The Knowledge to Decide

Humankind’s future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to the concurrent degradation of land, water, climate and biodiversity on a global scale. The human population is set to reach 10 billion people by 2050, increasing the global demand for agricultural products by 70 per cent. By 2022, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world. Will innovation in agriculture be able to feed the global population? The origins of agriculture Agriculture is derived from the late-Latin word Agricultura with ‘agri’ depicting land and ‘cultura’ meaning cultivation. Starting out as hunter-gatherers, humans have gradually learned to settle in fertile places for farming and later, started domesticating animals. The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, which we now refer to as Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Iraq, is known as the earliest site of farming. While it is not without its detractors, the agricultural revolution has delivered benefits in term

When the African Union (AU) launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) in January this year, it finally opened up Africa’s skies. 23 signatories on board, though another 32 AU members are yet to sign on. SAATM’s launch is a part of AU’s Africa 2063 project, which is a commitment to intra-continent development. If a common regulatory framework is put into place, this could benefit intra-continental travelers immensely, thus boosting commerce and tourism flows among African countries. Will Africa become the world’s next big aviation market? For more information, click here . 

The African hair care industry has been among the fastest growing across the content over the past few years. The market is expected to grow in value to USD761 million by the end of 2017. Various factors are responsible for this steady growth, such as the global trend towards chemical-free hair products as well as growing acceptance of the natural texture and colour of African hair. However, the pricing model is a challenge. Natural hair products are generally made with higher quality ingredients, unlike cheaper petro-chemical based ones. The battle to persuade consumers to pay higher prices has not yet been concluded. Can Africa turbo-charge the global hair care industry? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/african-haircare-industry-surges-ahead/

Nigeria’s economy was worth over USD400 billion in 2013 – ahead of South Africa’s GDP of USD355 billion . Nigeria is becoming Africa’s largest oil exporter. But amidst the opportunities, challenges remain – chiefly political instability, theft of natural resources and lack of infrastructure. Will Nigeria’s emergence as the latest frontier market be a smooth one? A growing economy Now being referred as one of the MINT frontier economies in the world (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey), Nigeria is expected to emerge as an economic powerhouse of the future . It has a good track record over the past ten years, with 7.4% real GDP growth in 2013, up from 6.7% in 2012. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the ninth most populous in the world. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the ninth most populous in the world, with 173.6 million people in 2013. According to recent UN projections, Nigeria will become one of the most populous countries in the world