VenturesNow

Ivory Coast: Farmers hope recent rains will strengthen cocoa yield

Published

1 year ago

March 13, 2023

Famers in Ivory Coast are expecting higher yields in 2023 following mainly above-average rains last week in most of the country’s cocoa-growing regions.

The latest figure from Ivory Coast, the largest exporter of cocoa in the world shows cocoa arrivals reached 1.650 mln tonnes between the start of the season on Oct. 1 and Feb. 19, down 0.5% from the same period last season.

The farmers no longer had a good sight of the mid-crop, which would start slowly by next week and pick up from mid-April. They added that the main part of the mid-crop would be done between May and June but significant volumes of beans would leave the bush in July and August.

“The last rains will help the trees a lot. The harvest will begin tentatively next week,” said Salame Kone, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 18.3 millimetres (mm) fell last week, 7.3 mm above the five-year average.

In the center-west region of Daloa, where rains were below the average, and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were well above the average last week, farmers said they were satisfied with the weather, but more rains in the coming weeks would help cocoa pods survive since the weather remained too hot.

West Africa collectively supplies two-thirds of the world’s cocoa crop, with nearby countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Togo producing additional 1.55 million tonnes annually.

Related Topics:Cocoa Featured Ivory Coast

Click to comment

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high of 33.69% in April

Published

21 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s consumer inflation reached a 28-year high of 33.69% in April, up from 33.20% in March, according to statistics agency figures released on Wednesday.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has slashed petrol and energy subsidies and devalued the local naira currency twice.

To manage pricing pressures, the central bank has hiked interest rates twice this year, including the highest hike in almost 17 years. The central bank governor has stated that rates will remain high for as long as necessary to reduce inflation. The bank will host another rate-setting meeting next week.

When compared to the previous year, the inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47 percentage points more than in April 2023, when it stood at 22.22 percent. This implies that the headline inflation rate has increased dramatically during the last year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food and nonalcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to inflation in April. Food inflation, which accounts for most of the inflation basket, rose to 40.53% yearly from 40.01% in March.

Price pressures have left millions of Nigerians facing the biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades, as they fight to satisfy their most basic necessities.

Tinubu has offered a 35% salary increase for state personnel to alleviate pressure on government workers. To assist disadvantaged households, his government has resumed a direct cash transfer program and provided at least 42,000 tons of grains such as corn and millet.

VenturesNow

Uganda discusses power line to South Sudan with China’s Sinohydro

Published

2 days ago

May 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the president’s office, Uganda is in negotiations with Sinohydro Corporation Limited of China to build a $180 million power transmission line that would enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, which is severely short on energy.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni received a group led by Vice President of Sinohydro Corporation Yang Yi Xin on Monday as part of the negotiations, according to a late-morning statement from Museveni’s office.

The project, according to the statement, will entail building a new substation and expanding two existing ones in addition to building a 138-kilometre high-voltage transmission line to provide power to South Sudan.

“We are very much willing to help develop this project with the required finance if needed,” Xin was quoted as telling the president.

The statement stated that Museveni endorsed Sinohydro’s proposal to carry out the project. Uganda and South Sudan inked a power sales deal in June of last year, enabling Uganda to sell electricity to South Sudan.

To enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, the two nations inked a power sales deal in June of last year. The Chinese firm is completing a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt hydropower project on the River Nile in Northern Uganda that is meant to be the source for electricity exports to South Sudan.