A PREMIER JUICE THAT WAS ONCE READILY AVAILABLE LOCALLY IS SET TO GRACE SUPERMARKETS SHELVES IN KENYA FOLLOWING THE SIGNING OF AN AGREEMENT WITH A LOCAL FIRM. The Masafi natural juice product portfolio will from this week be displayed due to fresh demand by local consumers. This follows the signing of an agreement between Masafi East Africa and Masafi Co. LLC of the United Arab Emirates last week. In the agreement, Masafi East Africa will.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 5th November 2015

Much has been said about the primordial stage of the nation's agriculture. It is a rain -fed one and vulnerable to an extreme weather condition. The farming system too has been an archaic one leaning on a small-scale. As compared to the trend in other developing countries, the utilization of agricultural inputs is not that heartening. The prevalent global warming and climate change challenges further aggravate the situation. The sector is a.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 2nd November 2015

The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) have launched a 4.5 euro multi-year project in Uganda to benefit more than 350,000 smallholder farmers using satellite data to improve production and marketing of three value chains-maize, soya beans and simsim. This is in collaboration with six other partners with support from the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs and will run from September 2015 to August 2018. While.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 2nd November 2015

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a loan of US$30mn to the government of Zambia for the Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Project The project is designed to promote job creation, gender equality and poverty reduction amongst young cassava producers in the country. To be implemented in seven provinces, the project will develop 10 industrial clusters, five of which will be urban and the other five rural. “The project.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 31st October 2015

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has received a US$12mn grant to boost maize production in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania in the next four years IITA has received the money in collaboration with the Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project, and the grant has been given by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. TAMASA was launched in May this year, and is expected to reach more than 600,000 households.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 31st October 2015

The country has so far exported 97,3 million kilogrammes of tobacco this year, up from 88,7 million kg over the same period last year, earning $500 million, statistics from the industry regulator show.   In its latest bulletin, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) said Zimbabwe had exported 97,3 million kg of tobacco at an average price of $5,13 per kg compared to 88,7 million kg worth $471 million at $5,31 per kg last.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 30th October 2015

  Zanzibar Sugar Factory Limited (ZSFL) at Mahonda, which has been out of production for the past four years is expected to resume operations writes ANDREW ZABLON Company officials said last week operations will start up again early next year.   "We are doing the rehabilitation work and by January next year we will in tourism income flowing to local economies, travel companies and airlines start production,"P. K. Nigam,.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 30th October 2015

Tanzania’s average arabica coffee prices rose at the Moshi auction last week, buoyed by strong demand from exporters and higher New York markets, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said. Tanzania, which ranks behind Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast in terms of output on the continent, mainly produces arabica and a bit of robusta coffee. Prices of Tanzania’s arabica normally track the New York market while those of robusta take their.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 28th October 2015

An improved rice parboiling system is improving productivity and profitability for women rice parboilers in central Benin The system, called GEM, was set up as a part of an African Development Bank (AfDB) project, Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa. Combined with targeted training, it was rolled out two months ago among more than 450 women rice parboilers in the Glazoué rice hub in central.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 27th October 2015

Kenya's Java House has 36 coffee houses and restaurants and plans to open outlets across Africa in the next five years to capitalise on rising consumer spending, its chief executive said. Kevin Ashley, who founded Java's first outlet in Nairobi in 1999, said the company would open in Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Accra and Lusaka. For now, the firm's only outlets beyond Kenya are in Uganda's capital Kampala. "We see in five years time.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 24th October 2015

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Tanzania has said it was ready to work with the government in implementing appropriate social protection policies that will help in increasing the agriculture productivity in the country.   FAO’s commitment was announced in Bariadi Township, Simiyu Region, at the weekend as Tanzania joined the rest of the world in marking 35th Anniversary of the World Food Day (WFD) and.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 23rd October 2015

The country’s dairy sector has increased its milk production, processing and trade in the last few years, but due to a lack of regulation, the industry had been facing challenges in terms of unfair market competition and production of substandard dairy products, specifically milk. According to Tony Nsanganira, Rwanda’s state minister for agriculture, challenges in the milk industry created the need for a legal instrument to regulate.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 23rd October 2015