00:10Welcome to this edition of Business Africa, I'm your host Afolake Oinloye, the top stories this week.
00:17We'll find out how a FAD is transforming farm losses into bankable opportunities for rural youth and local markets.
00:28Echo was promised cheaper regional flight after aviation task courts, but high fares and conflicting national policies are stalling reforms.
00:40From raw beans to finished bars, Ghana pushes to process more cocoa at home, seeking greater value for its farmers.
00:50Sub-Saharan Africa may be the world's fastest growing region, but 37% of its food is lost before reaching
00:57the market, costing $92 billion a year.
01:01Now, a FAD is targeting the supply chain's first mile to cut losses, attract private investment and create jobs for
01:09young Africans.
01:11Sub-Saharan Africa is now the world's fastest growing region, with economic growth outpacing global averages at a projected 4
01:19.6%.
01:20But beneath these soaring headlines lies a problem that threatens its food sovereignty.
01:25Across the continent, farmers are achieving bumper harvests, yet 37% of the yield is lost before it ever reaches
01:32the market.
01:33Nigeria, for example, loses up to 50% of its 700 tons of locally grown strawberries because of a lack
01:40of paved roads or coal storage.
01:42This infrastructure deficit costs Africa $92 billion every year.
01:47While the African Union's Kampala Declaration provides the political blueprint for change,
01:52the missing link remains the so-called first mile, the riskiest and most fragmented part of the supply chain.
01:58To bridge this gap, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, is spearheading a radical shift.
02:05Through its IFAD 14 replenishment funding cycle, it's de-risking that first mile,
02:10organising smallholders into bankable cooperatives and financing solar-powered coal storage hubs
02:15that make rural markets safe for private capital.
02:18With 25 million young people entering the labour market annually, the stakes have never been higher.
02:23Can rural entrepreneurship realistically absorb this demand?
02:27Or is the dream of a unified African market under threat from fiscal constraints and diminishing global aid?
02:33To tell us more, we're joined by Girardin Mukeshimana,
02:37Vice President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD.
02:42Welcome to Business Africa.
02:44How is IFAD turning CDP compiler priorities into bankable agribusiness opportunities?
02:51What proof is there to show that it is attracting private investment?
02:55We work with the local SMEs, more in the medium enterprises,
03:01because that's where mostly the jobs are trapped into the food systems.
03:07And we look at them both on farm, but also off farm,
03:11along the logistics and the ag processing, transportation and up to the market.
03:16So we work really with a good number of SMEs on the continent,
03:21but also we manage to also attract the foreign investments into the country.
03:28So depending on the type of activities that we do, we de-risk private sector investments.
03:34If I give you an example, we may be doing a project,
03:38for example, we are doing a project on irrigation in a very dry area in Ethiopia.
03:47And the private sector, the private seed company in New Germany is seeing that,
03:53okay, this is a dry area.
03:55The conditions are good for seed multiplication.
03:57But now that there is water, I can go in and invest into the seed production.
04:03And then you get good, healthy seed.
04:05So both local and DFIs coming into the rural development that we are working in,
04:12we feel like this is the right way to do.
04:15Can rural entrepreneurship absorb Africa's growing youth workforce?
04:20What shows that effect is creating sustainable jobs?
04:24So the way we work with young people, we design systems that are making sure that they get bundled services.
04:34That means training, that means to make sure that they are having skills.
04:39That means supporting them to be productive, but also to link them to the market.
04:45So we, for instance, I was in Senegal, and I visited some of the young people that we are working
04:53with
04:53into one of our projects that is called Aggression,
04:57which is actually getting young people from the cities to come back to the rural areas
05:03because that's where they see that there is a potential of being supported
05:09so that they can break through and break development for their lives.
05:13So we unlock what they need to succeed, which is usually it's around the inputs,
05:22the resources that they need to start with.
05:24Usually it's the scarce and usually it's the startup capital.
05:29So when we are working with them, we work on that and we see how they progress.
05:34How will IFAT 14's replenishment health governments tackle fiscal constraints,
05:40have made reduced external support?
05:43So the market linkage is one.
05:46The second is the creation of employment for young people.
05:50And the third is the building resilience of rural communities against climate shocks,
05:56the conflicts and fragility.
