FAC blog
Opinions and comments from Future Agricultures researchers on agricultural politics, science and society in Africa
Latest articles
Future Diets – the rise of obesity and other health problems in developing countries
January 6, 2014 / FAC blog There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of overweight or obese people in the past 30 years. Previously considered a problem in richer countries, the biggest rises are in middle income countries and the developing world. The ODI
The modernisation agenda in African agriculture: responding to AGRA’s Africa Agriculture Status Report 2013
December 18, 2013 / FAC blog AGRA’s proposals are not new in African agriculture debates. In the 1980s the World Bank also sought to ‘modernise’ African agriculture in this way. AGRA and the World Bank share in common the underlying ideology that existing agricultural practices in
To achieve food security, we need to talk about politics and power in the food system
December 11, 2013 / FAC blog I’ve previously written about the focus on agriculture to meet food and nutrition security and the same argument holds for the agenda at the 2013 AFC conference. However, if we take it as given that there was very little discussion
5 December: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
December 5, 2013 / FAC blog Japanese civil society call for immediate suspension and review of ProSavana Japanese civil society organisations have written a joint statement calling for the immediate suspension and review of the ProSavana project in Mozambique. “This statement is based on the gravity
26 November: China and Brazil in African Agriculture – news roundup
November 26, 2013 / FAC blog China grants new loan for Zimbabwean power station China’s EXIM Bank has given Zimbabwe $319 million to fund the expansion of Kariba hydropower station from 150MW to 1050MW. This infrastructural support is predicted to have a positive impact on the
South-South Co-operation debate in Brasilia, 26 November 2013
November 25, 2013 / FAC blog Lídia Cabral, researcher on our project about China and Brazil in African Agriculture will be involved in a debate on South-South Co-operation on 26 November. The debate takes place from 9am to 12pm in Brasilia and is organised by Embrapa.
Transparency and governance in the land sector: two sides of the same coin?
November 22, 2013 / FAC blog Transparency served as an immediate umbrella to bring together different initiatives in a very short time in the run-up to the G8 summit 2013 but seems to have been a launch pad rather than the end point. Similarly, the Open
Making Agricultural Investment Work for Africa: parliamentarians from Central Africa respond to the ‘land rush’
November 20, 2013 / FAC blog The meeting in Malabo was the third in a series of regional meetings of parliamentarians (previous meetings were held in Cotonou last October, and Kigali in April). The next regional meeting is planned for Johannesburg in 2014. The impetus behind
African agriculture is under pressure from the global politics of climate change
November 18, 2013 / FAC blog The politics of climate change and agriculture Considerable politics revolves around negotiating Parties, organizations’ and sectoral interests as played out in past debates under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and national debates. These debates have, however,
18 November: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
November 18, 2013 / FAC blog Ghana’s president looks forward to Brazil loan Brazil’s loan of $1 billion to Ghana is set to arrive soon, according to President John Dramani Mahama. The loan will be used for a number of projects, including agriculture, energy and infrastructure.
Retail revolutions: the rise and rise of butcheries and informal food selling in Zimbabwe
November 15, 2013 / FAC blog Certainly the growth of butcheries has continued, despite challenges. In a survey in 2006-07 we counted 31 butcheries in Masvingo town (20 in Mucheke township alone) and 9 in Ngundu. All businesses suffered badly at the peak of the economic
Three new ideas to help agriculture take centre stage in climate change negotiations
November 15, 2013 / FAC blog Climate change, above all increased climate variability, threatens the economies of the poorest countries and the livelihoods (and indeed the lives themselves) of the poorest people. Agriculture is the mainstay of most of the world’s poorest, and is both a
Climate compatible development: the politics of ‘triple wins’ and trade-offs
November 13, 2013 / FAC blog Can adaptation, mitigation and development work together? The idea that climate funding should support multiple climate and development goals has taken root over the last few years. The increasing popularity of terms such as ‘climate compatible development’, ‘climate smart agriculture’,
Beef value chains in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe
November 6, 2013 / FAC blog Case 1: Mr OM has an A2 farm north of Masvingo of around 250 ha. He runs around 60 cattle there, which are regularly slaughtered. He also milks the cows and sells soured milk locally, and even has plans for
30 October: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
October 30, 2013 / FAC blog MST Speaks out against ProSavana in Maputo MST spokesman, Augusto Juncal, was invited to speak as guest of honour at the Second International Small-scale Farmers Conference on Land in Maputo last week. He warned people “open your eyes, you’ll lose
Influencing CAADP on food and nutrition security
October 23, 2013 / FAC blog FOODSECURE is an EU-based research program to explore the future of global food and nutrition security (FNS). It aims to have an impact by strengthening the knowledge base to support EU policy makers and other stakeholders in the design of
“Land belongs to God”: stories from Southern Africa
October 23, 2013 / FAC blog The purpose of the Summit, held in Durban on 16-18 October, was to develop an inter-denominational common understanding of the challenges of land grabbing and landlessness, while developing a joint regional platform among churches to work with civil society to
22 October: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
October 22, 2013 / FAC blog China and India’s rising food prices affect world markets Food has become the main driver of inflation in both countries, with inflation expected to increase further this year in China. Data drawn from China’s CPI index showed that the pickup
A new way of bringing ‘farms’ and ‘systems’ together
October 21, 2013 / FAC blog The words ‘farm’ (or ‘farming’) and ‘system’ are used in many combinations, but three of the most common are: a ‘farm system’: referring to the conceptualisation of an individual farm as a system, a set of inter-related, interacting components or
Women and climate change: another special relationship?
