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AGRIFA 2011 Takes Off

The Minister of Trade and Industry launched AGRIFA 2011 (Agricultural Fair) with a call on investors to invest heavily in the agricultural sector of the Ghanaian economy. Another article about AGRIFA found here.

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Post-Harvest Management for Food Security tops FAO-Agriculture Dept meeting

A workshop was organized by the UN FAO in partnership with the Dept of Agriculture in The Gambia to discuss PHL. Particular focus was on grain cereals, pulses and oilseeds, “as these sectors constitute the predominant staples in many African communities in Africa.” The FAO and the Dept of Agriculture’s relationship has also recently led to the […]

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Why Food Price Volatility Doesn’t Matter

Food Price Volatility Directly affects farmers as investments in seed, technology, etc. are made before post-harvest price is known. Recent food hikes have pushed 44+ million into poverty (over half of developing countries’ income is spent on food). http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67981/christopher-b-barrett-and-marc-f-bellemare/why-food-price-volatility-doesnt-matter

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Fact Sheet: Increasing Prosperity in India, U.S., Africa

The United States and India will continue to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty, which includes collaborating on food security issues in Africa, and the US aiding India in improving farm-to-market practices in order to reduce PHL. The two countries will aid the countries of Liberia, Malawi, and Kenya to “improve agricultural production by sending participants from […]

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Stanbic Bank Supports Uganda’s Agriculture Sector

Stanbic Bank Uganda lending $25 million for the purpose of purchasing agricultural machinery and ag development. Result of participation at the “Agriculture Finance Conference in Kampala, Uganda late last month, where more than 300 international and local agriculture finance experts as well as central governors of 10 African central banks converged to discuss agriculture finance issues. […]

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Uganda: Technology to Take Advantage of High Food Prices Introduced

“Government has launched a technology-adaptation and transfer scheme, where local welders are to be employed to fabricate post-harvest agricultural production technology for use in the sector, which is said to have started attracting youth.” The other machines included maize cob sorters and sorghum threshers. The scheme is expected to improve on skills of local fabricators, especially […]

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Adoption and Impact of an Award-Winning Postharvest Technology: The ASI Rice Thresher in the Senegal River Valley

Powerpoint presentation on the adoption of the ASI rice thresher. Outlines technical details as well as impact, and suggests that the recommendation could make a significant change in Senegalese rice harvesting – helping it to achieve its goal of becoming self-sufficient. http://www.africarice.org/workshop/grisp-mech/PPT/Diagne,%20africarice.pdf

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Minister Calls for Better Packaging of Products

The Minister of Trade and Industry expressed dissatisfaction that packaging in Ghana is at its elementary stage, saying it contributed to product damage and postharvest loss. The Minister highlighted that packaging has been identified as “one of the major reasons for the failure of locally manufactured good to compete favorably with imported goods”. She spoke […]

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Mekong Delta’s Postharvest Rice Losses Hit $635m

The post-harvest loss of rice in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta remains high, at 13.7 per cent, or US$635 million for the year, according to the deputy director of the Institute of Agriculture Engineering and Post Harvest Technology. Speaking at a conference in Can Tho City on Thursday on preserving rice after harvesting in the Delta, […]

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Innovation of the Week: Empowering Impoverished Communities with Compatible Technologies

Compatible Technology International (CIT) focuses on developing small-scale technology for rural farmers to process crops and produce efficiently. The McKnight Organization (with SUA and ICRASAT) has given them a grant of $673,000 for a 4-year R&D project focusing on Malawi and Tanzania, focusing on adding value and reducing postharvest loss.  http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/empowering-impoverished-communities-with-compatible-technologies-post-harvest-loss-food-waste-storage-corn-hunger/  

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