African agriculture
African agriculture
The joy of irrigating on the great continent by Carol Posthumus
A lot
The crowd at Davos in Switzerland at the annual World Economic Forum discussed the invigorating topic of farms in Africa, perhaps making a change to discussing populism and Brexit in the Northern hemisphere. It was observed at Davos that agriculture could be boosted by improving access to electricity and improved Internet connectivity.
of attention and hope is focussed right now on Africa’ s agricultural sector’ s future.
The news is consistently peppered with huge investments in African agriculture. Reportedly Africa’ s richest man, Aliko Dangote, recently invested a mammoth $ 1 billion in rice production on the continent.
Apparently, many hectares of arable land are being consistently bought up by foreign interests across Africa. Foreign Direct Investment in agribusiness was $ 10 billion in 2010 and is projected to reach $ 45 billion by 2020.
The new United Nations Secretary- General Antonio Guterres recently said:“ Far too often, the world views Africa through the prism of problems. When I look to Africa, I see a continent of hope, promise and vast potential. I am committed to building on those strengths and establishing a higher platform of cooperation between the United Nations and the leaders and people of Africa.
Gordon Vermaak, director of Inyoni Africa.
This is essential to advancing inclusive and sustainable development and deepening cooperation for peace and security.” Guterres said the world has a lot to learn from African wisdom, ideas and solutions.
To our credit as a continent, Guterres said Africa provides the majority of United Nations peacekeepers around the world. Also a little known fact is that African nations are among the world’ s largest and most generous hosts of refugees. Furthermore he noted that Africa includes some of the world’ s fastest growing economies.
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SABI | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017