05:58So these are really priority areas that we see that they're actually super needed.
06:07What is happening is that they are still, they are asking for more concessional credits.
06:16And that's what IFAT is all about.
06:19We are a concessional fund.
06:21But also what we see is that now that they,
06:25anywhere we preserve our preferred status within our member states,
06:32and it's interesting that we see that even the traditional borrowers,
06:39they know that now the times are getting tougher.
06:42They are willing to step up and contribute in a meaningful way.
06:49Well, thank you so much for those inputs.
06:53ECOWA's leaders pledged cheaper regional flight after announcing major aviation task court
06:58last December, set to begin in January 2026.
07:02But nearly two months into the new year, fares remain high.
07:06From Abuja, Konlibab's report on why the reforms have yet to take off.
07:12Samuel Pires is an Abuja-based music executive
07:15who organizes gospel concerts across West Africa.
07:18He says his most recent show in Accra, Ghana,
07:21almost got cancelled because of high cost of flight tickets.
07:24Air cost was something else.
07:27You know, we had to even cut corners, go to Lagos, then fly from Lagos,
07:30just to save, you know, so that we can be able to do more in the concert.
07:34In December, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS,
07:39announced plans to remove several aviation taxis
07:42and cut passenger charges by 25%.
07:44The blog says the move is meant to boost trade, tourism, and regional integration.
07:50But aviation experts say member states are contradicting the very agreements they signed.
07:55It has to go beyond signing to implementation.
07:58And one of the ways of implementing it is to make it as part of your own internal law
08:01so that your own system does not contradict the laws you have signed.
08:06An example is Nigeria.
08:07From the 1st of January 2026,
08:09the Nigerian tax law has come into a place
08:11which makes tickets or ticket services a VAT item.
08:16So if, in January 1st, Nigeria is implementing its own tax law
08:23and also signing the same, in January 1st, the ECOWAS protocol,
08:27there's a contradiction about it.
08:28Analysts say the problem goes deeper than taxes.
08:31They say the airfare reflects broader economic realities across the region.
08:35A venture can be affordable in West Africa.
08:37One, your standard of view limit needs to improve.
08:39The value of your currency also needs to improve.
08:42And your infrastructure also needs to improve
08:44so that the cost of doing business will be reduced.
08:46Until policies align with those realities,
08:49affordable regional travel in West Africa
08:51may remain more of an aspiration than reality.
08:56Ghana is moving to retain more of the value from its cocoa industry.
09:01The country plans to process up to half of its cocoa beans locally
09:04instead of exporting them raw.
09:07A shift designed to boost export earnings,
09:10strengthen local industry,
09:11and improve farmers' livelihoods.
09:14Here is more.
09:15Cocoa drives a $100 billion global industry.
09:19Yet many Ghanaian farmers earn under $2 a day
09:22as beans are exported raw.
09:24Under Project Elevate,
09:25Ghana wants to process half its crop locally.
09:28But output has fallen sharply,
09:30hit by pests, disease, and aging trees.
09:33It does not benefit us as Ghanians when other countries buy our cocoa
09:37and process them into finished products and sell to us while we struggle.
09:40So we'll keep pleading with the government to support us with the pest control chemicals
09:44and also produce more finished cocoa products in Ghana.
09:48Ghana isn't alone.
09:50Indonesia and Brazil have expanded processing,
09:52and Côte d'Ivoire now leads in cocoa grinding.
09:55But analysts say reform is key.
09:57The cocoa marketing company is a public enterprise,
09:59and it has had a long history of mismanagement,
10:04and it is currently in debt.
10:06So the challenge then becomes that it's good to announce this program,
10:09and this dovetails into the government's own cocoa sector reform program.
10:14The question I have is that if this is going to require more investment from the public purse,
10:21is it not going to be a repeat of all the narratives that we've heard from time immemorial?
10:29As much as I agree with what needs to be done,
10:33I am saying let it be private sector-led.
10:39With a cocoa traceability system planned for 2026,
10:43Ghana aims to meet global standards and protect its premium status.
10:46The vision is clear.
10:48Turn more beans into chocolate at home.
10:50The real test is now whether the investment in execution will follow.
11:15Business Africa was presented by Turkish Airlines.
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