President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on October 3, 2023 launched a strategic dry port in southeast Haut-Katanga province.  The largest of its kind in Central Africa, Sakania dry port on the Zambia-DRC border will connect regional mining towns. Sakania is a border post with an existing rail link to Livingstone and the Copperbelt Province on the Zambia side. ...

The United States is currently halfway through its 2023 apple season and expects to reap 9 billion pounds.  In a year of spring freezes, floods and tropical storms, the season’s total production will nevertheless be 1.5% more than that of 2022.  Exports of apples in 2022 brought the country $885.98 million, which in turn were below the record 2018 and 2019 levels. Across the...

South Africa successfully harvested its last olive crop for the 2023 season in September just a month after Argentina, amid global shortage. The southern hemisphere’s harvests have been the main focus of European olive oil companies for some time.  Importers have been looking south after the European season ended early in 2023 due to arid conditions in Andalusia. End of South Africa...

U.S. President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rushi Sunak are starting foundational talks on an export deal this October. The negotiations will include agricultural trade, Politico reports. With the two leaders seeking reelection in 2024, they are looking forward to lay grounds for beneficial trade relations. Insiders hope that the talks will have been fruitful before the November, 2024 U.S. election and the 2024...

Octoberfest or Wiesn ended on October 2 with record numbers attendance, buoyed by  increasing national wages. By day 9 of the 17-day food and beer festival, 3.4 million people had attended, more than in 2019.  The price of beer this year was higher than normal, notching 6.1% over the 2022 equivalent. A liter of brandy ranged from 12.6 EUR ($13.2) to 14.9 EUR ($15.6). The premium...

Teff  and biopiracy are two words that are now pairing side by side in modern agricultural terms. The reason is that teff (also tef), the ancient Ethiopian grain, has undergone various commercialization changes without appropriate authorization. There are now many crosses of teff, and it is hard to differentiate between the indigenous grain from the upstarts. Genetic improvement of teff has...

The Doha International Horticultural Expo in Qatar began its nearly 6-month run on October 2, 2023. Event organizers predict the attendance of 3 million people from across the globe before the March 28, 2024 ending date. The Expo is taking place at Al Bidda Park, a vast ground on the Arabian Gulf that covers 1.7 million square meters. The park’s attractive botanical farm will also bring...

Japan’s mackerel season is yet to start on two key contested islands. Russia holds the Kunashiri island, a source of horse mackerel and Habomai, a source of octopus. Each year, the two countries engage bilaterally on fishermen safety on the islands, but this year Russia ignored the talks. The annual launch of the lucrative mackerel season on Kunashiri, which was to...

Out of a competitive sweet potato year, the United States is back in the black as North Carolina’s sweet potato harvest begins. North Carolina sweet potato farmers are digging up the crop in slow spurts due to boggy conditions. In the wake of a very hot summer, chilly weather and rains have set in this fall and made harvesting hard but promising....

US President Joe Biden responded to a climate agitator by telling him to keep quiet during an interruption to his speech in Arizona. The president was commemorating the late Republican senator, John McCain, who died in August, 2018. Biden told the heckler to ‘shush up,’ a term that news media, including the BBC, has picked up as a pun. The president...