Category: Business

Danakali Ltd. said Thursday that tests for its Colluli potassium sulfate project in Eritrea prove predictable high-grade production at low chloride levels.

The group, which owns the project through a 50-50 partnership with the Eritrean National Mining Corporation, said an optimized-process plant design significantly reduces capital expenditure, operating costs and maintenance costs.

“Every study has increased our certainty that Colluli is the asset that will dominate the SOP (potassium sulfate) industry and change agriculture for the better in Eritrea, across Africa and beyond,” Executive Chairman Seamus Cornelius said.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

In South Africa, a group called Afriforum has launched self-defense training for white commercial farmers. The group says the farmers are vulnerable to attacks, which it says are driven by tensions over unequal farmland distribution more than 25 years after the end of apartheid.

South African farmer Shernice Potgieter, a young single mother, lived in a tranquil, remote rural farmhouse with her daughter, Denise, and two dogs for eight years.

That peaceful existence was shattered on a summer morning when she returned home after dropping Denise off at school.

Potgieter recalls horror when two men emerged from the cornfield, tied her up and ransacked her farmhouse.

“This is the passage where they made me lay down,” she said pointing an area on her farm. “I had to lay [sic] here so that I couldn’t see outside. When it started, I just thought to myself, ‘Today I’m losing my life.’ When I saw them coming for me, the first reaction was, ‘Today I am going to die.’ I was worried about my daughter and what would happen to her, say something would’ve happened to me.”

While Potgieter survived the ordeal, Afrikaner rights group Afriforum says 59 white farmers were killed in 2020 alone, a 30% increase in fatalities from 2019.

Although the motive for these attacks has not always been attributed to racial tensions, Afriforum says most perpetrators are Black.

In January, the group began a self-defense program for commercial farmers, the majority of them white Afrikaners.

Afriforum legal and risk manager Marnus Kemfer described the substance and goal of the training.

“The first aspect of the training will be how to use a firearm. We showed them how to use this firearm in and around the house. We then also issued them with digital radio, we actually give them training in how exactly to utilize this radio. In the end, we want all of these farmers and their neighbors to have an effective communication network,” Kemfer said.

Tensions spiked in October 2020 when a white farmer was killed and his body found tied to a pole in the town of Senekal, in the eastern part of the Free State province.

The incident heightened racial tensions in the area, and politically-motivated protests followed.

Racial anger, observers say, is fueled by the fact that white farmers still own 70% of South Africa’s commercial farms 27 years after the end of apartheid.

Groups representing white farmers, like Transvaal Agricultural Union South Africa (TLU SA), accuse authorities of failing to protect them.

Black farmers also have been victimized by these attacks, but to a lesser degree, says the farmers union.

Chris Van Zyl, the chairman of the Transvaal union, emphasized the need for farmers to defend themselves against these criminal acts.

“We cannot expect that the police will ensure 24 hours, seven days a week presence in areas which is troubled by violent criminals. The local inhabitants need to organize themselves and they must be trained to enable them to withstand a violent, criminal attack,” Van Zyl said.

South Africa’s national police declined several requests for an interview, but police statistics show 49 white farmers were killed between April 2019 and April 2020. That’s out of more than 21,000 murders nationwide — where the majority of the victims are Black.

President Cyril Ramaphosa last year urged South Africans not to rally communities along racial lines.

In March, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party accused Afriforum of being racist for opposing farmland expropriation without compensation.

Afriforum says it is extending a helping hand to whomever needs guidance and assistance irrespective of race.

Source: Voice of America

Eritrea’s Crops and Livestock Corporation (ECLC) carries out vast agricultural activates across the country. Similar to the other farm areas such as Gherset, Fanko Rawi, Fanko Tsumue, Keteay and Katchero, the Corporation carries out a wide range of agricultural activities including livestock development, fruits and vegetable farming and crops cultivation in Aligider, a very fertile farm area in Gash-Barka region. Most of the crops cultivation activities in the area rely on seasonal rain, while water streams from the highlands are judiciously utilized in the cultivation of cereals and cash-crops. Besides, the fruit and vegetable plantations are mostly supported by advanced irrigation systems.

The ECLC provides opportunities and supports the residents of Tesenai sub-zone and other areas of the Gash-Barka region to encourage them engage in irrigation based farm activities. The ECLC activities include technical and machinery assistance in addition to provision of improved seeds and pesticides to the farmers.

The ECLC farm projects mainly focus on plantation of onions, tomatoes, pepper, and pumpkin, while teff, sesame and various other improved sorghum seeds have been cultivated in the vast agricultural plains of this fertile farm zone. In the case of fruit plantation, a wide range of orange, mango and lemon farms have been developed and all the agricultural harvest has been distributed to local markets at fair prices.

Aligidir Farm raises Halfa and Holstein cow species and the dairy products have been distributed to local markets. In addition to the supply of milk products, the farm has also been providing meat to various boarding educational institutions. The Aligidir project is divided in to different sections known as “Cambo”- since the Italian colonial period. “Cambo Oto”, which means eighth camp, for instance, is currently cultivated with select varieties of orange, lemon, mango and papaya trees.

Generally, Aligidir farm has been creating employment opportunity for the residents of Tesenai sub-zone and other neighboring administrative areas. According to Mr. Dawit Gebreab, Manager of Aligidir Farm, the ECLC levels the farm lands, excavates water diversion canals, distributes improved seeds and allocates land plots to farmers. With such support, the farmers are now able to harvest from 40 to 60 quintals of cereal crops per hectare.

There are times where the farmers cultivate their farmlands relaying on seasonal rain, which sometimes could be delayed or become a dry season due to environmental causes. In such cases, seasonal water streams from the Gash River are diverted to be utilized for the cultivation of vast farmlands. The ECLC supports the farmers in every farm activity and thus the farmers harvest abundant agricultural produce.

Apart from the fruit and vegetable farming, crops and green animal feed has also been cultivated in the Aligidir farm and distributed to different livestock development projects being run by the ECLC. The supply of these green animal feed has been making a difference in augmenting milk production of the dairy cows.

As regards to the current human resource capacity in the project, Mr. Dawit noted that around 200 degree, diploma and certificate graduates of different disciplines have been making due contribution in all farm activities. Graduates in Plant Science, Agronomy and Horticulture, for instance, have been working in crops, vegetables and fruits protection, providing technical assistance and making supervision in farms of the Cooperation and individual farmers. They also make sure that the plantations are in good condition and free of pests. The technical assistance includes seed selection, assisting the farmers to increase their know-how in identifying favorable season and viable setting for the cultivation of the select seed as well as on judicious utilization of water.

Animal Science graduates have also been engaged in providing regular veterinary services in the Aligidir farm and private farm projects in the sub-zone and other districts of the region. The veterinary services that have been offered are free of charge to all farmers and pastoralists in the region. Agricultural engineers on their part have been toiling hard in leveling of farmlands, protecting the farmland from being swamped by water streams from the diversion canals and maintain irrigation materials.

There are plans to further expand the farm areas in Aligidir and the ECLC has been working to ensure that the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and crops will have remarkable impact in meeting local demands in all seasons. Efforts have also been made to preserve the indigenous sheep and cattle species, while artificial insemination activates have been intensified on the imported dairy cows in a bid to develop and make a difference in the provision of meat and dairy products. Above all, the major plan is to irrigate additional 500 hectares making use of the abundant water resources so far impounded in Aligidir Dam.

The sustainability of Aligidir farm is very viable; fertility of farmlands and water resources make it a promising area in carrying out any sort of agricultural activities. Pilot projects on potato and teff have shown remarkable outcome and hence, the ECLC has been working hard to expand the cultivation of such produces and in convincing farmers engage in such activities. Agronomists, horticulture and generally plant science and animal science graduates we met at the farm projects expressed their willingness to make their input in the development of the farm activities being carried out in Aligidir with the knowledge and experience they have so far acquired.

According to Mr. Dawit, Aligidir farm project is very promising. The farmers are keen to expanding their agricultural activities in this area owing to the availability of abundant seasonal water streams from the highlands. In times of scarcity of rainfall, the farmers make use of diverted water streams and such an option boosts their confidence in cultivating more and more hectares every year.

