Economy
Africa’s Food, Agric Market to Hit $1tr by 2030—Adesina
By Dipo Olowookere
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has made a strong case for increased American and global investments to help unlock Africa’s agriculture potential.
He made the remarks as the Distinguished Guest Speaker, at the USDA’s 94th Agriculture Outlook Forum in Virginia on Thursday, on the theme The Roots of Prosperity.
According to Mr Adesina, “For too long, Agriculture has been associated with what I call the three Ps – pain, penury, and poverty. The fact though is that agriculture is a huge wealth-creating sector that is primed to unleash new economic opportunities that will lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.”
Participants at the Forum included the Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue; Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Stephen Censky; President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Kenneth Quinn; Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Robert Johansson; Deputy Chief Economist, Warren Preston; and several top level government officials and private sector operators.
Mr Adesina appealed to the US private sector to fundamentally change the way it views African agriculture.
“Think about it, the size of the food and agriculture market in Africa will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. This is the time for US agri-businesses to invest in Africa,” he said.
“And for good reason: Think of a continent where McKinsey projects household consumption is expected to reach nearly $2.1 trillion and business-to-business expenditure will reach $3.5 trillion by 2025. Think of a continent brimming with 840 million youth, the youngest population in the world, by 2050,” he added.
The US government was urged to be at the forefront of efforts to encourage fertilizer and seed companies, manufacturers of tractors and equipment, irrigation and ICT farm analytics to ramp up their investments on the continent.
“As the nation that first inspired me and then welcomed me with open arms, permit me to say that I am here to seek a partnership with America: a genuine partnership to help transform agriculture in Africa, and by so doing unlock the full potential of agriculture in Africa, unleash the creation of wealth that will lift millions out of poverty in Africa, while creating wealth and jobs back home right here in America,” the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate told the Forum.”
Mr Adesina told more than 2,000 delegates that the African Development Bank is spearheading a number of transformative business and agricultural initiatives.
“We are launching the Africa Investment Forum, as a 100% transactional platform, to leverage global pension funds and other institutional investors to invest in Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 7-9.”
The World Bank, International Finance Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, are partnering with the African Investment Forum to de-risk private sector investments.
The African Development Bank is also pioneering the establishment of Staple Crop Processing Zones in 10 African countries, that are expected to transform rural economies into zones of economic prosperity and save African economies billions of dollars in much needed foreign reserves.
“We must now turn the rural areas from zones of economic misery to zones of economic prosperity. This requires a total transformation of the agriculture sector. At the core of this must be rapid agricultural industrialization. We must not just focus on primary production but on the development of agricultural value chains,” Mr Adesina added. “That way, Africa will turn from being at the bottom to the top of global value chains.”
In his keynote address US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, said, “The U.S. Administration has removed more restrictive regulations to agriculture than any other administration. Our goal is to dismantle restrictions that have eroded agricultural business opportunities.”
“Agriculture feeds prosperity and accounts for 20 cents of every dollar. As global prosperity grows, it in turn fuels the demand for more nutritious food and business opportunities,” he added.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Adesina informed participants about a new $1 billion initiative, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) to unlock Africa’s huge potential in the savannahs.
Expressing strong optimism that the future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will come from agriculture, Mr Adesina said:
“Together, let our roots of prosperity grow downwards and bear fruit upwards. As we do, rural Africa and rural America will brim with new life, much like I witnessed in Indiana, during my time as a graduate student in America. Then, we will have changed the 3 ‘Ps’ to – Prosperity, Prosperity and Prosperity!”
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited have continued to show excitement for the full-year earnings of companies on the exchange so far.
On Friday, Customs Street further appreciated by 1.01 per cent as more organization released their financial statements for the 2025 fiscal year.
During the session, traders continued their selective trading strategy, with the energy sector going up by 2.47 per cent at the close of business despite profit-taking in the banking counter, which saw its index down by 0.11 per cent.
Yesterday, the insurance space grew by 2.16 per cent, the industrial goods segment expanded by 1.70 per cent, and the consumer goods industry jumped by 0.42 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,722.13 points to 171,727.49 points from 170,005.36 points, and the market capitalisation soared by N1.106 trillion to N110.235 trillion from the N109.129 trillion it ended on Thursday.
Business Post reports that there were 59 appreciating stocks and 19 depreciating stocks on Friday, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Omatek, Deap Capital, and NAHCO gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.64, N6.82, and N136.40 apiece, as Zichis and Austin Laz appreciated by 9.98 per cent each to close at N6.72 and N5.40, respectively.
