D-G urges effective implementation of global anti-rogue fishing treaty

NaijaAgroNet:

The recent entry into force of a ground-breaking international accord on illegal fishing is a welcome development but it now requires "strong and effective implementation", says Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva, reports NaijaAgroNet.  

In his speech at the Our Ocean Conference in the United States capital, Graziano da Silva lauded the signatories of the FAO-brokered Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA).

Also, da Silva provided United States Secretary of State John Kerry with an update on the status of the treaty, which came into force in June.

"In 2014 only 10 nations had ratified the PSMA," Kerry noted in his conference address. "All of us then decided that we could do better and we did ... because more than 60 nations have now ratified the PSMA and that is critical," he said, urging all other countries to follow suit in adhering to the treaty.

"We need everyone to come onboard, otherwise rogue fishing vessels will continue to find ways to land and introduce their illegal catches into the markets of non-PSMA countries," da Silva said.

He likened adherence to the treaty to the international community's commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "a situation in which no one can be left behind."

NaijaAgroNet recalls that under the treaty, parties are obliged to implement a number of measures while managing ports under their control, to detect illegal fishing, preventing ill-caught fish from being offloaded and sold, and ensuring that information on unscrupulous vessels is shared globally.

FAO has launched a global programme to support countries with the implementation of the treaty and complimentary instruments, Graziano da Silva said. These include the Voluntary Guidelines on Flag State Performance, which spell out a range of actions that countries can take to ensure that vessels registered under their flags do not conduct illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

SDGs implementation: Ban Ki-moon stresses importance of finance

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance of financing and other support mechanisms in implementing the global goals for sustainable development and climate action, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He also urged further efforts by G20 countries to fulfilling their commitments to SDGs and climate action.

“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a universal, integrated and transformative plan of action for peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet,” Mr. Ban told a session on inclusive and interconnected development during the G20 Summit happening in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Referencing the 2030 Agenda on 17 global goals adopted by the UN General Assembly last September, he said that achieving them requires balanced, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. 

"The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted in Ethiopia last year, provides a global framework for financing the 2030 Agenda implementation. It aligns all financing flows and policies with sustainable economic, social and environmental development," he said.

Mr. Ban also pointed out that the G20 Action Plan to support implementation of the 2030 Agenda is testament to your commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” the UN chief said, acknowledging China’s leadership for mainstreaming sustainable development in the work of G20.

Mr. Ban also applauded the leaders of France, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the Republic of Korea for initiating inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms on implementation of the global goals, calling upon all G20 leaders to follow “these good examples.”

“Implementing the 2030 Agenda will strengthen our collective ability to address short-term risks and build long-term resilience. This is why it is essential that sustainable development is fully integrated into a global macroeconomic policy framework,” Mr. Ban said.

The G20 initiative on supporting industrialization in Africa and least developed countries will strengthen their inclusive growth and development potential, he said.

The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) report provides a comprehensive framework in this regard. Increased investments in infrastructure and industry, access to finance, sharing and transfer of technologies, trade facilitation, capacity building and improving enabling environments can support the transformation needed, he added.

The G20’s financial support to the Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted last December in France, is crucial, the Secretary-General emphasized. “Now it is time to ensure we live up to our commitments on climate finance, including the commitment to provide $100 billion for the Green Climate Fund,” he said, describing this as “an important step” to support developing countries’ efforts to implement the climate accord.

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AGRF 2016: Nigeria, 12 others lead in CAADP implementation

NaijaAgroNet:

The Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has listed Nigeria and 12 other countries on the continent as those leading in the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), reports NaijaAgroNet.

CAADP is the African Union’s initiative created in 2003, with a component part of CAADP being its call for African governments to allocate at least 10 per cent of the national budgets to agriculture and to aim for six per cent annual growth in the sector.

This was contained in the African Agriculture Status Report (AASR) unveiled on Tuesday at the on-going annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2016) at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

The lead-authors including Mr. David Ameyaw of AGRA and Prof. Thomas Jayne of Michigan State University, as well as the former president of AGRA and chairman of AASR, Dr. Namanga Ngongi, acknowledged those making progress and listed what they called early adopters to comprise, Nigeria, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo.

AASR 2016 underscored the differences when compared among countries that signed up early on CAADP between 2007 and 2009 against those that have not yet signed.

According to them, after decades of stagnation, Africa has commenced to enjoy sustained agriculture productivity growth since 2005, and as a result, poverty rates have declined in places like Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered from the report that agriculture has had its biggest impact in countries that moved quickly to embrace CAADP.

The AGRA report further noted that even if they didn’t hit the 10 per cent targets, early adopters of the CAADP goals have seen productivity on existing farmlands rise between 5.9 to 6.7 percent per year.

This, the report pointed out gave a boost in turn by spurring a 4.3 per cent average annual increase in overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As stated by the AGRA report on evaluation of its 10 years as a body known as AASR, emphasized that those later to the game achieved anywhere from a 3 to 5.7 per cent growth in farm productivity and a 2.4 to 3.5 per cent increase in GDP.

Equally, AASR noted that countries that sat on the sidelines saw farm productivity rise by less than 3 per cent and GDP rise by only 2.2 per cent.

