Capital-intensive agriculture in Africa may boost food supply but could also cultivate hunger by William G. Moseley Corporate interests have hijacked African food and agricultural policy. They are behind a new green revolution for the continent that is pushing a capital-intensive approach with farms, supply chains and expanding international markets. This approach is a step backward to concepts of food security prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, Africans will remain hungry. Up until the early 1980s, international experts had laboured under the misperception that sufficient food supply—a function of homegrown production and net imports—was equivalent to food…
GGA Dev
The introduction of a property tax in Sierra Leone sees local governments gaining discretionary revenue In sub-Saharan Africa, property tax is rarely seen as a source of significant local revenue. As tax expert Charles Mou noted in a 1996 study of property tax in eastern and southern Africa, property taxation is “one of the most lucrative…yet least tapped sources of revenue to support urban government in Africa”. One reason often cited for the lack of such taxes in low-income countries is the high cost of administration. In 1991, William Dillinger, a noted commentator on tax reform stated: “In part… low…
Terror and violence are increasingly working together, and Africa will need a coordinated response to combat them
Angola’s new three-horse race. by Louise Redvers For four decades, two movements in Angola have battled it out, first in a 27- year civil war and then at the polls. But now, the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) have a new challenger: the Broad Convergence of Angolan Salvation (CASA-CE), mostly supported by voters who are too young to remember the civil war or who want a new voice in politics. Abel Chivukuvuku, a one-time UNITA stalwart, who was close to its notorious late leader Jonas…
Africa: mining Across the continent, a wave of mining policy adjustments is impacting Africa’s investment attractiveness By Jade Davenport Mining, by nature, is an exploitative, dangerous and environmentally damaging activity. In any country’s economy it requires stringent regulation to ensure that minerals are mined responsibly and traded ethically, that host countries receive fair profit share of their natural wealth, that just compensation and opportunities are provided to impacted communities, that worker safety is prioritised, and that the environmental impact is minimised. Government mining policy is therefore a fundamental determinant, next to geological and economic considerations, of investors’ decisions in assessing…
Capital-intensive agriculture in Africa may boost food supply but could also cultivate hunger by William G. Moseley Corporate interests have hijacked African food and agricultural policy. They are behind a new green revolution for the continent that is pushing a capital-intensive approach with farms, supply chains and expanding international markets. This approach is a step backward to concepts of food security prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, Africans will remain hungry. Up until the early 1980s, international experts had laboured under the misperception that sufficient food supply—a function of homegrown production and net imports—was equivalent to food…
Success in Africa needs innovative business models that take account of the way people interact in Africa, not only new technology
Robert Mugabe may see victory again as Zimbabwe’s opposition fails to stand united. by Ray Ndlovu Sitting in his Bulawayo office, Welshman Ncube is preparing for Zimbabwe’s presidential elections, expected in 2013. He heads the smaller Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and rules out the possibility of uniting with the rival MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the current prime minister. “Our values and the things that we stand for are different and there is no way that we can talk of unity with Tsvangirai’s MDC,” Mr Ncube said. Labelled a rookie by political opponents, Mr Ncube, 51, will be…
Democratic Republic of Congo: M23 rebels surrender A three-pronged approach to end the cycle of violence in DRC Lessons can be drawn from the recent surrender of the M23 rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The group finally ended its 18-month struggle last November 5th because it was confronted by a better-organised and trained national army, beefed-up United Nations support with a mandate to attack, and international pressure on the group’s supporters, Rwanda in particular, to stop aiding the group. For two decades the eastern DRC has been a region of intractable conflict and weak…
ANGOLA: Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda Can an overseas stock market help FLEC on the road to Cabindan independence, or is this latest move yet another sign of a fractured and dying struggle? by Louise Redvers Resources have long been the source of conflict in Africa. Battles for control of resource-rich territories take many shapes and—often devastating to people on the ground—are waged on many fronts. Now separatists in Angola’s oil-rich province of Cabinda have turned to stock markets overseas to fund their struggle by selling rights to future mineral assets they hope to own one…
