Mining: Centre LSD, stakeholders meet to validate leading-edge study - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) shall organize February 7, 2023 the validation meeting of its leading-edge study on the efficacy of community development agreements (CDAs) in mining host communities in Nigeria. This time with mining stakeholders in the southsouth/southwest geopolitical zones in Lagos, Nigeria.

The study conducted across six states in each geopolitical zone of the country in 2022, including Taraba (northeast), Kebbi (northwest), Kogi (North Central), Ekiti (Southwest), Edo (Southsouth), and Ebonyi (Southeast), is aimed at ascertaining the effectiveness of current CDAs regime as a tool for delivering social and economic benefits to mining host communities in the country. Penultimate week, the Northeast and Northwest regional validation was held in Kano.

Pastoralists tenure rights key to community resilience - Study

NaijaAgroNet:

A new Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) guide has offered pointers to protect a sustainable mobile lifestyle with special land-use skills, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO, assuring adequate tenure rights to land is an important step in improving food security for millions of people in developing countries, but safeguarding tenure is not so straightforward when it comes to the way land is used by mobile pastoralist communities.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that over 500 million people on the planet rely on livestock herding, often steering their animals around various landscapes to reach water and pasture sources and avoid drought, animal disease and civil conflict.

In order to adequately address the inherently more complex needs of pastoralists, NaijaAgroNet reports that many of whom rely on covering vast territories in opportunistic ways, just as FAO, with the support of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Commission on Environmental Law and the Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, has produced a technical yet accessible guide on how to establish viable tenure arrangements for the often-marginalized people who use around a third of the earth's surface.

The guide, NaijaAgroNet reports, posited that improving governance of pastoral lands is part of a series of publications offering insight on how to implement the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, a landmark initiative whose global endorsement in 2012 was begun and brokered by FAO.

The coordinator of IUCN's Drylands Programme and lead author of the Technical Guide, Mr. Jonathan Davies, noted that the world's pastoralists engage in a wide variety of practices and include a great number of cultures in such diverse settings as Mongolia, Niger, Spain, Kenya, Norway and the United States of America.

Pastoralists, he said, inhabit rangeland areas, many of which are arid or semi-arid, and they employ a highly adaptable livelihood strategy that is poorly understood by outsiders, stressing that their adaptability relies on access rights that often jar with classical notions of property rights.

"Pastoralism is a system of livestock production that takes advantage of both the diversity and the seasonality of natural resources in the rangelands. It is based on large-scale, carefully planned movements of livestock, which demands high levels of coordination between multiple users. This has led to the emergence of customs and institutions that enable decisions to be effectively made and enforced by local communities," he said.

Progress in ecological science and increasing pastoral voices in global fora have galvanized increasing attention to ways of life now seen as flexible and resilient rather than obsolete.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Ghana loses 4.6m Cedis to child undernutrition - Study

NaijaAgroNet:

The Republic of Ghana has lost some 4.6 billion Cedis (GHC) to child undernutrition says the latest report on the Cost of Hunger in Africa tagged the "Social and Economic Impact of Child Undernutrition on Ghana’s Long-Term Development (COHA)” reports NaijaAgroNet.

It also showed that vast amounts being lost through increased healthcare costs, with additional burdens on the education system and lower productivity by its workforce.

The report also noted that the consequences of stunting which involves low height for age are of particular concern. The study explained that stunting occurs when children miss out on critical nutrients including proteins, vitamins and minerals, while in the womb and in the first two years of life. This is compounded by diseases and poor hygiene practices.

According to People affected by stunting face lifelong consequences starting in childhood such as frequent illness, poor school performance, having to repeat classes or dropping out altogether, and low workplace productivity.

Among other findings, NaijaAgroNet also revealed from the COHA report include that:

•    37 per cent of the adult population in Ghana suffered from stunting as children;
•    24 per cent of all child mortality cases in Ghana are associated with undernutrition;
•    child mortality associated with undernutrition has reduced Ghana’s workforce by 7.3 per cent.

Ghana has made some progress in improving child nutrition over the past two decades, reducing chronic malnutrition or stunting from 23 to 19 percent. However, this study highlights the critical need for further progress. 

Dr. Margaret Agama Nyetei, the African Union Commission’s Head of Health, Nutrition and Population Division, said the issue was vital to the AU’s vision and action plan for the next 50 years, known as Agenda 2063.

 “At the African Union, we believe that the realisation of Agenda 2063 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be possible without fully harnessing the potential of all sectors of the population and this includes our children,” she said. 

“The goal of eliminating stunting is key to achieving Zero Hunger, Sustainable Development Goal 2,” said Thomas Yanga, Director of the World Food Programme Africa Office. “The losses to the economy can be averted through strategic interventions which ensure adequate nutrition for mothers and young children” she said.

The Director, Social Development Policy Division at the Economic Commission for Africa, Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh, was quoted in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet that stunting is not just a health issue, but needs to be addressed through a multi-sectoral approach and prioritised in all development programmes from community to national level.

“Ensuring a generation free from malnutrition requires significant investments in nutrition strategies and interventions. There is therefore a need for Ghana to forge strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, particularly the private sector and non-state actors, to combat undernutrition holistically,” Prof. Manuh said.

