Author: Anthony Nlebem

BY MADUABUCHI EFEGADI

A new focus report on Africa’s agriculture presented by the Oxford Business Group (OBG), a business intelligence and consultancy firm, says Africa’s agriculture, although has the biggest potential in the world, requires new strategies to face food, economic, and climate challenges.

The OBG study, under the title, “Agriculture in Africa 2022,” noted that with Africa’s population expected to double by 2050, according to the World Bank, and food demand expected to grow by 55 percent by 2030, the challenge of food security is a major issue, where 85 percent of food is nowadays imported, according to data published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The study report, designed to help the continent prepare in the face of food, economic and climate challenges, is the third by the OBG devoted to the major theme of agriculture for the continent; and was produced in collaboration with OCP Group, a leader in plant nutrition and the world’s first producer of phosphate-based fertilisers.

While Africa has the world’s fastest-growing agricultural sector, with an average annual growth rate of 4.3 percent since 2000, the development of the vast amount of uncultivated arable land will not be enough to meet the growing demand for food, the report observed, but it explores the various possibilities and concrete solutions available to meet the food needs of the population, while at the same time integrating the sector into a sustainable and climate change-friendly development.

Increasing production will not be possible without increasing productivity, said the report, and it then highlights the need for circular and green economy practices, such as converting organic waste into productive inputs or recycling water, alongside climate-smart agriculture interventions.

It also stressed that boosting productivity and increasing incomes for smallholders, who produce 80 percent of the food in sub-Saharan Africa, requires greater use of renewable energy technologies and increased support for the institutions that generate them, including research, development and engineering systems, lamenting the lack of funding currently available for these ecosystems.

The report noted that increasing productivity also helps to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity.

The OBG study also argued that while Africa has the potential to feed the world’s population in the coming years, to accomplish this requires land development in a sustainable manner and also address issues such as deforestation and inefficient fertiliser use. This would require the adoption of a green economic model, which is characterised by being low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive.

Hanane Mourchid, executive director for sustainability and green industrial development of OCP Group, offered insights into how the circular economy and sustainability policies will help address the challenges that agriculture faces in Africa.

She explained the importance for companies to implement sustainability policies, and how the private sector and academia can work together to implement smart farming practices.

Tony Siantonas, director, scaling positive agriculture, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, presented solutions for enhancing sustainability and food security, emphasising the importance of maintaining soil health, and the need for long-term investment and innovation.

Kaushik Majumdar, director-general, African Plant Nutrition Institute, advocated smart and calibrated plant nutrition to counter the adverse effects of climate change and discusses the key role of public-private partnerships in R&D and knowledge transfer in the African agricultural sector.

Karine Loehman, OBG’s managing director for Africa, commended the release of the comprehensive report: “A range of solutions exist to enable African agriculture to adapt to the food, economic and climate challenges. There is an urgent need to invest in human capital so that people can fully reap the benefits of the technological advances and innovative and dynamic financing instruments that exist today.

“Agriculture in Africa 2022″ is part of a series of tailored studies that OBG is currently producing, which includes ESG Intelligence and Future Readiness reports, and other highly relevant, go-to research tools.”

BY MADUABUCHI EFEGADI

Botswana, the geographically tiny landlocked Southern Africa country, has sprung an economic miracle, emerging among the world’s strongest post-recession recoveries, according to an African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) Africa 2022 growth prospects report.

With a gross domestic product (GDP), which expanded by 12.5 percent, the African nation is currently the fastest-growing economy in Africa, and one of the fastest-growing in the world, exemplifying the circumstances among developing economies, stated the report titled, “Africa’s 2022 Growth Prospects: Poise under Post-Pandemic and Heightening Geopolitical Pressures.”

The report noted that, in a major and synchronised reversal, growth in the world economy bounced back in 2021 in one of the strongest post-recession recoveries in decades. The World Bank in its report, said, the growth rebound from the Covid-19 downturn is the strongest over the last 80 years.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also maintained its growth expectations for Africa, while other parts of the world have suffered sharp downward revisions. Africa’s growth forecast for 2022 points to continued fortitude even in the face of heightening inflationary pressures and geopolitical risks, the report said.

