Ghana plans ban on rice importation by 2022 - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Republic of Ghana has set a three-year target for the country to put a stop to rice importation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was disclosed by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Nyarko Osei.

Osei said Ghana was working round the clock to stop the importation of rice into the county based on recent projections.

The Deputy Minister revealed this in an interview with Kwame Tutu on “Anopa Nkomo” on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7.

Osei, whose position was published on the website of Kingdom FM 107.7, said: “We import billion dollars of rice into the country, but the Agric Ministry, led by Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is determined that by the end of 2022 we will stop importing rice from other countries based on our projections.

“The two crops we are focusing on are rice and soya; soya because of the poultry industry and rice because of import substitution.”

It will be recalled that Ghana recently put pressure on Nigeria to open its borders for goods from other countries.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had ordered the closure of Nigeria’s borders to stem the importation of goods with local substitutes, especially rice.

Reports had it that the Republic of Benin, which does not consume parboiled rice, is the perhaps the largest importer of the rice type through its ports.

The border closure came after years of ban by the Central Bank of Nigeria of access to foreign exchange by importers of 43 prohibited products.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, retired Colonel Hameed Ali, said within one week of the closure of Nigeria’s borders, over 500,000 bags of locally manufactured rice that had been lying in warehouses of the producers were sold.

According to available information, rice constitutes 82 per cent Ghana’s import, accounting for $1 billion.

The amount was at almost 2 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, according to Ghana’s Deputy Trades Minister, Robert Ahomka Lindsay.

Osei told Kingdom FM 107.7 further: “Changing the structure of our economy through diversification and value addition will not happen overnight.

“It remains a major pre-occupation of the government because it is our pathway to reduce dependency, expand the economy, create jobs, increase exports, reduce imports and support the value of our currency.”

It would be recalled that Afriyie-Akoto had told the West African nation of plans to cut food importation through a flagship programme: Planting for Food and Jobs.

The programme is expected to provide farmers fertilizers at low rates to help boost local yield.

The subsidised rate, which is 50 per cent, is catered for by the Government as an incentive to smallholder farmers.

So far, farmers who used to produce three bags of rice per acre in the past, now produce 10 bags.

The ripple effect has led to the creation of more jobs as the need for hired hands in the harvesting and processing of farm produce has spiked.

Jobs created as at 2017 stood at 745,000, which is now improving to 900,000, according to the Minister of Agriculture.

In addition to this, a spinoff of the programme, tagged: “Rearing for food and jobs,” is set to begin.

Isaac John/Editor

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W Initiative plans for Health Month, targets 2m women - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The W Initiative, a flagship women empowerment programme from Access Bank Plc, has unveiled plans for its 2019 W Health Month aimed at improving community awareness on health issues that affect women and their families by bridging knowledge gap, providing access to health checks and encouraging healthy lifestyle habits, NaijaAgroNet.

Running all through the month of October, NaijaAgroNet gathered the W Health Month will focus on key areas such as infertility, endometriosis, vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), cancer, maternal and neo-natal mortality.

The Coordinator ‘W’ initiative, Access Bank Plc, Ayona Trimnell, said: “Globally, the month of October is dedicated to raising awareness for Breast Cancer, a major health issue affecting mainly women. However, as an institution with focus on women, we are expanding the scope to shine the spotlight on 5 salient health issues affecting women and their families. The 2017 African Research and Population Centers, estimated 40,000 maternal deaths in Nigeria, making the country the second largest contributor to maternal mortality worldwide. There is need for us to change the story one woman at a time and we at Access Bank have been moving the needle in our own way through our flagship product, the Maternal Health Service Support (MHSS).

Activities planned during the period include free health screening, health talk by specialists, fitness classes, fund raising to support these causes etc. The Health Month will wrap up with an advocacy walk tagged ‘Walk for Women’s Health’ on Saturday 26 October 2019,” he said.

Established in 2014, the W Initiative is home to everything Access Bank has to offer women. This includes both financial and lifestyle needs. Under the Initiative, participating women and their families have access to a wide range of privileges including access to credit facilities to meet business and healthcare needs, the ‘W’ community which provides insights on family matters, health, career, lifestyle and finance. This is in addition to special offerings for the home such as discounts and freebies on health, beauty and fitness.

