Agri-food

Tunisia
Italian aid agency to handle EU food security aid

The European Union (EU) plans to release €25m of additional funds to help Tunisia reduce its dependence on cereal imports.

Algeria
Candia seeks to compete with Soummam in Algeria

2021's freeze on powdered milk imports got the better of the dairy sector's most vulnerable producers. Now Candia's Algerian arm is trying to milk this opportunity to step on national leader Soummam's toes.

Ghana, Ivory Coast
Why West African producers snubbed World Cocoa Foundation meeting

The business and political leaders of Ivory Coast and Ghana's cocoa sectors did not attend the partnership meeting between the world's chocolate producers in Brussels this week. Their aim was to put pressure on European decision-makers working on new supply standards.

Guinea
Conakry turns to French bank Natixis to finance 'Côtière' power line

Guinea has asked Natixis to submit a financing offer for a project to supply electricity to the northwest of the country, a major bauxite mining area where a range of foreign and domestic mining firms are active.

Egypt
Cairo banks on IMF to save wheat-starved private flour mills

The state body that provides wheat for Egypt's subsidised bread programme has agreed to supply private millers to help them through a crisis that has shut most of their mills. But this is a stop-gap measure, with the country hoping that an IMF loan will provide long-term relief.

Spotlight | Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
Cameroon and Nigeria's talks with cocoa cartel bear fruit

Details have emerged about Yaoundé et Abuja's talks in Abidjan to join the Ivory Coast-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, set up to defend the interests of the world's two largest cocoa producers.

Kenya
Ruto to strip army of lucrative meat business

Kenya's new president is preparing to pull the Kenya Meat Commission from out of the Ministry of Defence's hands to place it under the control of the agriculture and finance ministries. This state-owned entity centralises meat purchases from the country's producers.

Botswana
Brink family empire expands into banking sector

The tycoon Derek Brink and his family have firmly established themselves in yet another key sector of the Botswanan economy with their entry into the exclusive club of commercial banks.

The New Guard
Cameroon, Morocco, Mauritania and CAR

Every Wednesday, Africa Intelligence reveals the next generation of movers and shakers in business and politics.

CameroonJoel Sikam, an entrepreneur working to boost Younde-Paris trade

MoroccoRachid Ennassiri, an energetic energy transition ministry adviser.

MauritaniaSidi-Mohamed Dhaker, the Central Bank's youth asset.

Central African RepublicMartine Kessy Ekomo-Soignet, the voice of young people in CAR.

Algeria
Tebboune lifts brake on Cevital crushing plant

The head of state personally stepped in to get the agro-industrial group Cevital's crushing plant project back up and running after it had been put on ice for lack of the required building consents.

Burkina Faso
Damiba's downfall could disrupt major international arts and crafts conference

A 26-member committee that steers the development of African arts and handicraft is meant to meet in Ouagadougou at the end of this month. Although this sector accounts for a third of Burkina Faso's GDP, the 30 September coup could affect the important gathering.

Algeria
Algiers faces new milk shortages

Tchin-Lait, which sells dairy products under the Candia brand in Algeria, has been forced to stop production due to milk powder shortages caused by a number of milk producers running out of stock.

Kenya
Struggling livestock farmers count on Ruto to honour election pledges

Kenyan pastoralists are calling for an appropriate legal framework to take advantage of new free-trade measures adopted in 2021 by the regional organisation IGAD.

Australia, Morocco, Western Sahara
OCP resumes Western Sahara phosphate exports to Australia

Faced with supply difficulties linked to Russia's war on Ukraine, the Australian fertiliser producer Incitec Pivot has restarted its imports of phosphates from the Boucraa mine in the Sahara, operated by OCP. It had stopped sourcing there in 2016, after protest from Scandinavian shareholders.