October 21, 2013 / FAC blog It is commonly argued that women undertake the bulk of the work in agriculture, fisheries and livestock keeping, and as a consequence are particularly knowledgeable about the natural resource base. This is the basis of the idea that African rural
Do property rights protect the poor?
October 21, 2013 / FAC blog These messages are punchy and well articulated. Reading it from the perspective of the China and Brazil in African Agriculture research project I’m currently working on, it was also interesting to get a sense of where most of these land
18 October: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
October 18, 2013 / FAC blog Japanese NGOs call for review of ProSavana Five Japanese NGOs have called for a suspension of ProSavana and review of the project during a press conference in Tokyo. Their appeal was made following a field visit to Mozambique and involved
Agricultural commercialisation: who wins and who loses?
October 16, 2013 / FAC blog Models of commercialisation The LACA project explores the implications of three models of commercialisation in three case study sites in each country. The first year of the project has involved qualitative research in all 9 study sites. While these models
Old powers and new powers: agriculture and investment in Africa
October 14, 2013 / FAC blog Our panel was on food and agriculture, and included the inevitable discussion about ‘land grabs’, large and small farm models, and how investment in Africa could be increased, but also guided and regulated. The panel included two investors in farm
Ghana’s beautiful fruit and its commercialising mango farmers
October 8, 2013 / FAC blog This is one of the larger commercial mango farms in the area. While mangoes have always been among the traditional crops of the area, ‘the introduction of new varieties of mangoes was in 1996 by ARDA (the US-based Adventist Development
Across Africa: how Future Agricultures works together on Land and CAADP
October 4, 2013 / FAC blog Supporting CAADP Future Agricultures CAADP coordinator Sam Asuming-Brempong (left), Regional hub coordinator for Southern Africa, Ruth Hall (centre), and Regional hub coordinator for West Africa, George Kwadzo (right) On the agenda for the meeting was taking stock of the research
2 October: China and Brazil in African agriculture: news roundup
October 2, 2013 / FAC blog Guinea Bissau to receive Chinese investment in cotton farming A delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs and investors from Liaoning Province have visited Guinea Bissau’s eastern Bafata region with a view to revive cotton farming in the region. The region previously grew
Climate change in Kenya: narratives and dilemmas
September 27, 2013 / FAC blog Kenya has been ahead of many other countries in developing a national climate change strategy, and agriculture is one of the key critical sectors of interest. The National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) dates from 2010, and the National Climate
25 September: China and Brazil in African Agriculture: news roundup
September 25, 2013 / FAC blog Pan-African Land Grab Conference The first ever pan-African land grab hearing of its kind took place Johannesburg last month, co-hosted by Future Agricultures. Panellists discussed their experiences from all over the continent, discussing issues of policy failure, transparency and gender
17 September: China and Brazil in African agriculture: news roundup
September 17, 2013 / FAC blog ProSavana launches website The ProSavana agricultural project in Mozambique has set up a website. Its aim is to be regularly updated with news and information regarding the project, presumably as part of an effort to counter criticisms of transparency. It
Technology for African agriculture: more than just a text message
September 16, 2013 / FAC blog In fact, the take-over of the technology agenda by the cell phone and SMS promoters was so complete that we were asked to believe that the ‘know how’ and ‘how to’ of African agriculture could be reduced to a series
Africa needs to feed herself first, then the world
September 6, 2013 / FAC blog The symposium consisted of five topics – Ideology, Technology, the African Farmer, Gender and Youth – with a speaker and respondents for each theme. From the outset, it became apparent that speakers, respondents and the audience were agreed on the
Has a ‘policy space’ for pastoralism been opened up in Kenya?
September 5, 2013 / FAC blog You can watch the authors explaining the story in this seminar at the Institute of Development Studies in May 2013: Formed in April 2008, the Ministry picked up on a growing recognition that the region’s economic potential had been overlooked.