Accordingly, Africa’s GDP is projected to expand by around 3.9 percent this year, slightly less than the IMF’s earlier forecasts of around 4.3 percent. In a sign of increasing resilience, the revised growth forecasts show that the economic expansion of 16 countries (representing around 30 percent of all African nations) will exceed five percent in 2022, with the asymmetric nature of the commodity price shock emerging as a major growth accelerator for some of the largest economies across the region.

Authored by Hyppolyte Fofack for Afreximbank, the report, citing the IMF 2022 statement, said Africa, which in recent years has exhibited remarkable growth resilience, bounced back strongly from its first recession in a quarter of a century, with aggregate output expanding by 6.9 percent in 2021 (up from a 1.7 percent contraction). Even the region’s most affected tourism-dependent economies enjoyed a strong rebound despite their disproportionately large exposure to self-imposed risk aversion behaviour and excess vulnerability to the pandemic’s impact on consumer-facing businesses. After contracting by around 15 percent in 2020 — the sharpest decline in the region — the tourism-dependent economy of Cabo Verde logged 6.9 percent growth in 2021.

Although the recovery rate was uneven across regions and countries, according to the World Bank, 2021 and IMF, 2021, output expansion was exceptionally strong in many advanced as well as emerging market and developing economies, the base effect notwithstanding.

Africa’s merchandise trade, which contracted by 12.3 percent in 2020, expanded by more than 28 percent in 2021, boosted by a dynamic commodity market (IMF Direction of Trade Statistics, 2022). The African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) African Commodity Index rose 55 percent year-on-year in Q2 2021, with higher prices helping to reduce balance of payments pressures and improving macroeconomic management in a region where natural resources account for the lion’s share of foreign exchange (forex) earnings and government revenues (UNCTAD, 2021).

Africa may do better this year than its biggest across-the-Atlantic neighbour, Europe, which is one of Africa’s largest trading partners, the report noted. It said Europe “is facing multiple shocks from that geopolitical crisis, including to supply chains, energy prices and trade, in addition to the humanitarian disaster — is particularly exposed.

BY Dikachi Elemba

Contemporary Architecture Limited, an indigenous design and building construction company, with head office in Lagos, has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Imo State government to construct and flag-off 5,000 housing units with 1,000 housing units expected to be delivered in the first phase.

Signing the MoA, Fitzgerald Umah, managing director of the company, disclosed that Contemporary Architecture Limited is already in collaboration with a United Kingdom based energy power company and manufacturers of hydro energy equipment, Ocean Renewable Power Company to ensure steady power supply in the Imo State’s proposed housing estate under the Nigeria Otamiri Estate River ORPC project.

The director further said that the company, which is coming to handle the power project in Africa and Nigeria for the first time, is expected to extend its coverage of electricity supply to the Imo State secretariat, markets and communities along the river area where the project would be sited.

This, according to him, is not only to ensure a sustainable power supply in the areas but also to address the issue of incessant and epileptic power supply which has become a perennial challenge to the nation.

Christopher Osuala, commissioner for budget, economic planning and statistics, Imo State, said the first phase of the project would commence with the execution of 1,000 housing units while the target of 5,000 is expected to be achieved in no distance venture.

Osuala also said that the state government would provide land for the project and also broker a cordial and amiable relationship that would facilitate the acquisition of some hectares of land for the take off of the project around the Otamiri river in Owerri, the state capital.

The commissioner commended the firm for keying into the government’s mantra of Rehabilitation Reconstruction and Recovery (3Rs), even as he expressed optimism that the project when completed, would provide affordable houses for indigenes of the state, boasting that the state government is working assiduously to attract other ventures to the state.

