Ndiho Media,LLC.

By Paul Ndiho
October 18, 2011

In Africa, more than 70% of the population earns their livelihood through farming. Most of these are small scale farmers who may need help and solutions from the feed industry. U.S.-based Novus International is a global developer of animal health and nutrition programs, and is working in some African countries.
One of Novus International’s goals in Africa is to provide farmers with accessible feeding solutions for livestock such as poultry, cattle, and pigs. Thad Simons, President and CEO, says it’s critical that Novus empowers African farmers to build their feeding and animal care capacity.
“Certainly having a reference lab in Kenya will be very important for the whole development of the live stock industry. So we’ve actually worked with small scale farmers, changed some packaging sizes to address the needs of the small scale farmers; we’re also working, starting to work, with an organization in Kenya that’s going to set up small veterinary clinics across the country so we can start making sure that our products and technologies can reach the small scale farmers.”

Africa’s demand for food is expected to increase exponentially this century, and the continent may soon need twice the amount of food it produces today. Novus CEO Simons says the company attempts to gear its products towards the needs of the farmer.
“We have local companies that are representing us in the market but we want to have a technical person there, either a veterinarian or animal nutritionist that really can understand what the local farmers’ needs are, what are the local conditions, what are they actually experiencing in terms of access to raw materials, to grains, to what needs to go into the animals feeds and how we can help them to use our solutions and our technologies in the best ways that suits them.”
Bayella Thiam, Africa director at Novus, says high-quality research can help turn subsistence farming into income-generating enterprises.
“I think one of the key points is that we cannot deal with agribusiness or livestock without thinking about the small scale farmers. So our solution today is built for commercial guys around the world. In Africa, the large part is small scale farmers. That means we need to think about the packaging the message in small size.”
Thiam also says that there is a need to write the brochures in their local language so that farmers can understand what they need to know.
Analysts say improving small scale agriculture is fundamental to the economic growth of emerging markets, and access to affordable livestock inputs and technologies is essential.

By Paul Ndiho
October 6, 2011

Uganda’s coffee earnings have risen 63 percent in the last year, with harvests boosted by good weather. The East African nation, which cultivates primarily Robusta coffee, is one of Africa’s leading exporters of coffee and its earnings are a key revenue source.
Uganda’s Coffee Development Authority, UCDA, reports the country earned over 400 million dollars between October 2010 and August of this year, nearly doubling earnings from the same period of 2009.
The government-run agency says the surge in earnings is due to good weather and the rise in coffee prices on global market.
Over 300 thousand bags of coffee were shipped from Uganda in August, bringing total bean exports this season to close to 3 million bags.

David Barry is with Kyagalanyi coffee exporters.
“I think the weather conditions have been generally favorable but quite interestingly they have prompted a fly crop (secondary crop) in certain growing areas we had not factored in our numbers, the prices have indeed been very good on the world market, coffee prices for both Arabica and Robusta have increased tremendously, so the income for the Ugandan farmer has in real terms doubled over the last twelve to eighteen months”.
Southern Uganda accounts for nearly half of the country’s total coffee production.
Next year, Uganda will distribute coffee to farmers who may want to experiment with new varieties that can withstand drought.
Angelo Mukasa, is with the Kyagalanyi coffee research centre in central Uganda. He says the centre provides assistance to Uganda’s coffee farmers, who are now harvesting this year’s crop:
” We have at least three thousand registered farmers. We extend to them good agricultural practices and of course the good husbandry for coffee and also for post harvest handling the quality is good enough, so that ensures that we get a better market for our produce,”
Charles Mubiru is a coffee farmer in the Kayunga district. He says small Ugandan coffee farmers are still struggling:
“Coffee farming has improved greatly and the returns are good. Except that I think there is capacity to produce more, the problem is the taxes on farm inputs. We have pests that destroy our coffee crops, but there are no pesticides to treat our crops. We plead with the government to reduce taxes on farm inputs, so many people would love to grow coffee.”
Two years ago, Uganda launched the first coffee packaging factory in Africa which processes the beans for export. Uganda’s long time leader General Museveni notes that the processing plant brings more money to farmers.
The same kilograms from which you are getting one dollar as beans, once it is processed this way — roasting and grinding — then the price of the same coffee goes up from one dollar to fifteen dollars. That is why I have been telling my European friends that we are the donors; we are the ones donating to you,”
However, some Ugandan farmers worry that they will remain at the mercy of the middle-men.
“We are hoping that they would be decent enough to share the additional profits with us, because if they come here they will see the high quality of coffee we have, if we get the benefits of the improved price, it will motivate us to improve the quality of our coffee so that they (roasters) fetch better profits in the market,”
Analysts say Uganda is among the top largest coffee producers in the world and could become be the largest producer in East Africa.

