Nile River Faces Environmental Challenges

World Politics Review published on 4 February 2020 an analysis titled "As the Risk of a 'Water War' Fades, Is It Too Late to Save the Nile?" by Peter Schwartzstein, an environmental journalist.

Decades of mismanagement have left the Nile River polluted and drained. Climate change adds new uncertainty to the region. Erratic rainfall in the larger Nile Basin and especially in the Blue Nile basin near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is the greatest threat to downstream states' water share in the long term. Nile Basin states need to work fast on tackling the river's pollution, its agricultural problems, and the shrinking per capita water shares as populations in the region increase.

Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation

The Institute of Development Studies Bulletin published in November 2018 a paper titled "Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Agribusiness' Contribution to Reducing Youth Unemployment" by Tesfamichael Wossen and Seife Ayele.

The study explores the relationship between agricultural transformation, ownership structure of agribusinesses, and employment creation in Ethiopia. The findings suggest that the growing number of agribusinesses are generating more jobs for youth but also reveal a number of challenges to overcome such as skills gaps, low pay in the private sector, and inflexible land ownership and transfer processes.

Agriculture Powering Africa's Economic Transformation

The Accra-based African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) posted on 10 October 2017 a massive study titled "Africa Transformation Report 2017: Agriculture Powering Africa's Economic Transformation." The lead author was Yaw Ansu, chief economist at ACET. You can download the entire report or an overview in English and French.

The premise of the study is that Africa is blessed with many natural advantages and rising market opportunities that could be leveraged for agricultural transformation. It also grapples with the current focus in Africa on industrialization by arguing that African countries have the opportunity to pursue two tracks to industrialization--one that leverages their relative labor-abundance for labor-intensive and export-oriented light manufacturing, and another track that leverages their advantages in agriculture for globally competitive manufacturing based on agriculture.

How US Companies Can Compete with China in Africa

The Atlantic Council in Washington released on 7 September 2017 two issue briefs concerning possibilities for doing business in Africa, especially in light of significant Chinese competition. The first paper is titled "Escaping China's Shadow: Finding America's Competitive Edge in Africa" by Aubrey Hruby, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center. The paper identifies the following five sectors as good prospects for American business: professional and business services; financial services; media, entertainment and information; agribusiness; and renewable energy.

A companion paper, which focuses on the nature of African consumers, is titled "Capturing the African Consumer Market: Truths, Trends, and Strategies for the Road Ahead" by Aleksandra W. Gadzala, a geopolitical risk consultant.

China in Ghana and Zambia

The latest issue of "Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights" contains three articles devoted to China and Africa.

The articles are:

--Fighting the Race to the Bottom: Regulating Chinese Investments in Zambian Mines by Mukete Beyongo Dynamic

--There and Back Again: Conceptualising the Chinese Gold Rush in Ghana by Nicholas Loubere and Gordon Crawford

--A Chinese Empire in the Making? Questioning Myths from the Agri-Food Sector in Ghana by Jixia Lu

External Financial Flows and Tax Revenues for Africa

The African Development Bank has just released its African Economic Outlook for 2015.  Chapter 2 titled "External Financial Flows and Tax Revenues for Africa" reports that private external flows in the form of investment and remittances now drive growth in external finance.  Foreign investments are expected to reach $73.5 billion in 2015.  Foreign direct investment is moving away from mineral resources and into consumer goods and services.  African sovereign borrowing is rocketing.  Remittances have increased six-fold since 2000 and are projected to reach $64.6 billion in 2015.  Official development assistance will decline in 2015 to $54.9 billion.