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Friday, February 17, 2017

Watch out for International Year of Camels

A call has been made to the United Nations to establishment of the International Year of Camels, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The President Bolivia, Evo Morales made this proposal during a meeting with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organistion (FAO), Graziano da Silva.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that the Bolivian President call came on the heels of a similar call to the UN in 2013 for an International Year of Quinoa.

The country, NaijaAgroNet gathered hopes this call will galvanise spotlight on the contribution these hardy animals can make to supporting farming and food security in other world regions, especially in developing countries.

The two men also discussed conducting a joint study to review the impacts of the International Year of Quinoa and facilitate more widespread production and consumption of the highly nutritious, grain-like crop sometimes called “Andean superfood.”

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE


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Drought, a recurring phenomenon

Drought and water scarcity have become recurring problems in Bolivia over the past decade, but the situation has been particularly alarming since 2015.

Due to its geography and terrain, the impacts of climate change in Bolivia are manifesting in the form of hotter and more frequent dry periods, rainy seasons that are shorter but more intense, and an increase in the occurrence of hailstorms and freezes. Degradation of natural resources exacerbates the impacts these climate-related changes are having.

According to FAO, to cope with the impacts of climate changes on agriculture and food security countries must make organizational and technological changes to water management that correspond to the needs of small farmers. Restoring local water cycles is particularly important area for action that is essential to ensuring that communities have access to adequate water resources.

The Green Climate fund is an international funding mechanism established at the 2010 UN Climate Conference that aims to support developing country efforts to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Countries can receive stand-alone grants for simpler projects like well or cistern construction, or loans for more complex projects like the large-scale irrigation systems, either directly from the fund or via accredited implementing agencies, such as FAO.

In the case of the Bolivia proposal, the funding would be challenged directly to that country’s national “Mi Riego” (My Irrigation) program.

The proposal is being developed by a working group comprised of FAO experts and officials from Bolivia’s Ministers for Development Planning and Environment and Water. The group was convened following President Morales request for FAO assistance made at the recently held summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

One of FAO’s key roles is to assist countries in their efforts to respond to climate change by providing technical assistance, information and data, and other tools to strengthen their adaptive capacities.

For many countries, acquiring the capacity to access and use international financing mechanism represents a critical first step towards greater resilience to climate change.

Courtesy: FAO


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Thursday, February 16, 2017

Togolese Gilbert Houngbo is new IFAD president

The former Prime Minister of Togo, Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, has been appointed as the sixth President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized United Nations agency and international financial institution that invests in eradicating rural poverty in developing countries around the world.   
“I have come from the rural world. I have first-hand knowledge of the harshness of this kind of life,”  said Houngbo, who was appointed by IFAD’s member states at the organization’s annual Governing Council meeting.
Houngbo takes up the helm at a time when changing government priorities and the more immediate needs of humanitarian crises – like natural disasters, conflict and refugees – threaten to divert funding away from long-term development.
With growing global demand for food, increased migration to cities and the impact of climate change, investments in agriculture and rural development will be essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of ending poverty and hunger. 
“We have to keep our ambition and at the same time be realistic and pragmatic,” he said. “We have to demonstrate that every dollar invested will have the highest value for money.”
Houngbo has more than 30 years of experience in political affairs, international development, diplomacy and financial management. Since 2013 he has served as Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organization, where he has been responsible for external programmes and partnerships. Prior to that, he was Assistant Secretary General, Africa Regional Director and Chief of Staff at the United Nations Development Programme. He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. His candidacy was unanimously endorsed by the governments of the African Union.
As someone who was born and raised in rural Togo, Houngbo believes that the inequality in today’s world should never be accepted, and that IFAD has a crucial role to play in bringing opportunities to the poor and excluded.
“The privilege of attaining high-quality education helped me develop a strong sense of responsibility towards improving the condition of those who have not had similar opportunities,”  he wrote in answer to questions during the nomination process.  “I believe that through a dynamic leadership of IFAD, I can contribute to visible change in the hardship-laden lives of the world’s rural poor.”
Houngbo was among eight candidates including three women vying for the organization’s top leadership position. He succeeds Kanayo F. Nwanze, who was President for two terms beginning in April 2009. Houngbo will take office on 1 April 2017.

