An FAO report, published in 2024, highlights the cost of healthy diets (CoHD) in Africa, revealing regional disparities and challenges in economic access to decent nutrition. CoHD is defined as.
The ecological footprint of livestock farming is no longer to be demonstrated. Is Africa concerned when its meat consumption is very low? According to FAO data, this figure rises to.
Modern technologies allow farmers to use accurate crop, climate, and yield data to optimize production and land management. Agricultural data can become a valuable service enabling more specialized production and decisions.
"More and more small dairy farms in the region are switching from pure pasture-based systems to commercial farms, increasing their reliance on formulated dairy rations and increasing feed tonnage," says.
Feed production reached 57.7 million tonnes in Africa in 2024, 7.2% higher than a year earlier and the world's largest year-on-year global growth according to the latest "Agri-Food Outlook" report.
The African Union's ten-year strategy for increasing agribusiness production (2025-2036), often referred to as Agenda 2063, aims to transform agriculture in Africa into a dynamic and productive sector and increase.
With 90% rain-fed agriculture, the Sahel countries are particularly exposed to the damage of drought. To improve their food sovereignty, these countries are accelerating their investments in irrigation. Six countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa's rice imports could reach a record high in the 2024-2025 season. According to the monthly report of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the region is expected to.
A worrying new report reveals that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will further marginalize smallholder farmers, who produce more than 80% of the continent's food. If urgent policy.
Nine African countries have been working on improving access to financial services for small-scale agricultural and processing businesses through German cooperation. A conference with around 100 participants helped develop strategic.
In an interview with Le Figaro on March 21, Congolese entrepreneur and farmer George Arthur Forrest said that Africa, with its fertile land, abundant labor force and favorable climate, has.
Food production in sub-Saharan Africa has increased six-fold since 1961, but this increase is due to a massive increase in inputs and inputs (fertilizers, land, labor, machinery), rather than an.
North Africa remains the main importing region for Russian agri-food products, but more and more sub-Saharan African countries are increasing their supplies to Russia in a context marked by increasing.
The African continent is the region in the world with the highest growth in areas devoted to organic farming, with 24.4% more in 2023 compared to a global average of.
North Africa is one of the regions in the world that will offer the most investment opportunities in commercial greenhouses in 2025. This is what the results of a survey.
The global cocoa market, marked by three years of deficit, could experience a surplus of 142,000 tons in the 2024/2025 season, according to the International Cocoa Organization (Icco). The improvement.
Climate Central, an independent research group on climate change, published a report in April on the effects of climate change on cocoa cultivation in West Africa. Climate change, driven mainly.
Soil fertility in West Africa is a crucial issue for agricultural productivity and food security in the region. Challenges related to soil fertility management include, inter alia, the impacts of.
Africa is struggling to reduce its costly dependence on rice imports. A group of West African countries has drawn up a $20 billion plan to improve rice production, but obstacles.
Meeting in an Extraordinary General Assembly from 9 to 11 January in Kampala, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) adopted an agenda entitled "Agenda for.
At the junction of Egypt, Libya, Chad, and Sudan, the desert hides beneath its surface a vast water reserve. This reserve is located at varying depths, sometimes less than 60.
Blue Carbon assists companies in their decarbonization policy. This company has recently signed forest management agreements covering 25 million hectares of African forests with four countries: - Liberia; - Tanzania;.
According to local fishermen, fishery resources are dangerously declining along the African coasts, jeopardizing the future of artisanal fishermen. Moustapha Diouf, a Senegalese fisherman, states that since 2005, the date.
Despite the rise in food costs and the decline in purchasing power, the avocado market continues to experience higher demand than supply. Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Peru, Chile, and Spain.
For the past thirty years, exchanges between Africa and other continents have steadily increased. On one hand, states support African exports through incentive policies, but on the other hand, strong.
Since late 2023, the Ghanaian government can issue licenses for the cultivation, processing, distribution, sale, import, and export of this plant for therapeutic and industrial purposes. Supporters see it as.