Health screenings will hold every Tuesday at October designed partner locations across the country.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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Pix: L-R: Njideka Esomeju, Regional Sales Director, Lagos 1, Access bank Plc; Aituaje Iruobe (aka Waje ) Music Artist; Ayona Trimnell, Coordinator,  ‘W’ Initiative, Access Bank Plc; and Ada Udechukwu, Head, Women Banking, Access Bank plc at a meet-and-greet event to launch the Women's Health Month this October 2019 in Lagos recently.

Nigerian Army plans cattle ranches nationwide

NaijaAgroNet:

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai has revealed that the Nigerian Army would be raising up cattle ranches in such a manner that in almost all the divisions, and all the brigades, cattle will be reared, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Gen. Buratai who was represented by the Chief of Army Logistics, Major General Patrick Akem, made this disclosure, Tuesday at the Commissioning of Mogadishu Cantonment New Mammy Market (former Abacha Barracks) in Abuja.

He also disclosed that in keeping up with modern cattle rearing tradition, he sent officers of the Army to Argentina to look at how cattle were reared.

“Argentina has a population of 41 million people, but it feeds about 400 million people around the world with its beef. To take it to the next level, we want to adopt a system where the cattle are not just free ranging coming from Sokoto to Port Harcourt, thereby making their meat tough to eat, the products will soon be coming from our own farms and ranches,” Buratai said.

He pointed out that the Army has created the Barrack Investment Initiative as platform that affords Army family members the opportunity of raising up fishing ponds, vegetable gardens, fruits, livestock, chicken and their eggs.

As said by him, the intention of the Nigerian Army was not just to secure the country, but to contribute in growing the economy of the nation.

“We want to tell our wives that they can live beyond the salaries of their husbands, so we are trying to empower the women in the barracks to be able to form co-operatives, so as to access loans and to a large extent be able to fend for themselves and their families, even without the salaries of their husbands,” he said.

Equally speaking, the Commander Army Headquarters Garrison, Major General John Malu said that the formidable shopping edifice had over 2000 shops, 27 warehouses and a printing press owned by the Nigerian Navy. He added that the services of a reputable private security firm was contracted to handle the security of the market.

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Prioritise rural people in post-Ebola recovery plans - IFAD

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, has tasked the government and people of Sierra Leone and Liberia to prioritise rural people in the post-Ebola recovery plans, reports NaijaAgroNet.

IFAD president who was in the two West-African countries made this call during his visit to Sierra Leone (4-6 August) and in Liberia (6-8 August), where he met with presidents of both countries.

In Sierra Leone, Nwanze met President Ernest Bai Koroma, the Ministers of Agriculture, Finance and Gender and the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone. While in Liberia he met President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Minister of Agriculture and project implementation partners.

For him, Ebola has had an enormous impact on the lives of rural people – many of whom are small-scale farmers who could not grow food or earn a living during the epidemic.

“If we do not channel our investments to the rural areas now, these farmers may have to migrate in search of work. This could compromise the future food security of these countries,” he said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that discussions were focused on how IFAD could further support the two countries post-Ebola recovery plans, particularly in rural areas.

Over 11,310 people, NaijaAgroNet recalls died from the Ebola virus between 2014 and 2016 in the three affected countries, namely Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE 

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Pix: Nwanze and labourers tilling the land for recovery

SUN Movement Strategic roadmap 2020 for launch in September

NaijaAgroNet:

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has advanced plans to launch its strategic roadmap 2020 in the month of September, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The launch, NaijaAgroNet gathered would form part of the inauguration of the SUN Movement’s new Lead Group at the UN General Assembly in New York on Assembly in New York on 22 September, 2016.

Disclosing this, the interim coordinator, SUN Movement, Mr. Tom Arnold, told NaijaAgroNet, pointed out that it would be a moment members strive to connect all every member to join the event and engage with the Lead Group via webinar.

According to him, the SUN Business Network, for instance, is also organising an event in New York on August 20 to highlight business commitments to nutrition.

This meeting, he revealed will be a prelude to Ministers of Finance from partnering countries, presenting their scale up plans to accelerate actions on early child development and stunting reduction will be held during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington in October.

