The devastating effect of the drought in Namibia is clearly illustrated in the Namibia Agricultural Union’s (NAU) first quarter review for 2019.

The Paramount Chief of the Ndiweni people in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland province, Chief Nhlanhla Felix Ndiweni, has condemned the government’s latest eviction of white farmers in that country.

Agri-technology company Devenish Nutrition, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has announced a
£1,7 million (about R32 million) investment in agri-services company Sidai Africa based in Kenya.

The Zimbabwean government’s decision to compensate white commercial farmers who lost their land as part of former president Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme was precipitated by pressure from the international community, according to Dr Johan Willemse, independent agricultural economist.

A group of former commercial farmers in Zimbabwe recently lodged a R1,9 billion compensation claim against the South African government and presidency for presiding over the dissolution of the South African Development Community’s [SADC] regional human rights court, the SADC Tribunal.

If countries in Africa had biosafety risk assessment systems in place it would open up opportunities for trade in genetically modified (GM) crops on the continent.

Governments and international aid organisations are still trying to take stock of the full extent of the damage caused by Cyclone Idai, which recently tore through central Mozambique and parts of neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi, resulting in devastating flooding across the region.

The Namibian Dare to Care Disaster Fund is currently standing at R2,2 million. Ryno van der Merwe, president of the Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU), said the fund had made it possible to subsidise more than 40 000 bags of animal feed to date.

Solidaridad Network Trust, an international organisation working towards achieving sustainable regional production of agricultural commodities, has announced that it would be expanding its programme for smallholder sugar cane producers to other countries in Southern Africa.

The rise in global food insecurity is a serious cause for concern, given the ever increasing global population, especially on the African continent.