Conversely, The Initiates depreciated by 9.74 per cent to N19.45, DAAR Communications slumped by 7.32 per cent to N1.90, United Capital crashed by 6.55 per cent to N18.55, Coronation Insurance lost 5.71 per cent to quote at N3.30, and First Holdco shrank by 5.53 per cent to N47.00.
The activity chart showed an improvement in the activity level, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals up by 33.77 per cent, 93.27 per cent, and 10.63 per cent, respectively.
This was because traders transacted 953.8 million shares worth N43.1 billion in 51,005 deals compared with the 713.0 million shares valued at N22.3 billion traded in 46,104 deals a day earlier.
Fidelity Bank was the most active with 92.4 million units sold for N1.8 billion, Chams transacted 69.2 million units valued at N310.9 million, Deap Capital exchanged 59.1 million units worth N382.7 million, Access Holdings traded 57.2 million units valued at N1.3 billion, and Tantalizers transacted 48.6 million units worth N228.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira contracted against the United States Dollar on Friday by 13 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to N1,366.19/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) from the previous day’s value of N1,366.06/$1.
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday by N2.37 to N1,857.75/£1 from the N1,855.38/£1 it was traded on Thursday, and further depleted against the Euro by 57 Kobo to close at N1,612.52/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,611.95/€1.
In the same vein, the exchange rate for international transactions on the GTBank Naira card showed that the Naira lost N8 on the greenback yesterday to N1,383/$1 from the previous day’s N1,375/$1 and at the black market, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Dollar at N1,450/$1.
FX analysts anticipate this trend to persist, primarily influenced by increasing external reserves, renewed inflows of foreign portfolio investments, and a reduction in speculative demand.
In the short term, stability in the FX market is expected to continue, supported by policy interventions and improving market confidence.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves experienced an upward trajectory, increasing by $632.38 million within the week to $46.91 billion from $46.27 billion in the previous week.
The Dollar appreciation this week appears to be largely technical, serving as a correction to the substantial losses experienced from mid- to late January.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market slightly appreciated, with Bitcoin (BTC) climbing near $68,000, up nearly 5 per cent since hitting $60,000 late on Thursday after investor confidence in crypto’s utility as a store of value, inflation hedge, and digital currency faltered.
The sell-off extended beyond crypto, with silver plunging 15 per cent and gold sliding more than 2 per cent. US stocks also fell.
The latest recoup saw the price of BTC up by 4.7 per cent to $67,978.96, as Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 6.3 per cent to $2,021.10, and Ripple (XRP) surged by 9.5 per cent to $1.42.
In addition, Solana (SOL) grew by 7.3 per cent to $85.22, Cardano (ADA) added 6.1 per cent to trade at $0.2683, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 5.4 per cent to $0.0958, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 5.2 per cent to $53.50, and Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 2.3 per cent to $637.79, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices settled higher on Friday as traders worried that this week’s talks between the US and Iran had failed to reduce the risk of a military conflict between the two countries.
Brent crude futures traded at $68.05 a barrel after going up by 50 cents or 0.74 per cent, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $63.55 a barrel due to the addition of 26 cents or 0.41 per cent.
Iran and the US held negotiations in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Friday to overcome sharp differences over Iran’s nuclear programme.
It was reported that the talks had ended with Iran’s foreign minister saying negotiators will return to their capitals for consultations and the talks will continue.
Regardless, the meeting kept investors anxious about geopolitical risk, as Iran wanted to stick to nuclear issues while the US wanted to discuss Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region.
Any escalation of tension between the two nations could disrupt oil flows, since about a fifth of the world’s total consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, as does Iran, which is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to Reuters, Iran objected to the presence of any US Central Command (CENTCOM) or other regional military officials, saying that would jeopardise the process.
The current confrontation was sparked by more than two weeks of unrest in Iran that saw authorities launch a deadly crackdown that killed thousands of civilians and shocked the world. As reports of the deaths trickled out of Iran, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran if any of the tens of thousands of protesters arrested were executed.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s planned oil exports could fall by as much as 35 per cent this month via its main route through Russia, as the country’s top oil company, Tengiz oilfield, slowly recovers from fires at power facilities in January.
ING analysts have pointed out Iran’s neighbour, Iraq, and a disagreement with the US as another bullish factor for oil prices. It seems Iraqi politicians favour Mr Nouri al-Maliki as the country’s next Prime Minister, but the US thinks Mr al-Maliki is too close to Iran. President Trump has already threatened the oil producer with consequences if he emerges as PM.
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