The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for global support for Africa’s young farmers and “agripreneurs”, highlighting how agribusiness is the answer to the continent’s youth employment. In collaboration with the Initiative for Global Development, the Association of African Agricultural Professionals in the Diaspora, Michigan State University, Iowa State University, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the AfDB brought together stakeholders to discuss how to expand economic opportunities for Africa’s youth throughout the agricultural value chain, from lab to farm to fork. “Africa’s next billionaires are not going to come from oil, gas, or the extractives. ENABLE Youth is about investing in small agribusinesses today so that they can grow into large enterprises tomorrow,” Akinwumi Adesina (pictured above), the AfDB president said at the event. “By empowering youth at each stage of the agribusiness value chain, we enable them to establish viable and profitable agribusinesses, jobs and better incomes for themselves and their communities.” Adesina was presenting a paper during a session titled “Making Farming Cool: Investing in future African farmers and Agripreneurs” on the sideline of the 2017 World Food Prize Symposium-Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa in the US. It was attended by young entrepreneurs from Africa private sector representatives, policymakers and thought leaders, among others. Africa has the world’s youngest population with 60 per cent being under 35 years old. There are 420 million youth aged 15-35 and this segment of the population is expected to double to 840 million by 2040. Working with the International...

Kenya and Tanzania will power economic growth in the East African region, which is expected to record the highest economic growth rate in Africa. The African Development Bank quarterly economic report says the East Africa region will grow fastest in Africa at 5.4% this year then accelerate to 5.8% in 2018. Growth in the East Africa region will be driven by strong domestic demand and high public infrastructure spending. Kenya is expected to grow by 5.1% while Tanzania will expand by 7.2% this year. Despite a major slowdown in commodity prices, Africa retained her position as the second-fastest growing continent globally recording an average GDP growth of 2.2%, behind South Asia. The East African region powered this growth with a 5.3% economic expansion with the North African region coming second at 3.3%. The growth was driven by Kenya at 5.9% and Ethiopia at 6.9%. The African Development Bank quarterly economic report says the East African region will anchor growth in Africa growing by 5.4%. The bank says the expansion will be boosted by capital investment and strong domestic expenditure. However, the bank has also downgraded economic growth for Africa saying that poor weather will slow growth to 3%. The North African region is expected to grow by 3.1% and 3.6% in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with expected pick up of growth in Morocco of 4.5% in 2017 and 3.9% in 2018. The bank however warns that continued political uncertainties and reduced oil production in Libya continue to drag growth in...

Construction of the second phase of a modern container terminal at the port of Mombasa is set to start in January 2018. Kenya ports Authority (KPA) has already secured a US$ 339.2m loan from the Japanese government to finance the project construction. The Phase II project, which forms part of the broader Mombasa port upgrade and modernisation programme, which is estimated to cost a staggering $900-million, is aimed at transforming the port into a modern facility capable of serving not only Kenya but also the rest of the East African region. KPA MD Catherine Mturi-Wairi says the authority has embarked on the tendering process for Phase II, which involves the construction of Berth 22. “We have secured financing from the Japanese government and are now in the tendering process, with plans to break ground in January 2018,” she said. When completed, Phase II will provide additional capacity of 450 000 TEU/y. An envisaged third phase, which will involve the construction of Berth 23, will increase capacity by a further 500 000 TEU/y. In total, once all phases are completed, the terminal will have a total capacity of 1.5-million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) a year. According to Mturi, the commissioning of 550 000-TEU/ Phase I which was completed in September last year has significantly enhanced the competitiveness of the port. Last year, the port handled 27.3-million tons of cargo, compared with 26.7-million tons in 2015. Further, container traffic increased from 1.08-million TEUs in 2015 to 1.09-million TEUs in 2016. Kenya hopes the...

