Africa Archives | Farmtario

Esther Kimani (right) received the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation from the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2024 for developing the Early Crop Pest and Disease Detection Device. Photo: Royal Academy of Engineering

Solar dry, soldier fly, AI: Africans fight hunger with innovation

By Kim Harrisberg, Reuters August 2, 2024

Alongside container farms in South Africa cultivating soldier flies for animal feed, solar-powered fish and crop dryers in Tanzania and machine-learning pest detectors in Kenya, Africans are coming up with innovative solutions to overcome the effects of climate change on food production.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari speaks at the Dakar summit under the theme “Nourrir l’Afrique” (Feed Africa) hosted by the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission on Jan. 25, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Ngouda Dione)

Markets

Development partners commit US$30 billion to food production in Africa

Continent facing record-level hunger

By Bate Felix January 28, 2023

Dakar | Reuters — Development partners have committed US$30 billion to boost food production in Africa over the next five years, the president of the African Development Bank said on […] Read more

Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow’s Red Square on June 24, 2020. (File photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Crops, Markets

Putin ally warns agriculture supplies could be limited to ‘friends’

By Reuters April 2, 2022

Reuters — One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies warned on Friday that Russia, a major global wheat exporter, could limit supplies of agriculture products to “friendly” countries only, amid […] Read more

Canada shuts to seven African countries’ travelers

Latest COVID-19 variant spurs decision

By David Ljunggren November 27, 2021

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is closing its borders to foreign travelers who have recently been to seven southern African nations to help stop the spread of a newly identified […] Read more

File photo of a soybean plantation in Brazil. (Mailson Pignata/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops

More acres seen needed worldwide to meet mounting crops demand

U.S. acres may have already hit ceiling: AgResource chief

By Reuters October 19, 2021

Geneva | Reuters — Farmers need more space to grow crops to meet mounting demand for food and renewable fuel at a time of slowing growth in yields, consultancy AgResource […] Read more

David Kayi, a Hello Tractor engineer, installs an application on a John Deere 5503 tractor, using the Hello Tractor technology that connects farmers with vehicles’ owners, at a hay farm at Umande village in Nanyuki, Kenya. Photo: Reuters/Njeri Mwangi

Machinery, News

Deere taps tractor-hailing tech in bid to break ground in Africa

Low incomes, lack of credit hobble African mechanization

By Joe Bavier, Omar Mohammed May 29, 2020

Reuters – It’s ride-hailing, farm style. Deere and Co. is teaming up with the “Uber of tractors” in Africa and betting on a future where farmers summon machines with the […] Read more

Crops, Machinery, Markets

Deere taps tractor-hailing tech in bid to break ground in Africa

Low incomes, lack of credit hobble African mechanization

By Joe Bavier, Omar Mohammed February 25, 2020

Nanyuki, Kenya/Johannesburg | Reuters — It’s ride-hailing, farm style. Deere and Co. is teaming up with the “Uber of tractors” in Africa and betting on a future where farmers summon […] Read more

A spray plane flies over a swarm of desert locusts at Lemasulani village in Kenya’s Samburu County on Jan. 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Njeri Mwangi)

Crops, Machinery

Drones to be tested against Africa’s locust swarms

U.N.'s FAO testing drones to detect, spray pests

By Nita Bhalla February 11, 2020

Nairobi | Thomson Reuters Foundation — The United Nations is to test drones equipped with mapping sensors and atomizers to spray pesticides in parts of east Africa battling an invasion […] Read more

File photo of cattle seeking shade in Namibia. (Brytta/iStock/Getty Images)

Livestock

Namibia looks to import cattle as drought decimates herds

By Reuters January 21, 2020

Windhoek | Reuters — Namibian state-owned meat processing and marketing firm Meatco is in talks with neighbour Botswana to import cattle, as severe drought decimates local herds and threatens beef […] Read more

Eric Hakizimana, 27, poses with chickens at his home in eastern Rwanda on August 23, 2018.

News

Young entrepreneurs lend glamour to African agriculture

Africa has the world’s youngest population and 65 per cent of its uncultivated arable land

By Thin Lei Win November 15, 2018

Thomson Reuters Foundation – In a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, expertly navigating eastern Rwanda’s bumpy back roads in a white four-wheel drive, Dieudonne Twahirwa looks nothing like the stereotypical African […] Read more