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Showing posts with label Governments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Governments. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Clean Water, Sanitation, Hygiene: Empowering local governments to improve access - NaijaAgroNet

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Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene is essential for human health and well-being. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 is about "clean water and sanitation for all".
However, in many developing countries, these necessities remain out of reach for a significant portion of the population, particularly those living in suburban and rural areas. The popular thinking is that local governments can play a critical role in scaling up interventions to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Monday, September 12, 2016

African govts, banks, IDPs pledge $30bn on agric development

The week-long 2016 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) ended at the weekend, with some $30 billion, about N9,467,550,000,000 trillion investment pledged by the governments, financial institutions and International Development Partners (IDPs), reports NaijaAgroNet.

These pledges, NaijaAgroNet gathered came on the wheels of the theme "Seize the moment: Securing Africa's Rise Through Agricultural Transformation" and will spur commitments to African farmers and agriculture sector on the continent for new and more broad opportunities for economic growth.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that AGRF 2016 which attracted over 1,500 delegates from 40 countries, included some African Heads of State, global business leaders, government ministers, farmers, agribusiness firms, financial institutions, civil society groups, scientists, and International Development and Technical Partners (IDTPs).

According to NaijaAgroNet, most of them pledged in excess of US $30 billion dollars in investments over the next 10 years to increase production, income and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses.

As said by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) which acts as the secretariat of AGRF and led by its president, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the pledges are the largest single package of financial commitments ever delivered to African agriculture.

“It is backed by the broadest coalition ever assembled to support a transition from subsistence to income-earning agriculture in Africa,” she said.

The AGRF partners, Kalibata noted afforded the meeting to embrace a detailed action plan that commits to achieving specific milestones over the next 16 months as part of the “Seize the Moment” campaign that served as the theme for AGRF 2016.

NaijaAgroNet recalled that “Seize the Moment” was first launched in April at the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) Partnership Platform in Accra, Ghana. It has quickly become a rallying point for accelerating work around the African Union’s 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking at the auditorium of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenyan President, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, said the transformation of Africa will only work if Africans transform agriculture.

“This meeting has been not only important, but also very urgent, because we are coming together at a time when our continent is filled with incredible opportunity, but at the same time it also is faced with profound threats in almost equal measure,” he said.

Kenyatta championed the pledges by declaring that his government will invest US $200 million, so that at least 150,000 young farmers and young agriculture entrepreneurs could gain access to markets, finance and insurance.

The Rwandan President, Mr. Paul Kagame who accompanied Kenyatta on stage, challenge African leaders and around the world to harness the potential of agriculture to fight hunger and poverty on the continent.

Rwanda, he disclosed emerged as a strong example of what investments in agriculture can achieve, stressing that according to the World Bank, Rwanda under his leadership achieved dramatic reductions in poverty, “owing largely to increased productivity and commercialization in the agriculture sector.”

“We should not only seize the moment but continue the momentum for the transformation of agriculture and economies on our continent,” President Kagame, emphasising “Agriculture is not just one sector of the economy amongst others – it’s the backbone of the economy.”


Equally speaking at the closing ceremony, Kenyan Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Willy Bett, commended President Kagame and President Kenyatta for their commitment to the forum, and urged delegates to “do our part and drive this agenda forward.”

Remmy Nweke in Nairobi/ED, Ops
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Friday, June 19, 2015

Queen Letizia to mobilize government, CS to fight hunger


NaijaAgroNet
The new Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Special Ambassador for Nutrition, Queen Letizia of Spain said she plans to mobilize the will and collective action involving governments, the private sector, civil society, and individuals to eradicate hunger, NaijaAgroNet reports.

As Special Ambassador, Queen Letizia will engage in raising awareness of global hunger challenges and building public support for hunger eradication.

"My task is that of serving the objectives of this United Nations (UN agency) in the most effective way possible," the new Ambassador informed representatives of FAO's members present at the Organization's governing Conference, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

"In this day and age, we have the technical capacity to produce healthy food in sufficient quantities for all. Therefore what we must do is mobilize the will," she said, soliciting for "collective action involving governments, the private sector, civil society, and, of course, individuals. We need everyone on board," she stated.

