More News

Several Maryland companies are eyeing the African business opportunities in Prince George's new partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

The research center signed an agreement Monday with the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp. and the county's Africa Trade Office in Largo to promote research of agricultural products. The goals are to help create jobs in Maryland, assist developing African nations and encourage international trade.

Agribusiness is the largest employer in Africa — Cameroon's agricultural sector accounts for 60 percent of the nation's economy — and many think it is the key to African prosperity, said Florizelle Liser, assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa. But the industry needs technical assistance to reach its potential, she said.

"The U.S. businesses have much expertise they can share," Liser said. "We can find new opportunities for Americans overseas."

"This agreement will develop direct business contacts between businesses here and in Africa. We are developing the consumers of tomorrow," said U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Dist. 3) of Pikesville, who was instrumental in creating the Africa Trade Office two years ago.

Maryland Aerospace of Crofton, which uses robotic aircraft to photograph crops and measure environmental stress levels, thinks its technology will benefit African farmers. The company uses its measurements to determine exactly where to apply fertilizer and other treatments to avoid wasting them on healthy crops. This, in turn, reduces maintenance costs, increases crop yield and reduces the environmental impact, said Steve Fujikawa, the company's president.

The company already works with the Beltsville center and uses its technology in California and the Southeast.

New Agriculture in Port Tobacco also is interested in working with African countries to explore ways of extracting leaf protein from tobacco and possibly native tropical plants. Leaf protein acts as an adhesive, binding agent for oil and water in cosmetics and as a tasteless, nonallergenic protein supplement, said Neil A. Belson, president of New Agriculture.

"Leaf protein is now where soy was 100 years ago," Belson said, adding U.S. soy production went from 1 million acres in 1920 to 70 million acres today.

African farmers might fare better than others in growing tobacco for this process because they need not worry about frost interrupting their growing and harvesting schedules, he said. New Agriculture is in the final stages of its engineering study to set up its first commercial production site.

"We are absolutely committed to working with cooperatives wherever we go. We want to be a catalyst for local development," Belson said.

One such cooperative, the Northwest Cooperative Association, already is working on a trade agreement with Prince George's. The association represents 35,000 coffee and cocoa farmers in Africa and pushes for improvements in managing supply chains, said Christopher Mbah, general manager of the association. Northwest Cooperative also is working to launch a U.S. distribution company.

The new agreement will feature tours, seminars and webinars on African agribusiness and training in licensing and partnerships, said Patricia Hayes-Parker, director of the Africa Trade Office.

Since it opened, the Africa Trade Office has spurred $25 million in business deals, 18 partnerships and interest from 2,300 companies, Cardin said.

The office and the new agreement have drawn the attention of a local grassroots organization, One.org of Washington, D.C., whose 2 million members help it advocate against global poverty and disease.

"It would be great if we had an Africa Trade Office in every state," said Brian Sweeney, regional field director for One.org, emphasizing the agreement's benefits to Maryland companies and African farmers. "It needs to be made an example of what should be happening."