Six Vietnamese expatriates launched the Team Africa initiative, choosing the village of Sanzala in the northern part of Angola to contribute to the local agriculture they consider underutilized. Local farmers.
The blue economy describes activities within aquatic systems, encompassing both subsistence and commercial fishing, as well as renewable energies and blue carbon. In 2018, the African Union published a report.
Africa has accumulated expertise in combating the increasing occurrences of drought. Based on experiences conducted within its AdaptAction program, the Agence France Développement (AFD) has identified the five most interesting.
Established in 2021, Agriculture-Livestock-Fisheries-Africa (ALFA) is a coalition of around a hundred agribusinesses aiming to foster Franco-African collaborations to address the challenges faced by the continent, particularly in the field.
West Africa is facing various political crises, primarily stemming from the economic challenges faced by rural populations, who are distant from urban opportunities and lack resilience mechanisms such as access.
In a recent publication, the FAO highlighted the impact of disasters on the agricultural world and the need to organize a more sustainable and resilient global ecosystem. Experts predict a.
The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Codex Alimentarius Executive Committee aims to protect consumer health. It reviews issues related to antibiotic use in livestock, pesticide application on crops, and the.
During the land reclamation campaign organized in the 2020s by President Mugabe, around 4,000 white farmers were expelled in favor of locals. The majority of the farms were left abandoned,.
Food, water, climate, land management... Numerous issues to address for states aiming to transition towards more resilient and sovereign economic and environmental systems. Jonathan Mockshell, a scientist and agricultural systems.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) are joining forces to support African agriculture. This sector significantly contributes, accounting for 20% of Africa's GDP and.
More than 30 million small African farms account for two-thirds of the continent's production. These small-scale farmers face various uncertainties, often finding themselves victims due to a lack of data..
The Director of the Africa Initiative and Associate Dean of Strategy at the College o Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Lavl6P, Dr. Rachid Serraj has been Appointed as Steering Committee.
The Conference of the Parties, or the Conference of the Signatory States, is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its annual sessions.
This tuber, mainly cultivated by women in West Africa, is consumed roasted or processed into flour for preparing infant porridge. The cultivation of this crop involves the extensive use of.
The French Institute for Research and Development (IRD) collaborated with Senegalese teams to better understand the interactions between soil bacteria and legume crops. Their latest discovery highlights a natural exchange.
French scientific institutes collaborated with Yunnan Agricultural University in China to assess the impact of planting different crop varieties together on the immunity of the crops. It turns out that.
Scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) collaborated with their counterparts from the Institute for Research and Development (IRD) in Montpellier to understand the role of jasmonate hormones (JA).
Recent research conducted by a team from the French Institute for Horticultural Research and Seeds (IRHS) has revealed a connection between seed weight and their protein content. Seed quality is.
Because livestock farming represents a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, FAO recently brought together various stakeholders (farmers, indigenous communities, scientists, etc.) to explore avenues for transforming the sector. The.
One of the factors contributing to a country's food sovereignty is the fertility of its soil. When soils are rich in organic matter, plants become more resistant to pests, yields.
Rabat hosted the second African Youth Biodiversity Summit organized by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, its local representation MYBN, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), and the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework program.
While the African continent is responsible for only 3% of carbon emissions, it accounts for 16% of methane emissions, another gas contributing to climate change. A significant increase in methane.
Famine is an ongoing threat in Africa, severely impacting populations due to multiple factors. They face numerous challenges to their food security, ranging from extreme events like droughts or floods.
Despite rising olive oil prices due to decreased production, Tunisia has seen a surge in its exports, up by 54% in the last season compared to the previous one. The.
In response to the increasing intensity of droughts in the Sahel and their negative impacts on food production systems, a group of scientists has proposed modeling drought mechanisms. The compilation.
During earthquakes like the one that struck Morocco on September 8th, the terrain undergoes changes due to the Earth's movements. Among these alterations, inhabitants observe that new water sources emerge.
Kenyan investment fund Catalyst has raised $8.6 million, which it plans to use to support 40 innovative startups in the fight against climate change. This funding aligns with the achievement.
