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South Africa Nigeria
South Africa to target Asian market following maize surplus.
South Africa, which has had a bumper crop of maize this year leading to depressed prices and dampened demand in Africa, will now target Asian markets to boost maize exports
South Africa, which had faced a maize de cit last year, is expecting to produce a maize surplus of around 3.5mn tonnes this season. �is has created a major slump in demand and the industry will need to attract new maize importers to prevent wastage of crops that can create another setback for the struggling economy.
South Africa had exported almost all its maize surplus in 2014 / 15 to other African countries. �is season, the country is looking to expand maize export for the rst time to Asia and the Middle East, where buyers use it for animal feed rather than human consumption.
New research station to empower Nigerian farmers
�e International Institute of Tropical Agriculture( IITA) has unveiled a new research station in Ago-Owu in Osun state, Nigeria, as part of efforts to expand its research agenda and create impact at farm level. �e organisation marks its 50th anniversary. �e station, located in the
Ayedade Local Government Area, will support the state ' s agricultural programmes and offer training support to the youth in the area in particular, and Nigeria in general.
In 2015, Governor Rauf Aregbesola donated a piece of land measuring about 205.5 hectares to IITA as he sought to bring research closer to the people of the state with a view to creating transformational change in the agricultural sector of the state. IITA accepted the offer with the signing of a memorandum of understanding and began investment on the land with the development of roads and other infrastructure.
Industry producer group Grain SA told Reuters that it will target markets including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Middle East. South Africa has a geographical advantage over rivals like Argentina to supply these markets.
" Most of the countries in the East do not have a lot of land, their animal feed industry mostly imports all the raw materials," Grain SA chief executive Jannie de Villiers told Reuters. " I do not expect a lot of maize going into Africa." South Africa will struggle to sell maize in Africa a�er increased rainfall boosted crops in Malawi and Zambia which have li�ed export bans on their non-genetically modi ed( GM) crops that are preferred on the continent.
�e country is expected to harvest a record 15.6mn tonnes of maize this year, double last year ' s output. Favourable weather conditions have li�ed yields following an El Nino induced drought that scorched crops in 2016.
Aregbesola said he was glad that the MoU with IITA moved beyond paper to implementation. He commended IITA for its research efforts in the last 50 years, adding that the research facility will advance research in Osun state with a spinoff effect in other parts of the country.“ We believe that this research facility will train and empower our youth in modern agriculture,” he said.
�e inauguration of the facility also allowed researchers to make presentations on new ndings from cassava weed management, breeding, banana breeding and multiplication, cassava processing, and a asafe – a technology for controlling a atoxins among others. �ere was a presentation of improved seeds of maize, cowpea, soya bean, yam, plantain seedlings, and cassava stems for onward distribution to farmers in Osun state. IITA also gave the governor some quantities of Purdue Improved Crop Storage( PICS) bags which provide a simple, low-cost method of reducing post-harvest cowpea losses due to insect infestations.
May- June 2017 [ 6 ]
FARMERS
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