The ongoing shortages of gasoline in Venezuela keeps reflecting on food prices, due to the challenges that this situation poses on food marketing and distribution. Out of fear for yield losses, farmers frequently turn to the black market, where prices are higher: this reflects on consumers, who are indirectly affected by the high prices of gasoline on the black market, and it also affects the local demand for agricultural products, which is likely to decrease.

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According to Turkish exporting firms and unions and to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended the imports of animal products (such as beef, mutton, poultry, fish, eggs and honey) from Turkey. The two countries have been at odds for some years over several disputes (including the assassination of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi), and Saudi Arabia’s largest supermarket chains had already joined a boycott of Turkish products before the import suspension began.

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According to a British non-profit organization, Brexit will have substantial repercussions also on non-European countries: more in particular, it could damage the supply of bananas from Ghana to the British supermarkets, causing job losses in the country’s banana plantations. In fact, Ghanaian banana exporters will face a post-Brexit import duty of GBP 95 per ton, which would make exporting to the UK unprofitable for a fruit that is already sold on very small profit margins.  

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After hitting a six-year high in October, India’s retail inflation is likely to remain elevated for at least three more months as heavy rains have damaged standing crops and seedlings. The high prices will especially affect the country’s millions of poor people, who are already struggling amid the difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic: food inflation shot up to 11% in October, which was the highest in nine months (food items such as onions, potatoes, eggs, meat and tomatoes are the most affected by the price hike).

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Food inflation in Pakistan is currently said to be the highest among all South Asian countries, despite the fact that the coronavirus pandemic did not hit as hard in Pakistan as it did in other countries of the region (such as India). The country is still facing a sugar and a wheat/flour crisis, and the government has not developed an efficient strategy to deal with this situation yet (for example, providing incentives to farmers and stopping further cartelization of sugar and wheat).

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Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has recently announced a new CAD 1.9 million investment under the Emergency On-Farm Support Fund in order to help Manitoba’s farmers to better protect their health and safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. More in particular, eligible activities to be funded include direct infrastructure improvements to living quarters and workstations, sanitary stations, and personal protective equipment.

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The Agricultural Development Bank of Ghana (ADB) has confirmed its commitment to increase the share of agricultural loans in the Bank’s total loan portfolio to a minimum of 50% within the next three years (currently, it is at 28%). Meanwhile, the Bank has already introduced the Ghana Cedis Poultry Value Chain Programme with an amount of GHS 500 million earmarked for it, and similar programmes will be introduced starting from next year for fish, maize, cassava, potatoes, rice and palm oil.

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Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently disclosed that the central government has procured agricultural inputs for wheat production that could increase the country’s food basket by 15,560 tons of wheat. Furthermore, the Ministry has put in place specific measures to reduce wheat’s import bill, and there have been other interventions to boost wheat production by the Central Bank of Nigeria and other institutions.

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A new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed between Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (including Indonesia and Vietnam). Starting from April, China has imposed tariffs on Australia’s food products (such as barley and wine), which resulted in disrupted exports worth AUD 19 billion. Australia will now use the RCEP to resume in-person meetings with Chinese ministers, in the hope that this will help reset the economic relations with China.

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The CDC Group (a British development finance institution) has committed an additional USD 100 million to its existing master risk participation agreement with Standard Chartered Bank (a British multinational financial services company). This additional commitment will provide the Bank with sufficient liquidity to directly support trade lines to local banks in Sub-Saharan Africa at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has created severe liquidity pressures for banks across the region.

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The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide concessional funding to launch capacity-building initiatives in Africa that aim at training young agricultural entrepreneurs from 12 African countries, and to finance their projects. 62% of all applicants represent women-led businesses or businesses where women make up at least 50% of their management.

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