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Friday, March 30, 2012

‘Incentives, attractive environments lure youths into agriculture’


Dr. Namaga Ngongi, the president of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) said enough incentives, profitable economic opportunities and attractive environments will drive youths to agriculture, reports Vanguard.

He said this while presenting a paper on ‘The Role of Young People in Africa's Agriculture Revolution’ at an international conference on “Young People, Farming & Food: the future of the Agrifood sector in Africa,” held in Accra, Ghana.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that he affirmed the conference to be of importance as well as timely that agriculture is the backbone of Sub-Saharan Africa's rural economies. 
He said lack of support to improve productivity and bring innovation into the sector greatly affected the drift of youths away from agricultural practices. Readmore
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Urban growth inevitable, but urban poverty is not - IIED Director


The director of the International Institute for Environmental and Development (IIED), Camilla Toulmin has called for adequate policy to tackle all form of gender inequality and seize the urban potential to improve lives as growth in the urban area is inevitable while poverty is not.

A recent research conducted by IIED with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) revealed that urbanization provides more job opportunities for the women but this doesn’t always give a fair distribution of wealth and other advantages that come with it.

The research result, NaijaAgroNet gathered shows that residents of low-income and informal urban settlements suffer hugely from inadequate living conditions with limited access to services that disproportionate burden on women's unpaid time and results in far-reaching consequences for the well-being.

Speaking about the report, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director said that the research gave room for a new and emerging area of work which is of critical importance in order to reduce poverty and work towards gender equality.

“Responding effectively to rapid urbanization—which is occurring in many countries—requires empowering women and young people and improving their access to education, health and employment,” he said.

Speaking on the same note, a researcher from IIED, Cecilia Tacoli affirmed that gender inequalities in free time, working and living conditions, as well as exposure to violence, are some of the hidden aspects of poverty that affect women more disproportionately.

“When people talk of poverty they focus on income, but poverty has other aspects that affect men and women, old and young people in different ways,” Cecilia noted.

Further, NaijaAgroNet gathered from the report of the research that urbanization leads to lower fertility rates, but women living in poor areas may have as many children as rural women because their access to reproductive health services can be just as bad, if not worse.

The research also notes the potential for urbanization to deliver sustainable development and better quality of life for all individuals, noting that society as a whole should recognize the important role of unpaid female care work in ensuring that children, older people and those who are sick or disabled are looked after, especially where communities lack adequate services and infrastructure.
'Yinka Awosanya
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Investment in agriculture, stop insecurity - Agric Minister


The Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Dr. Akunwunmi Adesina, has called for more investment in the agricultural sector, saying it has the capacity to stop insecurity in the country, reports ThisDay.
He said this at a one-day meeting of commissioners of Agriculture and Natural Resources of all the states and the Federal Capital Territory held in Abuja.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that the minister affirmed a sum of $1.6 trillion, about N252.28 trillion have been spent on importing rice, wheat, sugar and fish.
Adesina highlighted North-East and North-West as regions with less food production and that adequate provision of food will reduce criminal acts in those regions.
“We have been talking of national security, and without food security, there cannot be national security, because national security starts with food security,” he pointed. Read more
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Monday, March 26, 2012

Call for Entry - DigitalSENSE Africa Media Students’ Essay Contest 2012 on IG4D


DigitalSENSE Africa Media has announced its annual Essay Competition on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D). Topic: "Internet Governance and Mobile Economy in Nigeria."
The annual DigitalSENSE Africa essay competition is open to students between the ages of 18 to 30 years. Interested candidates are to write an essay not more than 600 words on the above topic.
Entries are to be submitted on or before April 27th, 2012 to                                 info@digitalsenseafrica.com.ng and copy remnekkv@gmail.com.
Winning selected essay will be published in our internationally-award winning ITRealms Online with profiling of the winner. Also, the winner will be sponsored to attend the forthcoming West African Internet Governance Forum scheduled for July 2-4, 2012 in Sierra Leone.

What our Panel of Judges are looking for:
1.    An essay that examines various advantages and disadvantages of topic of the year.
2.    The role of internet governance to the success or otherwise.
3.    Written in simple and clear language
4.    A Contestant must be a Nigerian student
5.    Proper identification of contestants: scanned copy of student ID
6.    Essay not in excess of 600 words on the above topic.
7.    One entry per contestant
8.    Originality, Clarity, Grammar and Presentation.
For further inquiries:
Executive Director, Operations
234-809900183
info@digitalsenseafrica.com.ng
CC: remnekkv@gmail.com.
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