By Meggie Morris

After years of relying on food handouts, Zimbabwe expects this year to have a substantial maize harvest. But the government must make the crop more attractive to farmers to further ease the perennial hunger problem.

For the first time in almost two decades, Zimbabwe will produce enough maize to be able to export the grain, the country’s Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday.

“Indications from the areas I have toured to date suggest that we are headed for a bumper harvest,” Mnangagwa said at a meeting in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.

Thanks largely to above-average rainfall in the 2016/2017 season and a government-funded initiative providing crop inputs to farmers, the projected maize yield will be upward of two million tons, the vice president said.

The so-called “targeted command agriculture” scheme is a nation-wide policy that provided Zimbabwe’s farmers with crop inputs, such as seed, chemicals and fertilizer, in order to plant maize ahead of the planting season late last year.

The scheme encouraged farmers to prioritize the country’s staple crop over commercial crops, like tobacco, that have a higher profit margin.

Out of the woods

The good news comes as Zimbabwe emerges from the region’s worst drought in at least two decades. The crippling famine affected more than a quarter of the country’s population.

Last year, President Robert Mugabe declared a state of emergency in many rural areas hit by the drought that also affected other southern African countries, including Zambia, Malawi and South Africa.

Earlier this year, after boreholes had dried up, dams depleted and tens of thousands of cattle were lost due to poor rainfall, Zimbabwe was then devastated by floods that swept through the southern parts of the country, compounding its problems.

The United Nations, which has been leading efforts to ease food insecurity in the former breadbasket of southern Africa, said that despite ongoing challenges Zimbabwe is now out of the woods.

“I would say, frankly speaking, there may be elements of food insecurity but there is no hunger,” said Bishow Parajuli, the UN resident coordinator in Zimbabwe. “We were facing lots of challenges when the drought came in, but the pro-activeness of the government and strong partnership addressed all issues of famine and hunger. Of course there is food insecurity, malnutrition issues and that is what we are working on at the moment. “

A new dilemma

After years of trying to figure out how to best import provisions, Zimbabwe is now facing new food challenges.

“Last October we were talking about the logistics of importing maize,” said Basil Nyabadza, the chairman of the Agricultural Rural Development Authority board. “Today, six months later, we are talking about to store grain produced in Zimbabwe.”

Nyabadza said the government must look beyond outsourcing food security, and towards the economic development of Zimbabwe’s own farmers and crops.

Encouraging farmers to stick with maize

The government now needs to find ways to make maize production more attractive to more of the country’s farmers, says Paul Zacharia, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union.

Although Zimbabwe has currently pegged local maize at $390 USD (365 euros) per metric ton, the price has not helped to attract farmers to the crop. Unless maize farming remains subsidized under the targeted command agriculture scheme, and the government starts paying farmers on time, farmers will stick to cash crops like tobacco and peas, Zacharia added.

“It is business. By default many, many farmers would be producing maize – if it means I am going to make money out of maize, then I am going to grow maize,” he said. “But if peas is paying me, out of the returns from my peas I can buy maize for a whole year and still continue to grow high value crops.”

To capitalize on this season’s projected maize haul, initiatives like targeted command agriculture should be implemented to maintain momentum, Zimbabwe’s vice president said.

“Going forward, it is vital that we deliberately develop strategies to enhance productivity by surpassing the tonnage achieved in the 2016/2017 summer planting season,” Mnangagwa said.

Columbus Mavhunga contributed to this article

Air Peace has condemned the attacks on its staff by some passengers in Abuja, Lagos, Calabar and other parts of the country.

The airline in a statement issued by its Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah, on Friday, warned that it would no longer condone members of the public endangering the lives of its workers.

It regretted that security agents had failed to halt the trend of members of the public invading airport facilities to attack airline workers.

“On Thursday, the winglet of one of our aircraft, which was being towed within the very limited space at the ramp of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos to position for departure, had a partial contact with the stabiliser of another of our aircraft.

” We subsequently declared the two aircraft unserviceable in line with our high safety standards.

“We were, therefore, compelled to adjust our schedules to close the gaps created by the two aircraft, which were scheduled to do 14 sectors.

