Presidency explains private sector role in National Food Security Council

NaijaAgroNet:

The Presidency has explained the role of private sector in the recently inaugurated presidential national food security council, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Senior Special Assistant to the President, (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, informed NaijaAgroNet that the private sector will play an advisory role in the National Food Security Council recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The President, he said, is aware of the huge interest indicated by the private sector since the composition of the Council was announced, as well as the reservations expressed by groups that felt left out.

“We wish to emphasise that the Council constituted by the President was more of a think tank that would focus mainly on policy, while various groups from the private sector would be called upon to make sectoral presentations from time to time,” he said.

The presidency further assured that everybody will be carried along as the Council will work closely with all stakeholders.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the Council will be inaugurated by President Buhari on Monday, March 26.

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Everyone has role in environment says Guterres

NaijaAgroNet:

NaijaAgroNet:

The office of the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has declared that without a healthy environment, the world cannot be said to be working hard to end poverty or build prosperity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In his message to mark the 2017 World Environment Day, Mr. Guterres said every human being has a role to play in protecting nature in all facet of life.

"Without a healthy environment we cannot end poverty or build prosperity. We all have a role to play in protecting our only home: we can use less plastics, drive less, waste less food and teach each other to care." Guterres asserted.

NaijaAgroNet, gathered that the theme for 2017, ‘Connecting People to Nature’, urges people to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and to think about how to be part of nature and how intimately people depend on it.

“It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship,” the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) official statement enjoins.

Noting man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale.

The United Nations, aware that the protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world, designated 5 June as the World Environment Day. The celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment.

Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated all over the world, with every, a country is identified as the host of the theme with 2017 holds in Canada.

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‘Role of food security to conflict prevention’

NaijaAgroNet:

The role of food security and agriculture have an essential role to play in preventing conflicts and crises on the African continent, blunting their impacts and acting as engines for post-crisis recovery, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Mr. José Graziano da Silva gave this highlight in address to African leaders and international development actors in Nairobi, Kenya, at the foremost summits on African development.

"Ending hunger and malnutrition, addressing humanitarian and protracted crises, preventing and resolving conflicts, and building peace are not separate tasks, but simply different facets of the same challenge," Graziano da Silva said at a side-event on ‘Peace and Food Security', hosted by FAO, at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI).

Graziano da Silva was among the high-level delegations who attended in the opening ceremony of TICAD VI, led by the President of the Republic of Kenya and the Prime Minister of Japan.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that the conference which brings together policy makers, UN agencies and financial institutions, among others aimed at promoting high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and their partners and mobilize support for African-owned development initiatives.

The link between conflict prevention and development is of particular importance in the region, which is host to nearly 60 percent of active UN Peacekeeping Missions. And whilst armed conflicts across Africa as a whole have decreased in recent years, this trend has been uneven across the continent.

"Much of FAO's work aims at promoting sustainable development and building the resilience of rural populations," Graziano da Silva said, giving concrete examples of countries where agricultural support helped secure the transition from wars to sustainable peace, including Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"By supporting agriculture and rural development, we help create jobs, provide income and boost youth employment. This can help prevent distress migration and radicalization, as well as mitigate disputes over depleted resources," he said.

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Pix; FAO D-G, Mr. José Graziano da Silva