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 bamboo charcoal technologies as a form of environmentally friendly renewable energy. They also aim for this to serve as an incentive to develop business opportunities around the growing of bamboo and other bio-energies in the future. China is a global leader in the production and use of bamboo charcoal and will be playing a leading role on this work through the Nanjing Forestry University and WENZHAO Bamboo Charcoal Co.
(Ghana Business News)

Calestous Juma on agricultural innovation in Africa

Faculty chair of Harvard Kennedy School and the author of ‘New Harvest: Agricultural innovation in Africa’, Prof. Calestous Juma, gives an interview on the need and opportunities for the innovation of agricultural technology in Africa. He gives specific mention to EMBRAPA as a model worth emulating with concern to small scale farmers and rural enterprises.
(IPP media)

China and the Zimbabwe elections

China was invited to send a five-person election observation team to monitor Zimbabwe’s elections last week, headed by Liu Guijin, the former Chinese government special envoy on African Affairs. China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, later said on Saturday (3 August) that she hoped Zimbabwean parties would accept the election results that Liu’s election monitoring team had termed “peaceful, orderly and credible”. However, there were also accusations that Mr Mugabe had secured $800m in funding for his campaign from mining companies controlled by Chinese investors and senior Zimbabwean military officials.
(Global Times / XinhuaNet / Zimbabweelection.com)

Forbes – Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in Africa

This op-ed aims to break down myths surrounding Chinese SOEs’ activities in Africa. It touches on investment patterns and effects, environmental and labour concerns, and the development of corporate governance standards.
(Forbes India)

BRICS Bank could be ready next year

After a recent meeting with his South African counterpart, Brazil’s foreign minister announced that the statutes of the BRICS bank could be concluded in 2014. How projects would be distributed and where the bank would be based remain key sticking points however.
(The Jakarta Globe)

This news roundup has been collected on behalf of the China and Brazil in African Agriculture (CBAA) project. For regular updates from the project, sign up to the CBAA newsletter.