Economy
Africa Urged To Prioritize Mechanized Farming
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Limited use of improved technology is a major reason for low agricultural productivity across Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said at the ongoing African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Nairobi.
“Low use of technology is partly why Africa continues to be a net importer of food ,” Chiji Ojukwu, the AfDB Director for Agriculture and Agro-Industry stated Tuesday, adding that over 60 percent of the continent’s land has irrigation potential, yet only five percent of it is under irrigation.
Speaking at a session on “Agriculture Infrastructure, Technology and Mechanization,” Ojukwu said it was impossible for Africa to be competitive while its farmers were still spending too much time tilling acres of land manually. “We cannot feed Africa with this kind of agriculture. We must mechanize. Mechanization of agriculture is imperative. Let us do what we can to push this agenda,” he stressed.
Statistics from the AfDB indicate that African farmers have 10 times fewer mechanized implements per farm area than farmers in other developing regions and access has not grown as quickly as in other regions.
Nigeria has embarked on a pilot project to provide tractors and fertilizer to farmers with the aim of boosting agricultural production. Abdullahi Abubakar, the Deputy Director for Engineering and Mechanization in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said his department has partnered with Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHEs), and is currently working with 110 centres to provide services to smallholder farmers. “Mechanization makes the farmer more efficient, displacing unskilled labour and allowing the farmer to till a large parcel of land over a short time,” he said.
The African Green Revolution Forum saw the AfDB reiterate its commitment to supporting its regional member countries to create AEHEs, as well as providing concessional debts to be on-lent for equipment hiring and purchasing through commercial banks.
But most important, as with mechanization, is solving Africa’s water problem. Experts say the continent is facing diminishing water supplies, thus making irrigation a challenge. According to the World Bank, water scarcity can translate into growth-rates decline as much as 6 percent of GDP by 2050 as a result of water-related losses in agriculture, among others.
“Mechanization starts with water management,” said Patrick Nduati Mwangi, Principal Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation. He cited the Government’s efforts to irrigate a 10,000-acre model farm in the arid coastal region in order to boost food security.
The use of Information and communications technology (ICT) was mentioned as pertinent to Africa’s agricultural transformation, and is seen as a tool to woo the youth into entrepreneurship in agriculture (‘agri-preneurship’).
“The youth are not finding agriculture interesting because there is a gap which needs to be filled by information. The youth can bridge this gap by utilizing applications that provide information on farming methods, disease control, soil improvement technologies and market opportunities,” Gift Mafuleke, a youth farmer from South Africa, told delegates.
Already the AfDB is rolling out its ENABLE (Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Employment) Youth initiative, in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
The program seeks to bolster youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and agri-business. The initiative will see the Bank train the next generation of agriculture entrepreneurs, also referred to as ‘agri-preneurs’, in several countries, and provide them with seed money through banks to finance their bankable business plans.
ENABLE Youth is also seen as an innovative initiative to address youth unemployment through agriculture. The initiative, under Feed Africa, the Bank’s Strategy for African Agricultural Transformation during the period 2016-2025, will embark on a number of approaches aimed at responding to the challenges of technology and mechanization.
These include: increasing investment to disseminate proven technologies for agricultural productivity improvement through the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation initiative (TAAT); establishing a facility for on-farm mechanization leasing; investing in infrastructure and training to reduce on-farm and post-harvest losses; scaling-up and replicating innovative models to organize and aggregate farmers; accelerating and coordinating development of enabling hard infrastructure (energy, water, and logistics); building market centres and associated service infrastructure; and launching large scale farmer e-registration systems.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.26 per cent growth was achieved by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday on the back of sustained bargain-hunting by investors.
This happened despite a pocket of profit-taking, with industrial goods losing 0.63 per cent and the energy index shedding 0.05 per cent.
But the insurance space increased by 2.02 per cent, the banking counter appreciated by 1.48 per cent, the commodity sector improved by 0.48 per cent, and the consumer goods segment rose by 0.03 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 383.71 points to 149,842.82 points from 149,459.11 points and the market capitalisation jumped by N244 billion to N95.525 trillion from N95.281 trillion.
The market breadth index remained positive after the bourse finished with 38 price gainers and 23 price losers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
The quartet of First Holdco, Lasaco Assurance, Veritas Kapital, and Prestige Assurance gained 10.00 per cent to quote at N39.60, N2.75, N1.76, and N1.65, respectively, while Mecure Industries grew by 9.92 per cent to N50.40.
