Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe

Rice farm By Abdallah el-Kurebe Rice farmers in Africa are set to dramatically increase their productivity with the new hybrid varieties that are capable of yielding up to 7 tonnes per hectare, courtesy of a public private partnership, Breeding by Design Project. According to a release issued by the head of Communications and Partnerships unit of the project, Nancy Muchri, the Hybrid Rice: Breeding by Design Project, which developed the first indigenous hybrid rice varieties in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). using the 2-line rice hybrid technology have the potential to produce 7 tonnes per hectare. It further stated that…

Effect of Climate Change By Dele Oni The first quarter of the year in Nigeria has always been noted as usually the hottest period with regards to weather variability and default seasonal pattern. This period is characterized with high solar intensity and consequently high temperature build-up, which in a lot of ways, causes a great deal of discomfort to people. The hot period is often short termed because the raining season breaks the hot cycle with the usually long wet months, which invariably ushers in the period of plenty (Food production). However, the first quarter of 2016 has recorded…

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 31, 2016/ — Agriculture is currently standing on the edge of a second green revolution. This revolution will entail fundamental shifts in how the agricultural sector utilises and implements innovative technology to improve output in a sustainable manner and address the need for greater food security globally. These are some of the highlights of PwC’s latest Africa Agribusinesses Insights Survey 2016  (www.PwC.com). “Currently, there is a second green revolution underway. There is a desperate need for food security and therefore higher agricultural output without compromising resources in the process,” says Frans Weilbach, Agribusiness Industry Leader for PwC Africa.…

BidcoTruth Coalition unites groups to demand accountability for Bidco A Ugandan group of more than 100 farmers lost their land to Bidco KAMPALA, Uganda, May 31, 2016/ — The Bidco Truth Coalition, an online activist organisation, has launchedwww.No2Bidco.org, a platform dedicated to charting the human rights and environmental violations of Bidco Africa, the Kenya-based edible oil producer headed by CEO Vimal Shah. No2Bidco.org includes a catalogue of Bidco’s violations, including illegal labour practices in Kenya, deforestation in Uganda and tax evasion across East Africa. The platform also provides visitors with the ability to add their voices to a global campaign of petitions…

Ploughing for Planting Irish Potato Harvested Irish Potato Workers at Irish Plantation Bagging Harvested Irish Potato

Tillers Distributed to Farmers By Abdallah el-Kurebe As part of activities to mark Democracy Day, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state on Sunday distributed farm implements and other poverty eradication tools to farmers and women, respectively. While the implement included 1,350 pumping machines, 1,000 tiller machines, the poverty eradication tools were 265 tricycles to beneficiaries in the 23 local government areas of the state. Earlier in his Democracy Day broadcast, the governor said that the challenges of dwindling revenue sources owing to the fall in oil prices, was why his administration was focusing on agriculture. According to Tambuwal, the…

In most parts of Northern Nigeria, farmers use cows, camels and other animals with tillers for ploughing on their farms. New technology is important for smallholder farmers.

Maize farm By Abdallah el-Kurebe In ending poverty in Africa, one overriding theme in declarations is “the need for modernization and optimization of Africa’s agriculture. At the same time, it ensures the productivity of the very ecosystems that underpin agricultural productivity are safeguarded for future generations,” editorial of African Development magazine. Ending poverty in Africa requires strict adherence to continental blueprints, which include Mapoto and Malabo and AMCEN Cairo Declarations, the AU Agenda 2063, etc. Although FAO views Africa as having strode in tackling hunger by a 30 percent propotional drop of its people that were facing hunger between…

Participants at the training workshop By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Cassava Weed Management Project of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is training African researchers on advances in weed science, drawing from the expertise of US and Nigerian researchers, thereby enlivening the legacies of Charles Darwin and making him proud. Launched in 2014, the Project, as part of its sustainability program, is building bridges across researchers from developed and developing countries with a view to narrowing the knowledge gap and, by extension, raising the capacity of weed scientists through training and knowledge sharing. A press relelase issued by Godwin Atser,…

By Abdallah el-Kurebe In Ghana, many people, especially women, who live along the coastal areas are engaged in fish smoking, known as ‘Namhowfo’ in Akan, one of the languages spoken in the country. As a means of living, fish smoking as it were, was done by traditional, inefficient smoking stoves. This method affects both human health and the environment. < Wire mesh  According to the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), in Ghana like in other countries, traditional fish smoking stoves had exposed women to harmful smoke. This causes 16,600 deaths annually, in addition to environmental degradation, which comes in form of…