Four Nigerian fishermen get justice @Netherlands - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

After some 13 years legal battle, four Nigerian fishermen got justice at the Netherlands, in the case instituted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In 2008, NaijaAgroNet recalls that four Nigerian farmers from Ikot Ada Udo, Oruma and Goi in the Niger Delta supported by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria and sister organization, Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands, sued Shell because of oil pollution in the three Nigerian villages.

COVID-19: Makinde inaugurates committee on economic stimulus - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Thursday, inaugurated the state Steering Committee on COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme (CARES), reports NaijaAgroNet.

CARES, is the state initiative targeted at mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state.

Lagos CS-SUNN holds 2021 first quarterly meeting, capacity building tops agenda – NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Lagos State chapter of the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has held its first quarterly meeting for the year 2021, with capacity building of members topping agenda, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting which held at Hello Lagos Hall at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja on Tuesday saw a good number of its membership in attendance.

500 Anambra women access family planning yearly in Fegge - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

Estimated 500 women of reproductive age, are confirmed to have accessed family planning annually at St. Monica Healthcare Centre, Fegge, Onitsha South Local Government Area (LGA), reports NaijaAgroNet.

“No fewer than 40 women usually respond to the family planning programmes at the healthcare facility on a monthly basis.

Climate change: Help small-scale farmers adapt or face hunger warns IFAD President - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, has warned countries of the world to help rural small-scale farmers adapt to climate change in order to avert hunger and migration, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This follows a recent United Nations’ announcement that 2020 was one of the warmest years on record, with catastrophic temperature rises expected this century.

“It is unacceptable that small-scale farmers who grow much of the world’s food are left at the mercy of unpredictable weather patterns, with such low investment to help them to adapt,” said Houngbo.

COVID-19: Innovation key to feeding the world says FAO DG - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General QU Dongyu has said that innovation is the key to feeding the world, especially in time of pandemic and climate change, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Addressing the Agriculture Ministers' Conference in Berlin Dongyu underscored the importance, in the wake of COVID-19, of continued global cooperation to find new ways to strengthen the sustainability of agri-food systems, and outlined FAO and its partners' role in this.

FAO joins forces to eliminate child labour - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today pledged to intensify efforts towards addressing child labour in agriculture through a dedicated work programme within FAO's Strategic Framework.

‘'This year, we will step-up our efforts to strengthen the capacities of a wide range of agricultural actors to include child labour prevention and youth employment in their work,'' the Director-General stressed during the virtual event launch of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021 organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

"Policies, programmes, and investments related to agri-food systems need to address the root causes of child labour, including household poverty," he added, as the global COVID-19 pandemic also places more pressure on poor and vulnerable families. The Director-General highlighted that "we need a breakthrough in agriculture where child labour is frequently found".

This year, FAO will organize a series of regional consultations, and a global event on Child Labour in Agriculture will be held in November to increase awareness and promote good practices, the Director-General said, while noting the outcomes from that event would make a significant contribution to the Fifth Global Conference on Child Labour in 2022.

Qu also emphasized that FAO would continue to play a central role in the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture, which was established by FAO and the ILO with other organizations in 2007.

The Director-General of the ILO, Guy Ryder, opened today's event noting there were 100 million fewer children in labour now than at the turn of the century while calling for greater commitments to wipe out child labour which he said often occurred in situations of conflict and fragility.

UNICEF's Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, indicated child labour had been exacerbated by rising poverty, weak protection laws and cultural practices in some countries even before the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the plight of vulnerable families.

Representatives of governments, worker and employer organizations, international organizations and civil society outlined how they intended to eradicate child labour by 2025.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi, and Amar Lal, a human rights lawyer and child labour survivor, also addressed the launch event.

2021: Year of healthcare worker - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

Frontline health workers, who are to be honoured during the World Health Organization’s international Year of the Healthcare Worker in 2021, must be better supported in their vital role to beat back the global COVID-19 pandemic on community level, according to global health technology experts, BroadReach Group.

