In Q1 2017, Morocco’s agricultural output soared by 12.9% against 9% the year before. The performance pushed the country’s economy up 4.3% over the period considered, compared to 1.7% in 2016, Reuters reports. The increase in agricultural output which was driven by abundant rainfall at the beginning of the season marks a dynamic growth of the sector which suffered last year a severe...

In Mali, deputies have adopted, during an extraordinary session, the bill on agricultural land drafted by the minister of agriculture, Kassoum Denon. The decision should accelerate the process for boosting rural land tenure in the country. “The bill on agricultural land promotes the implementation of a regulation in the sector which significantly conditions the nation’s socio-economic...

At the end of 2016, Africa counted 145,000 millionaires with a combined wealth of $800 billion, according to a report published March-ending by the British research firm New World Wealth and AfrAsia Bank. Over these millionaires, 7,010 are multimillionaires, the same source highlighted. Between 2006 and 2016, the number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) grew by 19%. In 2016 however,...

At the end of the main cocoa season (Oct. 1st 2016-March 31st 2017), arrivals of shipments at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro combined stood at 1,403,000 metric tons of cocoa, thus a 15% increase compared to the volume recorded over the same period, a year before. This was revealed to Reuters by cocoa exporters. Arrivals to exporting points increased significantly near March ending. Indeed,...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will grant a composite facility of $450 million to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The facility consists of a three-year $150 million unfunded risk participation agreement and a $300 million loan to boost intra-Africa trade. The facility will also help support regional integration and contribute to the reduction of the trade...

The government of Benue State spent over $6.3million on rural projects since May 29, 2015, according to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Development and Cooperatives, Adzer Abya. Abya who disclosed this after examining some of the ongoing projects in the Gwer and Apa local government areas of the state on Tuesday explained that the projects which spread across the state include...

A total of $1.1billion is needed to address the outbreak of Meningitis in five states in Nigeria, according to the Acting Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Emmanuel Odu. The states concerned are Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Niger. “To vaccinate a total population of 22 million in the five affected states will cost $1.1billion;...

The Federal Government plans to commence online registration of unemployed Nigerians from Wednesday, April 5, 2017. This is aimed at creating jobs and maintaining a data bank on vacancies in the country. According to Edmund Onwuliri, Deputy Director, Information and Public Relations of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), “the online portal which goes live on Wednesday, April 5, 2017,...

The Nigerian oil tanker drivers have called off a strike action initiated on Monday over non-payment of salaries and poor road conditions. The strike was called off following government intervention to put an end to threats by the workers to stop supply. “The union called off the strike because the federal government has intervened and promised to look into the drivers’ demands,” said...

According to recent forecasts from Mali’s ministry of agriculture, the country’s rice output for the 2017-18 season should reach 3 million metric tons, Reuters reports. This represents an 8% increase compared to the output of the previous season (2.78 million Mt). Namory Diabate, the head of the statistics service at the ministry, said the improvement in output forecast, is partly due to an...