The European Union (EU) has stepped up efforts to facilitate fish trade and safeguard public health among the East African Community (EAC) member states. As part of the strategy, the EU through the various EAC fisheries agencies has trained about 200 border inspectors on how to make formal cross-border trade in fisheries more attractive than the current informal and unethical practices. In a statement issued in Mombasa Wednesday, the EU said these trainings are jointly conducted by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), through its EU-Funded Smart Fish program, and EAC to improve the quality and to ease Fish Trade in East Africa. The program, according to the Commission, is expected to develop a Border Fisheries Inspector's manual which will among other things improve food safety, a key component that is required for the export of fisheries products to the European market. Joyce Lugonzo, a Kenya Fisheries Border Inspector, said collaboration with other border inspectors has gone a long way in ensuring that contraband and substandard products do not reach the market. "This training has come in handy as it has given us more skill in addressing illegal trade which in turn denies our countries much needed revenue," she said. The objective of the training that lasted one month was to improve the skills and capacity of Fisheries Officers, Police Officers, Customs Officers, Immigration Officers, Port Health Officers and the Bureau of standards Officers of these countries. "The BFI project is a stepping stone to promoting formal trade, thus ensuring public health and...

The cost of transporting a 40 foot (ft) container between Mombasa and Kampala, Kenya’s biggest transit trade market, has gone down 34.2 per cent in the last four years on the back of better roads, reduced police checks and efficiency at weighing points, a new report shows. Road freight costs decreased to Sh230,858 ($2,237) in 2016 from Sh350,880 in 2011. Automation at weigh stations greatly enhanced efficiencies, shows the 2016 Logistic Performance Survey launched in Nairobi last week by the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA). This comes at a time new rail transport under development in the region is expected to increase competition for road transporters. The standard gauge railway (SGR), which starts its freight services early next year will charge Sh51,650 ($500) to transport a 20ft container between Mombasa and Nairobi and Sh103,300 ($1,000) for a 40ft container. According to the report, which analysed the performance of trade logistics of the East African Community’s member states with respect the indicators of time, cost and complexity against those of the world’s leading trade hub, road freight cost from Mombasa to Bujumbura decreased to Sh515,277 in 2016 from Sh825,600 in 2011. Cost from Mombasa to Nairobi for a 40 foot container declined from Sh134,160 in 2011 to an average of Sh90,712 in 2016. The average cost of transporting a 20ft container by sea was Sh186,792 and Sh279,672) for a 40ft container from the United Kingdom (UK) to Mombasa by sea. On the other hand, it cost Sh213,624 and Sh318,888 for...

EAST Africa is seeking to galvanise synergies of textiles industry players by linking the local cotton, textile and apparels industry to the untapped markets in the region, 'Daily News' has learnt. The East African Business Council (EABC) Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lilian Awinja, explained here that the East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition would provide a platform for creating synergies and links between the local cotton and textile industries with local suppliers and fashion designers in a bid to propose an action plan outlining policies and modalities for promoting the sector's performance, productivity and quality. "It is a high time that EAC member countries embarked on manufacturing apparels such as inner garments, ties and scurfs that require low level technology and skills, as the region works on a phase out approach of imported second hand clothes. There is a huge opportunity for the African fashion and design industry to be in the spotlight on the international market," said Ms Awinja. The CEO noted that cotton production, processing and trade was highly influenced by policies of major producing countries, through price support, tariff protection, production subsidies and stock piling that destabilise cotton prices, and that competitiveness of the cotton industry in the East African Community (EAC) was faced with challenges such as low yields, ginning overcapacity, low ginning out-turn ratio and inefficient value addition. "Value addition in the cotton and textile Industry into innovative aesthetic accessories, interior designs and fashion can create more job opportunities in the stitched together...

Khartoum, apparently, had appealed to become member of the East African Community through an official application sent to Arusha back in November 2011, but the country was asked to hold on a bit, until South Sudan joined first, so that North Sudan could also have a common borderline with EAC member states. “North Sudan’s application was turned down because among the requirements for a country to become an affiliate state of the community, is for it to share a common border with any of the already existing members,” explained Mr Simon Owaka, the EAC Senior Public Relations Officer. “The Summit of EAC Heads of State rejected Sudan’s application because it failed largely to meet one criterion for the admission of a new partner state into the Community, namely, geographical proximity to and interdependence between the aspiring country and the partner states,” added Mr Owaka. He was responding to this paper’s question regarding what was next for Khartoum now that it was legible to join the East African Community. According to the official, since Khartoum now shares a border with the Republic of South Sudan (RSS), it qualifies to join the East African Community but North Sudan needs to apply afresh since the situation has just changed. But Mr Owaka remarked: “The requirement for geographical prox imity and other criteria notwithstanding, admission of a new country into the EAC is the prerogative of the Summit of Heads of State. It is also up to any country that wants to join the...

