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Showing posts with label youth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label youth. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

PHSAI youth identifies high risk in adolescents’ sexual behaviour - NaijaAgroNet

The youth arm of the Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) has attributed the high risk in sexual behaviour among Nigerian adolescents as responsible for the increasing teenage pregnancy, out of school girls, baby dumping, post abortion complication and death, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Coordinator, Life Planning for Adolescents and Youth at PHSAI Lagos State, Abiodun Ajayi, made this disclosure while addressing participants at World Contraception Day 2019 hosted by the Pathfinder International.

Dwelling on ‘Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (AYSRH) in Lagos,’ Ajayi noted that despite bold steps taken by the state and some stakeholders to increase young people access to youth-friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services, the upsurge in sexual behaviour remained high.

He called for an urgent need to increase discussion around youth SRH cum family planning issues at all levels.

Ajayi also called for increase in funding to sufficiently meet the SRH-FP need of the high risk sexual behaviour of these rapidly growing young populations.

He identified further lack of adequate access and accurate life planning information and services, stressing that lack of youth friendly health facilities and provider bias as some of the worrisome issues.

Additionally, Ajayi said that poor knowledge of contraceptive options and benefits have been a stumbling block for the youth in the state.

“The Lagos State Youth Policy that could provide some backing to the state response to AYSRH has some significant gaps, especially the target audience which is youth between 18 and 35 years and its focus is more on poverty alleviation and other interventions as appendages,” he told NaijaAgroNet.

Ajayi lamented that though the policy had provision for reproductive health services, “it was not explicit on access to contraceptives or family planning services.”

Further, he proposed there should be an evidence based policy and legislative advocacy for implementation of AYSRH services in Lagos State.

“Enhance partnership with NGOs by the state government to establish youth friendly SRH services,” he said.

The PHSAI youth coordinator, maintained that trainings and supervisory programmes that effectively address medical and personal provider’s biases regarding young people’s use of all available contraceptives should be conducted.

Uj. N. Dominic/Editor

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Thursday, February 14, 2019

Rwandan choreographer, Sherrie Silver named IFAD advocate for rural youth - NaijaAgroNet

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) annual meeting of Member States, award-winning choreographer, dancer and actress Sherrie Silver issued an urgent call-to-action to heads-of-state, government ministers, and development leaders to listen and invest in rural youth, reports NaijaAgroNet.

“I am inviting you to come together and stand on the right side of history by investing more in young rural people, and the communities where they live,” Silver said just after being announced as the UN specialized agency’s Advocate for Rural Youth.

“It is with great delight that we welcome Sherrie Silver as our new Advocate for Rural Youth,” said Charlotte Salford, Associate Vice-President of External Relations and Governance Department at IFAD. “Dance and music are great unifiers. They help young people to express themselves and unites groups of people across cultures and countries.”

The appointment makes the 24-year-old IFAD's first-ever Advocate for Rural Youth.

Silver’s message kicked-off the 'Our Future is Here' youth-led movement that aims to capture the energy and creativity of young people to raise awareness on the importance of investing in agriculture at a time when world hunger is on the rise, driven by conflict and climate change.

Hunger, poverty, youth unemployment and forced migration all have deep roots in rural areas, however there remains a wide funding gap. To eliminate hunger it is estimated an annual investment of US$180 billion is needed for rural areas. Of this, two-thirds is required for agriculture alone.

“Imagine what would happen if governments and donors around the world spent as much on agriculture and rural people as they do on humanitarian aid,” she said. “There would be food security. There would be social stability. There would be less damage to the environment. There would be hope for our future.”

Born in Rwanda and educated in the United Kingdom, Silver was made world-famous by her choreography work in Childish Gambino’s culturally seismic video “This Is America,” which won the 'Best Choreography' category at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards and most recently at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

A social media influencer, Silver is passionate about helping young people thrive and educating the world about African cultures through the dance, while giving back to African countries through her philanthropy.

In her role as Advocate for Rural Youth, Silver will use her global platform to meet and connect with youth around the world and help campaign for the importance of reaching young people through investing in agriculture and rural communities.

More than half of the world’s youth population of 1.2 billion live in rural areas and struggle to find employment. In Africa, an estimated 11 million young people will enter the job market every year for the next decade -- the majority of them in rural areas, where agriculture is still the biggest source of livelihoods.

