Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani. They exchanged greetings on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, praying to Allah the Almighty to bless the Egyptian and Iraqi peoples with renewed goodness and to grant the Arab and Islamic nations peace, security and prosperity.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Africa is paradoxically reliant on imported food and home to a disproportionate share of the world’s hungry while at the same time boasts the potential to be a global breadbasket and food superpower. Part of realizing that potential depends on tapping the continent’s vast array of food crops, which too often have been pushed off stage by global commodity foods produced elsewhere.

These include traditional local mainstays such as Bambara groundnut and pigeons peas, superfoods such as fonio or baobab fruit, and naturalized vitamin-rich crops such as amaranth or taro.

The new Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa aims to move the needle by identifying so-called orphan foods that very often are “locally adapted and less fastidious than exotic cultivars” such as maize, rice or wheat. Produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the compendium presents 100 examples of neglected local foods that have the potential to sustainably provide the much-needed dietary nutrients to various communities across Africa.

The compendium is a scoping study and a first step in what will be “an exhaustive identification and characterization of forgotten foods in Africa,” said Abebe Haile-Gabriel Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa and FARA Executive Director Aggrey Agumya. Both leaders made it clear that while the current list may be expanded over time, the key litmus test is to generate increased attention and funding by researchers and agricultural development practitioners able to shepherd pioneering investments into sustainable agrifood transformation.

The 100 examples collated in the Compendium, with imagery, agroecological suitability, agronomic requirements, and nutritional qualities, were selected after an initial canvassing of experts around Africa, whose specialties range from value-chain development to genetic improvement.

Promoting revival

The project, begun as an initiative between FAO and the African Union, also dovetails nicely into The Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), a newer project spearheaded by FAO and the State Department of the United States of America which is strongly geared to leveraging Africa’s indigenous agricultural products and techniques.

“These projects are moving together and will work together,” especially as VACS is quite focused on improving seeds and developing hardy and higher-yielding varieties of the orphan crops, said Mphumuzi Sukati, Senior Food and Nutrition Officer at FAO’s Regional Office for Africa and a leading author of the publication.

Crafting the Compendium, published alongside a companion tome explaining the initiative, has generated lively arguments over criteria and terminologies. In fact, nine main descriptors ended up being used: traditional, forgotten, minor, neglected, underutilized, orphan, underdeveloped, cheat-hunger and poor people’s.

Other ideas from various experts are to call these crops “opportunity crops” given their potential to transform African agrifood systems to be MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind, in line with the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031.

No selection can be perfect from the start and the list will be steadily updated, with forest products likely to figure more prominently over time as the initiative gathers steam.

Sometimes the foods are relatively forgotten due to progressive loss of cultural image in the face of more exotic imported foods, and sometimes they are not forgotten or neglected at all but – like cassava or bush mango – remain traditional crops used in local markets and not used in longer-distance trade. A common attribute, however, is that they have received little or no policy and research attention until now.

They are what Haile-Gabriel and Agumya call “backbench” foods and should be targeted for promotion due to their adaptability to Africa’s production domains, cultural and socioeconomic structures and nutritious needs.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke over the phone with President of the United Arab Emirates, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahayyan. The two Leaders exchanged greetings on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, praying to Allah the Almighty to bring it back to the two countries and the Arab and Islamic nations with security, stability, and prosperity, and to the people of Egypt and the UAE with safety, prosperity, and progress.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among has directed the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry, and that of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to resolve the woes of Kampala City Traders and report back to Parliament on Tuesday, 16 April 2024. 

The traders, under their umbrella body, Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) started a strike which has seen majority of shops in down town closed since 08 April 2024. 

Among other challenges, the traders are protesting the enforcement of the Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) system, saying that they were not sensitised and also lack the requisite infrastructure to use the system. 

“This is not only happening in Kampala, this must be interrogated and we must come to a solution. The Committee of Trade and Finance must do a public hearing with these traders-URA must come out, there should be certainty in collection of these taxes collection,” she said. 

Among also said that given the current budgeting period, the Finance Committee ought to conduct extensive consultations on all tax bills before they are enacted to ensure compliance from tax payers. 

She made the directive while chairing plenary on Tuesday, 09 April 2024 after the matter was raised by Kampala Central Division Member of Parliament, Hon. Muhammad Nsereko. 

Nsereko said that the traders are frustrated with the EFRIS system which has greatly affected their businesses. 

“You are talking about over 200,000 people closing their businesses and that means for every day they close business, is a short fall in tax collection,” he said. 

Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi said that the cardinal principle of ensuring ease in tax remittances ought to be followed by URA. 

“They [Traders] are happy to pay taxes but there is a challenge with this system. URA has not sensitized the traders, they need smart phones to be able to interact with the system. They are having run-ins with URA because they are not on same page,” Ssenyonyi said. 

Minister of State Finance, Planning and Economic Development (General Duties), Hon. Henry Musasizi however said that the traders have been sensitised about EFRIS. 

“Ever since EFRIS was launched in 2019 and subsequently full implementation after COVID, URA has sensitised over 20,000 traders,” Musasizi said. 

He added that the traders have three options including the EFRIS mobile application, use of machine in the shop or installation of the system in the computer used in the shops. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.