Category: AFRICAN NEWS

Experts underscore need for collaborations to improve food safety, intra-African trade

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AFRICA – The 2021 Shaping a World of Trust virtual business conversation, hosted by Bureau Veritas Africa, has emphasized the need for collaboration between government, companies and customers if Africa is to meet sustainability goals, ensure food safety,  and improve intra-African trade. The Executive Food Safety Initiative (FSI) at the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), Matlou Stati, highlighted that collaboration across a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders, including those representing consumers, was a key element of the functioning of the FSI. The FSI collaborates closely…

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Triumph for cassava farmers as Bayer launches herbicide to increase yields

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NIGERIA – Bayer Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, , one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, has developed and launched a new crop protection product known as Lagon to help farmers tackle the problem of weeds in cassava and raise yield. Tested on more than 200 trials and demos across Nigeria and Tanzania, Lagon was rated among the top best pre-emergent herbicides for control of both grasses and broad-leaf weeds in cassava. “The launch of Lagon aims to provide a big relief to farmers. These are…

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Namibia draft law to prohibit alcoholic beverages advertisement

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NAMIBIA – The government of Namibia is drafting a law that could potentially make the advertisement, promotion, and sponsorship of alcoholic beverages in Namibia illegal. The draft bill, seen by The Namibian and titled ‘The Prevention and Treatment of Substance Use’, aims to curb the negative impacts of certain substances, among other things. The proposed law will therefore ban the advertisement and promotion of highly addictive and illegal narcotic drugs that affect mental performance, and cause changes in mood, awareness, thoughts, feelings, or behavior. By implication, this will include commercially…

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Kenya’s Agricultural CS calls for enhanced crop pest management strategies

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KENYA – Kenya’s Agricultural Cabinet Secretary (CS), Peter Munya, has called for greater efforts in mitigating effects of pests and diseases in crops, an issue he considers the main challenge in the agribusiness sector. In a speech read on his behalf by Douglas Kangi, the Director of Crops Management at the Ministry during the official opening of the 3rd Phytosanitary conference in Nairobi, the CS highlighted that since studies have shown that agribusiness has the capacity to transform livelihoods, particularly here in Kenya and Africa, increased capacity building to meet…

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Nigeria’s biotech stakeholders push for alliances in genome-editing research

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NIGERIA –  Nigeria’s biotechnology stakeholders have challenged local experts to forge stronger ties and collaborations in hastening genome-editing research whose results carry enormous prospects to solve regional problems. In a joint communique, the stakeholders affirmed the benefits of genome editing in improving food security and nutrition in Nigeria and the region. The statement, signed and adopted by 17 biotechnologists, has proposed a raft of measures aimed at facilitating efficient acceptance and utilization of this technology and its products. The biotechnologists are calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to sustain…

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South Africa’s food inspectors hunt down misleading food labelling culprits

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SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s  Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) has directed food inspectors and those of designated assignees to follow up on misleading or incorrect food labelling in terms of the Agricultural Product Standards Act (APS Act) of 1990. The notice overturns a previous instruction, that had inspectors ignore such labelling, emanating from a 2020 meeting between the Directorate of Food Safety and Quality Assurance of the department and the head of the trademarks division at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).…

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NAFDAC urges export traders to ensure registration of products

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NIGERIA – The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has at a one-day South-East Stakeholders’ Sensitization on Registration and Guidelines for Export Trade held in Enugu, counselled export stakeholders to endeavor to seek proper registration of their products to prevent their rejection. The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, represented by the Director, South-East Zonal Office of the agency, Mrs. Olajumoke Ojetokun, said that NAFDAC offices are open for free counselling and guidance to help exporters get it right. She admonished exporters to make use of…

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Nigeria risks surge in substandard products as AfCFTA implementation commences

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NIGERIA – Nigeria may be at risk of becoming a hub for substandard products especially with the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which has opened more doors for goods within Africa to come into the country. For years, one of the major regulators of standards in the country, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has been ejected from Nigerian seaports. The Federal government in 2012 banned SON from carrying out the inspection of products that come into the country at the ports, giving reasons that the…

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KEBS approves 11 standards for meat products, develops rabbit feed standards

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KENYA – The Kenya Bureau of Standards has approved 11 standards that will safeguard consumers from fraudulent sellers of meat products. They prescribe the procedure to be used in the screening, testing and analysis of the samples obtained for authentication in cases of both fresh cuts and meat derived products. The bureau had kicked off the process of reviewing meat standards in mid-August where it sought views from potential users, in respect of relevance and effectiveness of the standards in addressing current market needs, regulatory needs and scientific and technological…

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Tanzania green-lights EAC Sanitary & Phytosanitary Protocol

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TANZANIA – The Tanzanian parliament has given a nod to the East African Sanitary and Phytosanitary Protocol (SPS) 2013, a move that will improve access to a wider selection of safe food and create regulations for dealing with aflatoxins, which pose a risk to human and animal health. The EAC SPS protocol was developed in accordance with Article 151 of the EAC Treaty, which obliges the partner states to harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures for pest and disease control. Tanzania has stalled ratification of the protocol by eight years. Agriculture…

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