"Youth unemployment will be the defining challenge of this era alongside climate change, and I am committed to helping the UN as an IFAD Advocate for Rural Youth to do everything I can to provide a better future for young people everywhere," Silver said. “They need jobs and opportunities in agriculture to help feed a growing population while also building a safe and prosperous future right where they live.”

Silver added that “the only way we are going to solve complex challenges like ending extreme poverty, hunger and forced migration is by calling on governments to invest in a different way of going about development. Young people want to build a better world, but they can’t do it alone."

Prior to her appointment, Sherrie Silver visited an IFAD-supported project in southern Cameroon, where she met with young entrepreneurs from a remote farming community who have been able to earn more income and produce more food due to IFAD investments in agriculture and business training in their community.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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Monday, April 9, 2018

Support to smallholder farmers, women, youth top agenda @Mauritania

The imperative of supporting smallholder farmers, women and youth are top on the agenda for a forthcoming meeting between the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting, according to David Florentin Paqui of IFAD Communications Division in Nouakchott, affirmed to NaijaAgroNet, said would be witnessed by senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, to discuss how investment in agriculture could ensure food and nutrition security and create jobs for rural people, particularly women and youth.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that in Mauritania, 41 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, and half depend on agriculture for their income, whereas farming generates 25 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), hence, small farms are vital for the country’s food security as well as its economy.

During an official three-day visit to the country starting Monday, April 9, Houngbo hinted his meeting with the Mauritanian President and Prime Minister, Yahya Ould Hademine would have support for smallholders farmers, women and youth top on agenda.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that a joint working meeting with the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Livestock and the Minister of Environment will focus on the role of smallholder farmers in ensuring food security in Mauritania, the challenge of climate change, and the opportunities agriculture can offer to young people in rural areas.

Investing in a new generation of smallholder farmers is essential. Of Mauritania’s 4 million people, 40 per cent are under 15 years of age, 60 per cent are under 25 and only 5 per cent are over 60. Half of the population derives their livelihoods from raising crops and livestock and fishing. Although the country is self-sufficient in red meat and fish, it imports 60 per cent of other staple foodstuffs, particularly rice, vegetables, sugar and cooking oil.

IFAD and the government of Mauritania are working together to improve food security and nutrition, increase the incomes of poor rural households, create jobs and reduce the country's dependence on food imports. Since 1980, IFAD has financed 14 projects and programmes in Mauritania for a total of $342.3 million, including $136.2 million from IFAD’s own resources, directly benefitting nearly 190,470 Mauritanian rural households.


Houngbo will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the Regional Implementation Forum organized in Nouakchott by the West and Central Africa Division of IFAD. Later, he will join Lemina Mint El Ghotob Ould Moma, Minister of Agriculture, in Kiffa to meet with rural people benefiting from an IFAD-supported Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro – Phase II designed to help build, an economic and social fabric based on sustainable natural resource management that is inclusive of poor rural households, particularly women and young people. Because of its achievements in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, this project was a recipient of a 2017 IFAD Gender Award.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Monday, October 16, 2017

Dangote rice targets 1m tonnes in 2018, launches youth graduates farm project @Kogi


A multi-million Naira Youth Farming Initiative that will engage teeming unemployed Nigerian graduates in rice farming has been launched by the Dangote Rice Limited in Kogi State, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as the company says its preparing to hit the market with One million metric tons of Dangote rice in 2018.

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by Francis Awowole-Browne, informed that the Dangote Youth Rice Farm project, mainly an out-grower scheme for youths only was flagged off at the Lower Niger River Basin Authority, Kampe, Ejiba in Yagba West local government area of the state where youth have embarked on rice cultivation over 100 hectares of land.

He quoted Group Executive Director at Dangote, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, as saying that the rice farm project, was preceded by a special training for the youth farmers on the dynamics of the rice farming, will see the youths cultivating the rice paddy on a 100 hectares of land, which will then be bought over by the company for processing.

Under the scheme, he explained that the Dangote Rice Company would provide the seedling, anti-pest-chemicals, and fertilizers while the Basing Authority provided the land for the young farmers.

Mr. Edwin explained that the project is a new dimension to the efforts by the pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Group, at ensuring food security and creating job opportunities in Nigeria especially for the youths saying this Initiative is in line with the vision and commitment of Dangote Industries Limited to create a new generation of agri-preneur that will revolutionize the Nigerian agricultural sector.