African delegations, present at the first African Climate Summit, expressed their desire to have a stronger influence on the global strategy for energy transition. They also called for better representation.
As part of the PAVIE project, the African Development Bank is supporting women and youth in the agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, and crafts sectors. Anouar Ouédraogo, project manager, is pleased with.
Two institutions, Rawbank and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), are helping African women farmers sustain their farms through various initiatives. One of these programs is "Lady's First," which is currently.
Domestic production accounts for only a quarter of consumption, with nearly 1 million tons produced in West Africa. Competition arises from the import of cheaper chicken meat, which is subsidized.
In the 2023-2024 season, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) estimates that the world will produce 663 million tonnes of oilseeds. However, despite having a population of 1.3 billion.
The 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, from October 9th to 15th. On this occasion, Mohammed VI.
The effects of water scarcity are worsening in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as projections indicate increasing demand over the next quarter-century. It is estimated that an.
Climate change continues to reshape our ecosystems. A study published in the journal Global Change Biology has shown that between 2000 and 2010, 70% of high-altitude forests have gained height,.
Just like fertilizers, irrigation aims to improve crop yields, mitigate drought, or satisfy water-intensive crops like corn or cotton. With the agricultural sector consuming 70% of available water resources, the.
Climate change jeopardizes water reserves. The shared and equitable management of this resource ensures food production in the poorest areas. Houssine, a Tunisian producer of dates, pomegranates, and vegetables, is.
The authors of the article "Measuring Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture: Innovations and Evidence" have reviewed empowerment practices, the innovations they represent, and the progress they provide to women involved in.
Already affected by the rise in cereal prices, Africa is also impacted by the non-renewal of the cereal trade agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian wheat via the Black Sea..
Genetic modifications of plants aim to enhance climate and disease resistance, but they can also introduce new nutritional characteristics to harvested fruits. After two decades of research, the National Agricultural.
In the Casamance region, known as the "Green Senegal," the agri-food sector provides 9 out of 10 jobs, but inadequate income conditions persist due to the lack of organized supply.
Out of the 783 million individuals who lack easy access to food, one-third are in Africa. The causes include exacerbated drought and the absence of agricultural resources and resilient food.
Agricultural Transformation Zones, also known as agro-industrial zones, are considered indispensable drivers of the transition towards a more efficient and resilient agri-food sector. Africa is undoubtedly the continent with the.
Faced with uncertainties surrounding the cotton sector, many producers are turning to soybean cultivation. Cotton production has declined by 66% over the past five years, despite the revitalization efforts by.
African countries have been hesitant to authorize GMOs. However, Rwanda took a step forward by announcing on July 13th a draft law authorizing the genetically modified organisms, their importation, commercialization,.
The second edition of the African Youth Summit on Biodiversity (AYSB2023) will be held at the Dawliz Hotel in Rabat from September 19 to 21, 2023.The event is supported by.
In early July, African representatives traveled to Seoul to finalize the deployment arrangements for the K-Rice Belt program. This project, with a budget of $80 million, is expected to generate.
During the spring of 2022, the surge in grain prices spread like wildfire across the entire African continent. In the Maghreb, the cereal crisis compounded with a prolonged scorching drought..
As part of its National Investment Plan for the Rural Sector, the government aims to transform the meat and milk sectors into pillars of economic development and ensure food security.
In 2014, African countries adopted the Malabo Declaration, named after the Guinean city where the meeting took place. This declaration applies to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and.
During the spring of 2022, the surge in cereal prices spread like wildfire across the entire African continent. In the Maghreb, the cereal crisis compounded with a prolonged and scorching.
The expression and concept of "permaculture" originated in the 1970s, although the practice itself dates back much earlier. The principle is to maintain a living soil by promoting the presence.
In June of last year, a hundred individuals from the research, political, and civil society sectors gathered in Kisumu, Kenya, as part of AfriFOODlinks, a project aimed at transforming urban.