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Pix: Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo - newly appointed IFAD president

Bolivia gets support to access climate funding

The South American country of Bolivia, has received support to access the United Nations (UN) Green Climate Fund, requesting $250 million for efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change on food security and rural livelihoods in the country reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered formed top agenda of a meeting Thursday, between the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) led by Director General José Graziano da Silva and President Evo Morales, which is projected to assist Bolivia in accessing financial support for improved water management programmes in those areas of the Andean nation that have been hardest hit by prolonged drought.

Both agreed to jointly submit a technical proposal to the UN’s Green Climate Fund to the tune of $250 million in support for efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change on food security and rural livelihoods in Bolivia.

“This effort represents a clear example of how countries can access the Green Fund and will serve as a model for other nations in similar situations looking to access resources,” said FAO’s Director-General.

Strengthening water security is fundamental to boosting the resilience of small farmers, he said, adding that it would be important to establish institutional mechanisms for overseeing and evaluating how the funding is used.


“People are extremely worried as a result of the drought and lack of rain, so working with FAO we’re examining how the Green Fund can help us address this problem. Guaranteeing water for drinking and irrigation for our indigenous family farmers is equivalent to liberating our communities from poverty,” said President Morales.

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Dangote partners Rice Farmers, Sokoto Government

A tripartite agreement led by the Dangote Rice Limited have been signed with rice farmers and Sokoto State government expected to boost rice production, even as Dangote group has decried huge forex on rice importation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The partnership, NaijaAgroNet gathered is expected to create some 16,000 jobs for outgrower rice farmers in Sokoto State, so as to ensure the success of the scheme to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice cultivation.

The agreement, NaijaAgroNet  also reported, was signed during the launch of the Dangote rice outgrower scheme in Goronyo, Goronyo Local government, Sokoto State, which was witnessed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. Farmers were presented with rice seeds, fertilizers, nets, agro-chemicals.

Chairman of Dangote Rice Limited, Aliko Dangote said he was moved to go into rice cultivation because of the genuine interest of the Federal government to revive agriculture as the mainstay of the economy, and reduce importation of foods that could be produced locally.

He decried that Nigeria consumes 6.5 Metric tonnes of rice which costs the nation over 2 billion dollars annually, and pointed out that it is heartening that the government now has policy direction that encourages private sector’s active participation in agriculture.

“Buoyed by the policy direction of the federal government, we at Dangote decided to key into this by establishing Dan gone Rice Limited to partner with states to redress the present situation where a huge sumo forex is spent on importation of rice.

“In the next three years we want to produce one million tons of quality rice and make it available and affordable to the people. We hope to do 150, 000 ha and when we are done, Nigeria will not have anything to do with importation of rice.

“Dangote Rice outgrowers scheme is committed to creating significant number of jobs, increasing the incomes of smallholders farmers and ensuring food security in the country by providing high quality seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals as well as technical assistance on best agricultural practice to farmers.

“This Scheme will help to diversify the economy, alleviate poverty and reduce the nation’s import bill. The scheme has been designed as a one stop solution for the rice value chain,” he stated.

The Dangote Rice Project Director, Robert Coleman, said the Sokoto operation was a demonstration phase to familiarize the farming community with the programme, train extension workers and lead farmers as well as test modern technologies.

He noted that they would have 25,000 ha cultivated by nearly 50,000 outgrowers in 2017 in addition to hundreds of jobs expected to be created by the end of that year.

In his remarks, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal expressed delight at the event, saying the coming of Dangote to invest in the state was as a result of his sustained effort towards inviting prospective investors to the state.

He said the state under the scheme, just as it had done with the federal government, would distribute nets, water pumping machines and fertiliser T subsidised prices to help the farmers have good yield.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Umar Tambuwal, disclosed that the scheme would cover 10 local governments in the stated and that the state government is committing several millions of naira to support the famers in the scheme.