“While we were trying to salvage the situation, some unruly passengers took the law into their own hands, preventing passengers from boarding and making it impossible for our aircraft to fly,” it said.

According to the statement, in Abuja, a former top government official, whose flight returned to Abuja when it could not land in Enugu due to the closure of the airport at 7pm, refused to disembark and incited others to join him in doing so.

The airline said the aircraft was eventually detained overnight in Abuja.

It said, “The action of the former federal lawmaker and other unruly passengers in our different stations worsened the already difficult schedule we were making effort to save.

“Some flights we were prepared to operate despite the challenge we were facing, were eventually cancelled.

“While we were making effort to resolve the challenge with the decision to commence our operations very early on Friday, a truck operated by Skyway Aviation Handling Company rammed into another of our aircraft at the Benin Airport and the aircraft was again declared unserviceable.”

The airline said that the aircraft involved in the Benin incident was scheduled to do seven sectors, including the Abuja-Benin service.

It said: “Given the development, we had no choice than to cancel our Abuja-Benin service and asked those who were willing to reschedule for Saturday to do so, while others should be immediately refunded.

“Some passengers, who were to fly with us from Abuja to Benin, however, went violent. They attacked our staff in Abuja and almost killed our duty manager.

“It took the intervention of Air Force personnel, who were reportedly called in by the airport authorities, to rescue our duty manager from the mob.

“But that did not prevent the passengers from destroying our facilities. The menacing passengers also prevented others from boarding their own flights, thereby complicating the situation.

“In Lagos, some other passengers attacked and almost killed our station manager. Also in Calabar, unruly passengers had an unchallenged day, preventing our aircraft from flying.”

The airline said it was surprising all the attacks could take place at the nation’s airports, a high security environment, without any challenge from security agents.

“The situation has, therefore, left us with no choice than to resort to our right of self-defence to prevent our staff from being killed.

“We can no longer tolerate unruly passengers maiming our staff simply because we have chosen to provide service in a very challenging environment.

” Security agencies must, therefore, rise to the occasion before our staff, who are also people’s children and parents, are killed.

“This is the least the government can do to prevent unpatriotic citizens from bringing the few surviving airlines in the country down,” it said.

NAN

By Thom Chiumia

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has appointed Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Dalitso Kabambe as new Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM).

Kabambe replaces Charles Chuka whose contract has expired.

A statement dated April 21, 2017 signed by Chief Secretary to the Government Lloyd Muhara says the appointment “is with immediate effect .”

Says the statement: ” His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, in exercise of the powers vested in him by DSection 6 of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (Amendment) Act of 2010, has appointed Dr Dalitso Kabambe, to the position of Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi.”

According to RBM sources, Chuka ‘s contract has not been renewed because of his reluctance to play around with bank rates and inflation figures just to construct a cosmetic picture of the government that is ably performing to impress donors.

Economist Kabambe once worked as budget director in the Ministry of Finance during the tenure of late president Bingu wa Mutharika.

He also oversaw part of the Cashgate era , looting at Capital Hill and several other illegal activities involving billions of kwachas from public funds.

Kabambe was replaced by Paul Mphwiyo when he was moved as director in Ministry of Foreign Affairs before being promoted as PS.

OPINIONBy James Wire Lunghabo

An article was published in Daily Monitor (March 14, 2017) about Butaleja District residents rejecting a Shs26b project. Before anyone can jump to conclusions and call these residents all sorts of names, it is important to realise that short of following recommended procedures when dealing with communities, even well-intentioned projects are likely never to see the light of day.

The Lwoba-Bwirya Irrigaton Scheme is located in the outlying areas of the Doho Rice Scheme, which was renovated a few years ago as Phase One.

The Phase Two involves upgrading the outlying rice schemes. Some of the benefits of this intervention are improved water management and increased yields.

In the second half of 2016, the Butaleja District administration begun pushing for the implementation of the second phase following readiness on the part of central government and the donor agency.

The approach taken by the authorities was crucial in shaping people’s perceptions. With very little information being put out about the planned project, the farmers were merely informed to get ready for the works.

The lack of clarity of issues gave room for the usual detractors to step in and fill the void.