For the World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Margot van der Velden said that in the Northern Region of Ghana, 30 percent of children under five are stunted or chronically malnourished.

“This not only affects their growth but also their educational development and economic potential, and consequently the future of the country,” van der Velden said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the COHA report was led by the African Union Commission (AUC), in partnership with African governments, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA); the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). While studies have so far taken place in Egypt, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Rwanda, and are due to be carried out in Chad, Lesotho, Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritania. 

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N8 Research debuts @ Manchester for food study programme

NaijaAgroNet:

A group of leading eight northern Universities in the United Kindgom (UK) has launched a groundbreaking international food research programme in Manchester, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The N8 Research Partnership comprising Manchester, Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and York Universities, NaijaAgroNet gather would enable academics and researchers to collaborate closely with industry, farmers and the government, and aims at solving the global challenge of ensuring sustainable, resilient and healthy food supplies for everyone.

NaijaAgroNet reports that over 50 speakers from the likes of Sainsbury’s, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Co-Operative Group, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), HSBC and the National Farmers’ Union spoke at the launch event, where attendees explored the need for a sustainable food system to meet current and future needs, particularly in light of population growth and climate change impacts.

Delegates also explored critical issues such as building resilience in the supply chain, closing the skills gap, antibiotic resistance and integrated approaches to food and nutrition. Attendees had direct access to funders, new partners in industry and academia, and took part in a series of interactive workshops addressing issues surrounding sustainable food production, supply chains and improved consumption and health.

Professor Bruce Grieve, Director of The University of Manchester’s e-Agri Sensors Centre, said this is a really exciting time as the N8 Agri-Food programme represents 12 per cent of the total academic research and resources in the UK and the first time such a large group has come together to tackle the global challenge of sustaining food supply and nutrition.

“This is such a complex and interconnected problem, spanning everything from soil and plant science through to consumer psychology and engineering, that only through bringing such a large group together can we help to deliver a new paradigm with our farming, industry and charity partners,” Grieve said.

 

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Africa can feed on small fish - Study

NaijaAgroNet:

There is a burgeoning small, fast growing wild fish sector with capabilities to feed the continent of Africa, says the latest study of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) especially from drylands, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The new FAO report on fisheries in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa, its crucial to look towards these allies in the race to end hunger in some of the world's most chronically poor and underfed regions.

Lead author of the study, Jeppe Kolding, a professor of biology at the University of Bergen in Norway, noted that in order to get fish in a dryland their eggs could be boosted.

"Fish are incredibly productive when conditions are right. Their egg-laying capacities made them, more like insects than other vertebrates," he said.

Although the study recognized water as an ephemeral resource in Africa's dryland regions, which could be formed and disappearing relatively in a short period of time could not be surprising.

Kolding noted that despite this, fish some of which weigh as little as a few grams at maturity could survive and thrive in these environments, meaning the continent's dryland fisheries are in fact highly productive and resilient.

Pointing out that output from dryland fisheries fluctuates due to climate trends - mainly low and above all uncertain rainfall -but productive potential is very high in smaller water bodies, some of which appear only once a decade but could produce up to 150 kilograms of fish per hectare per year. Together, these small water bodies cover a much larger area than the sub-Saharan region's lakes and reservoirs.

This, the study said, if properly managed, these bodies in southern Africa alone could produce 1.25 million tonnes of fish, which is half the total recorded inland fisheries yield of the entire continent.

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West Africa food security: Small-scale farmers must have access to markets

NaijaAgroNet:

A new study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) made available to NaijaAgroNet shows that for West Africa to surmount its food security challenges, small-scale farmers must have greater access to markets.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the study, entitled Rebuilding West Africa’s Food Potential, presented a range of successful case studies since the region stepped up investments in agricultural development in the wake of the world food crisis in 2007-2008. 

The study revealed to NaijaAgroNet that countries could benefit significantly from policy support that targets broader agricultural development and greater coordination among producers, private industry and the public and financial sectors. 

FAO Senior Economist, Aziz Elbehri, who edited the publication told NaijaAgroNet that although some West African countries are doing better than others, the region has lagged behind other parts of Africa in terms of basic infrastructure, investments, research and development and agricultural processing.

The book reasons, Elbehri said that the region should direct greater efforts to develop its staple food crops, which in the past have been sidelined in favour of a few export commodities. 

NaijaAgroNet  noted that Maize and cassava, which are two of the main pillars of West Africa’s food security, could form the backbone for a thriving agro-industry given their multiple market applications, the publication suggests. 

“There is a huge production deficit in rice in the region, which currently imports an unsustainable 70 per cent of what it consumes,” FAO said, stressing that yields of sorghum and millet which are critically important for the food security of 100 million people in the Sahel, could double or triple with the help of improved seed varieties and fertilizer. Pointing out that providing farmers’ with the means to boost the yields of staple food crops is not enough.


“Farmers have little incentive to increase production if they can’t sell their crops because of cheaper and easily accessible imports. Policy and market incentives are needed to improve the competitiveness of locally grown crops and increase their share in the consumer market,” Elbehri said. 

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the study also underscored the importance of continued investment in export crops such as cotton, coffee and cocoa, which play a significant role in generating income and employment, and flags tropical fruit and vegetables and other emerging niche products like sesame and cashew nuts as another viable area for export growth. 


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