Frontline health workers, and in particular Community Health Workers (CHWs) help educate communities, collect grassroots data and provide vital firstline health interventions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Herders, farmers clash: South-West, northern govs, Miyetti Allah leaders meet in Akure - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Some governors from the South West and Northern parts of Nigeria, have held a meeting with the national leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breaders Association of Nigeria and Head of Security Agency held at International Culture and Event Centre, Akure, over the recent herders and farmers clash in some parts of South West, especially Oyo and Ondo States respectively, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The governors included that of of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and his counterparts in Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Ondo State Governor, Romiti Akeredolu and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi.

Speaking at the meeting, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said that his government would not try to solve the insecurity challenges in his state by backing those bent on taking laws into their hands or carrying out jungle justice against perceived wrongdoers.

He stated that instead of backing a venture that is capable of throwing the country into ethnic crisis, the end of which cannot be foreseen, his administration would rather continue to support the security agencies in the state to do their works effectively.

He added that his administration would promote good neighbourliness by encouraging the residents of the state to live together in peace and to face their common enemies, who are criminals of all shades and tribes.

The governor also stated that the administration will continue to do its best to provide opportunities for the people, as that is another way to reduce the tension in the land, saying: “One of the things we found out is that opportunities are very limited at the top. We will continue to do our best to strive to expand our economy and provide opportunities for a whole lot of our people. And we believe when we do that, the tension will definitely go down.”

The governor stated these in Akure, while addressing a meeting of South-West governors, national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN) and heads of security agencies on the insecurity challenges in the South-West geopolitical zone, held at the International Culture and Event Centre, Akure.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as saying that his government had foreclosed the option of backing anyone taking up arms against other ethnic nationalities resident in the state in the name of seeking justice as, according to him, such a step would have dire consequences for the society.

He stated that if government encourages residents to mete out justice through self-help to any ethnic nationality, due to the excesses of some of its people, it would amount to solving criminality with criminality.

The meeting had in attendance Governors Rotimi Akeredolu, Kayode Fayemi and Gboyega Oyetola of Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states, while Governors Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa), and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and the national leadership of MACBAN were also present.

According to Makinde, who maintained that a lot of people commenting on the security situation in Ibarapa had been displaying ignorance, his government would solve the insecurity challenge its own way by continuing to encourage residents of the state to work and live together and to face their common enemies, who are criminals, kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits from all tribes.

He added that all hands must be on deck to lawfully fight crimes, saying: “We will continue to promote good neighborliness among our people and we will ensure that all of us go after the criminals together.

“We will continue to support our security agencies because they are also trying to maintain law and order in an atmosphere of pandemic and economic challenges. We will continue to provide support for the security agencies for them to do their work.”

The governor equally warned Nigerians to deal with the menace of fake news and sieve information on social media properly, noting that the rate at which fake news is being circulated portends great danger to the society.

Makinde warned against some elements seeking political powers at all costs, who he said, have resorted to misinforming the public and causing division among them, calling on such persons to desist from the path, as it is capable of causing tension in the country.

He said: “I can tell you for a fact that when the Kisi area of Oyo State, which shares international border with Republic of Benin was invaded, all hands were on deck. MACBAN, Operation Burst, local hunters and the communities all worked together to clear the bush.

“During my electioneering, a major decision I was going to take was to scrap all the LCDAs in Oyo State and stick with only the LGAs that are known to the constitution of Nigeria. During the campaign, all the people I met at a particular LCDA (I think it is Oriire South) were Fulanis. And they told me I should not scrap the LCDA because it was the only LCDA dominated by the Fulani people.

“After I got elected, I decided I would not scrap the LCDAs again. I didn’t get such knowledge by sitting in the armchair in my house but by going out into the field and interacting with the people.

“So, when people talk, you wonder if they have done any kind of comparison with what has happened elsewhere in the world. What are we going to do moving forward in Oyo State? Well, the first thing I will say is to tell you the things that we will not do; we will not use criminality to solve another criminality, because of the unintended consequences of such an action; nobody can predict where it will end.