Hohoe, Oct. 16, GNA - The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released its second Trade Finance in Africa Survey Report tiled; “Trade Finance in Africa: Overcoming Challenges”. Building on the findings of the maiden 2013 survey, this new report, covering the period 2013–2014, goes further to gauge other aspects of bank-intermediated trade finance such as the challenges encountered by SMEs and first time trade finance clients. The report is, therefore, based on the combined data from the 2013 and 2015 surveys. It said the value of bank-intermediated trade finance in Africa in 2013 and 2014 was estimated at 430 billion dollars and 362 billion dollars respectively. Put differently, banks support about one third of total trade in Africa. “The share of bank-intermediated trade finance devoted to intra-African trade is still modest. In 2014, only 20 per cent of bank-intermediated trade finance was devoted to intra-African trade. This compares favourably to the estimated 18 per cent in 2011. Banks in East and Southern Africa reported the highest share (25 per cent) while those in North and Central Africa reported the lowest, around five per cent and four per cent respectively,” it said. The report noted that the value of the bank-intermediated trade finance gap in Africa remained significant at an estimated 91 billion dollars in 2014, although it had nudged down slightly from an estimated 94 billion dollars in 2013. Trade Finance continues to be a relatively low-risk activity for commercial banks in Africa, with estimated default rate transactions in 2011...

The Acting Executive Director of TanTrade, Mr Edwin Rutageruka said this shortly after a tour of Vegeta Podravka LTD in Bagamoyo, Coastal Region yesterday. He promised to come up with a strategic plan to help entrepreneurs to send their goods to the factory. “I have held talks with the management of Vegeta, they have informed me that their production stands at 2.5 tonnes per day but the factory has the capacity of producing 7.5 tonnes of spices per day, this is an opportunity for traders to feed the factory with raw materials,” Mr Rutegaruka said. He added that, for now the factory that was launched in December 2017 following a move by the government to promote industrial economy is forced to acquire some of the raw materials abroad due to scarcity of the same in the country. “We have agreed with the management of the factory to connect them with farmers and traders of ginger, pepper, cardamom and other spices on a condition that the raw materials should be certified by Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA),” said Mr Rutageruka. The Manager of the factory, Mr Archard Ngemela advised spices farmers to find ways of producing quality goods and make sure they add value to their farm produces in a bid to be able to compete in the market. “Spices business is international, so the production continue throughout the year but also the products should be of high quality to meet international standards. Therefore...

In Rwanda, it's chagua. In Kenya, mitumba. In Zambia, salaula — most African languages have a word for the piles of discarded garments that end up for sale across the African continent. Millions of people around the world donate clothes annually with the understanding that they will go to the needy or will be resold in secondhand stores. However, while charities do financially benefit from some of the donated garments, many more enter a secondary marketplace governed by free market principles. A thriving and lucrative industry has emerged out of clothing outcasts that provide work for armies of resellers, distributors and market stall holders in developing markets like India or East Africa. But like any other business sector, there are winners and losers in this complex and booming trade. The average American throws away 70 pounds of textile waste every year, according to the Council for Textile Recycling, so diverting clothing away from landfills and giving it a new life may seem like a good idea. But the mass influx of cheap hand-me-downs from Western countries has had a negative impact on local apparel industries and production in low-income countries. Used clothing in good condition, which entered the supply chain as a donation, undercut new clothes produced locally. To this point, the governments of the East African Community (EAC) — the regional organisation that comprises of Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda — plans to outlaw all secondhand clothing imports by 2019, in a bid to boost domestic manufacturing. “Donating your used garments...