BY ONOME AMUGE

The Federal Government of Nigeria is targeting to increase the country’s broadband penetration from its current level of 42.27 percent to 70 percent by 2025, with effective coverage made available to at least 90 percent of the populace at a price not more than N390 per gigabyte of data.

Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, made the disclosure in a keynote address at a conference and exhibition organised by Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

The plan is carefully designed to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria, providing a minimum of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas, said Pantami, who was represented by Usman Gambo Abdullahi, director of IT Infrastructure Solution Department, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The event was themed “National Strategic Mobilisation for the Actualisation of National Broadband Target of 70 percent Conference and Exhibition”.

Speaking on the relevance of broadband usage to the Nigerian economy, the minister said broadband supports the development of the digital economy and that a focus on growing the national digital economy would consequently improve and diversify the nation’s traditional economy.

Citing information provided by industry experts, the minister said a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration would increase the growth of an economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.6 percent and 4.6 percent.

Pantami highlighted challenges hindering broadband penetration to include multiple taxation and regulation, non-conformity with agreed Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, and difficulty in obtaining approvals and permits.

He added that burdensome taxes and levies were also some of the bottlenecks restraining needed investment in telecommunication infrastructure.

Commenting on the country’s 42.27 percent penetration as of the first quarter of 2022, Pantami expressed confidence that the figure would continue to increase and surpass the set mid-term target of 50 percent penetration by 2023, noting that the government’s relentless efforts to address the challenges in the digital communication sector.

“Our confidence in this is based on the strength of positive indices in 3G and 4G population coverage, which are presently at 83.65 percent and 62.55 percent, respectively,” he said.

Kashifu Inuwa, director general of NITDA, said the agency was working towards contributing to broadband penetration by establishing a collaboration with the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The NIRA free domain initiative, he explained, is aimed at getting more Nigerian businesses online by assigning a free .ng domain to every new business registered with CAC for the first two years.

The world’s 50.6 percent insurance broking fees and commissions was in the control of just the top 20 insurance broking groups last year, latest rankings and analyses by Insuramore have shown. In 2020 the top 20 broking groups controlled 52.3 percent showing its marginally down by just under two percent.

Insuramore is a provider of marketing services and related consultancy with a primary focus on the insurance sector.

The analyses also showed that the top 300 insurance broking groups commanded, in aggregate, 79.3 percent of overall global broking fees and commissions in 2021. In 2020 up to 250 Nigerian broking firms controlled 78 percent.

Insuramore also showed that the value of the worldwide market for insurance broking in terms of fees and commissions earned was around $137.6 billion in 2021, almost 12.5 percent higher than the $122.3 billion, without adjusting for inflation—and about 8 percent higher when inflation-adjusted.

“Several factors brought about the notable increase in the world’s insurance broking market in 2021. Growth in underlying premium rates was an important driver for both commercial P&C retail broking and wholesale broking while a further shift to digital and advice-led distribution had the most impact for retail broking of both private P&C insurance and life and health insurance. In fact, intermediaries with advanced digital capabilities have benefited significantly from this trend,” says Insuramore.

Overall market leaders
In terms of the value of its total broking revenues worldwide, Marsh McLennan ranked first among broking groups in 2021 and it was followed in descending order by Aon, WTW, Gallagher and HUB. The rankings among the top five remained unchanged from 2020.

The US is the headquarters for 141 (47 percent) of the top 300; following the US by this measure are France, the UK, Canada and Germany, the home countries for a respective 32, 31, 16 and 15 of the largest 300 groups, with the rest of the world accounting for the remaining 65 in the analysis.

Looking ahead
Insuramore says that it will be apposite to see whether a continuing stream of M&A activity causes the worldwide market to consolidate in 2022 or if the dynamic growth of some smaller and medium-sized competitors causes the share of the top 20 groups to hold at just over a half of global broking revenues.

The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) has urged Kenyans to desist from making fraudulent insurance claims as the practice is hurting the economy, keeping premiums high, and slowing down the pace of claims settlement. One in every five insurance claims made is fraudulent, says the IRA.