“Once you are drawn out to support criminality, you don’t know where it is going to end. So, what we are going to do is to continue to encourage our people to work together; to face our common enemies – the criminals, the kidnappers, the armed robbers and the bandits. Those are our common enemies.”

He equally charged his colleague governors and others in positions of leadership not to be tired or to relent, saying: “I want to end by saying that our leaders should not be tired. They will abuse us but we should continue to strive to provide the leadership that this country requires at this point in time.”

While speaking earlier, the MACBAN Secretary, Alhaji Baba Othman Ngelzarma, who noted that the Miyetti Allah was meeting the South-West governors on the escalating crisis between herders and farmers, said the body will continue to encourage herders in the Southern part of the country to live in peace and eschew criminality.

At the end of the meeting, it was resolved, among other things, that night grazing and grazing by underage children would stop henceforth.


Pic: From left, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola; Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar; Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Ondo State Governor, Romiti Akeredolu and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi during a meeting of South West Governors with the National Leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breaders Association of Nigeria and Head of Security Agency held at International Culture and Event Centre, Akure. PHOTO: Oyo State Government.

Lunch box not under Ghana School feeding programme - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Lunch box, a school feed initiative of 

Food for All Africa has been affirmed to be a private-sector driven and is not under the Ghana School feeding programe, reports NaijaAgroNet.

School feeding programmes have been a key response to the recent food and economic crises and function to some degree in nearly every country in the world. School feeding is a multi-sectoral intervention with effects across education, health and nutrition, and with the potential for benefits across a life course.

Fayemi commissions multi-million naira integrated snail farm - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Ekiti State has commission a multi-million naira integrated snail farm, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Revealing this, the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi also said his administration plans to ease ways of doing business policy and other vital supports for investments attracted over a million dollar agribusiness investment into the State in the last two years, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Dr Fayemi stated this on Tuesday, during the commissioning of a multi-million naira integrated snail farm in Okemesi-Ekiti. The Egbeja Snail Farm is a private initiative of Farmkonnect Agribusiness Nigeria Limited.



The Governor said many investors prefer to invest in the state because of the ease of doing business policy of the administration and sundry support the government offers prospective investors, including land and tax holidays.

"You will recall that the State Government efforts on agriculture and agribusiness over the last two years had already attracted almost a hundred million dollars investment in the agricultural sector to Ekiti State via the Ikun Dairy Farm by Promasidor Nigeria; FMS Agro, JK Rice, Stallion Rice, Dangote rice, Promise Points and many more that are located in our special agricultural processing zone where all the facilities are being provided such as good roads, irrigation, schools etc.

"Our ease of doing business personnel would continue to work with all investors while intending investors will enjoy necessary support including ease of doing business registration, land allocation, issuance of C of O and tax holidays for certain category of business,” he said.

Commissioning the multi million naira Egbeja Farm, Governor Fayemi promised to continue to provide enabling environment and strengthen the ease of doing business policy to attract more investors into the State.

The Governor said the new snail farm, when completed, would produce a minimum of 2,600 metric tons of snail per annum and provide opportunity for the extraction of slime for use by beauty care and pharmaceutical companies across the world.

He said the project would not only place Ekiti in the world market for the exportation of snails and slime but would also complement the vision of his administration in providing job opportunities for the teeming youths as the project has the capacity to engage over a 2,000 thousand personnel across various sectors of the initiative.

Dr. Fayemi who undertook a guided tour of facilities on the farm, explained that the Egbeja snail village project was a demonstration and commitment of his administration’s quest for a complete agribusiness value chain ”from farm to fork where there will be value addition that would go beyond primary production to include processing, marketing and delivery to our various dining table.”

“Only last week, we flagged off the first phase of a 1000 kilometre rural access and Agricultural Marketing Project, our RAAMP initiative, which is a state wide rural road project. This is an addition to the ongoing road projects that cut across the three senatorial districts of Ekiti State.