Due to the guarded manner the district administration and some political leaders took when releasing information, the affected farmers became apprehensive hence making them suspicious of the intentions.

Matters were made worse by the previous intention to sell off the rice scheme to an unindentified investor in 2016. It took a concerted effort of multiple stakeholders to stop this. So, once bitten, twice shy.

At this juncture, one can safely conclude that the project has stalled. But why?

This gives us lessons to learn when it comes to the implementation of community projects. There are factors necessary for success of such initiatives and these include the following.

Engaging the right approach: Communities can be viewed from a deficit or a strength perspective. The former dwells on what is lacking while the latter focuses on what is going well.

For such a community of farmers, even when they may have shortcomings, it helps to approach them from the view of boosting what they are already doing well with a view of making it better. This is likely to ease acceptability, and steer them into addressing the shortcomings.

Community Readiness: The success of new initiatives hinges a lot on community readiness. Many times, while the government or donor may take their time to get ready, the expectation is that the recipients will always be ready to come on board. This is not the case, especially when you put their experience with previous projects into perspective.

Governance: There needs to be proper procedures in order to win the confidence of all the stake holders. Expecting the farmers to simply nod in acceptance when they have not been put in the know is wishful thinking. How are decisions made? By whom? Who is accountable and for what? What decisions shall be made and by who? The lack of clarity on governance was a key bone of contention.

Sense of co-ownership: Communities enjoy feeling part of the initiative if it is to be a success. The tendency of a few people in positions of responsibility tagging projects as “My Project” only breeds contempt. The administrators should know this better.

The jolt in project implementation has been escalated by the local politics pitting various players against each other. As a result, a lot of the noise is now focused on political ego massaging. This is unlikely to yield positive results in the near future.

The best way forward is for the district administration to step back from the current approach and come up with a new way.

The new approach should include the following:

– Publicising the project plan in its entirety leaving no stone unturned. This could be done through meetings with the farmers and their local leadership structures. Once there is clarity on what the project entails, then resistance is likely to melt away.

– The language used needs to change. There needs to be a switch from the combative authoritative language that belittles the farmers to an all-embracing tone.

– Integrate non-political forces in the engagement process. There are numerous non-political yet highly respected people whose word commands respect and belief. These can be utilised as project champions.

– Get the politicians especially Members of Parliament and the district chairman, to bury the hatchet and agree to cooperate.

In a recent arbitration meeting chaired by the Minister for Water and Environment, Mr Sam Cheptoris, it was agreed that the unwilling parties in the project be respected.

Only the areas that showed full reception for this investment are to be considered going forward.

It is sad though to find that a well-meaning project has been rejected by a section of farmers who stood to gain much more out of it all because of poor political guidance.

By Emmanuel Ntirenganya

The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) has intensified the fight against the fall armyworm that has devastated farmers’ crops, especially maize.

The pest has left farmers around the country worried about their harvests fuelling concerns about the country’s food security in the near future if the invasion is not contained fast enough.

The men and women in uniform, together with local leaders, yesterday, took the fight to Niboye Sector, Kicukiro District in Kigali.

The acting defence and military spokesperson, Lt Col René Ngendahimana, told The New Times that RDF’s intervention is nationwide.

He said that the Force joined the operation after realising that the pest poses a threat to national food security.

“It is our duty to deter such threats,” he said.

Joseph Twagirimana, a farmer in Niboye Sector, had his 2.5-ha cornfield attacked by the pest.

The father of two said he has faint hope for a harvest following the invasion of the armyworm caterpillar.

“Maize crops normally reach maturity in about three months, but as you can see, they have not yet developed the tassels,” he told The New Times from his field in Gatare cell, yesterday.

“I am suspecting I’ve lost up to 75 per cent of my investments,” Twagirimana said.

Nonetheless, the farmer was full of praise for the RDF.

“First, I thank God for having given us good leadership, a leadership that always thinks about the people. That the military has joined us in the fight against this attack is not to be taken for granted. We are very grateful to them,” he said.

He called on responsible institutions to conduct research into such outbreaks with view to ascertain the sources and causes of such pests and devising preventive measures.

