As economies take a hit from the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, the crisis is birthing opportunities and continues to create crucial lessons on resilience and adaptation especially in Africa.

African Finance Ministers met on a virtual conference to exchange ideas on the efforts of their respective governments in dealing with the social and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Economies within the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) will collectively have a 4.7 percentage point drop in their projected GDP growth this year as a result of the severe impact of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Selina Wamucii, the Kenyan agritech platform has announced that it is opening up its platform to organized farmers groups and cooperatives to sell or export directly to markets worldwide

A group of Black Industrialists from South Africa will get an opportunity to seek investment and trade opportunities in Tanzania when they participate in a trade mission to Dar es Salaam this month.

The UK launched the second round of a business innovation challenge fund that will see an additional 5 promising businesses receive grant funding and technical assistance of up to KES 13,000,000 each.

Safaricom’s integrated mobile platform DigiFarm has been named the Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets in this year’s Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO).

Uganda’s economy needs to gradually create more jobs for its fast-growing and youth population; to accelerate economic growth and drive transformation, these jobs will need to bring higher labor productivity, says a new World Bank report.

The World Bank approved six projects to support Nigeria’s development priorities.

The Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) has launched a free-to-use dedicated online resource aimed at raising awareness of environmentally friendly biocontrol and biopesticide products.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered the Central Bank Rate (CBR) to 8.25% from 8.50%, citing a backdrop of domestic macroeconomic stability, potential risks to food supply and increased global uncertainties.

Elgon Kenya’s Director Bimal Kantaria has been recognized with an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree for his efforts at promoting the agriculture sector in East Africa.

The Ghanaian government wants to raise $3 billion from its diaspora to finance development projects in agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced last week.

Microsoft, through its 4Afrika Initiative, has pledged support to the One Million Farmers Platform, a World Bank initiative aiming to improve the productivity, profitability and resilience of one million African farmers through disruptive agricultural technologies.

During the World Youth Forum, the Director General of UNIDO met with President of the Arab Republic of Egypt to discuss the UNIDO flagship project in Egypt, the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP).

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a grant of $5 million to enable the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme to scale up its outreach and impact to 1,000 select youth entrepreneurs.

Donors of the African Development Fund (ADF) agreed to commit $7.6 billion to speed up growth in Africa’s poorest nations and help lift millions out of poverty.

The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) has approved US$310 million of new funding to benefit developing countries across the globe.

Ghana’s economic growth has been strong over the past decade, with annual GDP per capita growth at 4.4 percent between 2006 and 2017.

Farmshine, a Nairobi based agritech start-up has raised a USD 250,000 funding from US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital’s gender lens sector-agnostic portfolio – GMC coLABS.

Without changing the approach towards the efforts to end hunger, Africa risks remaining as the only continent struggling with hunger in 2030.

The African Development Bank launched the "Investia Enterprise" program to strengthen the dynamics of financial inclusion for Tunisian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A report compiled by the African Development Bank reveals a continent that is embracing the brave new world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution but needs to improve access to finance, skills and inclusive growth.

The EIB has formally agreed to support membership expansion of the African Trade Insurance Agency with a concessional financing facility to cover the shareholding of three prospective members - Cameroon, Niger and Togo.

Liquid Telecom was recognised for helping thousands of fish farmers in Western Kenya and Nyanza to monitor and protect freshwater fish populations using Internet of Things (IoT)

Governors of the AfDB representing shareholders from 80 countries approved a landmark $115 billion increase in capital.

Equity Bank Kenya and AGCO have signed a partnership agreement that will see their customers get up to 80 percent financing on the Massey Ferguson tractors and accompanying implements.

The OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Alkhalifa signed a public sector loan agreements totaling US$85m with beneficiary countries Benin, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

In Nigeria, being a farmer has often been synonymous with poverty for quite a while now.

A new €81.9 million project funded by IFAD and partners will help more than 1 million vulnerable small-scale farmers in Chad improve their incomes and food security and boost an under-performing agricultural sector.

The Minister for Fisheries and Sea of the Republic of Angola signed the Charter establishing the SADC regional fisheries Monitoring Control Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) in Maputo, Mozambique.

Members of GreenTech Self Help Group from Nyandarua County in Kenya have embraced a new agribusiness enterprise in the multiplication of Irish potato seeds and planting materials, a venture they say is bearing fruit.

Four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among the top ten reformers worldwide promoting favorable regulations for farmers in the areas measured, a report issued by the World Bank finds.

