is also in the process of licensing qualifying warehouse opera-tions.

The new system is expected to shield farmers against post-harvest losses and optimize returns on investment.

Meanwhile Michael Werikhe, the Trade

state minister said a considerable num-ber of farmers have not yet embraced the warehouse receipt systems thus missing out on the benefits that come with the system.

Government together with the private sector is considering boosting public awareness about the system to increase traction and participation.

Deposits through the Warehouse Receipt System are still below 30 per cent of the storage capacity of warehouses in the country, according to Economic Policy Research Centre’s Agriculture Yearbook

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Insight

Sub-standard seeds rob the region’s farmers’ bountiful harvest By MUNYARADZI JONGA*

he availability of high-quality seeds is critical to achieve high crop productivity for a food se-cure country. But this has remained a pipe dream within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) despite the region having huge potential to maximise its agricultural productivity by leveraging on countries with advanced and robust seed systems.

Whereas several crop varieties have been registered in recent years, countries in the region are still lagging in achieving seed security. For example, some 117 climate-smart maize hybrids branded DroughtTEGO® were released under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project that was implemented by African Agricul-tural Technology Foundation and its part-ners in five SSA countries including Ken-ya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

In addition, improved maize hybrids were released from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa breeding programme of The International Maize and Wheat Improve-ment Center, bean and sorghum/millet varieties from The International Center for Tropical Agriculture and The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Ar-id Tropics breeding programmes respec-tively.

During planting season, the shortage of high-quality seeds is more acute in some countries. This increases the likelihood of farmers recycling their own saved seeds or buying fake varieties from unscrupu-lous traders. The re-use of low-yielding farm-saved seeds and often disease-rid-den crop varieties makes it impossible for smallholder farmers to improve their yield.

A few initiatives have been funded to implement state-of-the-art crop breed-ing, robust seed certification processes, harmonisation of regulations to address shortages of high-quality seeds and facil-itate seed trade in SSA countries. These have, however, failed to achieve the de-sired goal of guaranteeing seed security in the region.

This begs the question: What is the miss-ing link to strengthen regional seed sys-tems for enhanced regional seed trade?The regionally harmonised seed regula-tions under Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Southern African

Development Community, East African Community and Economic Community of West African States have not been fully domesticated to achieve the desired goal of seed security in the region.

In fact, when Comesa countries adopt-ed the harmonised seed trade protocol in 2011, there was hope for smallholder farmers to fully benefit from the move. The effort was geared towards facilitating easy release and access to quality seed of improved varieties and to allow more efficient movement of seeds within the region.

The small and fragmented national mar-kets and inadequate regional market integration due to inconsistent policies denies smallholder farmers in the region the opportunity of realising the benefits of genetic gains offered by improved crop varieties.

With the harmonisation of regulations, seed trade constraints will be reduced, and regional markets will become attrac-tive and commercially viable. This will en-hance farmers’ access to seed through faster release of crop varieties, simplified customs procedures and distribution within the region.

Analysis of seed policies is still being con-ducted with matching recommendations, but various governments have largely not yet implemented meaningful interven-tions to ensure adequate seed access by smallholder farmers.

To achieve regional seed security, coun-tries need to leverage on harmonised regulations that offer the opportunity to use the same certification standards. This implies that countries with a high com-parative advantage in the production of certain seed crops should be allowed to produce a surplus.

For instance, Zambia and South Africa have advanced and robust seed certifi-cation schemes and their seed regulato-ry environments facilitate seed business that has together, translated into high lev-els of seed crops productivity. This would provide other countries in the region that are not yet at this level of comparative advantage, the opportunity to import re-quired seeds to meet their farmers’ re-quirements. Such countries must, howev-

er, put policies in place that make it easier to import the required seed.

Thorough assessment of a country’s ca-pacity and advance planning of up to two seasons can allow countries with limited capacity to place seed orders for pro-duction in other countries and import the same to meet in-country seed demand.