4 September: China and Brazil in African agriculture: news roundup
September 4, 2013 / FAC blog 111 Ghanaian students awarded scholarships to China 111 Ghanaian students have been awarded scholarships to study in China this year; twice as many as last year. According to the embassy, 549 Ghanaian students have been awarded with Chinese government scholarships
The Pan African Land Hearings could be a model for future dialogue
September 2, 2013 / FAC blog The location of the hearings in Southern Africa was sobering, said Oxfam’s Marc Wegerif, as 2013 marks the Centenary of the 1913 Land Act. The outcomes of that process are still to be addressed: inequitable land distribution where the communities are
1 September: China and Brazil in African agriculture: news roundup
September 1, 2013 / FAC blog China-Australia scientific research project on African sorghum A joint Australian and Chinese research project on African sorghum has found it to have a large amount of genetic variation that could support future work on developing drought adaption mechanisms. This research
Trois raisons de repenser la jeunesse, l’agriculture et le développement au Sénégal
August 28, 2013 / FAC blog A la fin de la première semaine du mois d’août, le PNUD décidait d’allouer 15 milliards de francs CFA au Sénégal dans le cadre de trois programmes : santé maternelle et infantile, violences basées sur le genre et emploi des jeunes
Three reasons why Senegal needs to rethink youth, farming and development
August 28, 2013 / FAC blog At the end of the first week of August, the UNDP decided to allocate CFA 15 billion francs to Senegal under three programmes: maternal and child health, gender-based violenceand youth employment integrating the migration variable. On Saturday August 12, the
Our IDS Bulletin on China & Brazil in African agriculture quoted in The Guardian
August 27, 2013 / FAC blog The Guardian quotes our recent IDS Bulletin in an article on China and Brazil in African agriculture, alongside remarks made by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. In an article published 27 August 2013, Mark Tran writes: “China and Brazil
20 August: China and Brazil in African Agriculture: news roundup
August 20, 2013 / FAC blog ProSavana meeting highlights policy objective differences On 8 August, civil society groups and senior politicians met to discuss the ProSavana project. The National Director of Economy in Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture gave a speech contradicting ProSavana’s master plan, leaked several
African women speak out on land grabs (Pan African Land Hearings day 2)
August 19, 2013 / FAC blog The event builds on the academic conferences hosted by the Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI): Global Land Grabbing, which took place in April 2011 at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK, and Global Land Grabbing
Invest in African farmers, don’t take their land (Pan African Land Hearings day 1)
August 14, 2013 / FAC blog The majority of land in Africa is not titled, yet this does not mean it is not the property of the people who hold it. Lamine said, “We want to see consultation with communities, fairness and equity” whenever there are
Can ‘value chains’ and ‘innovation platforms’ boost African agriculture? 11 reasons to be sceptical
August 7, 2013 / FAC blog What are innovation platforms? In practice, value chain approaches often include the creation of ‘multi-stakeholder platforms’ (also called Inter-Professional Bodies). The idea is that these platforms re-group the various actors in a particular value chain (i.e. everyone from producers through
6 August: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
August 6, 2013 / FAC blog Brazil & Ghana work together on cowpea yields SciDev.Net also carries an article looking at a Brazil-Ghana joint-research project focused on boosting cowpea yields.(SciDev.Net) Bamboo charcoal technology introduced to Ghana The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) is promoting
For food security to work, women and men in Africa need more open and flexible policies, not stereotypes
August 2, 2013 / FAC blog At the same time, there have been parallel – if not conflicting – calls for women to engage in ‘new’, often regional and even global markets, or at least to commercialise their farm production. But longstanding, well-documented concerns about women’s
1 August: China and Brazil in African agriculture – news roundup
August 1, 2013 / FAC blog Comparing Chinese aid with Western aid Li Xiaoyun has had an article published in the China Daily’s African edition looking at the differences and complementarities between Chinese and Western aid (attached). On the same page is an article by Zhang
How China and Brazil are engaging in African agriculture deserves a closer look
July 15, 2013 / FAC blog Much recent work on ‘the BRICS in Africa’ has emphasised the geopolitical scale, as these new players engage in areas dominated in the past by western donors and companies. However, as the IDS Bulletin shows, the countries grouped together under
5 July: China and Brazil in African Agriculture – news roundup
July 5, 2013 / FAC blog Lessons for ProSavana from Mozfoods This FT article looking at ProSavana’s challenges draws on a UK-based company’s experiences in Mozambique to highlight the challenges faced in turning a profit on agricultural developments in the region. The article concludes that finding
Five new articles on the problems of counting and reporting land grabs
July 5, 2013 / FAC blog This ‘land rush’ has been accompanied by a ‘literature rush’, with a fast-growing body of reports, articles, tables and books with varied purposes, metrics and methods. Land grabbing remains a hot political topic around the world, discussed amongst the highest