“We apply fertiliser and do all we can to improve our produce,” he said. “But, as farmers, we are always vulnerable to such pests. We have no idea how to prevent them”.

Eric Ndabarishe, an agronomist for Niboye, said about eight hectares of maize in the sector had been affected and by the armyworm.

In Rwanda, the pest was first reported late February in Mushishito in Nyamagabe District.

And by March 13, it had spread to all the nine districts in Southern Province, according to Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).

In the previous months, the armyworm had been reported in several eastern and southern African countries.

On April 15, 2017, Rwanda Defence Force airlifted some 4,500 liters of the pyrethrum EWC+, a locally-made pesticide, to different parts of the country as the battle against the pest gathered momentum.

Rwanda Air Force choppers delivered pesticides to Karongi, Huye and Rwamagana districts, in Western, Southern and Eastern provinces, respectively.

But an army of officers, men and women of the RDF has also joined with residents, local leaders and experts across the country in spraying the pesticide to the affected plantations.

Besides maize, the pest is known to attack sorghum, wheat and rice.

All these crops are key foodstuff in Rwanda.

Horizon Sopyrwa/Agropy, a Ministry of Defence-affiliated firm, the manufactures of pyrethrum EWC+ has capacity to produce up to 4,000 litres of the pesticide a day, according to officials.

One to two litres of the pesticide can be used to spray a hectare.

Figures show that average maize produce per hectare had increased from about two tonnes in 2008 to five tonnes presently thanks to the government’s interventions, including fertiliser and subsidies.

But there are fears that these gains might be rolled back in the wake of the armyworm attack.

The pest multiplies quickly, experts say. An adult moth lays eggs on the surface of leaves which hatch after 2-3 days. The resultant larvae (caterpillar) feed on leaves causing severe damage to a crop.

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, the pest has been reported in 108 sectors (of the country’s 416 sectors) in 23 districts (out of 30 countrywide), attacking some 15,699 hectares of maize and sorghum.

The affected area represents 24.7 per cent of the total area on which maize and sorghum are grown countrywide.

Luanda — The construction of a railway heading to Luanda’s new International airport has started four months ago with ground-levelling works from kilometro 30 locality in Viana municipality to Bungo, Luanda Port.

The construction works are being carried out in three fronts and are set to be concluded within 18 months.

The Luanda’s new international airport will have the capacity to provide services to 10 million passengers per year, its partial conclusion and inauguration is due to take place this year.

By Bilal Derso

The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Institute said the country has secured 72 million USD over the last nine months of the fiscal year exporting meat to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

UAE and Saudi are major importers of Ethiopia’s fresh goat’s meat and mutton, Institute Deputy Director-General Khalifa Hussein told The Ethiopian Herald.

Khalifa further highlighted that 60% of Ethiopian meat makes it way to UAE while 38% to Saudi Arabia and the remaining 2% to other Middle East countries. He noted that the country exports up to 50 tons of meat daily to the two countries.

For his part, Abebaw Mekonen, Secretary-General of the Ethiopian Meat Producers-Exporters Association, said tangible tasks are executed to meet meat market standards equipping the sector with modern laboratory, chilled storage, loading docks and transport as well as certified abattoirs.

He said: “We have managed to make almost all abattoirs across the country implement ISO 22000 food safety management system that helps them meet international standards.”

Consultation forums have also been carried out with suppliers to ensure quality of cattle apart from capacity building trainings offered to workers in abattoirs, Abebaw said.

Besides regulating the market, Abebaw said his Association works in concert with Association of cattle suppliers and the Institute to ensure sustainable meet export.

Ethiopia targets to secure over 150 million USD from meat export in the current budget year.v

By Jan-Philipp Scholz

This Thursday a Milan court is to decide whether to go ahead with criminal proceedings against the oil giant Shell and its Italian partner ENI in connection with the purchase of the rights to a Nigerian oil field.

“Etete can smell the money. If, at 70 years old, he does turn his nose up at 1.2 bilion he is completely certifiable.”

That’s a quote from a confidential email which is embarrassing the oil giant Shell. For years, Shell had strenuously denied that it knew anything about the involvement of convicted money launderer and former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete in its purchase of the rights to one of Nigeria’s biggest oil fields.