“We believe skill, knowledge, enabling environment, collaboration and linkages along the value chain are driving forces for economic empowerment and social development in line with the Federal Government policies. This project will address the skills gap in local rice production among unemployed youths by providing technical, organisational and financial requirements.”

He said it would also enhance domestic rice production to cover the large gap between demand and domestic production and to increase self-sufficiency of Nigeria and substitute imported rice by quality Nigerian rice brands.

Mr. Edwin disclosed that most modern rice mills in Nigeria presently operate at not more than 20% capacity utilization due mainly to lack of good quality paddy and that Dangote Rice aimed to change this situation developing and adapting out-grower schemes. According to him, the Dangote Rice Company plans to set up a 150,000 metric tons integrated rice mill and sale one million mt of parboiled rice by 2018.

The Dangote Group boss stated that the decision of the management to start the project was driven by two factors, one of which is the need for youth employment through empowerment to go into agriculture. “The youths are more vulnerable to crimes and other social vices when they have nothing to engage them and this in turn affect the nation negatively.

“The second factor is the need to strengthen the on-going efforts at producing rice for self-sufficiency so that we can save foreign exchange. By the time we will be doing one million metric tons of rice next year, no less than three million jobs would been created along the value chain.”

Mr. Edwin said the Kogi pilot project will cover four season of two years and will be launched in four other states soon.

In his own remark, the Managing Director of Dangote Rice, Mr. Robert Coleman urged the youth farmers to concentrate on the project and pay attention to details so that they would come out with good paddy yield.

He congratulated the farmers for the decision to partner with Dangote Rice noting that they have a solid source of livelihood for themselves and members of their families if they give their all for the success of the scheme.

The Coordinator of the youth farmers, Umar Etudaye thanked the management of Dangote Rice for believing in them and engaging them for the project. He promised that they would deliver on the mandate given to them on the project.


He stated that the scheme is a practical step towards nation building because it’s the youths, who constitute 40 per cent of the population, would build the nation and only the youths that are empowered and gainfully employed could do that.

Ogo Nebenanya/GEE
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Saturday, November 7, 2015

ACPC, AYICC youth consultation for COP21




The Gambia's minister of Youth and Sports, Alieu K Jammeh, has said that Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) and the Africa Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) organized Conference will create space for a youth consultation in the run up to COP2, NaijaAgroNet reports.

COP21, a United Nations’ Conference, NaijaAgroNet reports, is a sustainable innovation forum 2015 to be held on December 7 and 8 in Paris, France to brainstorm on issues arising from climate change.

Jammeh was addressing the 1st Africa Youth Conference on Climate Change held in Zimbabwe, Monday, on the theme: 'African youth responses to climate change and food security, action from the frontlines'.

"We all know that Africa, our continent, is the world's youngest continent with two-thirds of the population falling below 24 years old and increasing; in fact expected to double by 2045. There is huge potential in these numbers because with big numbers, as proven in certain dynamics, they can propel economic success," he stated.

 He told the gathering that it is the people of Africa that will have to take the lead in shaping the future that they desire for themselves and generations unborn so that Africa can become the giant that it should be; a giant of economic prosperity, socio-cultural advancement, and political tolerance, all within an ecosystem that guarantees their continuous existence on earth in harmony with nature, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

"In addition, the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states that Africa could face a triple whammy of extreme weather, crop failures and disease if temperatures rise are unchecked."

"As the theme for this conference aptly links food security with climate change, we are called upon to look at agriculture again and ensure that agriculture, being the biggest economic sector of most of our countries, is revitalised and made attractive to our teeming youthful population. By getting agriculture fixed and functioning well, two issues of employment creation and improving food security for our people would have been addressed automatically," the minister opined.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
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Saturday, July 4, 2015

‘Buhari charged to implement youth-led projects’



The founder, YFarm Project, Nkiru Nnaemego, has called on the Buhari-led government to ensure the implementation of youth-led projects, especially for the agriculture sector, NaijaAgroNet reports.

She stated that the government can borrow a leaf from those of YFarm that aim to establish and promote at least 10,000 youth-led farms and agribusinesses across Nigeria and Africa by 2020, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

“Agriculture is not only profitable but a solution to problems of unemployment, insecurity, poverty, corruption, among several others,” she said, challenging youths to embrace agriculture by accessing land, finance, market, mentoring, farm inputs and equipment, to reap lots of benefits in the sector.

