Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More than 90 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda’s wood industry have begun a four-month business incubation programme aimed at improving competitiveness, strengthening value addition and positioning the country’s forestry sector for greater economic returns. The programme, launched by the Food and Agriculture …
Read More »Africa turns digital to protect crops and boost exports
The latest phase builds on previous rounds of implementation in 2023 and 2025, which trained plant health officials from 20 African countries NEWS ANALYSIS | THE INDEPENDENT | African governments are scaling up efforts to modernise plant health systems, expanding a digital surveillance programme to 38 countries in …
Read More »Africa expands digital plant health drive as phytosanitary programme reaches 38 countries
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | THE INDEPENDENT | The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and partners have launched the third phase of the Africa Phytosanitary Programme (APP), expanding the continent-wide initiative to 38 countries as governments intensify efforts to curb the …
Read More »We cannot keep chasing outbreaks: it’s time to detect them where they begin
OPINION | EZANA KASSA | By the time a dangerous zoonotic disease reaches a hospital ward, the opportunity to prevent it has already been lost. Health systems around the world have become increasingly effective at detecting infections in people, tracing contacts and responding to outbreaks. But these systems are largely activated …
Read More »FAO: Energy crisis not yet affecting food prices owing to reserves
ROME | TASS | The crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East has not yet affected market food prices as the global agricultural sector had the reserve making it possible to keep the balance, FAO Economist Monica Tothova told TASS. “Despite concerns about energy prices, fertilizer costs and …
Read More »Tea’s future depends on its farmers
COMMENT | BOUBAKER BEN-BELHASSEN | The tea in your cup began its journey in someone else’s hands. Hands whose work most of us never think about. Almost certainly, those hands belonged to a smallholder farmer tending a small plot of land, plucking leaves by hand beneath …
Read More »FAO-China-Uganda agriculture project proves success of South-South cooperation
KAMPALA, UGANDA | Xinhua | China’s transfer of skills and technologies is transforming agricultural production in Uganda, demonstrating how Global South countries can accelerate development through South-South cooperation, officials said here on Thursday. The remarks were made at a review workshop marking the completion of the third phase of the …
Read More »Uganda, China and FAO close decade-long agriculture partnership, shift focus to scaling gains
Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | A flagship agricultural cooperation programme between Uganda, China and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations formally entered its close-out phase, with officials signalling a shift from implementation to scaling and sustainability of results achieved over more than a decade. The …
Read More »Training farms drive a new poultry economy in Eastern Uganda
Bugweri, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Every Saturday afternoon, farmers converge at the home of Nathan Mununuzi, turning his compound into an informal training ground where poultry is taught not as subsistence activity, but as a structured rural enterprise. What is unfolding here is part of a broader shift under the Food …
Read More »Virunga surveillance push targets zoonotic spillover risks
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In one of Africa’s most epidemiologically sensitive ecosystems, the gap between detection and response remains a defining vulnerability. The Greater Virunga Landscape where humans, livestock, and wildlife interact daily has long been identified as a potential hotspot for zoonotic spillovers, with implications that extend …
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