The impact of climate change continues to have devastating effects on countries across the globe, and Namibia has not been spared.

China has culled 916,000 pigs after around 100 outbreaks of African swine fever in the country, the agriculture ministry said this week, as the disease continues to spread to new regions and larger farms.

Look left, look right, look upwards before you go out in 2019 because the biggest threat could come from the skies. We’re not talking about bombers, nor meteorites from outer space, merely the destructive wrath of mother nature.

 China  approved five genetically modified crops for import, a move that could increase overseas grain purchases and ease pressure from the United States, the world’s biggest GM crop producer, to open its markets to more agricultural products, according to a Reutersreport.

The caterpillars of the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive moth, can potentially feed on over 350 different species of plants. In the Americas it’s known as a serious pest.

Trying to get to grips with what to expect from Africa’s economies in 2019 can be broken out into three categories of discussion: the good, the underwhelming and the disconcerting.