The government, Nnaemego said could implement youth-led projects by creating platforms to showcase African and national youth agriculture festivals and marketplace, schools camp on sustainable agriculture, e-platforms, community outreaches on agribusiness and climate smart agriculture as a means to capturing the attention of the youths to get involved in agriculture.

She also said that the benefits of YFarm Project, for instance include a platform for agricultural education, viable careers and businesses, improved livelihoods through jobs creation, entrepreneurial opportunities, among several others, describing mechanization as the solution to attract the attention of the Nigerian youths to agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.

She pointed out the need to ensure that the subsidized farm inputs are made available to youths in rural areas to further boost youth curiosity in the sector in order propel more investment in agricultural mechanization.

Cyriacus Nnaji with additional reports by Leadership/GEE

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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Agribusiness solutions make ‘farming cool’ for Kenyans



A British multinational, Balton CP, is offering advanced agricultural solutions, which seek to change the youth mindset towards agribusiness, while empowering them with the technology: knoMaking farming 'cool' for Kenyan youthledge, skills, support and financing, to engage in modern agribusiness, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The agribusiness inclined company has been around as a major driving force in the agricultural sectors of many countries throughout Africa for over 25 years. They can be credited with being the first to introduce drip irrigation technology in several African countries in the late 1970s, greatly boosting the sector.
The group's 'Farming is Cool' campaign was launched in Kenya in 2011 by its subsidiary Amiran Kenya and following several years of activity, became its pan-African 'Farming is Cool Africa' Initiative. Over the last few years, NaijaAgroNet gathered, the campaign has allowed Amiran Kenya and its partners including the government, donors, NGO communities and private sector to place the Amiran Farmers Kit in over 1,000 primary and secondary schools throughout Kenya and in more than 300 youth polytechnics in the country.

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that AFK is an award winning, modern agribusiness unit anchored on a holistic approach that offers the farmer the tools, training and support required to engage in successful, sustainable agribusiness.
This unit has allowed over three million Kenyan children and youth to be exposed and willingly take up modern agribusiness using the most advanced, cutting edge technologies and methods available in the market tody.
In Kenya  and indeed  most  African communities, NaijaAgroNet  learnt, youth view agriculture as an unbefitting occupation often practised by older people in retirement or by those in 'shags' (rural areas) who have to farm to survive. More so, many schools often use agriculture as a form of punishment for deviant behavior.
Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Jonathan commends youth response to agriculture under his administration




President Goodluck Jonathan has described as unprecedented youth response to agriculture under his administration, saying that such response to agricultural initiatives is one of the successes of his government, NaijaAgroNet  reports.

NaijaAgroNet learnt this much at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) swearing-in ceremony for the 2015 Batch 'A' ‎Stream I corps members, deployed to Lagos State, at the NYSC Orientation Camp , in Iyana-Ipaja.

Represented by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Jonathan stated that his administration has put in place many beneficial interventions, which have increased the skills, self-confidence and self-sufficiency available to the youth, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

"I'm particularly delighted with the unprecedented youth response to Agriculture," he said.
"Now, across the country, in cultivation, aquaculture, processing, packaging: all along the value chain, our youth are rediscovering their potential, making adequate incomes and producing more food, with modern, exciting techniques, and equipment."

Jonathan, NaijaAgroNet also said that his government has shown committed support for the NYSC scheme which has exposed millions of youths to the cultures and traditions of Nigeria's pluralistic society and hoped that the "next government will continue to support and encourage corps members.”

Cyriacus Nnaji/ ED,OPs

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Friday, April 10, 2015

GMB: Encourage youths on agriculture – Unegbu



President-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari has been called upon to set up modalities that would encourage effective youth participation in agriculture, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that this call was made by an economist, Mr. Okechukwu Unegbu, on Thursday during an interview session with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that there is much attention given to oil, as such, ignoring other sectors which would have increased the productive economy of the nation.

“This country has so much in terms of solid minerals and agriculture but because oil was bringing in cheap money, we decided to close our eyes to those areas. The government should fashion out a course whereby we will get away from depending sorely on oil.’’

NaijaAgroNet gathered that he further advised the incoming government to speed up actions that would cub corruption in the country. Unegbu noted that corruption was one of the major causes of most of the sufferings faced by Nigerians and should be the main focus of the new government.

Daniel Nsolibe/Ed, Ops.  
 

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