This will facilitate viable seed business and subsequent attainment of seed secu-rity in the region. It will also enhance re-gional trade and free SSA countries from the current fragmented national markets and inadequate regional market integra-tion due to inconsistent implementation of policies.

*Dr Munyaradzi Jonga is the seeds pro-duction manager at African Agricultural Technology Foundation*

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Technology key to achieving Agenda 2030By PAMELA OKUTOYI AND NANCY MARANGU

he realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) often referred to as Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, will need a microscopic review as we begin a new decade.

The role dynamic technologies cannot be ignored in delivering the SDGs. Modern technologies and innovations can fast track the development agenda targets if embraced.

Technology is likely to increase productiv-ity and reduce the cost of goods and ser-vices, enabling the faster and wider de-ployment of novel solutions to economic, social and environmental obstacles in de-velopment.

Besides, supporting inclusive forms of participation in socio-economic life and replacing environmentally costly modes of production with more sustainable ones.Significantly, technological innovations can provide policymakers with an en-abling platform as well as powerful tools to design and plan development interven-tions, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Council 2019.

To begin with, Big Data and machine learning can be used to create, measure and develop and monitor the effective-ness of development programmes and progress towards the SDGs.

This necessitates critical thinking among the youth to sharpen their skill-sets to align with such technologies. This will not only bridge the gap in technology literacy but also will create sustainable jobs such as the provision of evidence-based data within counties.

This provides platforms for counties to in-vest in the infrastructure, nurture the inno-vation ecosystem and absorptive capaci-ties necessary for frontier technologies to fulfil their potential. With such facilities, each county can develop specific SDG road map in support of the global targets.

Second, remote sensing, drones and ar-tificial intelligence may propel precision farming, reducing the number of agro-chemical inputs for existing agricultural processes to improve food security and nutrition.

Drones have the leapfrogging opportunity in precision agriculture, enabling effective measurement of and response to variabil-ity in crop and animal production in Kenya and the rest of Africa.

Genetic sequencing, along with machine learning, is being used to detect soil qual-ity and help increase crop quality. What is more, farming is becoming increasing-ly automated, with robots carrying out weeding of row crops.

As such, this sprouts techno-preneurship ventures in defining research agendas that focus on smallholder farmers, invest-ing in human capacity and redesigning the infrastructure for food systems.

Policymakers should put in place gov-ernance structures for agricultural inno-vation and boost farmer-scientist knowl-edge flows.

Third, the Internet of things has supported the productive upgrading of the econo-mies of developing countries. For exam-ple, last November, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa launched the 50 Million African Women Speak Proj-ect. The project leverages e-commerce platforms to provide an enabling eco-nomic and social empowerment arena for women across 38 African countries through networking to access market in-formation on financial and non-financial services.

The digital platform, which is accessible on mobile devices and the Web, em-powers women in Africa to start, grow and scale-up businesses. This has gone a long way in poverty eradication, pro-moted new sources of employment and income as well as access to new markets.

Significantly, in promoting energy access and efficiency, the convergence technolo-gies are the interaction in smart grids be-tween renewable technologies and data and artificial intelligence technologies. For example, machine-learning algo-rithms can be used to predict the output of wind farms, allowing scheduled energy delivery to the grid.

Energy production and distribution are also improved by allowing households with solar panels to feed surplus energy back into the electricity grid. The real-time information provided by smart grids helps utility companies better respond to de-mand, power supply, costs and emissions and to avert major power outages.

Therefore, for the planet to survive, aca-demia, industry, politics and civil society ought to collaborate, communicate and build consensus on innovative solutions that catalyse the implementation of SDGs while providing the youth with the cre-ative and innovative space to sprout tech-no-preneurship ventures.

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Insight

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AGCO expert lands post at Nigerian agricultural college GCO Vice President and General Manager for Africa, Nuradin Osman has been inaugurated to the governing council of a new agricultur-al college in Nigeria.

The governing council members of the College of Agriculture and Technology were selected from a list of experts within Ekiti State and outside Nigeria.

