The Democratic Republic of Congo is roughly the same size as Western Europe. However its infrastructure is a far different proposition, and as a result it is rare – verging on impossible – that people from different parts of the...

The global palm oil industry is at a critical juncture. In 2012 we published a report that outlined how Africa is a new frontier for industrial palm oil production . This may bring much needed development to the continent, but it...

When I ask people what the backbone of most African economies is, the response is often a unanimous, “agriculture”. It goes without dispute that agriculture is the most important and largest contributor to the gross domestic product...

The Congo Basin is home to the second largest tropical rain-forested area on earth.  New research publicised this week suggests that the rate of deforestation in the region is actually slowing.  However this message does not...

Bruce Wrobel, the chief executive of Herakles Farms, claims his company’s efforts to flatten a chunk of Cameroon’s dense rainforest to develop a palm oil plantation are borne of a desire to address a "dire humanitarian need". Yet...

Agribusiness and commodity traders are thin on the ground at this week’s FAO conference in Rome on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition. Despite its title, this event is of little interest to Big Food. After all, this conference is...