Agricultural Value Chains
The Trade Hub’s agricultural activities are driven by USAID’s Feed the Future Strategy and focus on intra-regional trade in targeted value chains: maize, soybeans and groundnuts. Primary support is directed to the Feed the Future focal countries within the region (Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia) with special emphasis on encouraging investment and technology transfer from South African or-ganizations in line with USAID’s Strategic Partnership with South Africa.
The USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub has provided a grant of US$100,000 to Capstone Seeds SA (PTY) to accelerate commercial access to drought-tolerant hybrid maize seed in Malawi. Capstone, an independent South African seed company, will now enter into a joint venture with Peacock Enterprises Ltd of Malawi to multiply and market "CAP9001" in Malawi.This variety was developed specifically with the needs of the region in mind, to address productivity and maximize yield potential in small scale, rain-fed, drought-vulnerable farming systems. Approximately 80 metric tons of certified hybrid seed maize will be produced through this grant project. This grant not only supports the production of 80 metric tons of new hybrid seed in Malawi, but also pairs independent seed companies in South Africa and Malawi to bring new seed products to the market effectively
Groundnuts (also known as peanuts) are one of Southern Africa's most important crops, but contamination by the carcinogenic fungus aflatoxin has become a public health issue and a significant barrier to trade. Risks associated with the fungus include liver cancer, impaired growth for children under five and suppression of the immune system.
International and domestic business has been evolving from a transactional business, marketing era to a consultative era, and now to a new partnering era. African firms that want to be successful in the export market must embrace the partnering concept. This concept is like a marriage, where partners are not just in it for convenience, but for the long haul—think long-term—and both must give it their all for the relationship to be sustainable and beneficial.
The International Commercial Terms (Incoterms) are a series of commercial terms used in international commercial transactions. Each Incoterm refers to a specific type of agreement for the purchase and shipping of goods internationally and are meant reduce or eliminate uncertainties emanating from various interpretations of rules in different countries.
SATH is assisting the Malawi Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ACE) to develop a system of warehouse receipts which would enable producers to obtain credit on the basis of grain stored in certified warehouses, allowing them to select the best time to sell, thus potentially increasing profits.
show organization and participation. A series of training events were conducted in the region as part of the aftercare following attendance at the NAMPO 2012 agricultural trade show, and a total of 20 companies were trained in Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi.
SOURCE Africa 2013 will be the go-to event for textile and apparel industry producers and buyers. The Southern Africa Trade Hub (SATH) supported the official launch of this exciting new annual trade show on July 17th in Cape Town, South Africa.
From May 15-16, SATH facilitated a visit of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders, including banks, investment promotion agencies and commodity traders, to the 2012 
Activities