AGCO announces new joint venture company to manage its brands in Zambia

By Friday Phiri

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - AGCO, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment has appointed a new Joint Venture company between South Africa’s Barloworld and Germany’s BayWa as its national distributor for Zambia.

The Joint Venture between Barloworld and BayWa will be responsible for sales and support for AGCO’s Challenger and Massey Ferguson brands of farm machinery.

Fighting fake seeds to save food security

Busani Bafana

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - Food security begins with good seed, which has become the farmers' Holy Grail. African smallholder farmers prioritise how they select, save and use seed because it determine the quality and quantity of their harvest, especially now with a changing farming environment.

But farmers' good judgement is never foolproof against fake seed, a growing nightmare for farmers and a threat to the seed industry which each year loses millions of dollars in potential sales.

Press Statement

Africa’s climate action pledges show commitment to a fair and binding deal in Paris

NAIROBI, Kenya,(02/10/2015) Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance says:

“As of October 1, 47 out of 54 African countries have submitted their national plans for the UN climate deal (INDCs.) Africa’s vast and environmentally diverse landscape and coastal areas mean that each of its country’s climate action plans vary widely and can include comprehensive emission reduction plans, sectoral targets, policy frameworks, regulations and other tools such as carbon markets, subsidies and incentives.

COP 21 Paris: Ghana will need $22.6 billion to implement its climate actions

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

 

Ghana needs $22.6 billion in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its climate mitigation and adaptation actions.

The country’s 31 programme of actions will drive the strategic focus of a “10-year post-2020 enhanced climate action plan” that would be developed after the 21^st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris.

NEWS RELEASE: Fertiliser companies dominate talks on climate change and agriculture, says new report

"Exxons of agriculture" should be kept out of Paris COP21


Fertiliser companies are among the world's top climate villains, a new report from GRAIN asserts. Their products could be responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, not to mention the damage wreaked on waterways, soils and the ozone layer. But policies to transition agriculture out of its current dependence on chemical fertilisers are being undermined by the fertiliser industry's lobby efforts.

Zambia targets one million hectares of farm block irrigation for youth-led agriculture development

By Friday Phiri

AGRF Opening ceremony in Lusaka, Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - “Growth in the agriculture sector is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors”, declared Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya, during the official opening of the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Lusaka.

And it seems the host country; Zambia is already in the process of ‘walking the talk on youth and women’ by embarking on a massive youth led agriculture development programme.

Changements climatiques Le Cameroun prépare la Cop 21

Par Rosine NkonlaAzanmene

En prélude au rendez-vous de Paris en fin d’année 2015, le ministre camerounais de l’environnement, de la Protection de la nature et du développement durable, Hélé Pierre, a présidé à Yaoundé en partenariat avec l’AFD,un atelier national de validation technique des travaux relatifs à la contribution  du Cameroun dans le cadre de la Convention cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques.