Agriculture

Despite criticism from economists, a new national rice policy committee, chaired by Thailand’s recently appointed Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and approved by her new cabinet, is moving ahead on a promise to buy rice from farmers at well above global prices.

Indonesia’s palm oil sector is looking to adopt more sustainable practices in a bid to alleviate growing environmental concerns while meeting rising global demand.

Brunei Darussalam is ramping up efforts to increase its rice harvest – seen as core to its policy of strengthening food security – turning to newly developed high-yield grains and improved technology to raise production, though it will be some years before the Sultanate comes close to its goal of meeting most of its domestic needs with home-grown crops.

Ghana’s cocoa industry has enjoyed a bumper crop this year, on the back of favourable weather conditions. During the most recent primary harvest period, from September 2010 through May 2011, the sector produced just over 900,000 tonnes of cocoa, up substantially from 623,000 tonnes the previous year. An additional 80,000 tonnes of production is expected during the three-month light crop period that began in June 2011, which should bring the annual total to just below 1m tonnes.

La industria agrícola, tan vital para el sustento de los peruanos (representa aproximadamente un tercio del empleo total y el 9% de las exportaciones), contribuye en un 8% al PBI del país. El sector tiene el potencial de convertirse en el huerto de una población mundial en crecimiento, si se puede vencer obstáculos clave como la irrigación y el uso de la tierra.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a new initiative that could boost private sector lending to the agriculture industry. The Nigerian Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) was formally unveiled at a conference in Abuja on July 5-6. The purpose of the CBN-organised event was for stakeholders to gather to discuss the new initiative.