Search NaijaAgroNet

Showing posts with label nutrition security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition security. Show all posts

Monday, August 29, 2016

IFNA debuts @ TICAD 2016 to boost nutrition security in Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) Summit ended in the city of Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend, with the launch of the Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA) to boost nutrition in Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The event which held at Sarova Panafric Hotel "Simba" on Saturday, August 27, 2016 was part of the sideline event for the two-day TICAD VI which took place at Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi, as part of the inaugural TICAD meeting in Africa since its inception in 1993 and launched by the Japan government.

IFNA, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is cohosted by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) on the background of the Malabo Declaration and Sustainable Development Goal 2 that aspires to end hunger and improve the nutrition status in the world and particularly in Africa under the Japan JICA is pleased to propose that a new framework be established, called "Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA)" to accelerate the international efforts to alleviate hunger and malnutrition on the African continent.

According to Shuto Megumi of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), IFNA emphasizes the importance of several specific values which focuses on facilitating people-centered and practical activities, through empowerment of women, as well as action-oriented policy enhancement, in order to achieve inclusive nutritional improvement with an impact.

Megumi also said IFNA underscores synergistic outcomes among multi-sectorial activities such as agriculture, health, education, and private sectors, stressing the importance of an evidence-based approach to support policymakers to make decisions based on proper monitoring and evaluation.
“It also emphasizes an appropriate coordination between short-term humanitarian interventions and mid-long-term development interventions in order to enhance sustainability and resilience of communities in the African region,” JICA official said.

While the objectives include serving as a new initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA), at the same time, consider how international community can accelerate efforts to alleviate hunger and malnutrition on the African continent.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that some of the lead speakers at the inauguration of IFNA include JICA president, Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Agency Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, Director General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Dr. José Graziano da Silva, President of International Fund for Agricultural Development, Dr. Nwanze F. Kanayo, Assistant Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP) Ms. Elisabeth Rasmusson, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, Dr. Omar Abdi, Director for Africa at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, and Director of Nutrition, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Shawn Baker among others.

Remmy Nweke/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Friday, May 6, 2016

Farmers, backbone for food, nutrition security – Gornass

The Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Ambassador Amira Gornass has described farmers as the backbone of any efforts for food and nutrition security, report NaijaAgroNet.

Ambassador Gornass gave this description in her video message to the opening ceremony of the 2016 General Assembly of the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) holding in Livingstone, Zambia on the theme, Partnership for Growth.

“Farmers are the backbone of any efforts for food and nutrition security” she declared.

Gornass who also is the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to FAO noted that the role of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of food security and nutrition (VGGT) cannot be over-emphasised.

She pointed out that the guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in 2012 serves as a reference to improve the governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all and supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

“An effective implementation of this instrument will be achieved only if also farmers will advocate for the application of the guidelines at the country level,” she said.

WFC, Gornass said, should never forget that according the recently released figures, in the middle of the 21st century, 793 million is still going to bed hungry.

“The challenges to ensure their rights to adequate food are huge,” she said, maintaining that farmers are the most powerful solution to global hunger and malnutrition.


“Farmers are responsible for providing the food we all need,” she said, encourage adequate management of farm lands.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Pix: Ambassador Amira Gornass

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Liberia to analyze food, nutrition security using Cadre Harmonise ‘e’



The Executive Director, food security and nutrition unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Liberia, Deroe A. Weeks, said Cadre Harmonise ‘e’ is meant to analyze food and nutrition security, NaijaAgroNet reports.

She said this recently at a week-long workshop in Monrovia, adding that the national workshop was intended to analyze food and nutrition security using the Cadre Harmonise ‘e’ as a regional tool even as Liberia has joined 14 other countries in the Sahel and West Africa to work towards the adoption of the tool to tackle food and nutrition insecurity.

According to Weeks, the tool will help Liberia in terms of data collection and the documentation of the country's food and nutrition security and insecurity situations.
She explained that Liberia does not have hands-on data in terms of reporting food and nutrition insecurity and that the application of the regional tool will only enable the country be on track and collect data that will not be unique to other regional countries that are already using the Cadre Harmonise ‘e’ tool.

ALL AFRICA.COM reports that the Cadre Harmonise implementation process in the Sahel and West Africa has been fully underway and creates the country's ownership and occupies a strategic position among the various regional tools and will be used in the CILSS-ECOWAS-UEMOA region as a trigger tool of regional food reserve.

Dr. Charles McClain who represented the Agriculture Minister,  ITRealms gathered, thanked the participants and said as lead institution, the MoA is interested in getting more analytical data as the process moves on.
Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
 Pix: Deroe A. Weeks,

Sunday, October 20, 2013

GHI calls for efforts to boost food, nutrition security



Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

 The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI), released for the eighth year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide, calls for greater resilience-building efforts to boost food and nutrition security.

NaijaAgroNet noted from the 2013 Index  that global hunger is decreasing as the 2013 world GHI score has fallen by 34 percent from the 1990 GHI score, yet world hunger still remains “serious,” with 19 countries suffering from levels of hunger that are either “alarming” or “extremely alarming.”

The Index identifies hunger levels and hotspots across 120 developing countries with South Asia having the highest regional GHI score, followed by Africa south of the Sahara, Burundi, Eritrea and Comoros have the highest levels of hunger while countries where situation is already “alarming” or “extremely alarming” are vulnerable to the negative effects of extreme weather events, climate change, population pressure, conflicts and economic crises.

 Welthungerhilfe’s Chairlady,  Bärbel Dieckmann said “2.6 billion people have to live on less than two dollars a day. For them a sick family member, a single drought or the job loss of someone working abroad is a major crisis. As a consequence, a child can no longer afford to go to school, the family diet is reduced to often one meal a day or livestock needs to be sold. These people have simply no coping mechanisms left to react to a crisis.” 

The IFPRI research fellow Derek Headey said that adopting a resilience lens is challenging because there was need to build consensus on what it means and on that basis adopt programs and policies that bridge the relief and development sectors.

Concern Worldwide ‘s Chief Executive Officer Dominic MacSorley explained “We must focus on those living in extreme poverty, learn the lessons of the past and be clear what measures are needed to enable the very poorest to become more resilient in the longer term. Concern’s work in Kenya, Ethiopia, Niger and Chad is demonstrating how a resilience approach can deliver significant and sustainable change at community level. Turning this evidence into policy change is the next important step.”

NaijaAgroNet recorded from the report that developing high-frequency surveillance systems for the most vulnerable regions, focusing on community as well as individual and household resilience should be incorporated into national and regional development strategies as something distinct from conventional growth, poverty, or development objectives as pursuing this will improve food and nutrition security for the world’s most vulnerable.

 NaijaAgroNet ... Linking agrobiz, people & technology