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Showing posts with label predicted. Show all posts
Showing posts with label predicted. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

WFP predicts food shortage in South Africa

 NaijaAgroNet

The World Food Programme (WFP) has predicted an acute food shortage in South Africa in a couple of months due to a severe drought in the 'maize belt' of South Africa, where a lack of rain had caused crop failure rates of over 50 per cent, NaijaAgroNet reports.

WFP’s Food and Nutrition Security Working Group’s April assessment states, "The rains experienced in late March and early April provided some relief to livestock farmers but arrived too late for both staple food and cash crops."

Last month's outbreak of anti-foreigner riots in South Africa, in which at least seven were killed and thousands more forced to flee, NaijaAgroNet gathered,  might also lead to a drop in remittance flows from Africa's most advanced economy, adding to the problems of nearby countries, the WFP said.

The WFP said maize production was estimated to have dropped by a third compared with last year, putting it on track for a harvest of 9.665 million tonnes, its worst in eight years,  

Besides South Africa, which produces more than 40 per cent of regional maize, NaijaAgroNet learnt, the drought was also likely to hit harvests in southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Madagascar, the U.N. agency said in a report.

The problems in landlocked and impoverished Malawi were compounded by heavy rains and flooding in early January which destroyed crops and roads, it added.

.Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
 
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Friday, November 29, 2013

Rukuni predicts faster food security for Africa by 2025, charges media


A professor of Agricultural Economics, Mandivamba Rukuni has predicted that Africa’s agriculture is poised to grow faster and by 2025 Africa will be food secured, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This is coming as he charged African media practitioners to see something good on the continent and report same always.

Prof. Rukuni who advises African Union (AU) on Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) among others made these assertions at a two-day training workshop of CAADP Journalists Network in Pretoria, South Africa.

According to him, there are avalanche of development messages African journalists should showcase to the world, including that Africa’s agriculture is now grows faster and by 2025 Africa will reach food secure, stressing that Africa’s economies are rising sustainably, though many Africans are still poor and hungry.

He also told NaijaAgroNet that African agriculture is growing slowly now after decades of stagnation and food security is improving, stressing that sustained improvements in governance and political stability will usher in these predictions.

Prof. Rukuni equally predicted that the industrialised world will have no capacity to feed 8 billion people by 2040 and Africa will have to be the food-basket of the world by next 27 years, insisting these are some of the stories; Africans are waiting to hear so as to build their confidence and belief.

“Africans need to re-write their own narratives, create their own future and fulfill own destiny. African journalists, therefore, have the unique role in shaping that narrative, so as to aid the main responsibility in re-branding Africa,” he said.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Prof. Rukuni said, is a major part of the narrative on ‘African solution to an African problem’ although Africa has a lot of homework to do.

Pointing out that between year 2000 and 2012 were proverbial unprecedented decade for the continent for Africa which now has impressive economic growth across the 54 countries accompanied with improved governance, human development indicators.


Despite the aforementioned good signs, Prof. Rukuni decried that Africa still faces major challenges of poverty, food insecurity, concerns that Africa is unlikely to meet most of the MDGs, especially MDG 1 on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015

Remmy Nweke in South Africa 
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Pix: Prof. Mandi Rukuni (2) Brenda Zulu with Mwanja Nyajo of NEPAD, Marie-Noelle Guichi and Agathe Aline