Category Archives: Agriculture

Agriculture

Fairtrade Increases Coffee Minimum Price As Farmers Face Mounting Economic and Climate Pressures

Fairtrade will raise its Minimum Price for coffee in an effort to strengthen protections for coffee farmers around the world amid the intensifying impacts of climate change and growing global economic volatility, the social justice organization today confirmed. The new Fairtrade prices, which come into effect for contracts signed as of 1 August 2023, will […]

A new study has found that Fairtrade farmers are more resilient in times of crisis

A new report published today by Fairtrade International has confirmed that access to better prices, credit, and financial stability significantly increased the resilience of Fairtrade-certified organizations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling them to better withstand the global crisis and reduce its impact on their farmer members and workers. The study, titled Fairtrade certification and producer resilience […]

Cross-sector innovation presents solutions to combat Kenya’s long-standing False Codling Moth challenge

False Codling Moth (FCM), also known as Thaumatotibia leucotreta is currently causing havoc in various chilli farms in Kenya, eating into the farmers’ profits [1]. It has also emerged as a major constraint to the production of horticultural crops in the country and is currently the leading cause of interceptions of Capsicum and cut flowers […]

Collaboration, Not Competition: The Role of Peer-Learning in a Circular Economy

A group of smallholder farmers from Kericho paid a visit to their counterparts in Meru at the instigation of their local farmers’ association. That was some five years ago. While the trip was fun and adventurous, some of them wondered why so much money and time was being ‘wasted’ yet they could be taught the […]

Trends Toward A Circular Agriculture In Kenya

Circular agriculture is termed a food system that is in harmony with nature and meets social needs simultaneously. With the growing population in Kenya, the food supply has been in high demand and this has come at the expense of the environment. Farmers have shifted to using more intensive farm chemicals causing land erosion and […]

ICTforAg Announces its Virtual 2022 Conference towards Advancing Resilience, Nutrition & Agriculture led Growth in a Digital World

The ICTforAg 2022 Conference will take place virtually from March 9 to 10, 2022, and convene the leading stakeholders from the agri-tech and agri-Food space across Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Sponsored by Feed the Future and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit […]

GMOs in Sub-Saharan Africa – What you need to know

Several African countries have adopted Genetically Modified (GM) crop farming and the number is expected to grow in the future. But just how much are genetically modified organisms (GMOs) expected to shape the future of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture? Joseph Maina explains. Many of us have heard of genetically modified (GM) crops and how they are […]

AFEX launches $100m Food Security Fund

Financing will strengthen Africa’s food security and optimise climate smart innovations across seven countries AFEX, Nigeria’s leading commodities market player, has today announced a new $100m 10-year bond called The Food Security Fund (FSF). The financing will strengthen Africa’s food security and produce three million MT of food annually on the continent. AFEX’s fund will […]

Creating a borderless agribusiness space in Uganda and across East Africa

Startup testimony Charles Bwanika, a new generation social entrepreneur Charles Bwanika is a new generation social entrepreneur, passionate about undertaking positive challenges to bring about positive impact people’s lives he’s a seasoned child rights activist, experienced and qualified Community development expert with aBA in Development   Studies (BDS) and a Diploma in Community Psychology from Ndejje […]

GMOs have lessened pesticide poisoning and improved yields in Africa, says report

A report by a top caucus of experts in the United Kingdom shows that many countries have benefited from improved economies and healthier populations by farming genetically modified (GM) crops. Most significantly, the low pesticide use associated with GM farming is linked to fewer incidences of pesticide poisoning among farmworkers—particularly for small-scale farmers, observes the […]