According to him, “the farmers participating in the 5000 ha pilot scheme, the state government is giving out free nets to fight against queue a birds during production which is costing the state N48 million. The state will release and sell 5000 units of water pump worth N170 million at a subsidised rate of N10, 000 each.

“We will also distribute 5000 bags rice seed (Faro 44) worth N32.5 million while fertilizer will be sold 50 per cent subsidised rate to complement the outgrower farmers.”

Sultan Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar however, commended President Buhari for his diversifying efforts, urging Nigerians to pray for him.

He commended the Sokoto State government for the encouragement and support being given to the outgrowers scheme, saying it is a thing of joy that the state is also involved by way of giving the famers some of the inputs needed so that the scheme could succeed.

The National President of Rice Farmers Association, Alhaji Aminu Goronyo described the scheme as one of the potential means of making rice available and at low cost to the people because the farmers are encouraged to put all their best into it.


He said he has no doubt the scheme would success because it a private sector driven and that given the pedigree of the Alhaji Dangote in business, he was sure there the scheme would be sustainable and sooner than later other states will key into it.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Ambode dreams 3000mw 24-hr power generation for Lagos

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode said his administration is working at attaining 24-hour electricity power supply through generation of 3000megawatts in the next five years, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at Lagos House in Ikeja after receiving the report of the Embedded Power Technical Committee constituted by the State Government with representatives from the public and private sector, Governor Ambode noted Wednesday that the quest by the country to achieve energy security could no longer be left for the Federal Government to address alone.

He pointed out that while the Federal Government continues in its efforts to resolve the power crisis, the sustainable solution going forward would be the pulling of commitment and resources of all stakeholders in the power value chain.

He explained the rationale behind the embedded power initiative of the State Government, saying that the major bane of the power situation in the country has always been with transmission, adding that the initiative was designed to permanently resolve power crisis in the State and by extension in the country.

“The reason why we embarked on this initiative is that we believe strongly that if the power problem is solved in Lagos, it is technically solved in the whole of the country and so because Lagos has more or less tested a solution that works, we can scale this up and also address it on a national scale,” he said.

Ambode also noted that the problem of power in Nigeria rest with transmission and that is the truth.

“Yes, we have generating companies and we have distributing companies and they say power is in the hands of the private sector but we know technically that that is not totally true. We also know that transmission is hundred per cent owned by government but we have tested here in Lagos and we have been able to provide 48 kilowatts of power without transmitting it which means that we generate and then distribute.

Further, Governor Ambode said the target of the State Government is to generate up to 3,000MW of power through accelerated deployment of various embedded power plants in strategic locations in the State within three to five years.


“Out of the 3000MW, 350MW will be delivered by Q1 2018, additional 850MW by Q4 2018, and the balance of 1,800MW not later Q3 2022,” he said, while the State Government will support the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to be signed between the Distribution Companies and the embedded power providers, to enhance bankability of the projects.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Climate change: Water scarcity bane of small farmers

One critical front for action for the small holder farmers at this climate change period has been identified as water management, according to Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.

He revealed that millions of the world's small-scale farmers are already wrestling with water scarcity, which will likely intensify as a result of climate change.

The FAO boss, who spoke as one of the panelists at the World Government Summit in Dubai, said this was why at the last UN climate change conference FAO and partners launched a global framework on water scarcity in agriculture that aims to support developing countries in bringing stronger policies and programmes for the sustainable use of water in agriculture online.

Participating in the panel discussion "Climate in Action: Feeding the Future" along with Graziano da Silva were Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan, Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates, and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the World Government Summit (WGS) is a platform that brings together leaders and policy makers to showcase future trends in government services, leadership, innovation and economic policies.

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Pix; Graziano da Silva, the Director-General, FAO.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

70 countries lack meteorological services to check climate change

An estimated 70 countries across the globe are yet to establish a functional meteorological service in their domains, NaijaAgroNet can authoritatively report.

Disclosing this on Monday, while addressing delegates to the 2017 World Government Summit in Dubai, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mr. José Graziano da Silva lamented this development, saying this was the major reason his office has special partnership in this regard with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

This, he said, underlines the fact that some 70 countries do not have established meteorological services as an example.