But last week, the British environmentalist and anti-corruption organization, Global Witness, published confidential emails written by a Shell employee. This correspondence, which went right to the top of the Shell management hierarchy, proves that there was a direct link to the convicted Nigerian. After publication, Shell then decided that further clarification of its correspondence was needed. One had to negotiate with Etete “whether one wanted to or not,” it said.

Etete alleged to have distributed bribes

The case, which could soon be the focus of a corruption trial in Italy, dates back to 2011. Shell and the Italian oil giant ENI transferred $1.3 billion (1.2 billion euros) to a back account owned by the Nigerian government. With this payment, the two concerns wanted to secure the rights to one of Africa’s largest oil fields. But a huge share of the money did not end up in Nigeria’s state coffers, it went instead to a company called Malabu which was controlled by Dan Etete. The former oil minister under Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacaha was convicted of money laundering in a separate case in France in 2007.

According to Italian prosecutors and research conducted by Global Witness, Etete was obliged to hand over a substantial fraction of the bribes his company received to high-ranking Nigerian politicians and there is one name that crops up repeatedly. It is Goodluck Jonathan, the former Nigerian president.

On being contacted by DW, representatives from both Shell and ENI declined to be interviewed. Unlike Shell, however, ENI, continued to insist that it only dealt with the Nigerian government authorities and nobody else. In a written statement addressed to DW, the company said that “an independent inquiry commissioned by ENI found no evidence that ENI employees were engaged in corrupt deals in connection with financial transactions, or had any knowledge of such deals through third parties.”

Barnaby Pace from Global Witness views these remarks with suspicion. “Shell and ENI, its Italian partner, knew very well that they had paid the money for the oil field to a convicted money launderer,” Pace told DW. Global Witness activists believe that the oil concerns did not only break the law with their deal, they also swindled the Nigerian population. “Five million people are going hungry in Nigeria at the moment. At the same time, money has been taken away from those who are entitled to it – more than a billion dollars. That is one and a half times the sum which the United Nations says is needed to combat Nigeria’s current humanitarian crisis,” Pace said.

Environmentalists counting on the Italian courts

Authorities in six countries are involved in investigations into the activities of Shell and ENI. More than $100 million in assets has been frozen in Switzerland and the UK. Court proceedings are expected in Nigeria as well as in Italy. Nigeria’s lower house of parliament has already set up a committee to investigate the award of the rights. The oil field in question is OPL 245 and it is estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude.

Pace is placing his hopes in the court case in Italy and says Italian prosecutors have been particularly thorough in their preparation of the case.

“They have been able to assemble a lot of evidence,” he said. Cases of this sort in Italy are generally fought through to the very end rather than being settled out of court. “It is one of those rare cases when we could see manager being forced to account for his action in a court of law,” Pace said.

Shortly before the purchase of the rights to OPL 245, Shell agreed to a payment of $30 million to avoid conviction in another case of suspected corruption. At the time, the concern promised to bolster its internal defenses against corruption. That was just a few months before Shell management received the emails about Dan Etete.

HWANGE Colliery Company Ltd has signed off-take agreements with two thermal power stations, which will see it supplying the firms with 400 000 tonnes of coal per month. The 25-year coal supply deals will see Hwange supplying more than 200 000 tonnes of coal per month each to the Zimbabwe Power Company and Lisulu Power, an independent power producer in the Matabeleland North Province, MD Mr Thomas Makore said.

He gave no further details on the off-take agreements but indicated the deals would underpin Hwange’s turnaround programme, which the company has just embarked on.

“We have already entered into a 25-year coal supply agreement with the two companies and we are in the process of finalising the contracts,” said Mr Makore. Zesa Holdings, the parent company of ZPC is working on expanding Hwange Thermal power plant, which will add 600 megawatts of electricity onto the national grid.

Most of the conditions for the release of the $1,2 billion loan for the project from a Chinese bank have been met and the process is now being handled by the Ministry of Finance for the finalisation of the Implementation Agreement, Zesa said recently.