The regulator indicated that the malpractices that included false motor accident claims, stealing by agents, conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent motor theft claims were inflating insurance premiums in Kenya by up to 25%, according to a report on the Capital FM news site.

Players in the sector have been decrying huge losses associated with fake claims, especially in general insurance (motor insurance and medical insurance).

Making a presentation during a forum held in Nakuru, IRA corporate communications officer Rosemary Kavili noted however that cases of fake claims have been on a steady decline over the last five years as the industry stepped up ways of curbing fraud by enhancing transparency and disclosure of information during claims.

Kavili said that the IRA has signed a pact with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to include insurance details as part of their database to help stop multiple uses of the same number plates to buy insurance. Under the arrangement, insurers transmit details of motor vehicle insurance policies to the Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS) in real-time which at the same time provides the insurance companies with a way of validating vehicle ownership.

NTSA piloted the integrated system with 14 insurance service providers which it said has proved successful. The regulator now wants to bring on board all insurance firms onto the platform.

Kavili said that the IRA was encouraging industry players to take extra measures to curb fraud.

“Technology can help cut paperwork, validate documents from customers and provide permanent audit trails that can be used to identify claims. Service providers must now put enterprise risk management systems to deal with fraud. The losses impact negatively on the underwriters’ solvency,” she said.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, has secured a US$150 million finance facility from African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank). The funding was provided under Afreximbank’s Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA).

The US$150 million financial support from Afreximbank will be accessible to FirstBank customers involved in the manufacturing and importation of products and equipment required to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as initiatives to rehabilitate hospitals and strengthen diagnostic and testing capacity. The loan will also be used for the financing of trade debt payments falling due to avert payment defaults in trade debt obligations. In addition, proceeds of the facility will help beneficiary businesses manage the impacts of the Ukraine crisis.

“This new disbursement under PATIMFA is a further proof of the relevance of the programme in helping African economies to recover from the crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Benedict Oramah, president and chairman, Board of Directors of Afreximbank, said.

“Since April 2020, when PATIMFA was launched, we are more than proud to have disbursed more than US$7 billion to help Afreximbank member countries manage the adverse impact of the financial, economic and health shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through First Bank, one of our trade finance intermediaries, this $150 million facility will help build the resilience of many businesses to the adverse impacts of the pandemic, while helping them overcome the consequences of the current Ukraine crisis,” he said.

Adesola Adeduntan, FirstBank’s CEO, expressed delight in the partnership, commending Afreximbank for the impactful financial response.

“It will immensely contribute to empowering many businesses adversely impacted by the economic shocks caused by Covid-19. The selection of FirstBank as a partner in this initiative is a testament to their confidence in our capacity and proven track record over the years,” Adeduntan said.

“As a bank that has been woven into the fabric of our society for over 128 years, we remain committed to the success of businesses in our host communities and ensuring they are given the needed boost to sustain their operations and further drive economic growth in the nation,” he said.

Afreximbank, a pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade, deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier bank in West Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 128 years. With over 750 business locations and over 150,000 banking agents spread across 99 percent of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 30 million customers.

BY ONOME AMUGE

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC), the parent company of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Ltd, has announced a €1 million donation to support empowerment and promote social impact programmes across local communities in the second largest Coca Cola market in the sub-Saharan region.

According to the international consumer packaged goods firm, the €1 million fund will be deployed to support four key initiatives, including the federal government’s drive towards becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2025, upskilling underserved youths and women in high demand skills, and community recycling initiatives.

Dwelling further on the implementation of the donation, the company said that partners for the fund have been selected based on a rigorous due diligence process and their track record, as well as their ability to deliver value and make an impact in the communities.

Zoran Bogdanovic, CEO, Coca-Cola HBC, who made the donation on behalf of the Coca-Cola HBC at a recent stakeholder reception in Lagos, emphasised that the funds will be directed towards empowering youth and women as well as ensuring the provision of water and sanitary facilities in local communities across the country.

