Tanzania puts faith in jatropha plant
The jatropha plant can thrive in the harshest conditions
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The ancient crop jatropha grows wild here. It is extremely hardy and can survive in dry, barren soil - even though other plants cannot.
It used to be considered as bush with no commercial potential.
But the global search for clean energy has changed all that.
That is because the seeds can be harvested to make biofuel. It has meant that farmers are now taking to the crop with gusto.
Child's play
Samson Nasary is one such farmer, and he is looking to jatropha as an important source of income.
He harvests the seed and takes it to a collection point where he meets an agent for a firm called Diligent Tanzania. The product is weighed and valued, then a deal is struck.
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The government is shouting about this because some of the farmers they plant only jatropha without food production
Faustina Manang, Diligent
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"Initially, it was actually the kids who'd sell the seeds - and we really got interested and thought - why can't we get the seeds and sell them," he says.
"That's why we've been collecting the seeds and selling them to Diligent."
A few miles away from the farm, we come to a factory run by Diligent. The company doesn't grow jatropha itself.
It buys seeds from farmers through its local agents.
Many uses
The heart of the operation is a hot, noisy, sticky place. The seeds are crushed, processed and turned into crude jatropha oil.
Once its been refined it can be used to power electric generators and cars.
Diligent run some of their vehicles on the stuff. Jatropha oil from this factory has even been used as fuel in a 747 making an experimental flight.
It can also be used to make other products like soap and candles. Researchers are looking into possible medical applications.
But here is the rub.
The government is facing complaints that food production is being threatened because so many farmers are focusing on jatropha rather than edible crops .
And that's something a poor country like Tanzania can ill afford.
India bananas seek bigger share of global market
Over 30 varieties of banana are grown in Tamil Nadu
India, the largest banana producing country in the world, is vying for a bigger share of the global market.
An ambitious plan has been drawn up by the Confederation of
Indian Industries (CII) to export Indian-grown bananas globally to
China, East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.It is estimated that the annual trade could be worth $1.2bn (£750m).
The plan is to create a global brand for Tamil Nadu Bananas, along the lines of Florida Oranges and California Apples.
But as local production is unable to even meet domestic demand, questions are being raised about the prospects of the entire project.
Post-harvest losses The CII is confident that, with a gestation period of 18 months, its plan would succeed.
"If the post-harvest losses alone can be avoided then exporting 28 million tonnes of bananas would not be a problem," according to B Thiagarajan, chairman of the National Cold Chain Task Force at the CII.
Although India is one of the largest producers of many fruits and vegetables, post-harvest facilities are still in their infancy, especially as there is no cold chain infrastructure - with the exception of a few commodities such as potatoes, Mr Thiagarajan explains.
US cuts wheat production forecast
Global wheat production has been hit by a drought affecting Russia and Kazakhstan
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cut its forecast for global wheat production in 2010-11, but by less than expected.
The department now predicts total output of 643 million
tonnes for the current agricultural year, down from its August forecast
of 645.7 million.Analysts had expected an even lower number of 641 million tonnes.
But this still means the USDA expects output to fall 5.5% from last year, mainly because of a drought in Russia.
The price of wheat dropped following the release of the forecast.
There was more positive news when Ukraine's prime minister, Mykola Azarov, said that the country would not follow Russia in restricting grain exports.
Russian outlook.
Wheat Futures US cents/bushel
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On Monday, Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev announced that Russia would only lift its grain export ban when
it was clear how much had been harvested.
Russia, one of the world's biggest producers of wheat, barley and rye, has been hit hard by drought and wildfires.The subsequent export ban caused global wheat prices to rise sharply on the international commodity markets.
The USDA report also revised down its 2010-11 forecast for Russia to 42.5 million tonnes, meaning that it now expects a 31% drop in Russian output compared with last year.
As a result, Russian wheat inventories are expected to more than halve to below 5 million tonnes by next summer.
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