Agrilevante returns to the international exhibition calendar and celebrates its seventh edition from 5 to 8 October at the Bari exhibition centre. This week, the exhibition’s organising body, FederUnacoma surl, opened registration for exhibiting companies on the specially prepared on-line platform, thus starting the march towards the October event, one of the most important for the agricultural sector in the entire Mediterranean area. After the suspension of the 2021 edition due to the health emergency, the biennial Agrilevante – which has always been organised with the support of the Presidency and the Department of Agriculture of the Apulia Region and in collaboration with the Nuova Fiera del Levante – aims to confirm the results of the 2019 edition, when the number of exhibiting companies reached 360, representing 19 countries, and visitors from 65 countries exceeded 80 thousand. The international character is the strong point of this exhibition, which includes the active collaboration of the ICE Agency for the organisation of foreign delegations, and which offers technologies for all the main production chains of the Mediterranean and African regions: grains, olive oil, wine, fruit and vegetables, livestock, and non-food and energy raw materials. Operators from Southern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa will find a vast selection of tractors, harvesting machines, equipment, irrigation and treatment systems, and advanced electronic devices for every type of processing and every model of agriculture in the Fiera del Levante pavilions. Along with the more than 8,000 models of machinery and equipment, significant interest will be aroused by the exhibition of prized breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and poultry breeds. The presence of a section dedicated to technologies for Agriculture 4.0 will also draw interest, while in the coming weeks the programme of conventions, conferences, and workshops will be drawn up in collaboration with prestigious institutions such as the University of Bari and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute, and with important organisations in the agricultural sector and the agro-mechanical supply chain.

Children are facing a growing risk of disease as cholera and measles outbreaks tighten their grip on Ethiopia, raising fears for the many vulnerable children already suffering from malnutrition, Save the Children said.
A cholera outbreak is affecting the Oromia and Somali regions, with at least 1,055 cases reported, including 28 deaths, since September 2022. In the past month alone, more than 316 cases have been reported in the two regions, a 30% jump from 739 cases at the end of December 2022, with one million people at risk of the disease in the two regions.
Spikes in measles cases have also been reported with 357 new measles cases and 6 deaths reported in the last week of January alone, according to health authorities.
A deadly combination of severe water shortages, poor hygiene and sanitation services, including open defecation and lack of water treatment options are driving the rapid spread of cholera, with severe drought exacerbating the situation.
As taps run dry, many families struggle to get clean water for use at home. Health authorities have pointed out that more than 80% of patients admitted for cholera were found to have consumed river water. In Ethiopia, more than 13 million people including 6.8 million children are in dire need of safe water. The situation is likely to get worse as the country enters the January-March dry season. Forecasts predict that rainfall in the upcoming rainy season in April will be below average.
Last month Save the Children said back-to-back droughts caused by five failed rainy seasons have left 12 million Ethiopians facing hunger as conflict and forced displacement exacerbate the hunger crisis in the country. This is also causing widespread malnutrition with 3.9 million children in Ethiopia severely malnourished– accounting for around half of people suffering from malnutrition across the whole of the Horn of Africa.
In the Somali and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, distraught mothers are arriving at Save the Children’s malnutrition stabilization centres with children showing severe symptoms and complications caused by malnutrition.
Hodan* lives with her husband and four children in the Somali region. Her husband is currently working as a farmhand back in their village after being edged out of his pastoralist lifestyle by the ongoing severe drought.
In the last four months, Hodan* told Save the Children, she has lost 3 goats and 3 camels leaving her family without a source of income and nutrition. This has left her struggling to feed her family including her 19-month-old daughter, Ayaan* who is suffering from the deadliest form of malnutrition. Ayaan* has been admitted to Stabilization Centre at Kelafo Health Centre, where she will receive life-saving therapeutic feeding treatment. Hodan says “I am not able to feed my children because of drought and we don’t have any money. We used to keep animals but we have lost all of them. My child has been sick for one month. When I saw the child is getting worse I decided to take her to the nearest health facility where I can get medication. That’s why I came here.”