Bogdanovic also said that the donation, alongside the company’s ongoing sustainability initiatives, underlines its commitment to improving the lives of host communities as well as helping to drive growth for the Nigerian economy and enable better living conditions for local communities.

Commenting on the company’s legacy of over 70 years in Nigeria, the CEO said, “Our roots are in Nigeria and its spirit still runs right through our business today. That’s why we have been a proud contributor to the growth of the Nigerian economy throughout our history.”

He also pointed out that the company has in the last 10 years invested well over €1 billion in its Nigeria operations, which has supported the expansion of production capacity, building of modern warehouses, investment in eco-friendly logistics and above all, the creation of jobs for young Nigerians across the value chain.

“Today, we, along with The Coca-Cola Company, support over 58,000 jobs annually in the value chain in the country,” Bogdanovic said.

BY ONOME AMUGE

 

Ad Dynamo, an Aleph Group company and Africa’s largest digital media sales house, has announced plans for an additional investment into its Nigerian footprint, including a commitment to educate thousands of Nigerians in digital media.

The company’s expansion project comes off the back of its acquisition by Aleph Group, a leading global enabler of digital advertising in Nigerian markets, in January 2022. The 100 percent acquisition, which was completed in early 2022, further positions Aleph Group as an important industry player in Africa, strengthening Ad Dynamo’s accomplishments of over a decade exclusively representing Twitter, Spotify, Yahoo, and Snapchat in the continent’s largest online market.

Over the years, Ad Dynamo has set itself apart from other digital media sales houses by offering dedicated sales teams for each partner it represents. It also doesn’t charge a markup on any media, meaning that ad buyers have price transparency across all advertising investments.

According to Ad Dynamo, its next step in Nigerian investment is to open up Aleph’s signature education programme, Digital Ad Expert, hosted on the group’s proprietary learning platform.

To actualise this, the company said it has set a goal of educating 50,000 digital learners worldwide with digital marketing skills, with Nigeria recognised as a big part of the ambition.

Commenting on the initiative, Sean Riley, founder and CEO of Ad Dynamo, said Nigeria has a national GDP exceeding $400 billion and a large share of youth in the local population which the company seeks to equip with the tools needed to succeed in a rapidly digitising economy.

Riley, who noted that Nigeria has the potential to be one of the world’s greatest internet markets, said it has been a privilege to witness its growth over the past 10 years and to help advertisers reach their consumers with impactful messaging on the right platforms. He added that the company plans to grow even further in Nigeria in the coming years with the support of Aleph Group.

Gaston Taratuta, founder and CEO of Aleph Group, expressed optimism that effective digital marketing will become more important than ever with more than 35 million additional Nigerians set to come online by 2026.

“We’re incredibly proud that Ad Dynamo, as part of the Aleph family, will play a major role in ensuring that brands across Nigeria have the best possible marketing presence on some of the world’s biggest technology platforms,” Taratuta said.

Aleph’s educational programmes are free and will be accepting applications for Nigeria’s first 12-week peer-to-peer learning programme between June 27 and July 18, 2022. The first cohort is scheduled to kick off on July 25, 2022.

BY ONOME AMUGE

Capital importation into Nigeria’s agriculture suffered a sharp decline in the first quarter of 2022 as the value of foreign investment in the sector tumbled 99.23 percent from $237.83m recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $1.76 million, according to the latest Nigerian Capital Importation report for Q1 2022 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Foreign investment flow into the sector also shrank 64.64 percent year-on-year from $66.40 million recorded in the first quarter of 2021.

Prior to the current decline, NBS data showed that foreign investment in the sector recorded three consecutive quarterly growths, rising from $28.91 in the second quarter of 2021 to $32 million in the third quarter of 2021 before gaining 643.22 percent to $237.83 million in the fourth quarter of the year. More so, a total value of $366.07 million worth of capital importation was recorded for the sector in 2021, reflecting a 12.7 percent annual rise from $324.58 million in 2020.