Conversely, Living Trust Mortgage Bank lost 10.00 per cent to close at N3.15, International Energy Insurance dropped 9.92 per cent to trade at N2.27, McNichols shrank by 6.90 per cent to N2.97, Omatek decreased by 6.84 per cent to N1.09, and Chams dipped by 6.41 per cent to N2.92.
The activity level witnessed a significant surge at midweek, with Ecobank trading 5.3 billion units for N168.7 billion.
Further, First Holdco sold 108.2 million units worth N4.2 billion, Sterling Holdings exchanged 87.3 million units valued at N606.2 million, FCMB transacted 74.3 million units worth N783.6 million, and Access Holdings sold 41.5 million units for N841.4 million.
At the close of trades, market participants traded 5.9 billion units valued at N216.2 billion in 25,205 deals compared with the 1.0 billion units worth N21.8 billion traded in 23,701 deals a day earlier, showing a rise in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 490.00 per cent, 891.74 per cent, and 6.35 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, December 17, by N3.67 or 0.25 per cent, closing at N1,455.49/$1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N1,451.82/$1.
Also, the local currency weakened against the Euro in the official market at midweek by 98 Kobo to close at N1,706.72/€1 versus the previous session’s price of N1,705.74/€1, but improved against the Pound Sterling by 75 Kobo to trade at N1,943.28/£1 compared with the N1,943.98/£1 it traded a day earlier.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency lost N3 against the greenback to finish at N1,463/$1 versus N1,460/$1 and in the parallel market, it remained unchanged at N1,475/$1.
Thin US dollar inflows from exporters, non-bank corporate, foreign portfolio investors and absence of immediate intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to strengthen supply triggered fresh pressure.
This is coming off the back of decline in inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market which decreased to $716.3 million last week from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
The intervention comes as the CBN expect inflows from Detty December to alleviate need for FX demand, but exorbitant local prices may be keeping spending at bay.
Regardless of the seasonal demand, positive FX support for the local currency through 2025 signals a deliberate action to ensure the local currency maintains the trading range amidst growing external reserves. Latest data showed that gross external reserves position advanced to $45.47 billion, reflecting a 11.2 per cent Year-to-Date (YTD) gain.
In the cryptocurrency market, there was selling pressure as traders liquidated positions amid a short-rally, leading Litecoin (LTC) to slip by 5.2 per cent to close at $75.12m, as Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.0 per cent to $0.3619, and Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to finish at $0.1247.
In addition, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.7 per cent to $1.83, Solana (SOL) crashed by 4.1 per cent to $122.62, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 3.9 per cent to $2,826.62, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 3.4 per cent to $833.07, and Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled by 0.5 per cent to sell at $86,436.66, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices rallied by more than 1 per cent on Wednesday after the United States President, Mr Donald Trump, ordered a blockade of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela.
Brent crude settled at $59.68 a barrel after chalking up 76 cents or 1.3 per cent, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $55.94 a barrel, up 67 cents or 1.2 per cent.
Mr Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned tankers heading to or departing from Venezuela, the latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income.
At least 34 US-sanctioned oil tankers with a history of carrying Venezuelan oil are currently at sea in the Caribbean.
Oil market participants said prices were rising in anticipation of a potential reduction in Venezuelan exports, although they were still waiting to see how Trump’s blockade would be enforced and whether it would extend to include non-sanctioned vessels.
The country, which is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has produced around 900,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate so far in 2025, accounting for roughly 1 per cent of the total global supply.
Venezuela could lose up to 500,000 barrels per day of its oil production, according to Reuters estimates. China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for roughly 4 per cent of its imports, with shipments in December on track to average more than 600,000 barrels per day.
While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others transporting the country’s oil and crude by way of Iran and Russia have not been sanctioned.
Crude oil inventories in the US decreased by 1.3 million barrels during the week ending December 12, after losing 1.8 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday.
The EIA’s data release follows figures by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories fell by a massive 9.2 million barrels.
For total motor gasoline (petrol), the EIA reported that inventories had increased by 4.8 million barrels, on top of the 6.4 million barrel gain in the week prior. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels, with production easing by 228,000 barrels daily to an average of 5.2 million barrels daily.
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