Nigeria’s cassava sector is slowly but surely turning lucrative through huge bioethanol projects, finally redeeming massive hidden potential. One of these is the Cassava Bioethanol Initiative championed by Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning. The other is the strategic backing by the Minister of Agriculture for a leading farming project known as Agbeyewa Farms. ...
A crossbreeding initiative, feed improvements and infrastructural upgrades have gifted Ethiopia with 12 billion liters of milk, almost double 2022’s production. Under the Yeremat Tirufat or “Bounty of the Basket” initiative, crossbreeding has grown eightfold in three years and increased milk volumes. Hence the project could help reduce annual imports of dairy products and alleviate above-average prices. According...
The 2024-25 corn output in Brazil could increase by 8.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) in tandem with impressive grain production. According to a March 13, 2025 report by the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA), uptick yields will support this increase. In a promising market year for local cereals and oilseeds, LSPA pegs corn production at 124.8 million tonnes. Three...
Australia is keeping a weather eye on a possible beef levy by April 2, 2025 if the U.S. taxes agricultural imports. This amid uptick export prices of Aussie trim beef bound for the U.S., by 26% year-on-year, up to mid-February, 2025. Hints of a beef surtax surfaced on March 2 when President Trump advised federal farmers to have “fun”...
Global cocoa rates rallied slightly on March 12, 2025 to $8,137.28 a tonne but are still nursing recent price lows over surplus projections. Earlier on March 10, the cocoa price had finally bowed down to its lowest point since December 2024, at $8,100 a tonne. The slump followed a 2024-25 surplus projection of 142,000 tonnes on...
March 14 is Pi Day when Americans usually look forward to relishing discounted circular foods, especially pizza and pie. Pi is the Greek mathematical constant “π” or numeral 3.14159, which represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is the first three digits of this number that provide the name day...
After ten years of negotiations, the Philippines has finally allowed imports of various table grape varieties from South Africa, beginning February 26, 2025. Popular varieties like Crimson Seedless could form a major share of exports to the new market. They will also constitute a part of the 23 to 25% remaining portion of non-Europe bound...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reprising its status as the government department with the most annual purchases by sourcing $100 million in domestic fish. The department’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) arm had by March 7, 2025 awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to pollock, shrimp and catfish suppliers. Some of the supplies will end up...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s sugar price index was up 7.3 points in February 2025 after three consecutive lackluster months. In its monthly global food price tracking report on March 8, FAO put the index of the sweetener at 118.5 points. Though showing monthly strength, the index is still down 22.2 points or 15.8% from the...
China has finally remembered electric vehicle (EV) tariffs of fall 2024 and avenged them with 100% surtax on canola from Canada. This is happening just a few weeks after Canada raised its 2024-25 canola ending stock. The Ministry of Commerce of China specifically targeted canola oil, oilcake, pea, pork and aquatic good imports, effective March 20,...