A new €81.9 million project will help more than 1 million vulnerable small-scale farmers in Chad improve their incomes and food security and boost an underperforming agricultural sector.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is developing an African Cotton Initiative (AFRICOTIN) to help to catalyse the African cotton sector.

FAO and FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank have launched a partnership to increase investments in favor of SMEs and small-scale producers operating within the agribusiness sector in developing countries.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$560,000 from the US State Department to support WFP’s innovative fish farm in Algeria’s Tindouf refugee camps.

The Department of Trade and Industry is currently leading a delegation of seventeen South African companies on an Outward Selling Mission to the United States of America.

In Malambo village, Ngorongoro district, the lush forests and livestock that once flourished and the rivers that flowed year-long are now a distant memory.

Tens of thousands of pastoral farmers who have been driven off their land to make way for commercial cattle ranches have been exposed to a greater risk of hunger and starvation as drought grips southern Angola.

The African Development Bank Group has approved a $13.2 million financing package for a fisheries and aquaculture development project in Malawi.

The International Organisation for Migration has completed a fish farming project to the benefit more than 6,500 people through its project Community Stabilization Initiatives in Northern Niger, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

COMESA has forged strategic partnership with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), to develop solutions to challenges that face farmers in the region.

The Director-General of the dti said that even though global growth remains subdued and South Africa was confronted by a host of indirect risks consequences, it still achieved significant strides in job creation and economic growth initiatives.

IFAD has opened a regional office in Cairo to serve as a strategic rural development center for its work to reduce poverty, empower women and youth, and create employment opportunities in seven countries across the region.

African projects from Kenya, Uganda, Mali and Ethiopia are among the 16 winners of The Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) innovation challenge whose focus is surfacing resilience solutions across Africa and Asia.

Financial leaders from banks around the world convened in London to mark the official launch of the Trade Club Alliance.

About 30,900 rural people in the Kingdom of Eswatini will benefit from a new US$38.5 million project that aims to improve the prosperity and resilience of poor and vulnerable smallholder farmers and micro-entrepreneurs in the country.

Solidaridad has facilitated $3.15 million of financing for Ugandan tea processor Kayonza Tea Factory in the form of a long-term loan from social impact investor Oikocredit.

The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) has partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to manage a warehouse WFP constructed for smallholder maize farmers in the Ejura/Sekyedumase Municipality.

Cargill and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have renewed their partnership, allowing the organisations to introduce new initiatives to strengthen cocoa-producing cooperatives and their communities.

Bob Koigi, multiple award winning journalist and East Africa Region Chief Editor at Africa Business Communities, was recently selected as one of the 100 worldwide most influential people of African descent under 40

African sustainability has never been 100 per cent African on its own initiative - that's where it becomes unclear who has benefited most from it.

Global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure Refinitiv and South Africa’s agricultural services company AFGRI Technology Services (ATS) have announced the Bankable Farmer Research Initiative.

Ivory Coast tops the list as Kenya comes 3rd in the 2019 Standard Chartered Bank Trade20 Index as markets with the greatest potential for future trade growth.

Alibaba Group and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have announced the launch of “Hunger Map LIVE,” a groundbreaking global hunger monitoring system that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and data analytics.

Mastercard and Rabobank announced a strategic partnership to give one million farmers in emerging markets access to a digital platform that makes it easier for them to sell their produce for a fair price.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has contributed $28 million to back FAO's work to boost the resilience of food systems in Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.

Safe food is essential to our health and wellbeing; yet it has emerged as a political football in recent months, as different authorities chase a role in food testing.

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has completed a USD 1.3 billion cocoa syndicated loan agreement for the purchase of cocoa beans from local farmers during the 2019/2020 crop season.

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has signed an agreement with the China General Technology Group for the establishment of a cocoa processing factory in Ghana.

In spite of a slight improvement in the food security situation since June 2019, more than half the population of South Sudan, some 6.35 million people, do not know where their next meal will come from, three United Nations agencies warned.

About 150,000 rural young people in Senegal – 50 per cent of them women - will benefit from a new US$93.3 million project that aims to create income and decent sustainable jobs in agricultural, pastoral and fishery value chains.

Developing countries need to dramatically increase agricultural innovation and the use of technology by farmers, to eliminate poverty, meet the rising demand for food, and cope with the adverse effects of climate change.

Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock has called for sustained funding to protect recent gains made in beating back hunger in Somalia.

Egypt and China have inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on exporting fresh Egyptian dates to China.

