Barloworld, BayWa joint supply to hit sub-Saharan Africa

NaijaAgroNet 

Two giant distribution groups Barloworld and Munich-based BayWa,have plans to put up a joint venture for the supply of agricultural equipment into sub-Saharan Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Barloworld, a distributor of leading international brands providing integrated rental, fleet management, product support and logistics solutions, and BayWawhich offers machinery and equipment for farming and forestry, yard and barn and for local authorities, are establishing a joint venture, in which every one of the partners will embrace an equal 50 per cent shareholding.

Though the approval of the establishment is still a topic to the competition authorities but, the associates anticipate commencing operations at the middle of this year in Zambia by offering consulting, sales and services, including for the Allis-Gleaner Company (Agco) brands Challenger and Massey-Ferguson.

Clearing up the reasons for the establishment of the combined venture, Barloworld chief executive, Clive Thomson said yesterday that agriculture in Africa offers vital growth opportunities to those able to offer solutions.

“It is estimated that the continent has more than 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land required to feed 9 billion people globally by 2050 so Barloworld’s understanding of local mechanisation requirements, combined with our strong focus on after sales infrastructure and service, makes expansion beyond southern Africa a natural progression and together with BayWa we look forward to building on shared competencies to provide region-specific resources and solutions to the agriculture value chain in Africa,” he said.

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Will cultivation of Beer benefit African Farmers?

NaijaAgroNet

Ever since Ephraim Opusi, a farmer in Uganda had strugles to meet up with responsibilities cultivating corn on his five-acre plot in the hilly Kumi district in eastern Uganda.But now that he cultivates white sorghum, a grain used in beer brewing, Mr Opusi has managed to provide for his six children.NaijaAgroNet has report.

Ephraim Opusi started growing sorghum that earned him $750 during his first season in 2010; Mr Opusi harvested three tons of sorghum where an average Ugandan makes $510 a year, according to World Bank data.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that farmers are now growing less food, preferring to grow sorghum varieties specifically developed for brewing in order to earn them more profit from brewing giants Brewing like SABMiller and Diageo that have invested millions of dollars into African farms, providing a guaranteed market and better returns to smallholder farmers as they look for more locally sourced materials such as sorghum.

Okasai Opolot, the head of Uganda’s crop production and marketing and the agriculture ministry has said that most families are experiencing food shortage as farmers have focused on sorghum the brewing crop

"There isn’t enough land to accommodate both kinds of crops and more families are exposed to food shortages."

The question now is, will depending on alcohol going to sustain farmers in Uganda and Africa?

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ATA-SP Phase 1 to attract private sector investment – Adesina

NaijaAgroNet

The Federal Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme (ATASP-Phase1) will support infrastructure as four fasten Crop Processing Zones are to be implemented, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The project, he said came as a joint effort from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the African Development Bank(ADB) develop programmes for capacity building of the

youth and also create 200,000 new jobs for them.

NaijaAgroNet also report that while speaking at the project launch in Abuja, Dr Akinwumi  Adesina said, “The project will support the costs of infrastructure and value chain development and programme management for four Staple Crop Processing Zones to be implemented in Enugu, Anambra, Niger, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano and Jigawa States and will add an additional 20,000 metric tonnes of key commodity crops per year and create 200,000 new jobs for the youth.”

Also speaking at the launch, Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Nteranya Sanginga, affirmed NaijaAgroNet that the institute is to back up the programme with significance addition on cassava, rice and sorghum and also guarantee the programme extends to the north central zones, through capacity building and training of the youth.

Dr Nteranya Sanginga said “We supported the first cassava bread and now we are also supporting the government to monitor, train and give new varieties which would be more productive.It is a five- year phase, but we have to start very quickly for the centre to be established here, we want it to be operational in 6 months’ time.”

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Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase 1 kicks off

NaijaAgroNet

The Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme of the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, financed by AfDB has been launched by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) alongside the African Development Bank AfDB, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet also report that the programme is expected to create additional incomes to an already enlarged number of producers and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector in Nigeria by given about 120,000 jobs down the value chain of priority commodities with an additional 20 million tons of key commodity food crops which include cassava, rice, and sorghum that will be added to the domestic food supply each year.

According to Dr Nteranya Sanginga, the Director General of IITA explained that lots of young people are migrating to cities all over Africa in search of business opportunities, saying goodbye to an increasingly ageing population.

 “This project aims to build on the youth model developed in IITA to change mindsets of young men and women and gainfully engage them in agriculture.”

The project will also use young entrepreneurs in agriculture as a model the “IITA youth agripreneurs” to reach out to other young people in Africa and it will be implemented by IITA in Ibadan, Oyo State, and in DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia.

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Greenhouse emissions out of sight revealed

NaijaAgroNet

Researchers in Sweden at the University of Gothenburg, have shown in a recent study that restitution of wetlands could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Information gathered by NaijaAgroNet showed that greenhouse gas is any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is able to absorb infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere and by increasing the heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases are accountable for the greenhouse effect, which ultimately leads to global warming.

Previous wetlands NaijaAgroNet reports have been drained and are at present used for forestry and agriculture give off 11.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents that could be compared with Sweden's total emissions of 57.6 million tonnes.

Since peatlands should be restored into wetlands so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg also one among the authors of the report which was published this year, Åsa Kasimir, said that in the report pointed out some percentage of land in Sweden that should be restored.

"The report states that some three percent of Sweden's land area is drained peatland and it discusses which of these areas should be rectified in the first instance," says Åsa Kasimir.

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