CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will almost double its African agribusiness investments to $400 million by 2011, one of its senior investment officers said on Tuesday.

The IFC is the investment arm of the World Bank.

“We have 7.1 percent of our portfolio in agribusiness in Africa and we are looking to increase it significantly,” Washington-based Anup Jagwani told Reuters on the sidelines of an African agribusiness conference in Cape Town. Read the full story

JOHANNESBURG, (IRIN) - Camel farming could be an option for some 20 million to 35 million people living on semi-arid land in Africa, who will soon be unable to grow crops because of climate change, says the co-author of a new study.

By 2050, hotter conditions and less rainfall in an area covering 500,000 sq km to one million sq km of marginal farmland - about the size of Egypt - would make it harder for people grow crops, said Philip Thornton, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, co-author of the report.

The study, Croppers to livestock keepers: livelihood transitions to 2050 in Africa due to climate change, was published in a special edition of the journal, Environmental Science and Policy, to coincide with the UN climate change meeting in Bonn, Germany, this week. The meeting is the second in the run-up to the December conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, to consider a global accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The two authors suggest that rethinking and planning now for agricultural systems that will be necessary in a few decades, like boosting production of the hardier types of livestock - goats, donkeys, camels and some types of cattle - could provide an alternate source of income.

Thornton told IRIN that the affected communities could take the lead from pastoralist communities, who have been adapting to climate variability for generations. About 10 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa – around 72 million people - live in rangeland systems.
The Samburu tribe in northern Kenya, traditionally cattle farmers, had begun keeping camels in the last two or three decades because droughts had diminished grazing, leading to diseases in the herds and cattle raiding by other groups, whereas the neighbouring tribes, who kept camels, fared better.

“Any increase in livestock must be managed sustainably, but our research shows there are many areas in Africa where, over the next few decades, climate vulnerability, coupled with market demand for animal products, will prompt many farming communities to add more livestock to their agriculture systems and we should prepare now for this inevitability,” said Carlos Seré, Director General of ILRI.

The authors focused on the arid and semi-arid regions of West, East and southern Africa, where poor rainfall routinely causes crops to fail in one out of every six or even fewer growing seasons.

Various climate projections have indicated that the length of the reliable growing season on the affected land would drop below 90 days, making it impossible to cultivate maize - the staple food in much of Africa - and in some places even “drought-tolerant crops, such as millet” would be difficult to grow.

Livestock-farming as a solution is not a new idea. Thornton said the goal of their research was ultimately to use climate change projections to pinpoint specific areas in Africa where it would be appropriate to promote livestock ownership on small farms and help farmers deal with the risks inherent in such operations.

However, “there is currently a mismatch between the kind of localised climate change impact information that is urgently needed, and what can objectively be supplied,” he commented.

For example, while there was consensus that temperatures would rise significantly, climate models did not always agree as to how the pattern and amount of rainfall in some parts of Africa would change.

Thornton said more detailed research was necessary to help implement programmes to assist the people living in these areas.

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Source IRIN

ATI reports that African carriers, represented by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), have not escaped the downturn and are likely to suffer heavy losses in 2009.

AFRAA president and LAM Mozambique Airlines chairman Jose Viegas says first quarter profitability has been “quite poor”, after lower fuel costs and capacity adjustments failed to offset falling traffic and yields.

He adds that the world financial crisis will “most certainly hit African airlines during 2009″, causing record operating losses and significant budgetary constraint. “According to IATA research, Africa will be hit by losses of up to $300 million in operating results and $600 million in net profits,” says Viegas.

But the AFRAA president notes that “Africa hasn’t plummeted to the bottom line yet” and traffic volumes are expected to pick up from the third quarter of 2009.

Tourism is a key driver for the region and the 2010 World Cup is expected to boost passenger and cargo revenues in South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Viegas says: “Southern African airlines are facing an unprecedented crisis. In the last 12 months alone, some have filed for bankruptcy. The lack of cash flow has hit the region’s so called ‘big brothers’ too.”

He says the commercial aviation is “under pressure” and “shaky”, creating an urgent need for partnerships. He is backing stronger regional relationships, “energising” of some hubs, flight schedule co-ordination and other commercial co-operation as key ingredients in the recipe for recovery.

Reuters is reporting the first case of the new H1N1 influenza virus in a 12-year-old American girl in Egypt. The source of the information is a Cairo-based official from the World Health Organisation. Read more: Reuters.

Eritrea was one of the last nations in Africa to introduce the Internet, but its people might be one of the most frequent Internet user group compared to the relative size of Eritreans living around the world.

Especially, for Eritreans living outside their country, it has become a second home serving as an information source about Eritrea and Eritreans. Nevertheless, in recent years, the Internet has also made progress back home in Eritrea according to the latest data for the first quarter 2009.

The data shows that today Eritrea is accountable for 2% of the total African Internet user market. The development can be seen on three phases, starting with the year 2000 Eritrea had 5000 Internet users in 2006 this number increased to 50000 and the latest data shows 120000 Internet users in Eritrea. Read the full story

After last nights Champions League final a disappointed Manchester United supporter drove with a van into a group of Barcelona fans killing four people. The incident happened in the Nigerian town of Ogbo. Read more: BBC.