In 2015, Government granted Hwange three new concessions in western area, Lubimbi east and west following concerns that HCCL’s present concessions were running out.

The new concessions, with an estimated underground resource of about one billion tonnes, according to an independent competence report done by SRK Consulting, is expected to increase the life span of the coal mining company by more than 50 years.

The company is in the process of engaging a contractor to do exploration, Mr Makore said recently.

Next week, Hwange will be seeking to enter into structured payment plans with its creditors in a bid to stop litigations against the company and allow it to reconstruct.

The ZSE-listed company owes various creditors in excess of $180 million. A positive outcome of the meeting will enable the company to raise funds for working capital requirements.

The company is looking at ramping up production at its open cast operations to 100 000 tonnes per month and re-open the underground mine by Q3, with production target of 50 000 tonnes.

Hwange is also steadily increasing output after Mota-Engil resumed operations last month.

Mota-Engil signed a five-year contract worth $260 million with Hwange in 2014 and was producing 200 000 tonnes of coal per month before it stopped in June last year over non-payment.

By Jonathan Adengo

Kampala — Uganda’s drive to industrialise must not be at the expense of the environment, a United Nations envoy has said.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Ms Rosa Malango, who is also the United Nations Resident Coordinator, has said inclusive green growth is the pathway to sustainable development.

“Any investor who comes to Uganda should know where wetlands are and the laws that govern them,” Ms Malango, said.

The envoy said UNDP supported Uganda to publish a wetlands atlas, detailing location and status of all wetlands, with a version for schools so that their location and importance is learned in education institutions.

She said UNDP would also support the Presidential Initiative for Wetlands that will help to accelerate the delivery of a comprehensive response including relocation of people in wetlands and help them learn new skills and livelihoods.

“We have supported Uganda Mineral Resources Management Project; We want to ensure that oil exploration doesn’t undermine the environment,” Ms Malango said.

She said this while on a guided tour of the Kampala Industrial and Business Park in Namanve, last week.

Ms Rosa Malango, who was together with Dr Arkebe Oqubay, the minister and special advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia at Namanve. Dr Arkebe, was in Uganda at the invitation of UNDP as a key note speaker at the High-Level Dialogue on the country’s economy.

On her part, the new Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) chief executive officer Ms Jolly Kaguhangire, said: “At full capacity, this industrial park will become the biggest industrial hub in Uganda will 296 industries, directly employing 200,000 Ugandans.”

“The industries in the park alone will be contributing over $540 million in taxes per annum at full capacity,” Ms Kaguhangire added in a report presented on her behalf by Mr Hamza Galiwango, the UIA director for land development division.

More funding

The UIA officials, however, asked government to inject $151 million (Shs500 billion) which will be utilised for infrastructure development and help the park operate optimally.

The money is needed to upgrade the industrial roads to bituminous standards, provide high voltage powerlines (132Kv) provide industrial water supply, install fibre optic for Internet, sewerage plant and waste management.

The 2200-acre industrial park is located partly in Wakiso and Mukono districts. According to Mr Galiwango all the land in the industrial park has been allocated to 296 prospective investors for development. Of these 21 industries are operational employing 11,000 Ugandans within the park while 70 companies are under construction and 150 are processing paper work, he explained.

Sharing some of the strategies Ethiopia has under taken to industrialise, Dr Arkebe asked UIA to prioritise the export industries and treat them differently. He also proposed that incentives differ sector by sector.

“Incentives are sweeteners but not a criterion. The best criterion is the cost of doing business; market access, infrastructure, government support and stability,” Dr Arkebe explained.

The Ethiopian minister noted that there should be established a one-stop-centre in the industrial park with all business-related offices and services like; logistics, banking, insurance, water supply, power connection and registration of businesses. In Ethiopia, he said, visas are issued within the industrial park.

“Time is critical. This place (Namanve) was designated as an industrial park in 1997. After 20 years, situations change and you lose opportunities,” Dr Akerbe said.

The minister asked UIA to plan for waste management. “Now that you are in a wetland, you might need to think about the impact in the long term. You will find it quite damaging. The option we have chosen (in Ethiopia) is to be strict; zero discharge technology.”