On June 30th, in Rome, the Ministers of Agriculture from the African Union, their counterparts from the European Union, and representatives of civil society gathered for the Ministerial Conference on.
In Africa, many regions lack access to electricity. Malawian startup Yellow offers solar kits for rural areas in East Africa. The kit consists of a 6 to 10 W solar.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) carries out actions in favor of the African continent and publishes an annual report titled "Annual Review on Development Effectiveness" (ARDE). This report highlights the.
In the northwestern region of Senegal, horticulturists are facing an increase in the price of inputs: a 60% increase for urea and a 300% increase for NPK, a fertilizer composed.
Leaders, researchers, experts, and representatives of civil society gathered in early May in Aix-en-Provence to discuss the future of green hydrogen on a continent in the midst of industrialization and.
The African Development Bank (ADB) is launching the African Green Bank, an initiative supported by the African Green Finance Facility Fund (AG3F). The aim is to support efforts against climate.
Established in 1980, Finnfund is a Finnish public investment fund that supports projects led by private institutions in developing countries. The company recently granted a $10 million loan to a.
By: Noureddine Radouai There is no good time to launch a war. Armed conflicts are always horrible at any time. However, the war in Ukraine broke out in the worst.
FAO has recently joined forces with the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR) to boost the cultivation and use of bamboo in Africa. More than a hundred members of the.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a subsidiary of the World Bank. Its capital is held by the 185 member countries. It finances and/or acquires stakes in private companies or.
Between conflict, health crisis and climate change, eradicating hunger is looking like a pipe dream. The multiplication of crises is dramatically increasing the number of hunger-related deaths. This number exceeds.
Chinese, Russians and Americans are gaining a foothold in Africa. They understood that this continent still has untapped potential. Africa has already welcomed a large number of investing countries, always.
Michel Dron, secretary of the plant section at the French Academy of Agriculture, brings his thoughts on the need for a thoughtful agricultural transition, in collaboration with the agricultural world.
Deforestation, urbanization and climatic accidents are making life difficult for farmers in northern Rwanda who are trying to exploit their land for beans, sweet potatoes or tea. Mudflows, floods and.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), poverty is on the rise. Women play a pillar role in social organization, between household, family and agricultural tasks. With the disappearance of.
Institutional and private investors have pledged some 12 billion euros over the next five years to restore a strip of African land stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. The One Planet.
There is no better place to get a sense of the bustling life of West African towns and cities than their major food markets. Nobody who has shopped in one.
In December 2019, Kenya decided to authorise the commercialisation of transgenic cotton within the country. “This should help farmers increase revenue thanks to increased levels of production”, explained Head of State Uhuru Kenyatta. The decision has largely gone unnoticed. However, it represents a turning point. The country, which passed a bio-security law in 2009, had banned all imports of transgenic products, including food products and seeds for food production. GM (genetically modified) plantations were banned. Only strictly-controlled research projects were able to take place. On one side, the African Agricultural Technological Foundation (AATF), a pro-GMO organisation based in Nairobi, was lobbying the government to repeal the ban. On the other, Greenpeace was calling for the ban to be maintained to prevent “big business from taking over the food production system”.
In the end, Kenya decided to adopt a three-phase approach to setting up GM farms, known as 3 F: Fiber-Feed-Food. The first phase involves adopting Bt cotton[1], followed by fodder crops. Only then will the production of GM food products for human consumption be considered. In this way, the authorities plan to give themselves time to assess the risks involved in this decision. Bt cotton field tests carried out in the country over the past few years have shown that the transgenic crop produces yields 30% greater than conventional cotton. There is, therefore, an agronomic argument to be made. The other argument is industrial, with the country’s ambition to impose itself as the regional leader in textile production. As East Africa’s biggest economy, Kenya’s position may influence its neighbours, which share the same agricultural and industrial challenges.
