The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organisation have formed an alliance to address rising hunger on the African continent.

At a two-day high-level dialogue that focused on modernising food production,the group observed that the impact of climate change, rising fragility, conflict and locust invasions in east and southern Africa are taking a toll on the continent’s effort to tackle food insecurity.

Finding solutions will require strong backing from governments, development partners and the private sector.

The virtual event brought together government officials, heads of multilateral development banks, development partners, regional organisations, research institutions, business leaders, private sector operators, investment agencies and civil society organisations.

The dialogue was an opportunity to share achievements and lessons from across the African continent and accelerate agricultural transformation.

Report shows the number of people living with hunger on the continent increased from 214 million to 246 million between 2015 and 2020. Agricultural and agrobusiness related activities could provide employment opportunities for millions of young Africans, who account for 70 per cent of the population.

Asian shares were trying to avoid a fourth straight session of falls on Wednesday as U.S. stock futures steadied in the wake of a pullback in large-cap tech darlings.

Holidays in Japan, China and South Korea helped cushion markets, leaving MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was shut, but futures recouped early losses to stand at 28,850 compared to the last cash close of 28,812.

India’s Nifty 50, started up 0.7% ahead of a speech by the country’s central bank governor, which might include policy changes to support the pandemic-stricken economy.

The Nasdaq had dropped 1.9% on Tuesday as some big tech names ran into profit-taking, including Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc .

Money sent home by Mexicans living abroad hit a record high in March, the central bank said Monday, as US stimulus measures aided a recovery in Latin America’s second-largest economy.

Remittances reached $4.15 billion, up 30 percent from February, beating the previous monthly all-time high of $4.04 billion seen a year earlier, the Bank of Mexico said.

The transfers, mostly from the United States, have helped to cushion the devastating blow to the Mexican economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

Experts say the increase in the remittances is due to the economic recovery and fiscal stimulus measures in the United States, a popular destination for Mexican workers.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that US President Joe Biden’s Democrats pushed through Congress in March included $1,400 payments to most taxpayers.

With the US economic outlook brightening, remittances to Mexico are expected to keep growing this year, analysts at the bank BBVA predicted in a report to clients.

The transfers have become increasingly important for the country in light of the pandemic’s damaging impact on other sectors, they said.

“This positions remittances as one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency, going directly to households, surpassing the income from foreign direct investment, tourism and crude oil exports in 2020,” the report said.

Some 12 million people born in Mexico live in the US, as well as another 26 million second or third generation Mexicans.

A proposed $2.9 billion Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex (ESIC-1) in Delta State, is a planned project that would help to decongest the Lagos ports while attracting about $50 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nigeria when completed.

Mercury Maritime Concession Company (MMCC) Limited, is the promoter of  the project,  and this was disclosed by the chairman of MMCC, Rear Admiral Andrew Okoja, (rtd) at a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos at the weekend. Okoja said the Escravos Seaport project, which would be on 30,000 hectares of land in South West of Warri in Delta State, would not only decongest the Lagos ports but would bring in more people into the maritime industry.

Okoja disclosed that the project would generate about 40,000 jobs upon completion and eliminate criminality such as piracy in the region, especially as the Nigerian Navy would be present to protect the business.

He said other benefits of the project are to promote collateral investments in commerce, industry, mining, power, housing, recreation and tourism among others.

Okoja said the firm had secured a provisional approval from the Federal Government through the Ministry of Transportation with a deposit of $1 billion investment to be made soon as a show of commitment to the project.

Argentina’s economic downturn, with high inflation, a deflating currency and a shortage of US dollars to invest in, has in fact proved a shot in the arm for one sector. cryptocurrency.

As they seek safe havens for their dwindling nest eggs, Argentines — used to buffering against economic crises — have been putting their money into Bitcoin, Tether, Etherium or Dai.

“The number of user accounts for investing in ‘cryptos’ has multiplied by ten in Argentina since 2020,” said Maximiliano Hinz, Latin American director of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the world’s largest by trade volume.

There are now an estimated two million crypto trading accounts in the country of 45 million people.

Argentina has been in recession since 2018, with inflation averaging 45 percent over the last three years, and a GDP contraction of 9.9 percent in 2020.

Poverty haunts two in five people, and unemployment is at 11 percent.

For those wishing to put money aside for a rainy day, cryptocurrencies offer relief from low interest rates and a government-imposed limit on greenback purchases of $200 per month in a population accustomed to dollarizing savings.

One Bitcoin is now worth about $60,000, or 5.6 million pesos.

“It is no coincidence that Argentina and Venezuela, countries with high inflation, are the main crypto poles in South America,” said Marcos Zocaro, a specialist in digital assets.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned the public against abuse of the country’s currency, describing naira as pride of the nation.

Speaking at the CBN Fair at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, Anambra State, the Principal Manager, Currency Operations Department, Mrs. Dorothy Onyene, cautioned traders, farmers and other Nigerians to stop rough-handling the naira notes in circulation.

Onyene frowned on the manner citizens mutilate, fold, deface and even use the naira as jotter. She added: “It is a punishable offence to abuse the naira. Defaulters are liable to six months imprisonment and/or N50,000 fine.

She said, the CBN spends a lot of money to print a single note, adding that such money would have been used for basic infrastructure. She regretted the situation where the same people who abuse the naira would not only reject mutilated naira notes, but also jealously handle other foreign currencies in their custody carefully.

In his welcome address, the Branch Controller, CBN, Awka, Benedict Maduagwu, had said the programme was to sensitise farmers, manufacturers, industrialists and traders, among others, on how to improve their business and encourage growth.

He said it was also targeted at enlightening the public on the various packages of the apex bank and how accessible they were.

U.S Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Tuesday, the United States is pressuring Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers to allocate some of their supply to American automakers grappling with a shortage of the crucial components,

Washington also is looking for ways to spur domestic production of a range of industrial components as it aims to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers, particularly those in China, Raimondo said during an appearance at an Americas Society event.

Taiwanese high-tech chip foundries are some of the world’s biggest and most advanced, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s largest.

“We’re working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and TSMC, which is a big company there, to prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there’s so many American jobs on the line,” she said.

Officials from other countries also are urging Taiwan to help with the crunch for the vital chips, the vast majority of which are produced in Asia.

Detroit automakers have cut production and warned of hits to output due to the shortage, with Ford last week saying it will cut its second-quarter production by half.

The supply crunch also has raised worries throughout the personal electronics universe, generating potentially higher prices for popular gadgets like game consoles and computer tablets.

“Right now we make zero percent of leading edge chips in the United States. That’s a problem, we ought to be making 30 percent because that matches our demand,” Raimondo said.

“It is definitely the case that we have to reshore much of our supply chain,” she added.

President Joe Biden in February issued an executive order calling for a 100-day review across federal agencies of semiconductors and three other key items: pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and large capacity batteries.