The trend, according to AGRA Status Report, is similar for declines in malnutrition, with countries that have embraced the CAADP process experiencing annual declines ranging from 2.4 to 5.7 per cent, while those who have not averages only a 1.2 per cent decline.

Remmy Nweke in Nairobi/GEE

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Pix: L-r: Dr. Ousmane Badiane is the Africa Director for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dr. Namanga Ngongi, chair of African Fertiiser Agricultural Partnership (AFAP), co-lead author, Prof. Thomas Jayne and David Ameyaw, lead author and Head, Monitoring and Evalution, AGRA, with copies o the report on display.

Malabo funding facility to leverage development partners relationship

NaijaAgroNet:

The African Union (AU) has advanced plans to ensure that the continent leverages its relationships with Development Partners (DPs), mostly in the implementation of the recently endorsed Malabo funding facility, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Revealing this to NaijaAgroNet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the inaugural conference of Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment (STC-ARDWE), the Coordinator of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), Mr. Komla Bissi, assured the judicious use of the facility.

Reacting to DPs commendations to AU at the opening session of STC, he reiterated that African Union is working with the development partners to explore and leverage on the options that could be available for financing some of continent programmes.

He also affirmed that the current ‘Malabo facility’ would not disturb in any way the various on-going projects across the continent.

“We just concluded a discussion on the new financing facility, which we’re calling the Malabo facility,” he asserted.

Mr. Bissi explained that this facility is being put together from various sources, namely the AU, development partners, and private sectors to support countries particularly in implementing the commitment made in the Malabo facility and the programmes that have been identified.

His office through the AU is presently consulting with “Our member states. So, these discussions will be concluded this afternoon at the ongoing meeting of ST-ARDWE in Addis Ababa, whereas specific recommendations will be tabled for Ministers for consideration.”

NaijaAgroNet recalls for instance that recently, the World Bank highlighted that across Sub-Saharan Africa, poor infrastructure is a major bottleneck for sustainable development, just as signaling a new push and renewed commitment, could boost investment and catalyzes greater cooperation.

While infrastructure deficit has remain atop challenges of the continent’s ability to lay the foundations for sustained economic growth and productivity improvements needed to end poverty and boost shared prosperity on the continent.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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‘Buhari charged to implement youth-led projects’

 NaijaAgroNet

The founder, YFarm Project, Nkiru Nnaemego, has called on the Buhari-led government to ensure the implementation of youth-led projects, especially for the agriculture sector, NaijaAgroNet reports.

She stated that the government can borrow a leaf from those of YFarm that aim to establish and promote at least 10,000 youth-led farms and agribusinesses across Nigeria and Africa by 2020, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

“Agriculture is not only profitable but a solution to problems of unemployment, insecurity, poverty, corruption, among several others,” she said, challenging youths to embrace agriculture by accessing land, finance, market, mentoring, farm inputs and equipment, to reap lots of benefits in the sector.

The government, Nnaemego said could implement youth-led projects by creating platforms to showcase African and national youth agriculture festivals and marketplace, schools camp on sustainable agriculture, e-platforms, community outreaches on agribusiness and climate smart agriculture as a means to capturing the attention of the youths to get involved in agriculture.

She also said that the benefits of YFarm Project, for instance include a platform for agricultural education, viable careers and businesses, improved livelihoods through jobs creation, entrepreneurial opportunities, among several others, describing mechanization as the solution to attract the attention of the Nigerian youths to agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.

She pointed out the need to ensure that the subsidized farm inputs are made available to youths in rural areas to further boost youth curiosity in the sector in order propel more investment in agricultural mechanization.

Cyriacus Nnaji with additional reports by Leadership/GEE

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FG agricultural incentive expands rice production - Study

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The implementation of the Federal Government’s incentives on agriculture, otherwise known as Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) has led to the expansion of rice production and changed perception that local rice is ‘inferior’ rice with stones and unsavoury odour.

Investigations by NaijaAgroNet revealed that in response to government policy and incentives for rice, 14 large-scale integrated rice mills were established by the private sector in two years, producing international quality long-grained parboiled rice.

The rice which is said to be in the market are well-packaged, long grained parboiled local rice, from Kano (Umza rice), Ebonyi (Ebony rice), Benue State (Mikap rice), are tastier and healthier than imported rice which are often 15 years old rice dumped on the Nigerian market. 

It was further revealed that, Dominion Farms, a foreign investor, has invested $40 million (N6442, 000,000) in a commercial rice farm, and 30,000 ha field, including community out-grower farms in Taraba State would hit the market in 2014. Olam has expanded its rice cultivation by 10,000 ha, in response to the policy incentives by the government. 

Lagos State Government is said to have recently bought seventeen trailer loads of paddy rice from Kebbi state, to Lagos to mill in the rice mill set up by the Lagos state government instead of importing brown rice from Thailand and India.

NaijaAgroNet discovered that this paddy rice fields in Kebbi has stimulated the economy by adding N37 billion of incomes to farmers in Nigeria, created 467,000 jobs, while Lagos State sells the milled  paddy rice from Kebbi State that has come to be known as Eko rice.

 NaijaAgroNet

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pix: President Goodluck Jonathan