Pope Francis warns, says real priorities relegated due to nuclear spending

NaijaAgroNet:

The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis has warned that the real priorities facing humankind, are relegated to second place as a result of the expenses incurred by nations in the escalation of the arms race, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Addressing audience at the global event on atomic disarmament included 11 Nobel Peace Laureates, some of whom are part of FAO's Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance, the Pope listed some of the real priorities that needed to be tackled to include the fight against poverty, the promotion of peace, the undertaking of educational, ecological and healthcare projects, and the development of human rights.

"Weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security. They cannot constitute the basis for peaceful coexistence between members of the human family, which must rather be inspired by an ethics of solidarity," the pontiff told participants  of the International Symposium on Disarmament Prospects for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament.

The FAO's Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance, NaijaAgroNet gathered is a group aimed at tackling the twin problems of hunger and violence in the agency's ongoing work to promote sustainable development and resilience across the world. It includes Nobel laureates Oscar Arias Sánchez, Tawakkol Karman, Betty Williams and Muhammad Yunus.

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Increased public spending on agriculture to solve Africa’s food crises

NaijaAgroNet 

The World Bank has urged Africa to increase public spending on agriculture as the only solution to solving the continent’s food crises NaijaAgroNet can authoritatively report.

Addressing a business forum in Nairobi, World Bank Group Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, Ademola Braimoh stated that low investments in agriculture have made Africa’s agricultural sector vulnerable to climate change.

“These challenges can be overcome through more investment in instruments such as the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA),” Braimoh said during the launch of the World Bank’s report on Increasing Agricultural Production and Resilience through improved Agro- Meteorological Services, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

In the same development, World Bank Kenya Country Director, Diarietou Gaye said over 220 million people are currently food insecure in Africa and this figure could rise to over 350 million by the end of 2015 unless appropriate interventions are put in place to cope with the intensity of climate change.

Gaye said climate change is a fundamental threat to development and should be confronted in order to combat poverty. She noted that a two degree Celsius rise in temperature in Africa will trigger a 40 to 80 per cent decline in land area suitable for growing maize, millet and sorghum.

“Climate projections indicate that crop yields decline by 5 per cent for every Celsius degree of global warming,” she added. 

Cyriacus Nnaji /ED (Ops)

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