The History of Maize from the New World to Africa Essay

The History of Maize from the New World to Africa - Essay Example At present efforts are being made in order to increase Africa’s annual local production and at the same time reduce their importation rates since corn is considered to be one of the most important food sources for the people. The History of Maize from the New World to Africa Maize (Zea mays, L.) or more popularly known around the world as corn, is a cereal crop that originated from the New World, now known as the Americas. It is a tall, annual grass, from the family Gramineae, where other important monocot cereal crops such as wheat and rice also belong (Warman, 2003). It is considered to be one of the earliest grains that were borne out of human genetic manipulation, and its high yield was one of the factors that strengthened the early agricultural societies harvesting this crop (McCann, 2005). All of the numerous uses for corn owe it to its high starch content, which can range from being cooked and served as a major carbohydrate source in every meal, to being ground into flo ur for making chips and bread, to sweets such as desserts or as sources of sweetening agents, and even alcoholic drinks like beer, thus corn shows the flexibility of its products (Warman, 2003). Also, corn is known to have small amounts of minerals such as calcium and iron, even higher than in other cultivated cereals, which adds to the crop’s high carbohydrate content and subsequently, its nutritional value (Mboya, et al., 2011). It is through the wide variety of products that can be made out of corn and rather high nutritional value that made it acceptable in many countries, and its worldwide distribution a success. Among the many areas that have come to learn about planting and harvesting corn, as well as creating a culture that highly utilizes it is Africa, where it was introduced during the time when the Portuguese were still in the process of exploring the New World, as well as beginning to enter into the slave trading business (Maddison, 2007). Starting from a few seed s, the local farmers were able to grow various varieties as well as developing the crops to contain some characteristics that were deemed important, such as having attributes that were similar with locally-grown sorghum (La Fleur, 2012). This initiated a wide acceptance of Africans to a corn corn-cultivating culture and makes it one of their most important staple crops as of date. Thus, the introduction of maize, a New World crop into the African continent and culture was brought upon by the colonial rule of the Portuguese in Southern Africa around the 1500’s, and the successful propagation of the crop in the continent created an economic boost that brought up the culture of planting and consuming maize across Africa, which remains very much alive even today. Origins of the Maize Unlike other grains and cereals which were originally bred from wild ancestors and have undergone minimal changes, the appearance of the maize or corn plant and its cob has been the product of the de liberate intervention of man in its evolution. It is hypothesized that the corn has no wild ancestor, and it has been extinct long before its cultivation began.

Business Capstone Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Capstone - Assignment Example Tesco is therefore large grocery retail, with thousands of stores distributed in more than 13 countries Role of Tesco’s Vision, Mission and Stakeholders A firm’s vision and mission statements play an important role in developing consumer royalty (Besanko et al, 2009). Tesco’s vision statement reads â€Å"Our vision is for Tesco to be most highly valued by the customers we serve, the communities in which we operate, our loyal and committed staff and our shareholders; to be a growth company; a modern and innovative company and winning locally, applying our skills globally† while the vision statement reads â€Å"creating value for customers, to earn their lifetime loyalty.† Clearly, the vision and mission statements of Tesco focus more on the target market and not the products. They focus on the benefits that the customers are going to derive from the company and its products. Besanko et al (2009) argues that such statements highly touch on the emotion s of the consumers. Consequently, they contribute to building of loyalty among the consumers of the firm’s products. ... This helped the company to expand internationally. Also, the firm changed its strategies to focus on technology under Leahys leadership, which has marked a lot of success. The employees of this company have also contributed to the development of consumer loyalty by being hard working and always being positive to customers. Macro Environment The environmental or external factors that affect the decisions taken by Tesco are grouped into six categories as discussed below: Political factors The current political issue affecting Tesco are the changes in corporate tax rate. The government of UK announced in the 2012 budget that it would reduce corporate tax by 1% for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) from 24% to 22% (Tesco, 2012a). This will save this company a lot of funds and make it more financially stable. Economic factors The major economic issues affecting Tesco currently are high unemployment causing a reduction in aggregate consumption. This has further restricted the growth of this company in UK (Tesco, 2012a). Social factors The main social issue affecting Tesco currently is the change in consumers’ lifestyle, leading to a change in tastes and preferences. Tesco has responded to this by developing a new product range called â€Å"Clubcard† in order to suit different customer groups with different preferences (Tesco, 2012a). Technological Technology has a huge impact on the way business enterprises in all industries operate in the recent years. It has been playing as big role in shaping consumer spending habits. The internet, in particular, has opened a channel through which enterprises in the food retail industry distribute their products to customers (Tesco, 2012a). The new technology has also led to the introduction of self-service checkouts in the food