About: African agriculture

Investing in small farmers, agroecology critical to get us out of current food crisis

Already battered by the climate crisis and COVID-19, Africa is now facing rising food prices in light of the war in Ukraine. Investing in agroecology and smallholder farmers is the only way out of the crisis, Joseph Mandinyenya and Ruchi Tripathi argue.  

Editor’s take: The EU must respond to Moscow’s food diplomacy challenge

Food diplomacy has already become the next front of the crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two countries account for 53% of the world’s trade in sunflower oil and 27% of its trade in wheat. The lessons from...

Commission: EU committed to guiding Africa in raising sustainable food standards

The EU "is there" for African farmers and food producers with development support should the increased European green agriculture standards create trade barriers, according to a Commission official.

Boosting climate smart agriculture through access to ripping technology

With soil health high on the policy agenda, EURACTIV took a look at how advances in tractor technology can help boost climate-smart agriculture and promote no-till agriculture through the lens of a project in East Africa.

Kenya divided over pesticides ban to align with EU Green Deal

The Kenyan farming community is divided over efforts by lawmakers to bring their regulations on pesticides in line with the EU’s green deal. Industry groups warn that a ban could wipe out over €1 billion of production.

Why investing in Africa’s livestock sector offers best returns for climate resilience

Asking Africa to reduce numbers of livestock to meet global climate goals, as one European negotiator suggested earlier this year, is not a solution to the climate change crisis, writes George Wamukoya.

EU-Africa partnership must reflect ‘realities of African agriculture’

Future agrifood partnerships between the EU and Africa take into account the realities of farming in Africa, especially in the context of a drive for a greener transition, agrifood stakeholders have warned.

CAP gets too much flak for effects on developing countries, says expert

Critics of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) for its effect on developing African countries have an exaggerated view of its importance outside Europe, although some specific areas and particular products remain a cause for concern, according to a CAP expert.

EU-Africa partnership needed for transformation of food systems, says experts

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the need for EU-African collaboration is more important than ever in the drive to strengthen and transform food systems, but care must be taken to make it an equitable partnership, experts have stressed.

Africa needs a Farm to Fork vision too, IFAD official says

Africa needs a 'Farm to Fork' vision to change its food systems in a more sustainable way and the EU can be at the centre of this transformation, according to a senior official of the UN fund for rural agriculture.

EU and Africa step up co-operation on agri-business amid pandemic

When the European Commission and African Union set up a joint rural Africa taskforce in May 2018, their priorities were to promote African food security, climate change adaption and investment in the continent’s agri-business. Its work towards those aims in African agri-business has been accelerated this year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s still time to change EU-Africa agenda, say activists

As policy-makers in Brussels and Addis Ababa plough ahead with plans for what is billed as an ambitious ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and Africa, civil society groups complain that they have been repeatedly shut out from having any influence over EU-African relations.

Botswana’s virus food prep puts long-term plans on hold

“Botswana has not been spared by the wave of COVID-19,” says Jimmy Opelo, Permanent Secretary at Botswana’s agricultural ministry, who revealed how his country has had to change its tack on farm policymaking due to the pandemic.

We need co-ordination to avoid a food security crisis, UN expert says

Preventing the coronavirus pandemic from morphing into a food security crisis is increasingly the focus of policy-makers. “Co-ordination of trade policy is the order of the day,” says Arif Husain, chief economist of the UN's World Food Programme. “This is a global crisis which requires a global solution.”

Sustainable agriculture must remain key priority in post-Cotonou negotiations 

Agriculture must be at the heart of the successor to the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the ACP community, writes Michael Hailu  

Mogherini: Europe and Africa can change global politics in a ‘revolutionary’ way

A new model of collaboration between the EU and Africa can change today’s dangerous turn of international relations, which have moved from “win-win” solutions and are now based on “zero-sum” games, EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said.

Bridging African agriculture’s financing gap

The European Commission and African Union set up a joint rural Africa taskforce in May, after agricultural co-operation was one of the key topics as the EU-Africa summit in Abidjan in November 2017.