ZANZIBAR - Organic Denmark is financing a three-year project that accords small scale farmers a commercial opportunity to export organic fruits and vegetables to European countries. The project has an aim of promoting development of organic farming and production in Zanzibar while extending their market reach beyond the domestic boundaries. IPP media reports the funding…
UK - The British grocery store Tesco has announced plans to ditch ‘Best Before’ dates from its own label fruit and vegetables as part of the supermarket’s move to reduce the amount of edible food going into waste and eventually landfill. These include almost 70 fruit and vegetable lines for apples, potatoes, tomatoes, lemons and…
NIGERIA - Nigeria may face tomato, rice and onion shortages next year, following the continued shut down of Tiga Dam in Kano State, The Nation has learnt. The dam provides irrigation to Hadejia and to areas as far as Nguru and Gashua in Borno and Yobe states. Nigeria produces 65 per cent of all the…
NIGERIA - Stakeholders in the agriculture sector say Nigeria is yet to feel the impact of the tomato policy six months after it was put in place by the Federal Government. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders told participants at Agra Innovate West Africa forum on Tuesday in Lagos that Nigerians…
WORLD - The global sales of groceries through e-commerce platforms grew by 30% in the 12 months to March 2017, according to a new report by Kantar Worldpanel. A report published last year revealed China’s online FMCG market has reached a value of more than $25.3 billion, making it worth more than the American and…
SOUTH AFRICA – The 2017/18 table grape crop will likely be marginally above the 5-year average of about 57.9 million cartons, according to the SA Table Grape Industry (Sati). Its first crop estimate is between 58.9 million and 63 million cartons. According to Sati, the early production regions, namely the northern provinces as well the…
INDIA - The Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Coca-Cola India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding towards investing in the agri-ecosystem of the country. In this agreement signed at the World Food India, The Coca-Cola Company, its bottling partners and its fruit suppliers and processors in India, will contribute US$1.7billion in the agri ecosystem…
GHANA - Ghanaian farmers can now resume export of all plant commodities to the European Union (EU) market from January 1, 2018, following the European Commission’s decision on October 31, to lift the current ban on commodities from Ghana. A release from the European Union Delegation to Ghana copied to the Ghana News Agency in…
SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa has suspended exports of citrus to the EU following the detection of black spot. This comes at a time when the country’s agricultural sector is dealing with the fallout from a prolonged drought. The Western Cape, which produces more than 50% of SA’s agricultural exports, has been particularly hard hit.…
UK – Mackays, a Scottish marmalade and jam producer, has announced a US$4.5 million expansion to its site in Angus, Scotland, seeing its business premises growing by 50%. The expansion, which is set to begin in January 2018, will allow the company to introduce new product lines into the existing factory as well as create…