The Government also provides support of tractors at a fair price of 300 Nakfa per hour while private tractors do the same job at 1000 Nakfa. With the provision of tractors, summed up with technical assistance of experts and provision of pesticides as well as the availability of sustainable water resource, the farms have managed to harvest 60 quintals of crop per hectare. Provision of veterinary service has also been contributing in augmenting the number of livestock in the Tesenei sub-zone and in Gash-Barka region in general.

Aligidir was a renowned agricultural area since the Italian colonial era and with the efforts that have been made over the past independence years, the farm zone has been reinstated and further boosted its potential to become an agro-industrial hub of the country. Fruits, crops and oil seeds, as well as cotton plantations and livestock resources are set to be harvested in abundance both for domestic use and for export.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

GENEVA – The World Food Program is warning that 21% of Sudan’s 40 million population faces acute hunger and will need emergency assistance between June and September, when food stocks are lowest.

Several factors have contributed to this situation. For example, over the past year, Sudan has faced hyperinflation, the worst floods in years, a locust infestation, and COVID-19 restrictions, which have caused massive job losses.

A nutritional survey by the Sudanese government, the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program finds 9.8 million people cannot feed themselves, putting many of their lives at risk.

The WFP says it will provide food assistance for 9.3 million of the most vulnerable people during the next six months, but it is $48 million short of what it needs for this operation and is appealing for support.

Marianne Ward is the WFP’s deputy country director operations in Sudan. Speaking by video link from the capital, Khartoum, she says the WFP has been expanding its school feeding programs to provide children with nutritional biscuits.

“I recently was very far north of Khartoum where we were opening and inaugurating a new school to be part of our school feeding program,” Ward said. “The school was literally mobbed by children whose families were sending them there so they could at least get one meal a day covered from somewhere else so the family could feed them.”

Sudan’s global acute malnutrition rate — including young children with both moderate and severe acute malnutrition — is 14%, at the edge of the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold. This is a condition that in some cases can lead to death.

Ward says United Nations agencies are expanding nutrition centers across the country.

“For the first time ever, this last year, WFP began opening nutrition centers, emergency nutrition centers in Khartoum itself,” Ward said. “Traditionally, WFP has not had to intervene in the capital because it is the heartbeat of the country and the richest place. But the situation, particularly with hyperinflation, has been so difficult for so many families that, indeed, it is on a crisis footing right now.”

WFP says the cost of hunger to the Sudanese economy is estimated at $2 billion per year, or about 2.6% of its gross domestic product.

Source: Voice of America

The World Bank said on Friday it had temporarily paused payments to operations in Mali following a military coup, while the man expected to become the new prime minister warned sanctions would only complicate the country’s crisis.

The World Bank’s actions added to pressure on Mali’s military leadership after chief security ally France announced on Thursday it was suspending joint operations with Malian troops in order to press for a return to civilian rule.

The military’s overthrow of Mali’s transitional president last week, its second coup in nine months, has drawn international condemnation and raised fears the political crisis will weaken regional efforts to fight Islamist militants.

‘Temporarily paused’

The World Bank, whose International Development Association (IDA) is financing projects to the tune of $1.5 billion in Mali, confirmed the suspension of payments in a statement to Reuters.

“In accordance with the World Bank policy applicable to similar situations, it has temporarily paused disbursements on its operations in Mali, as it closely monitors and assesses the situation,” it said.

Assimi Goita, the colonel who led both coups, was declared president last Friday after having served as vice president under Bah Ndaw, who had been leading the transition since September. Ndaw and his prime minister resigned while in military custody last week.

Goita is widely expected in the coming days to name as prime minister Choguel Maiga, the leader of the M5-RFP opposition coalition that spearheaded protests against former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita before his overthrow last August.

At a rally in the capital, Bamako, on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the protests against Keita, Maiga was alternately firm and conciliatory toward foreign partners.

“We will respect international engagements that aren’t contrary to the fundamental interests of the Malian people,” he said to thousands of supporters in the city’s Independence Square.

“Sanctions and threats will only complicate the situation,” he said.

French troops

France, the former colonial power, has more than 5,000 troops waging counterinsurgency operations against Islamist militants in Mali and the wider Sahel, an arid region of West Africa just south of the Sahara.

It hopes to use its leverage to press Goita to respect the 18-month timetable agreed to at the start of the transition by organizing a presidential election next February.