The appointment was made in recognition of the Queen's personal commitment to building a world free from hunger and malnutrition, and Spain's efforts to promote global food and nutritional security

She added that the agro-food sector should participate in advancing toward these goals "in an active and responsible way, helping raise awareness of the need to support people in living healthy lives free of sickness," NaijaAgroNet gathered.

 Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

FAO warns on Asia, Pacific food insecurity



Governments in Asia and the Pacific have been warned to take some major, fundamental decisions and very soon too on ways to increase their food production and address undernourishment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The warning came as nearly 40 FAO member countries gathered in the Mongolian capital for the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific to examine the state of food and agriculture in the region and a number of other important agriculture-related issues.

NaijaAgroNet reports that while the Asia-Pacific region is making good progress in reducing under-nutrition, it still has more hungry people than all the other regions of the world combined – more than 550 million. 

The Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015 is on course to be met, and in Southeastern Asia has already been achieved. Timor-Leste has launched a national campaign to take forward the fight against hunger beyond 2015, inspired by the UN’s global Zero Hunger Challenge (with a goal of 2025).

However, the region as a whole needs to improve food production systems and delivery to consumers or face significant food security problems within the next generation. Indeed some developing countries in Asia and the Pacific will need to increase their food production by up to 77 percent to feed their people by 2050, when the world’s population is expected to top nine billion.

Asia and the Pacific accounts for more than 90 percent of world rice production and consumption. The region’s food security and people’s livelihoods are very much dependent on rice. As a response to a request by FAO member countries, FAO has produced a Regional Rice Strategy which is being discussed at the regional level for finalization.

Farming, fishing and forestry practices need to be modernized and made more profitable, while countries in the region must take serious, coordinated steps to reduce food losses and food waste, which is as high as 30-50 percent regarding grains, fruits and vegetables.

Accordingly, FAO launched the regional Save Food Asia-Pacific campaign in August 2013 with an aim to promote public awareness of the need to minimize food losses and food waste.


Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Monday, October 7, 2013

CFS tasks governments on people’s right to food


 Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet
The Committee on Food Security (CFS) has called on governments around the world to put people’s right to food before short term commercial interests, especially the biofuel policies.
The Oxfam food and agriculture advisor, Luca Chinotti made this statement before the opening of the Committee on Food Security's annual meeting in Rome, today while explaining that governments should ensure that biofuel policies do not force poor farmers off their land and fuel food price spikes.
NaijaAgroNet recalls from Chinotti that the CFS meeting is the first United Nation (UN) forum to discuss the issue of biofuels in depth with the aim to agreeing to collective action to ensure that policies, operations and investments in biofuels do not lead to land-grabs and food prices spikes.
It also gathered that the UN's Food and Agricultural Organizations ministerial meeting is taking place during the CFS that runs from 7 through 11 October as the meeting is viewed as an opportunity for governments to show leadership and commitment to phase out support for biofuels that have negative impacts on people's food security and livelihoods.

It is estimated that by 2020, the European Union's biofuel policies alone could push up vegetable oil prices by up to 36 percent, maize by up to 22 percent and sugar by up to 21 percent, while land used to power European cars with biofuels for one year could produce enough wheat and maize to feed 127 million people.
NaijaAgroNet
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Friday, August 31, 2012

Group wants protection for poor countries against climate change


The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) group, have advocated protection for poor countries from the menace of climate change as there is a big risk of loss of key issues if they are not protected.
The chairman of the group, Pa Ousman Jarju of the Gambia said there is a great need to massive increase in funds for adaption and for action in order to reduce emission. "We need to set up a proper international coordination process to deliver resources for adaptation to those in most need," he advised.
In a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by the International Institute for Environment and Development, Pa Jarju listed global warming causing drought, water and food shortages as part of the major challenges facing the world at the moment which call for actions.
He also said there are no chances of survival if the necessary issues are being deferred till 2015 when a new agreement will be negotiated.
 According to Pa Jarju, drought in the USA only cost insurance companies money, while droughts in the LDCs are causing loss of life and livelihoods, malnutrition in our children and huge dislocation which is very serious for our survival.
“It is extremely important that governments agree to respect the commitments they have already made to provide finance, technology and capacity building to developing countries and to enhance cooperation to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change and not to use the focus on a new processes to avoid past promises. We cannot indefinitely delay action, especially with regard to climate change, which is already upon us,” he said.
aid.

 Yinka Awosanya

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