Brief history of Awba-Ofemili - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

Awba-Ofemili is a town in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. The town has an estimated population of 15,978 according to the 2006 Nigerian Census. Awba-Ofemili has eight villages, each of which made up small communities of kindreds.

The eight villages in Awba-Ofemili today include Umuokpe, Umuchibu, Ezike, Akpana, Enugwu-Agu, Umuosite, Enugwu, Umuezeavu.

HRH Igwe Ezekwesili Maduagwuna,
Ofemili 1 of Awba-Ofemili

Awba-Ofemili is about 30kilometers (km) from Awka, the capital city of Anambra State. Like most towns in Awka-North, Awba-Ofemili’s climate and soil conditions are favorable to farming, especially for rice mass production.

SOFIA 2018: Trends in global fish supply - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA 2018) reports that 90.9 million tonnes of fish was captured in the world in 2016, a slight decrease of 2 million tonnes from the year before, mainly due to periodic fluctuations in populations of Peruvian Anchoveta associated with El Niño, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Generally, the amount of fish being captured in the wild plateaued starting in the 1990s and has remained largely stable since. 

Despite that fact, the world has for decades been consuming ever greater amounts of fish - 20.4 kg per capita in 2016 versus just under 10 kg/pc in the 1960s — thanks in no small part to increased production via aquaculture, a sector which expanded rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s. 

In 2016, production from aquaculture reached 80 million tonnes, according to SOFIA 2018 — providing 53 percent of all fish consumed by humans as food. 

While aquaculture's growth has slowed — it experienced 5.8 percent annual growth between 2010 and 2016, down from 10 percent in the 1980s and 1990s — it will still continue to expand in the coming decades, especially in Africa. 

Efforts to reduce the amount of fish being discarded at sea or thrown out post-capture — for example by using discards and trimmings to produce fishmeal — will also help meet ongoing increases in demand for fish products. 


Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Unveiled: 3 key emerging trends for Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The 2017 version of Ecobank Research’s Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) Guidebook, has identified tripod future for the African continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Senior Public Relations Director at Ecobank group, Sherelle Folkes, disclosed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet and listed these to include that the continent’s economy rebounding after a trying year, just as gas has been discovered as the next oil in West Africa, whilst the continent is evolving in Financial Technology (FinTech) leadership.

NaijaAgroNet quoted Folkes as saying that expert knowledge and analysis on African markets for investors and businesses, was launched at AfricaFICC, indicated a positive outlook for the continent, with three key trends forecast to take hold during the next 12 months.

NaijaAgroNet reports that the first indicates an economic rebound in sub-Saharan Africa driven by a recovery in the region’s economic heavyweights, such as Nigeria and South Africa, and ongoing growth in the top performers, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire and (more recently) Ghana.

Growth will be driven by a rise in oil production (notably in Ghana, Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Angola), strengthening infrastructure investment across West and East Africa, and improved weather conditions which bode well for crops.

Strengthening economic activity, plus a moderate improvement in oil and mineral prices, will help narrow the current account deficit, but pressure on SSA currencies will remain.

The second emerging trend points to West Africa’s gas sector becoming a hive of activity in 2018 from Senegal to Angola, with the development of gas pipelines, floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platforms and major gas field projects.

Governments in the Gulf of Guinea and across West Africa have ramped up efforts to secure gas supply in order to boost domestic power generation and diversify their revenues away from crude oil.

Deregulating the gas market and allowing market-driven gas prices will be key to unlocking further gas infrastructure investment across the region.

The third trend suggests Fintech innovation in Africa picking up speed in 2018 buoyed by a new generation of Africans who are ‘digital natives’. The proliferation of tech hubs across Africa (notably in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire) will nurture the next wave of African start-ups and help connect them with investors.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Urban diets and nutrition: Trends, challenges, and opportunities for policy action

NaijaAgroNet:

The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition has launched a new brief: Urban diets and nutrition: trends, challenges, and opportunities for policy action, reports NaijaAgroNet. Just as the President of the African Development Bank Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has received the World Food Prize 2017. The brief looks at the challenge of providing healthy diets in urban environments in low and middle-income countries, presenting eight recommendations directed primarily at policymakers especially those working at the sub-national level. Attended by Global Panel Members Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank and 2017 World Food Prize laureate; Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; Tom Arnold, Former Director General, Institute of International and European Affairs; and Emmy Simmons, Senior Adviser, Non-resident, to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Food Security Project; former Assistant Administrator, US Agency for International Development. 66 per cent of the world’s population is projected to be urban by 2050. The additional 2.5 billion urban residents will live primarily in Africa and Asia. This is leading to a growing crisis of urban malnutrition. “There is an urgent need for better urban governance around food, nutrition and health”, said Adesina. “Urban populations need improved information on how to live well by eating well.” The brief gives particular focus to the growing threat of diet-related non-communicable disease. The greater wealth in urban centres, relative to rural areas, does not necessarily lead to healthier diets, with excessive consumption of highly-processed foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients. Emmy Simmons argues that “within complex, diverse urban environments, poor dietary choices could create a further financial burden, with rising levels of overweight or obesity generating increases in the health care costs associated with non-communicable diseases”. The eight recommendations in the brief call for a wider policy approach which integrates actions from food, agriculture and nutrition into urban planning, education, health, sanitation, water and infrastructure development. It will also require a shift in attitudes towards the informal food sector and the collection of better data on urban diets. The brief shows how policymakers at the local level need to champion better diets and nutrition, but this requires them to be both mandated and empowered to act. Panel Member Tom Arnold argues that these “public policymakers need to recognise that productivity, quality of life and life expectancy in urban areas will revolve around healthy diets and lifestyles.” Without decisive action, the Global Panel argues that this urban malnutrition crisis will deepen. This is especially important in many low and middle-income countries where urban dwellers do not consume enough basic calories, lack sufficient micronutrients, or suffer from being overweight or obese with associated diet-related non-communicable diseases, leading to a ‘triple burden of urban malnutrition’. As Dr. Kalibata recently stated, “The growing threat of an urban food crisis can no longer be ignored”. Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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