The dismal Q1 2022 figure has however ushered a grim reality that despite the vast potential agriculture offers to Africa’s largest economy and its significant contribution of 22.36 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the quarter under review, investment in the sector has neither attained a sustainable growth rate nor lived up to expectations in generating substantial foreign exchange (FX).

This has drawn reactions from analysts and key players in the sector, who have largely attributed the plunge in foreign investment to the high level of insecurity and the consequent unfavourable business environment presented by the most populous black nation.

Commenting on the report, Gabriel Idahosa, deputy president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), admitted that a significant part of the country is being impacted by banditry, terroirism, among other security issues. This, he explained, has threatened food productivity and its resultant value chains in the agricultural sector as foreign investors are increasingly dissuaded from making investments by insecurity.

Tajudeen Ibrahim, director of research & strategy at Chapel Hill Denham, an independent investment management firm, emphasised that security is one of the major drivers of foreign investment.

Ibrahim also pointed out that the government’s failure to effectively address insecurity across the country could lead to more contraction in capital importation. He further said government policies are important and should not just be in place but be steady, predictable and friendly to foreign investment into Nigeria.

“We need to fix any issue that we might have around policy implementation as well as ensuring they are friendly to foreign investors and will steadily attract them over the medium to long term,” he added.

The capital market specialist also noted that attracting more foreign direct investments requires fixing structural challenges, particularly infrastructure.

“We should be able to have a better road network, good transportation system and power systems whereby investors can operate at relatively cheap or low cost,” he said.

Commenting on the need for increased foreign investment in Nigeria’s agriculture, David Omololu Duyile, managing director of Riyden Farm in Ita Eko, Ogun State, said the sector is still largely untapped and presents a lot of opportunities for investors to come on board at an early stage and actually build a brand that is not only good for distribution internally but presents a massive market across the global market.

Duyile, who started his agriculture investment in pig farming as a diaspora in the United Kingdom, noted that it is one of the biggest decisions he has ever made as it has provided him with a financial gratification beyond expectation.

He, however, observed that factors such as lack of information about pricing structure, wavering government policies, security instability, deficiency in the country’s legal framework concerning corporate and labour laws, and poor knowledge about the agricultural terrain has limited foreign investors’ appetite in the agriculture sector.

To ensure increased investment in the agriculture sector, Duyile opined that intensified efforts by the government in addressing insecurity and implementing structural policies will make a lot of difference.

Duyile also called for the establishment of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) aimed at providing awareness and accurate information on areas and agricultural avenues that foreign investors can leverage and make better decisions concerning business growth.

Evaluating opportunities for investment in the agriculture sector, Chinonso Okafor, senior research analyst at Nextier Advisory, a leading public sector advisory firm, remarked that research conducted on the agriculture value chain shows an estimated 15-25 percent return on investment which is a remarkable potential.

“Agriculture is beyond farming, cultivation of crops, but a business that covers a wide range of value chains and wealth creation opportunities,” he noted.

Highlighting the significant agricultural sectors worth investing in, he noted that there is a big market in the leather business value chain, adding that its numerous value chains offer diverse business opportunities that Nigerian diasporas can tap into.

To promote capital importation into Nigeria’s agriculture sector, Okafor said there must be an investment vehicle run by fund managers who understand the dynamics of the business such as the interest rates, returns, duration of investment and other managerial factors, so as to boost investors’ confidence.

He also stressed the need for local producers and stakeholders in the agriculture sector to establish partnerships with international organisations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as well as other relevant government/private agencies and regulatory councils towards creating technical or financial support that would attract foreign investment in the agriculture sector.

Speaking on Nigeria’s security challenge and impact on agricultural investment, Ibrahim Kabiru, national president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), warned that the country’s agriculture sector will continue to attract lower investments if the country fails to address insecurity.

According to him, the agriculture sector can only attract foreign investments if the investors are convinced that producers carry out their farming activities without the fear of being attacked or having to pay bandits to guarantee their personal safety and that of their commodities.