NAMIBIA exported nine million 4,5kg cartons of grapes this year, more than initially expected and surpassing previous exports of 8,5 million cartoons in the 2020/21 season, FreshPlaza reported. Namibia may not be the first country that comes to mind when thinking...
Section
Farming
SADC agricultural standards — farm-to-market implications for SADC firms and investors
A smallholder in one SADC member state and a commercial grower two borders away can now, in principle, plant seed released under the same regional certification pathway and manage the same fall armyworm outbreak using the same approved regional strategy. In practice,...
42nd SADC Summit across SADC — agrifood value-chain opportunity for regional operators
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has some of the most extensive arable land and freshwater resources on the continent, and it imports a meaningful share of its staple food. That gap between agricultural endowment and food-import dependence is the single most...
SADC non-tariff barrier reduction — farm-to-market implications for regional operators
A crate of fresh produce held at a SADC border post for inspection loses value with every hour it sits there in a way a container of manufactured goods does not. That asymmetry is why non-tariff barriers, which SADC's own institutional record now estimates carry...
How Israel became the Most Advanced Country in Agriculture
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, early settlers who decided to settle in the lands of Israel faced a huge challenge: how to farm in conditions of sweltering heat and minimal rainfall. The land was catastrophically barren, but the desire to make this area...
The Nitrogen Fertilizers Gap: Russian Sanctions, Africa, and Global Food Economy
Sanctions, or talk of sanctions, toward Russia create opportunities for the African Agricultural Economy, especially fertilizer production amongst other things. Throwing threats and executing them are two different things, and what lies between must be an impact...
Russia-Ukraine Geopolitics creates Opportunity for SA Agri-Commodities
All war affects geopolitics and has a direct impact on global economics by reshaping demand and supply. From an international trade perspective, the current Russia-Ukraine dispute has created opportunity for largest African agricultural commodity exporters like South...
SADC industrial skills alignment: agrifood value-chain opportunity and what comes next
A region that cannot certify a food technologist's qualifications across its own borders will struggle to build the agro-processing capacity its farmers actually need. That is the practical contradiction behind SADC's skills agenda for the agrifood sector:...
SADC green economy strategy — farm-to-market implications for SADC firms and investors
A regional bloc that names disaster risk management as a standing strategy is quietly admitting that its agricultural sector already lives with recurring climate shocks. That admission is the more useful starting point for reading SADC's consolidated...