Since the 1980s, new technologies used by plant breeders have emerged, inspired by genetic engineering and genomics, leading to the development of GM plants. Since then, biotech research has expanded considerably. With African populations still suffering from food insecurity, the use of these resources, in particular transgenic seeds, is presented by supporters as a means of overcoming most of the constraints which are hindering the development of agriculture. However, African decision-makers, scientists and farmers remain divided over the advantages and potential risks of transgenic crops.[2]
How is the argument framed, and what are the options for using biotech seeds to overcome agricultural and food production issues in Africa? This question underpins the continent’s food and nutritional security. It is all the more pressing in the context of emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, which will have disturbed agricultural and food production systems while opening the way to new options.
[1]“Bt” refers to a toxin produced by strains of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It is a GM variety created by the American firm Monsanto (absorbed by Beyer in 2018).
[2] The African Seed Access Index (TASAI) monitors essential indicators (number of varieties, accessibility, quality, price, yield, extension services) crucial to the development of the seed sector for fourteen African countries.
In 2018, there were almost 192 million hectares of GM crops, or 12% of crops worldwide, in 26 countries (ISAAA, 2018). Four GM crops dominate - soybeans for livestock fodder, maize, rape, and cotton - achieving almost complete market saturation in the United States, with 93.3% of the market (average for soybeans and maize), Brazil (93%), Argentina (almost 100%), Canada (92.5 %) and India (95 %). Biotech crops have expanded with alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya, squash, aubergine, potatoes and apples, which are all already on the market. Indonesia has planted the first drought-resistant sugar cane. Research into biotech crops by public sector institutions includes rice, bananas, cassava, yam, cocoa beans, coffee bushes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat, chickpeas, pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan) and mustard. This research focuses on various aspects of nutritional quality and economic advantages for producers and consumers of food products in developing countries.
In Europe, maize MON810, which produces an insecticide to protect the plant from corn borers, is the only GM crop approved for use in Europe. France has put in place a moratorium on planting GM crops. However, 70 GMOs are authorised for consumption in Europe, most of them for livestock. In this way, Europe imports transgenic soybeans to feed cattle, thus consuming them indirectly.
Transgenic cottons are now produced by most of the major cotton-growing countries: China, the United States, Australia and India, on very large farms. Brazil authorised GM cotton in 2006. Two African countries have been part of this group for several years: South Africa and Sudan.
South Africa was one of the first ten countries in the world to plant 2.7 million hectares of biotech crops. From 1997, over two million hectares of transgenic, lepidopteran-resistant cotton and maize were planted for commercial purposes. The country then approved GM soybeans. Adoption has been progressive. Today, 80% of maize, 85% of soybeans, and almost 100% of cotton in South Africa is genetically modified, for a total of around three million hectares.
For its part, Sudan has grown 245,000 hectares of Bt cotton with a 98% adoption rate among farmers. 90,000 of these farmers operate small farms, averaging 2.1 hectares. Some of the genes were introgressed with local varieties, to stimulate the expansion of this biotechnology with varying degrees of success. For small-scale farmers, farming by hand, the additional cost of transgenic licences is rarely covered by increases in yield, which remain low. However, for farms 50 hectares or more in size, there is a clear economic advantage which, nevertheless, varies depending on the level of infestation in fields and weather conditions.
At the round table held on 27 February at the Paris International Agricultural Show, the Foundation for World Agriculture and Rurality (Fondation pour l’Agriculture et la Ruralité dans le Monde.
[inbound_button font_size="14" color="#8d0100" text_color="#ffffff" icon="download" url="https://dev.willagri.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dossier-Willagri-03-20-EN-1.pdf" width="" target="_blank"]Télécharger le dossier en PDF[/inbound_button] At the start of this decade, France has been at war in the Sahel for seven years, and.
Following on from the Willagri report "Empowering women in rural Africa", here is the story of two women-focused development projects in Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Might women – who are.
Will Agri est un blog consacré à l’agriculture, plus précisément, comme on a coutume de dire aujourd’hui, à l’agriculture écologiquement intensive et inclusive.
Will Agri is a blog dedicated to agriculture, specifically focusing on what is now commonly referred to as ecologically intensive and inclusive agriculture.