FAO, therefore, he said, is working with the World Meteorological Organization to develop low-cost, farmer friendly services to address this need.

“To withstand the vagaries of a harsher, less predictable climate, small farmers will also need better access to other sorts of technologies and to markets, information and finance -- as well as better land tenure and improved agriculture infrastructure,” Graziano da Silva said.

He emphasized on the importance of prevention which is worth a pound of cure, arguing that adaptation to climate change makes economic sense.


“… The benefits of adaptation are much bigger than the costs," he declared, stressing that the importance of national efforts like the United Arab Emirates (UAE's) strategy on food diversification, security and climate change. 

Uj. N. Dom/GEE
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Pix: Dr Joseph Romanus Mukabana - Directotr Offices for Africa & Least Develped Countries WMO

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

FAO urges support for small farmers’ adaption to climate change

Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has urged more support for small farmers to enable them adapt to climate change, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Failure to act now, FOA said will affect food systems being more resilient to climate change, thus "seriously compromise" food production in many regions and could doom to failure international efforts to end hunger and extreme poverty by 2030.

Director-General, FAO, Mr. José Graziano da Silva gave this caution on Monday, at a roundtable on climate change during the World Government Summit in Dubai, saying that agriculture holds the key to solving two of the greatest problems now facing humanity: eradicating poverty and hunger, and contributing to maintaining the stable climatic conditions in which civilization can thrive.

He stressed in particular the need to support smallholder farmers in the developing world adapt to climate change.

"The vast majority of the extremely poor and hungry depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. They are the most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming and an unstable climate," he said.

Innovative approaches, he said, exist that could help them improve yields and build their resilience, he said, such as green manuring, greater use of nitrogen-fixing cover crops, improving sustainable soil management, agroforestry techniques, and integrating animal production into cropping systems.


"But farmers face major barriers, such as the lack of access to credit and markets, lack of knowledge and information, insecurity about land tenure, and high transaction costs of moving away from existing practices," the Director-General noted.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE 
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7.3m Yemenis suffer food insecurity, nutrition deterioration - UN

The Yemen’s food crisis has deteriorated, according to the United Nations (UN) agencies who are not calling for urgent assistance to avert reaching a catastrophic situation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The number of food insecure people in Yemen, NaijaAgroNet gathered, has risen by 3 million in seven months, with an estimated 17.1 million people now struggling to feed themselves, according to a joint assessment by three UN agencies.

Of the 17.1 million food insecure people, about 7.3 million are considered to be in need of emergency food assistance.

The preliminary results of the Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA) show that food security and nutrition conditions are deteriorating rapidly due to the ongoing conflict.

More than two-thirds of Yemen's population of 27.4 million people now lack access to food and consume an inadequate diet. 

The EFSNA is a joint survey conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in cooperation with the authorities in Yemen. It is the first national, household-level assessment conducted in the country since the escalation of the conflict in mid-March 2015.

Rates of acute malnutrition were found to have passed the "critical" threshold in four governorates, while agricultural production is falling across the country.

"The speed at which the situation is deteriorating and the huge jump in food insecure people is extremely worrying," said Salah Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Yemen. "Bearing in mind that agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the majority of the population, FAO is urgently calling for funds to scale up its agricultural livelihoods support to farmers, herders and fishing communities to improve their access to food in 2017 and prevent the dire food and livelihood security situation from deteriorating further."

"We are witnessing some of the highest numbers of malnutrition amongst children in Yemen in recent times. Children who are severely and acutely malnourished are 11 times more at risk of death as compared to their healthy peers, if not treated on time. Even if they survive, these children risk not fulfilling their developmental potentials, posing a serious threat to an entire generation in Yemen and keeping the country mired in the vicious cycle of poverty and under development," said Dr Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen.


"The current level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented, which is translating into severe hardship and negative humanitarian consequences for millions of Yemenis, particularly affecting vulnerable groups," said Stephen Anderson, WFP Country Director in Yemen. "Tragically, we see more and more families skipping meals or going to bed hungry, while children and mothers are slipping away with little to sustain themselves. WFP is urgently calling for support to provide food for the seven million people who are severely food insecure and may not survive this situation for much longer."

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