"Our rural road project is strategically structured to link our farmstead and hinterland to the major road in order to enhance movement of farm produce to the market and by the time we complete all the ongoing road project particularly the ring road and the cargo airport, agribusiness in Ekiti State will experience unprecedented growth.

"We are busy laying the foundation for the projected economic growth and urged other investors to key into our innovative agenda."

Earlier, the initiator of the project and founder of Farmkonnect Agribusiness, Azeez Oluwole said the project was proposed to occupy a 100,000 square meter of land to make it the largest place of snail farms in Africa and the second in the world.

He said the construction of the structures of the farm which is massive would continue for the next two years and is going to be technologically driven.

According to him, the setting up of the snail project in Ekiti was informed by the friendly investment environment made possible by the ease of doing business policy of the Fayemi led administration.

Pix: L-R: Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti, HRM Oba Adebayo Adewole; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Owa Ooye of Okemesi, HRM Oba Gbadebo Adedeji; Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Funminiyi Afuye; Founder, Farm Konnect Nigeria Limited; Lt Comdr Azeez Oluwole (rtd); during the official commissioning of  Agbeja Integrated Snail Farm in Okemesi Ekiti…on Tuesday

Genetic diversity: 3 funding mechanism to explore - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The Project Africa GRADIENT comprises three funding mechanisms to support, including fellowships, investigator-sponsored research and seed-fund, reports NaijaAgroNet.

For the fellowships: A limited number of fellowships in academic institutions with a reputation for global excellence to collect and analyse data on determinants of drug response.

COVID-19 vaccines: 270m doses for Africa - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The African Union has secured a provisional 270 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Africa through its COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), reports NaijaAgroNet.

AMSP made this acquisition on behalf of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and has commenced the COVID-19 vaccines pre-order programme for all African Union Member States. Afreximbank will facilitate payments by providing advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to US$2 billion to the manufacturers on behalf of the Member States.

GRADIENT attracts combined USD3.6m funding commitment - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The Project Africa Genomic Research Approach for Diversity and Optimising Therapeutics (GRADIENT) has attracted a combined funding commitment worth USD3.6 million, reports NaijaAgroNet. Just as it calls on local researchers to submit proposals exploring the link between genetic diversity and response to malaria and tuberculosis drugs in African patients.

Elumelu acquires 45% stake in OML 17 from Shell et al - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

The African strategic investor led by Tony Elumelu's Heirs Holdings has acquired the the 45 per cent interest in Nigerian oil licence OML 17 and related assets from Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited and ENI, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The latest acquisition, NaijaAgroNet gathered was facilitated through TNOG Oil and Gas Limited, an affilaite of Heirs Holdings and Transcorp.

NaijaAgroNet in addition gathered that TNOG Oil and Gas Limited would have sole operatorship of the asset.

Pathfinder petitions Biden-Harris on 3-point global health agenda - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

Pathfinder International has petitioned the incoming administration of Joe Biden and his vice president, Senator Kamala Harris to take urgent action for global health sake, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The petition entitled "Tell the Biden-Harris Administration: Take Urgent Action For Global Health" Pathfinder is demanding three actions be taken as first executive order.

FFAR grant develops climate-resilient wheat - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

Durum wheat drought tolerance trials in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, 2017. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Wheat constitutes 20 per cent of all calories and protein consumed, making it a cornerstone of the human diet, according to the United Nations. However, hotter and drier weather, driven by a changing climate, threatens the global wheat supply. 

To address this threat, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded a $5 million grant to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to develop climate-resilient wheat.

IFAD to eradicate hunger with credit rating - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The prospect of eradicating hunger and poverty received a boost today as the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) obtained its second strong public credit rating, facilitating its access to private funds to invest in increasing rural prosperity and development in the world’s poorest countries. 

The AA+ rating was announced today by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings. This complements the AA+ Fitch rating that IFAD received on 2 October, when IFAD became the first fund in the United Nations system to receive a public credit rating.

