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Friday, August 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Trade and poverty: Facts beyond theory
EAST AFRICA: Branded Coffee Yet To Boost Farmers’ Incomes
The Windsor Golf and Country Club is a swanky five-star hotel, widely believed to possess the best 18-hole golf course in the East and Central Africa region. Its origin, dating back to 1992, marked the death knell of a golden era when coffee as a cash crop stood out as the top foreign exchange earner in Kenya.FRANCE: Passionate About Principled Trade
Just like humanitarian relief, fair trade is a field that attracts passionate individuals with complex world views. Most are not in it for the money. But it is also rife with controversy, as personalities driven by conviction often clash over principles and practice. No two fair traders are alike, which probably explains many of their arguments.TRADE: Rich Countries Apply ‘Double Standards’ in WTO Doha Round
South Africa says the major industrialised members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are applying double standards when it comes to their interests and those of African countries in the Doha Round trade negotiations.
TRADE-WEST AFRICA: Swollen Shoot Disease Devastating Cocoa Trees
On a hot November afternoon, Opanin Owusu Adu showed me around his farm on the outskirts of Suhum, a town in the Eastern Region in Ghana.
WORLD: More Questions About Fair Trade Practices
So-called fair trade is booming in Germany but it is facing strong criticism from activists against neoliberal globalisation on the grounds that companies taking part in ‘‘fair trade’’ do not live up to its humanitarian and developmental principles.WORLD: Taxation A Sticky Issue At Upcoming Financing Talk Fest
Amid frantic efforts to save the banking system from ruin, some top-level European Union (EU) officials have nonetheless found time to profess their concern for Africa recently.
TRADE: Kibuzi Bananas Follow Ugandans to London
‘‘We have lots of orders for apple banana. There is a ready market for kibuzi in London. It is eaten from Monday to Monday. But how to get it there is the issue. Almost 60 percent of the cost goes to freight.’’
ECONOMY-SOMALIA: Walking The Line Between Business and War
A doctor in Mogadishu gives medicine to a man complaining of an upset stomach. ‘‘This medicine won't work,’’ groans the patient, ‘‘I got sick after eating expired food; only an expired medicine will cure it.’’
DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: From A ‘‘Red Bush’’, Opportunity Is Born
Nestled in a valley in the Cederberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa’s southern most province, lies the charming little village of Wupperthal.
TRADE-CAMEROON: Borders – Where Two Economies Meet
No one pays full price for petrol in northern Cameroon, not when there's cheaper Nigerian contraband available. In Garoua town for example, there are about 4,000 commercial motorcycles which all depend on "zoa zoa" or "federale" as this highly cherished liquid is generally referred to.DEVELOPMENT-NAMIBIA: Land Reform Reaping Fruits Despite Problems
Almost two decades after independence Namibia’s land reform shows positive results and is guided by fair laws, but bureaucracy, slow progress in transformation of land ownership and unclear criteria for expropriation are overshadowing successes.
TRADE: Africans Should Confront ''Blind Governments'' on EPAs
African governments came under fire for ‘‘blindly’’ negotiating the controversial economic partnership agreements (EPAs) and not making an effort to educate ‘‘ordinary people’’ on what they were negotiating.
DEVELOPMENT: Zimbabweans Worried About Aid With Strings Attached
Aid with strings attached frequently does not translate into the improvement of the lives of the people for whom that money was ostensibly sourced in the first place. Most of the capital received in aid is used to pay back debt owed to Western donors.
TRADE-EAST AFRICA: Low Crop Prices Drive Farmers to Marijuana
Kenyan small-scale farmers have moved across the border into Tanzania to cultivate marijuana or ‘‘bhang’’, as the cannabis sativa plant is locally called. One of them is 25-year-old Steve Odhiambo. He believes that the international and local campaign against bhang harms only the small growers while the true profiteers get away.
SOMALIA: Women 'Keep Life Going' in Violent Streets of Mogadishu
On the fifth day of every month a group of women entrepreneurs gather to share their experiences and discuss matters of trade. What makes this exceptional is that the women are from south-central Somalia and they meet in Mogadishu, one of the world's most devastated and dangerous cities.
ECONOMY-MAURITIUS: Textile Manufacturing Goes Green and Clean
‘‘The cost of production is high in Mauritius as we are far away from our main markets. Our island is so small that at times our clients do forget us. We no longer benefit from any trade preferences. We don’t have any natural resources but we have plenty of sunshine and wind and we have decided to use these resources.’’
ECONOMY: Kenya Flush With Money From Expatriates
As your plane taxis along the runway at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a first-time visitor to Kenya will marvel at the world class status of the major entry-point to east Africa’s premier economy.
TRADE-EAST AFRICA: Tanzania Still Torn Between Two Blocs
There were six of them – esteemed Kenyan nationals working at east and central Africa’s largest media house, the Nation Media Group. They were supposed to demonstrate the value of the East African Community (EAC) by being allowed to ply their profession in neighbouring Tanzania. The year was 2005.
ECONOMY: Global Crisis Should Spell End of Laissez-Faire Doctrine
The real question to ask about the global financial crisis is whether ‘‘it will go deep enough for the big economies to realise that the market should be controlled more. The philosophy of laissez-faire simply does not work’’.
EAST AFRICA: Trade Opportunities Turn Out To Be Death Traps
New trade opportunities after 20 years of fighting in Southern Sudan have turned out to be death traps for Ugandan traders because of violence and physical intimidation by the military and civilians alike.ECONOMY: EU Involvement in DRC Mining Project Draws Protest
The involvement of the European Union in a mining project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has drawn a chorus of protest from local and international human rights advocates. They say the project is rife with problems relating to transparency and accountability.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Trade has historically been a geopolitical tool, creating significant economic imbalances in developing countries. However, many countries in East Asia and Latin America have been able to alleviate poverty due to increasing trade. Tackling poverty has proven to be much harder in low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, and their dismal trade performance is one important reason for that. They remain at the margins of world trade and indeed of the world economy. These articles are aimed at informing readers about the complexities of trade and its varying effects on development, with a special focus on the consequences of the global economic crisis, the potential of fair trade and the gender implications of trade policies.
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