The African Union and a West African regional bloc responded to the coup by suspending Mali’s membership but did not impose further sanctions.

Source: Voice of America

Cameroon rights groups, opposition parties and local media are asking the government to publish its findings after most of a $335 million loan from the IMF could not be accounted for. At least 15 officials have appeared before commissions of investigation.

A government statement read on Cameroon state media Monday calls on civilians to remain calm as investigations on missing funds continue. The statement from government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi states that justice will take its course.

The statement comes after Cameroon rights groups and opposition asked the government to explain what happened to about $335 million loaned by the International Monetary Fund to fight COVID-19.

Cameroon says within the past week, 15 ministers have appeared at the audit bench of the Supreme Court and a special criminal tribunal to account for the funds.

Joseph Lavoisier Tsapy is legal adviser to the opposition Social Democratic Front Party and a member of the Cameroon Human Rights League.

Tsapy says the Cameroon Special Criminal Tribunal should have ordered their arrest after the audit bench of the Supreme Court found out that some ministers stole COVID-19 funds. He says the money should have been invested to save lives and assist suffering people. He says he wants to make it clear that government ministers in Cameroon do not have immunity like lawmakers.

In June 2020, SDF lawmakers complained that the awarding of COVID-19 contracts did not respect procurement procedures and gave room for massive corruption.

Local media like Equinox Radio and TV, Roya FM reported gross cases of embezzlement.

In one case, the Ministry of Scientific Research received $9 million to produce the drug chloroquine. The ministry instead bought chloroquine amounting to 30 percent of the funds from China.

Other cases involve overbilling and failure to render services or provide supplies after payment.

André Luther Meka speaks for the ruling CPDM party, to which all of the ministers called up for questioning belong.

Meka says Cameroonians should stop asking for ministers to either be punished or to refund COVID-19 funds. He says Cameroon considers all suspects innocent until found guilty by the law courts. He says Cameroon President Paul Biya has a strong political will to punish everyone who has either mismanaged, embezzled or siphoned state money.

Angelbert Lebong is a member of the Cameroon Civil Society. He says President Biya should explain to the Cameroonian people how his government has managed the COVID-19 funds.

He says Biya should for once speak out against embezzlement and publicly condemn his collaborators who have stolen COVID-19 funds. He says Cameroon has more serious life-threatening issues to handle than the heavily publicized receptions Biya gives diplomats in his office.

Last month, Human Rights Watch urged the IMF to ask Cameroon to ensure independent and credible enquiry on the management of COVID-19 funds before approving a third loan.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cameroon in March 2020, the IMF has approved two emergency loans to the central African state totaling $382 million.

Source: Voice of America

Australia’s Danakali (ASX: DNK; LSE:DNK) says filtered seawater is a reliable, unlimited and economic option to use in the sulphate of potash (SoP) production process at its Colluli project in Eritrea.

The Perth-based miner said it will now rely on a combination of beach well intake, smaller pumping station and greater renewable energy to pump filtered seawater to the processing plant at the Colluli.

Previously, Danakali would have needed to build a large seawater desalination plant and a pipeline to transport water to the plant.

The water intake treatment area’s (Wita) redesign has a materially smaller onshore and offshore footprint. It also requires less power, thereby reducing operational expenditure (opex), fuel costs and carbon dioxide emissions, Danakali said.

The company noted the new plan requires less capital expenditure (capex) and reduces sustaining capex over the life-of-mine (LoM).

“Using filtered seawater as an unlimited input in our production process is not only a world first, but also a long-term game changer,” executive chairperson Seamus Cornelius said in the statement.

Testing in 2015 proved that SOP could be made from Colluli ore, but only at higher water rates with Reverse Osmosis fresh water.

What was achieved with recent test work with Saskatchewan Research Council in 2021 demonstrates that high-quality product only using seawater is assured, Danakali said.

The innovation adds to the miner’s recent assessment of the use of both solar and wind energy at Colluli.

Since the project is located in one of the world’s most geothermally-endowed rifts, the Danakil depression in the East African Rift Valley, the company said it’s also studying the use of geothermal energy with a view to becoming a zero carbon producer of SoP.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online