By Paul Ndiho
September 28, 2011
The International Monetary Fund is forecasting solid economic growth for Sub-Saharan African countries. Their prospects are high, but a slowing global economy poses some risks. The IMF says the economic crisis in the developed world, could become a crisis for developing countries– and despite the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, growth prospects for Sub-Saharan Africa remain robust.
Recent economic developments are however expected to reduce the momentum. The downside risks to the current forecast are significant according to the IMF’s Director for Africa.
“Financial markets volatility and sharp slowdown in growth in advanced economies, it would affect Sub-Saharan Countries Of course by sub-doing the demand for the regions exports and private financial flows which have been significant in the region in the past couple years, therefore restricting in the regions integrated economies and the middle income countries in particular.”

Sayeh noted that in middle income countries like South Africa where unemployment is high and growth has been severely affected by the global economic crisis. Meanwhile, African Oil exporters are enjoying the fruits of their oil export because of the high prices. Despite this good news the IMF Africa director says there is a significant down side risk for the outlook on the global economy.
“Most low income countries have been doing well. One third of them are expected to grow by 6% this year but the poor households have been hit hard by the rising food and fuel prices and the famine that has devastated the Horn of Africa.”

Commonwealth Finance Ministers also met to discuss developing and emerging countries in the fields of international monetary funding and development finance. The group called on the international community to strengthen delivery and the use of aid in order to make it effective in creating jobs, improving livelihoods and combating poverty.
Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s Finance Minister noted that the manner in which aid is delivered may also impact domestic accountability of both partner and donor countries.
“It is generally accepted that we need to move away from Donor recipient relations to one where we encourage development partnerships and this is where even if these economies among the 54 nations of the commonwealth might be small and numerically on the margin, they are important potential sources of demand and growth as we go forward.”
Analysts say that prior to the crisis– and following more than a decade of steady growth and debt relief African economies have strengthened. But, now if the economic situation in high income countries continues to deteriorate significantly beyond what is currently envisaged in the baseline scenario– growth in Sub – Saharan countries might be downgraded beyond the current moderate slowdown.

By Paul Ndiho
September 27, 2011
The President South Sudan says his country needs to invest in massive infrastructure development, so the country is better interconnected. Salva Kiir, president of the world’s newest nation explains:
“Our people have been patient for a very long time and what they are expecting from us the people leading them today is service delivery. They need many things, they need education, they need health facilities, they need safe drinking water, they need food security and physical security and there must be security at home. They know that we’re taking measures to address all these things.
The South Sudanese President pointed out that while the country has abundant natural wealth, it must diversify its economy so that it is not too dependent on oil. He says that the ambition of the people of South Sudan “is to be able to transform their country into a regional agro- industrial powerhouse.”