Cervical cancer: How to eliminate the silent killer - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

The whole world is currently grappling with the second surge of COVID-19 infection. This pandemic destabilized year 2020, affecting over 85 million people and causing nearly 2 million deaths with a global mortality rate of about 2%. For this reason, every nation is making effort to gain access to the recently developed vaccines against the dreaded virus.  

Incidentally, Nigeria is also experiencing a second surge of Cervical Cancer, a disease that has a much higher mortality rate than COVID-19 and which is also caused by another deadly virus, known as the Human papillomavirus (HPV). Most Nigerians are oblivious of HPV and cervical cancer, a silent killer which disproportionately devastates women in the developing world, but is a disappearing disease in the developed world, where appropriate steps have been taken. 

Climate change: Hope rises for millions of Sahel farmers - NaijaAgroNet ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

Millions of poor farmers living in the world’s most climate-impacted parts of the Sahel have cause for hope because of their governments’ support for accelerating Africa’s Great Green Wall (GGW), reports NaijaAgroNet.

GGW area, NaijaAgroNet gathered, covers 11 countries from Senegal and Mali in the West to Ethiopia and Djibouti in the East.

Kuzi, helping African farmers fight locusts - NaijaAgroNet ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

A free tool that will help farmers and pastoralists across Africa to predict and control locust behaviour has been launched. Kuzi—the Swahili name for the wattled starling, a bird renowned for eating locusts—is an AI-powered tool that generates a real-time heatmap of locusts across Africa, shows all potential migration routes, and gives a real-time locust breeding index.

Using satellite data, soil sensor data, ground meteorological observation, and machine learning, Kuzi can predict the breeding, occurrence and migration routes of desert locusts across the horn of African and Eastern African countries, and uses deep learning to identify the formation of locust swarms. Kuzi then sends farmers and pastoralists free SMS alerts 2-3 months in advance of when locusts are highly likely to attack farms and livestock in their areas.

Socio-economic impacts of fisheries nets $9.4bn - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

The latest report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has revealed the considerable extent to which Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries contribute to regional economies by generating direct revenues, driving wider spending, and providing crucial jobs.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries (SoMFi 2020), recently released showed an overall annual economic value of fisheries in the region is estimated at $9.4 billion.

Exploitation: Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries turn a corner - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet:

After decades of increasing human pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Sea marine ecosystems and fisheries resources, the latest data suggest that a corner is finally being turned on over-exploitation of the region's vital fish stocks, reports NaijaAgroNet.

New report on the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries (SoMFi 2020), released recently showed that while 75 per cent of fish stocks remain subject to overfishing, this percentage fell by more than 10 percent between 2014 and 2018.

Paul Gbededo retires from Flour Mills, Olusanya takes over as designate GMD - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

The Group Managing Director of the Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN), has taken a bow from the company, effective December 31, 2020, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Company Secretary/Director of Legal Services, Joseph A.O Umolu, FMN also appointed its Group Chief Operating Officer, Boye Olusanya as it’s designate Group Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer.

Gbededo

FMN is Nigeria’s leading integrated food and agro-allied group, owners of the iconic brand – ‘Golden Penny’.

Natural Gas Monetization binds Africa oil and gas industries - NaijaAgroNet: ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

For many years, and as it was pursuing ambitions to become a global LNG exporter, Mozambique has struggled to generate enough energy for its domestic market. We are now about to see an energy revolution thanks to great gas discoveries made by international investors over the past decade. While international technological innovation and skillful know-how will be driving such projects, we must all push for a transfer of knowledge throughout the development of Mozambique’s LNG projects.

The need for more collaboration and shared experience among African energy experts is going to be critical for Mozambique as it pushes towards monetizing massive gas discoveries. Similarly, recognizing that the state and the private sector need to play a role in the development of critical energy infrastructure to pave the way for domestic gas utilization will be key to Mozambique’s development and also solving energy poverty issues.