The five-man governing council for the college was announced by the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi.

Agriculture is the main source of income for Ekiti State situated in the south-west of Nigeria with more than 75 percent of the population earning a living farming cash and food crops.

The agricultural transformation and rural development agenda under the adminis-tration of Dr. Fayemi has led to the estab-lishment of the College of Agriculture and Technology.

“The dream and aspiration towards the establishment of the college is aligned with the development agenda of Ekiti State. The newly established college has the potential to leverage agriculture as the mainstay of the economy and to em-power young people through education, skill development and capacity building on agricultural innovations, technology development and agricultural best prac-tices.

“It is our hope that the college will attract youth into agriculture and attain food se-

curity for all,” said Dr. Fayemi.

The governing council members of the College of Agriculture and Technology were selected from a list of experts within Ekiti State and outside Nigeria.

Activities at the college began in Septem-ber 2019 with the appointment of a steer-ing committee.

The college will run both short and long term certificate courses in the aim to de-velop middle level agricultural manpower that will effectively combine skills with cutting edge technologies to drive agri-cultural production and ensure food se-curity in the region.

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International News


Technology News

Masiyiwa calls for farming to leverage on technology imbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa says deliberate choice to do farming will drive food se-curity and prosperity for Africa.

“I am convinced, more than ever before, that agriculture will be at the heart of the continent’s journey towards inclusive economic growth, affording our people a decent living and continuing to build their resilience to shock,” said Masiyiwa.

He said the continent will not see suffer-ing on the scale of Ethiopia’s mass star-vation in the 1980s, when close to eight million people became famine victims and over one million died.

“This transformation has been ushered in by focused and intentional investment in

Ethiopia’s agricultural sector.”

Citing Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) set up 15 years ago, as one of the pillars of farming on the continent. Masiyiwa said taking stock indicates im-pressive results, positive impacts, and fruitful collaborations.

“AGRA has played a role in giving over 22 million farmers in 18 African countries ac-cess to improved seed varieties that have doubled and sometimes tripled yields.

“These are farmers, 70 per cent of Africa’s population, who own less than five hect-ares of land. This has been made possi-ble through the establishment of over 110 small African-owned seed companies that have produced around 800,000 tonnes of seeds,” said Masiyiwa.

He applauded that farmers now have easy access, not just to seed, but other inputs through the network of village shops that AGRA and partners have helped to estab-lish.

“As a result, the average distance trav-elled by farmers in search of inputs has re-duced from 60km in 2006 to 10km today, and in Kenya, it is as low as 4km. Markets have also been opened up for farmers to sell their produce, resulting in increased incomes and improved livelihoods. The private sector has become increasingly engaged. The results have been tremen-dous – reduced poverty, general econom-ic growth, and better nutrition.”

He further congratulated African govern-ments that have accepted the challenge to prioritise agriculture.

“We would not have reached 22 million farmers without your support.”

Masiyiwa said the capacity to produce food is no longer the fundamental prob-lem, as the tools for this are now generally accepted.

“The challenge now is to produce this food sustainably and in a way that gen-erates prosperity and healthy jobs for our people and looks after the environment, keeping our soils fertile and productive,” he said.

We will not be able to build wealth for all through agriculture, and migration to cities will continue unabated unless we re-imagine our rural communities in a way that allows the next generation to aspire to a life at the sharp end of agriculture.

Masiyiwa said technology is the way to achieve that, and AGRA has been lever-aging fast-growing technological innova-tions to help transform people’s lives in Africa.

“We need to continue to dream big to make sure technological developments are used to their full capacity to make ag-riculture prosperous and rural lives com-fortable.

“We want people, especially young peo-ple, to move from the city back to working in agriculture and turn it into an industry with globally competitive brands.”

Masiyiwa said technology means farm-ers don’t have to spend a lot of time and money producing basic foodstuff.

“Those who go into farming are there by choice, not by lack of an alternative or because they were left behind, trapped in subsistence farming.”

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