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Nigeria gets new agriculture minister
NIGERIA – Chief Audu Ogbe has been appointed as the new Federal Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development by the incoming Gen. Buhari administration, replacing the widely popular Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. Born in 1947 in Benue State, Chief Ogbe was a lecturer during the early days of his career before venturing into politics, where he was the Federal Minister of Communications between 1982 and 1983. He was also Chairman of the People’s Progressive Party in 2001-2005, the party that recently lost the presidential vote to Gen Buhari’s party, before resigning to manage his Efugo Farms, where he has a cashew nut plantation and also produces grains and rears chicken and fish. Chief Ogbe replaces Dr Adesina who has recently been appointed the 8th President of the Ivory Coast based pan-African financial institution, the African Development Bank. A huge believer in Africa’s potential in
agriculture, Adesina has been credited with boosting local production in Nigeria, where the oil boom of several decades ago reduced agriculture to a small part of government policy, with Nigeria importing a majority of its agricultural food needs. FAO estimates that Nigeria has lost US$10 billion in annual export opportunity from groundnut, palm oil, cocoa and cotton alone due to continuous decline in the production of these commodities. Dr Adesina implemented bold policy reforms in the fertilizer sector and pursued innovative agricultural investment programs to expand opportunities for the role of the private sector in agriculture. For example, according to the Ministry, private sector investments in fertilizer manufacturing were expanded, with over $5 billion private sector investments in fertilizer manufacturing in the three to 2014. The state, through its Agriculture Transformation Agenda, has boosted local production of rice and other grains that have tamed the huge imports of food products that had been grown in the country. Chief Ogbe has his work cut out, considering that Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of cassava (50 million tonnes as per FAO). The country has huge opportunities to grow this figure further, and increase production of rice, a staple food for which Nigeria is the largest importer, while building capacity of the sector to add value to crop and animal produce in the country. In an interview, Chief Ogbe believes that Nigeria requires investing in farm management training. “There are no trained farm managers in this country. Qualified manpower is a big challenge,” he says. He believes that lack of financial access by farmers and infrastructure challenges in Nigeria stand in the way to Nigeria achieving its agriculture potential. “We think we need a farmers’ bank,” he says. Now he gets a chance to shape agricultural policy for Africa’s most popular country, from the learning from his farm.
Barclays Kenya joins agribusiness bandwagon
KENYA - Barclays Bank has expanded its portfolio into agriculture, by launching an agribusiness unit to offer loans and consultancy. The lender has rolled out a strategy, which was developed with ABSA South Africa, a subsidiary of Barclays Plc, to increase operations in the sector. Barclays Bank of Kenya Managing Director Jeremy Awori said the agribusiness unit would mainly lend money from a KSh30 billion kitty 12
august 2015 | agri-Business africa
set aside for small and medium enterprises this year. He said the bank would also channel money through corporate lending for bigger projects, including setting up processing plants. “We have done in-depth research in the key sectors that are already developed, including flower and grain industry, and we are hoping to expand more,” he said. Mr Awori said the project comes at an important time when the bank has set up an asset-financing product that can go into lending for machinery and a bancassurance product to underwrite risks - Nation
South Africa’s banana industry threatened by Panama disease SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa’s R1.5 billion banana industry could be threatened by Panama disease, a devastating fungal disease, reports BDLive. Panama disease, which is caused by the Fusarium fungus, is a soil pathogen that infects the root system and goes on to colonise the entire plant. The outbreak of Panama disease was spreading rapidly across the Metocheria Farm, a 3,000-hectare farm in northern Mozambique, owned by Norwegian company Norfund, due to the flooding at the beginning of 2015. The disease has been present in plantations in north eastern Mozambique’s Nampula province for the past two years. The disease could spread to more banana plantations in the Nampula province and then further into Africa, where it could threaten food security. “The outbreak in northern Mozambique most certainly poses a risk to all its neighbouring countries. A major means of spread is water, as well as planting material and soil left on shoes and vehicles from the farm. South Africans had been visiting the affected farms in Mozambique in the past, and are still visiting the farm to do business. If proper biosecurity is not introduced, South African growers might be affected.” said University of Stellenbosch plant pathologist Altus Viljoen - BD Live
Demand for export maize to drop ZAMBIA - The demand for Zambian maize in southern Africa is likely to drop because of improved production in traditional import countries in the region, reports Zim Daily. The Centre for Trade and Policy and Development (CTPD) says Zambia faces reduced demand for maize in terms of exports because of improved harvest in the region. The drop in the export maize demand will also be compounded by competitive price of the cereal in other countries compared to the cost of the grain in Zambia. “The 2014/15 maize marketing season has been characterised by reduced demand for Zambia’s maize export from its neighbours which mainly was as a result of good rainfall leading to average and above-normal maize harvests in the region. Compared to export parity prices, Zambia’s maize is not competitive in the region because FRA bought maize above market prices,” she said. “Inefficiencies and costly requirements in the export value chain and poor trade infrastructure also make it difficult for exporters to fully comply” she said. agribusinessafrica.net