🔅 Private Sector to Play a Bigger Role in Zimbabwe's Agriculture
Plus: Cannes Calling: Meet Ramata-Toulaye Sy, This Year's Venice Architecture Biennale is Curated by an African, Sudan's Warring Factions Agree to Ceasefire, And much more...
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Photo of the day: Niamey, Niger
Markets:
🟢 Nigerian SE: 52,369.13 (+0.35%)
🔴 Johannesburg SE: 78,175.82 (-0.25%)
🔴 Ghana SE: 2,571.06 (-0.46%)
🔴 Nairobi SE: 97.75 (-0.78%)
🟢 US S&P 500: 4,194.12 (+0.05%)
🟢 Shanghai Composite: 3,296.47 (+0.39%)
US Default: The Countdown is On | Looks like Congress has to start paying attention to that boring debt ceiling stuff. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday that the US might not be able to pay all its bills starting June 1 if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. That’s not great news. Experts agree that a default would be disastrous, with the potential for a “global financial market meltdown.” So how are the negotiations going? Not so great. The White House and Republicans remain far apart, with the main sticking point being government spending. Republicans want a debt ceiling increase paired with a decrease in non-defense federal spending, including cuts to social services. Democrats say that that is unacceptable.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
AGRICULTURE
Private Sector to Play a Bigger Role in Zimbabwe's Agriculture
Zimbabwe may be known in the West for its tumultuous political history, but the African country is setting itself up to be a food security powerhouse again.
The country's Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) announced that the sector has been changing steadily these past years, and that going forward, 3/4 of the country's wheat crop will be funded by the private sector.
What's driving the change?
Private traders have become more active since the government has opened the agricultural sector up to the private sector and loosened regulations.
It's part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's attempts to reverse the fallout from former president Robert Mugabe's land reform that saw white farmers (who controlled the sector) flee and the cash-strapped government struggle to fund food crop production.
Notably, the government has ended the monopoly of the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB) as the sole purchaser of maize and wheat, which allows for more competition and flexibility in the market.
As a result, after a record-breaking harvest of 375,131 tonnes of wheat in 2022, the government is targeting 408,000 tonnes this year.
Zimbabwe's 2023 maize harvest is a 58% increase from the previous season's haul.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇸🇩 Sudan's Warring Factions Agree to Ceasefire | In the midst of a five-week-long conflict between Sudan's warring factions, a Saudi- and US-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed over the weekend. The truce was set to come into effect yesterday evening, and even though there was fighting in the capital city of Khartoum on Sunday, citizens remain hopeful that the deal will hold. But, there's no guarantee. Analysts point out that it's unclear if army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan or RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, can actually enforce the ceasefire on the ground. The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire, but, unfortunately, 1.1 million people have already been displaced by the conflict and the humanitarian crisis in the region continues to grow. The deal calls for an international monitoring mechanism, as well as for humanitarian aid to be delivered.
🎬 Cannes Calling: Meet Ramata-Toulaye Sy | The Cannes Film Festival just added a name to the list of legendary filmmakers who’ve competed for the Palme d’Or over the years: Ramata-Toulaye Sy, the only first-timer in this year’s competition lineup. Her movie, “Banel & Adama,” is set in Senegal and tells the story of a couple’s struggle to live independently in a village where their single-mindedness is attributed by villagers to a drought-induced curse. Ramata-Toulaye Sy is only the second Black female director ever to compete for the Palme d’Or—and she’s not interested in being counted as a “woman, as Black or Arab or Asian,” but just a filmmaker. Sy had to struggle with sandstorms, heat, and illness to shoot “Banel & Adama.”
🎭 This Year's Venice Architecture Biennale is Curated by an African | The Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened on Saturday, is being curated by an African, and the show highlights work by Africans and the African diaspora. The main show is called “The Laboratory of the Future” and explores decolonization and decarbonization—two topics that African voices are well-equipped to speak on. This Biennale was curated by Lesley Lokko, and she’s tapped global stars like David Adjaye and Theaster Gates, plus 89 other participants (more than half of them from Africa or the African diaspora). The exhibits are more drawings, film, and projections than physical structures — this is on purpose so as to be light on the carbon footprint. This is the first time an African has been tapped to curate the Biennale, and the timing of it all isn’t lost on anyone. The push for inclusion that was ignited by the killing of George Floyd in the US is likely a factor in this. And, as if to emphasize the power of inclusion, the Italian embassy in Ghana refused to approve visas for three of Lokko’s collaborators, proving that impediments to representation are still alive and well.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Make some money but don’t let money make you.”
— Tanzanian Proverb.