“Oil is not a renewable source of revenue. It can be depleted at anytime in future but our main source of economy is agriculture. What we should do is to use the oil money that we have today to refuel the agriculture so that agriculture will become the backbone of South Sudan’s economy. We’re planning on that and we are going to do it.”
Security remains a key factor in ensuring the development of South Sudan. Mister Kiir emphasizes that his country is committed to peace both within its borders and with its neighbors. He says the issue of Abeyi will be resolved between the National Congress Party and the SPLM in South Sudan.
“I’m confident that we are going to resolve it. Abeyi is not part of the North and they cannot convince anybody. Even at the International court of arbitration, they were defeated there and they don’t have any legal argument on Abeyi. If they have any legal argument on Abeyi it maybe because of oil resources that were found in Abeyi and this is their problem. If there was no oil in Abeyi these people would have not even fought in Abeyi and they would have withdrawn a very long time ago.”
Last week while addressing the U-N General Assembly President Kiir called for a speedy resolution of the border demarcation issues with Sudan– and he also wants to begin serious negotiations between the two countries over economic issues, particularly arrangements over oil.

By Paul Ndiho, Washington D.C
September 21, 2012
As Gabon prepares itself to co-host the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations with Equatorial Guinea, a coordinated effort is underway to improve the country’s infrastructure. The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, which Gabon is co-hosting with Equatorial Guinea, requires new infrastructure. In Libreville, a new multi-million dollar Hospital and Cancer Research center is nearing completion. It is financed by an Australian based company, VAMED.
“This project is a new general hospital and a Cancer Institute that we have here together 15,000 square meters of which 1,400 square meters is for the Cancer Institute and the rest is for the hospital. The Cancer Institute will be operational and running in 2012 and hospital including all departments, cardiology, and operational theatre and so on will be running end of November 2011.The project will be finished in 5 weeks and we have planned to hand over the keys of the project at end of November 2011.”

Meanwhile, across from this new hospital, a football arena, the Sino-Friendship Stadium, is being built for Gabon by the Chinese government.
“Chinese construction workers are putting final touches to this stadium that is going to be the place to be – come the next Africa Cup of Nations.”
Officials say this and other stadiums will be ready ahead of schedule. Overseeing this development is the new National Agency for Major Projects, with help from the US-based engineering company, Bechtel. Henri Ohayon is in charge of the construction projects.
“This project is approximately 140-150 million dollars. The stadium has around 40,000 seats, as explained today, it’s being designed to support and allow some of the best evacuation. If you see the construction you could see that each of the coolants aside one has 48 meters and the other one has 62 meters it’s like a bird whose coming to land and turning …that’s what we call coming from Asia to Africa.”
Despite having natural resources such as oil, timber and manganese, Gabon’s infrastructure is underdeveloped. The country’s transport links are in dire need for improvement. Paved roads, and inter-city connecting roads are scarce But earlier this year, a new luxury ferry – MS Bekelya – began service between Libreville and the second largest city of Port Gentile. The ferry is a joint investment between a Gabonese ferry Company, a U-S based company, and Norway. Captain Michael says this ship is the only one of its kind in the region.
“The name of this ship is MS Bekelya, it’s a high speed craft, we have two MT engines with 2700 horse power, the ship is made in Norway, and average speed is 32 knots and we take this craft from Port Gentile to Libreville, which is approximately 2.5 hours. We need 30 minutes to at least boat and un-boat the ship. On this ship we have 266 seats, 66 are VIP and business and 200 are economic class. The ship is 22 years old but very well maintained.”
Cutting 90 minutes off the previous journey time by an older ferry, the route is proving popular with both commuters and people in the city wanting a weekend getaway. Meanwhile, ferry service between Libreville and Port Mole is running six days a week and is expected to increase. Captain Michael says the MS Bekelya is one of the safest ferries in Gabon.
“When we are speaking about safety, this ship is okay. We have life rafts, we have complete safety equipment, fire equipment and we have everything that this kind of ship should have and even more…. Because like I told you, this ship came from Norway and Norway is top when we are speaking about safety because they have this big sailing tradition and this is very good.”
Analysts say that this ferry service will be well established ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, when the demand for seats on flights, trains and boats is likely to rise sharply.