Arnold further said that the SUN Movement Lead Group, Networks and Secretariat will support SUN country stakeholders in efforts to engage with Ministries of Finance ahead of this important meeting and in follow-up initiatives focusing on resource mobilization.

Just as he said, the 43rd session of the Committee for World Food Security will take place in Rome between October 17 and 21 with a focus on “Making a difference in Food Security and Nutrition.”

All SUN Countries and SUN Stakeholders, he said, are encouraged to participate to share their experience and to contribute to defining policy guidance which promotes convergence for food security and nutrition.

The Micronutrient Forum, Arnold said will be held in Cancun during the month of October from 24 through 28, where there will be an opportunity to convene SUN stakeholders, especially those from Latin America, for experience sharing.

With the SUN Movement Secretariat, we are dedicated to ensuring that you and your countries can make the most of these significant opportunities to bring political attention to nutrition, and galvanise finance for effective action.

“Given this busy agenda for nutrition actors across the Movement, in order to maximise attendance at the SUN Movement Global Gathering and offer an innovative and content rich opportunity for sharing and learning, the SUN Movement Secretariat will organise the Global Gathering in late February 2017,” he submitted, assuring that information to this effect will follow shortly on its location and logistical aspects of the event.

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Farmers general assembly to meet in Buenos Aires

NaijaAgroNet.

Plans have been advanced for the General Assembly meeting of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO-OMA) to be held in Buenos Aires from March 25 to 29, 2014, reports

According to information made available to NaijaAgroNet, every year, the event forms an opportunity to gather about 100 agricultural confederations from 80 countries in Argentina to discuss the future of global agriculture.

The annual event, NaijaAgroNet gathered will be hosted by the Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA), the organization designated to host the event after JA ZENCHU, Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Japan.

NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that subjects on climate change, innovation, food security, value chain, women and youth in agriculture are some of the key themes of the meeting, even as it’s an avenue for meetings and debates between the leading experts of world agriculture and large international organizations affiliated to it.

Among other attendees , correspondent learnt will be members of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), World Metrological Organisation (WMO), Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), OIE, the International Meat Secretariat (IMS), International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Prominent personalities expected at the farmers assembly include the United Nations ambassadors of the International Year of Family Farming, Gerd Sonnleitner and Myrna Cunningham, the U.S. Ambassador Dr. Quinn, President of the World Food Prize.

 The presence of the mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, the Director-General of WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and many other representatives of international agricultural is also expected.

The World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly will be preceded by four workshops which will address the following themes: animal welfare on farms, improvement of agricultural contracts, innovative processes in the field of agriculture and services related to climate. The days of the General Assembly will be dedicated to in-depth sessions  on the role of farmers in the food chain, to the changes as a result of climate change, food security, the role of women, gender differences in this area and, finally, issues related to the generational renewal.

Marco Marzano, WFO Executive Director, said that the World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly is an important opportunity for the global agriculture community to discuss the major challenges of the near future.

 Also, he said, towards which direction global agriculture is moving, as it changes to cope with the effects of climate change, such as innovative ways to take on and manage the economic crisis: these are some of the topics on which farmers’ organizations will be called upon to discuss”.

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CTA mets FAO on e-agriculture

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) has finalized plans to meet with the Food and Agri-culture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) over e-agriculture.

ICT4D Programme Coordinator at CTA, Mr. Ken Lohento, confirmed this to NaijaAgroNet, saying that the essence billed as prelude for forthcoming World Summit on the Information Society WSIS Forum 2013 in Geneva, would include to investigate the state of national and regional strategies for e-agriculture strategies, and their impact on how the entire sector can tap into the full benefits of ICT. 

“The outcomes of these actions will serve as the starting point for the e-agriculture action line session at WSIS Forum 2013,” Lohento said.

He also said that for those not attending WSIS, they could join remotely and would be able to ask questions and make comments.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the session would be moderated by Mr. Michael Riggs of FAO, while panelists includes Ms Jennifer Britton, Caribbean Community (CARICOM ) Secretariat, Guyana; Mr Edward Addo-Dankwa, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana; Mr Ken Lohento, Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA); Mr Harsha Liyanage, Sarvodaya-Fusion and eNovation4D, Sri Lanka and Mr Shahid Uddin Akbar, Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID).


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