By mid-January this year, Kelafo Health Centre had admitted 18 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, 3 more children than it admitted the whole of January 2022 and pointing to a worsening situation in Ethiopia.
Save the Children’s Country Director for Ethiopia, Xavier Joubert, said “We know babies like Ayaan are particularly susceptible to cholera and measles during droughts because malnutrition lowers the body’s defences, making children more vulnerable to the diseases and their complications. In Ethiopia, more than two-thirds of cholera patients are children. We are concerned that most of those who have died from cholera are children under the age of 14, with 25% of them under five. We are calling for more funds to provide food, water and health services to affected communities.
“It’s clear that the current drought is contributing to these disease outbreaks and we are worried this is going to have severe consequences for children already battling malnutrition. We urgently need to ensure that every child has access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.”
Save the Children has been operating in Ethiopia for over 60 years and was amongst the first respondents to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict in the northern part of Ethiopia, while continuing humanitarian assistance to the prolonged humanitarian crises in Oromia and Somali regions. The organisation’s work is heavily anchored on health and nutrition as well as life-saving water and sanitation assistance, protection services, education support, and cash and in-kind distributions to the most vulnerable children and their families.
In 2022, Save the Children reached 7,574,882 people including 5,140,968 children through lifesaving food, water distribution, treatment for malnutrition among other services.

Norfund and a consortium of private investors managed by 54 Capital announce $21 million growth capital investment into Ethiopia’s largest FMCG platform SAMANU. This injection is said to increase local production of edible oil as well as create jobs, increase food security, and provide income for up to 200,000 smallholder farmers.
The investment by Norfund will fund the construction of a new solvent extraction plant to produce edible oils based on locally sourced sesame, sunflower and soya beans in its refineries. By reducing the dependency on imported raw materials, the investment aims to create jobs in value-addition and increase Ethiopia’s food security. The completion of a vertical integration project will also allow for increased export opportunities within the sectors the company already operates.
To ensure enough volume of locally produced oilseeds for its refineries, the company intends to develop large oilseeds clusters in Ethiopia over the next six years, providing livelihoods for 200,000 smallholder farmers. In the first six months post investment, the objective is to identify 642 clusters and sign contracts with around 5-7,000 smallholder farmers. Norfund, through its Business Support Facility, plans to use grant funding to assist contracted smallholder farmers with inputs like high quality seeds, fertilizers, training and capacity building, as well as agricultural technology to boost productivity.
Andreas Davidsen, Norfund’s VP of Scalable Enterprises – Agribusiness & Manufacturing stated, “We are excited to partner with SAMANU and support the execution of their vertical integration strategy, creating jobs and increasing food security. We strongly believe in the opportunities of local food production in Ethiopia and Norfund looks forward to working closely with the SAMANU management team and 54 Capital to help implement best in class practices and solutions.”
SAMANU is already home to some of Ethiopia’s leading FMCG brands and has ambitious plans to expand its product offering to meet rising demand for high quality locally produced brands. The investment, Norfund’s first in manufacturing in Ethiopia, now signals strong institutional backing for the platform.
“It is a fantastic achievement for our investments in Ethiopia and our local management team to receive further institutional backing. It stands as testament to what we have been able to achieve in terms of nurturing high-quality popular brands and achieving scale through capacity expansion and how we intend to develop the next stage of the business. This investment demonstrates the robustness of this strategy for further enhancing the value chain within Ethiopia which will undoubtedly benefit from Norfund’s extensive experience across the continent,” remarked Saad Aouad, 54 Capital PE Advisors’ Chief Investment Officer.
SAMANU is a platform company with well-established brands operating in Ethiopia’s main FMCG sub-sectors (Tena Edible Oils, 555 and Aura Soap & Detergents, and Chef Luca wheat products).