Angola's Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Economy and Planning, together with the UNCTAD discussed reforms to boost FDI for economic diversification, during the presentation of the Investment Policy Review (IPR) in Angola.

The United Arab Emirates has partnered with FAO to provide $4 million in funding to foster rural development in Liberia.

The Clinton Foundation announced an expansion of its partnership with AIF to help source soybeans from farmers in Malawi that supports farmers’ livelihoods, strengthens local agricultural economies, and makes progress toward Zero Hunger.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) country office in Zambia and the UN Nutrition Network have agreed to lead multi-agency commitments aimed at effective implementation of the country’s national food and nutrition agenda.

Angola Commerce Minister Dr Joffre Van-Dunem Junior said that Angola is a trade and investment destination for the South African companies keen on investing and doing business in the country.

The cumulative view provided by the confluence of machine learning and decision making in conjunction with third-party data all hosted in the cloud, has given rise to artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture.

The European Union (EU) has provided a € 15 million support to improve the competitiveness of Ethiopia’s coffee sector.

The Bayer Foundation launched its new EUR 20 million Social Innovation ecosystem fund by awarding EUR 3 million to four pioneering social innovators - myAgro, Mercy Corps, Path and Living Goods.

After extensive negotiations, Sasol has concluded 2 Local Development Agreements (LDAs) with the communities of Inhassoro and Govuro districts in Inhambane Province, Mozambique.

A South African business delegation is in Luanda, Angola in search of export market as part of the Outward Trade and Investment Mission.

The journey towards realization of a business park at flower grower Oserian Development Company’s expansive farm in Naivasha has kicked off in earnest following the signing of a $10 million investment by Dubai-based Maxim Agri.

The African Development Bank and the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership have signed two grant agreements to implement trade credit guarantees worth $5.4 million to support fertilizer value chains in Nigeria and Tanzania.

A $500 million commitment to developing agriculture opportunities for young Africans, a “Deal Room” that delivered some $200 million in new investments

Fifteen African countries encompassing 315 million people and with average child malnutrition rates of 38 percent could significantly improve food security and nutrition by developing their seed industries.

Following a competitive bidding process, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Partners Group unanimously agreed and announced that the Republic of Rwanda will host the AGRF 2020.

Corteva Agriscience has been introducing insect control solutions to Africa’s maize farmers to in maize in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The unprecedented population boom in Africa, the highest world over, continues to put more pressure on food producers as they grapple with having more mouths to feed.

Grow Africa has announced the signing of 7 term sheets that will result in a total of over $200,000,000 of new investment in Malawi, Uganda, Eswatini, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire by 2023.

Uganda’s Dr. Emma Naluyima, a smallholder farmers and veterinarian and Baba Dioum a policy champion and agricultural entrepreneur from Senegal have been named the joint winners of the 2019 Africa Food Prize.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) was selected to implement a EU-funded project ‘Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP)’, which will boost Kenya’s agricultural exports regionally and internationally.

Corteva Agriscience has partnered with the Agriculture Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) celebrate this year’s ‘Agriculture & Food Security Prize’ winners.

A new report points to non-tariff barriers, high trading costs and a lack of product diversification as the biggest impediments to Africa’s agricultural trade performance.

Microsoft, through its 4Afrika Initiative, has announced a new collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in agriculture.

A new report finds that millions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) source directly from millions more smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa.

New York Stock Exchange-listed agriculture company, Corteva Agriscience, has officially launched its regional operations in East Africa with a promise to revolutionize the agricultural sector.

UNIDO, FAO and the African Union together with numerous additional partners, have launched the Flagship Initiative to Accelerate Youth Employment in Agriculture and Agribusiness in Africa.

IFC has signed a deal with ITOCHU Corporation and its subsidiary Sierra Tropical Ltd. to develop the largest pineapple producing and processing facility in the Republic of Sierra Leone,

To talk about the importance of agriculture is not overemphasizing, especially with a population of over 200 million Nigerians to feed daily.

Global consultancy firm Palladium has announced its first impact investment fund to bridge the financing gap for small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

The South African Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and the Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs have committed to strengthen bilateral economic relations between the two countries in order to increase trade and investment.

The Women Farmers Programme equips women, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, with the digital skills for today’s digital economy to meaningfully participate in the mainstream economy.

It has long been clear that agriculture needs more young people, not only to secure Africa's future food security but to modernize farming.

Kenya’s avocado farming, now christened the green revolution, has seen farmers abandon their traditional crops in favour of harvesting the popular fruit.