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The climate crisis is fueling one of the worst droughts on record across the Horn of Africa, with up to 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger, reports NaijaAgroNet.According to ActionAid’s emergency teams, with millions of people still recovering from the devastating drought that hit the region in 2017, a large-scale response is urgently needed to avert a catastrophic food and malnutrition crisis.
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Showing posts with label Drought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drought. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Monday, December 3, 2018
Farmers grappling with drought, urgently need seed - NaijaAgroNet
A new drought response plan will help estimated 1.4 million of the most vulnerable drought-affected people in Afghanistan during the coming winter season and into April next year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced today on the sidelines of the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Around 10.6 million people, or close to half of the country’s rural population, are severely food insecure. This level of hunger has many causes, including years of civil unrest, but it has been made worse by a damaging drought triggered by low snowfall last winter followed by rainfall of up to 70 per cent less than normal in some places. Many families have resorted to desperate coping measures including skipping meals, selling off their livestock or moving to makeshift displacement camps.
FAO is working with partner organizations to provide vulnerable farmers in 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces – particularly households headed by women or people with disabilities – with urgently-needed wheat seeds and fertilizers in time for the winter planting season, when much-needed rains are forecast to finally arrive.
Livestock protection measures, including concentrated livestock feed, fodder crop seed, and animal health services are also being provided. Livestock are a key source of food and livelihoods for the majority of rural Afghans; keeping livestock healthy through the harsh winter is therefore essential for rural food security, preserves breeding stocks and sustains rural livelihoods for the coming years.
FAO’s drought response plan is also intended to help people stay at their places of origin and reduce drought-induced displacements.
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Around 10.6 million people, or close to half of the country’s rural population, are severely food insecure. This level of hunger has many causes, including years of civil unrest, but it has been made worse by a damaging drought triggered by low snowfall last winter followed by rainfall of up to 70 per cent less than normal in some places. Many families have resorted to desperate coping measures including skipping meals, selling off their livestock or moving to makeshift displacement camps.
FAO is working with partner organizations to provide vulnerable farmers in 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces – particularly households headed by women or people with disabilities – with urgently-needed wheat seeds and fertilizers in time for the winter planting season, when much-needed rains are forecast to finally arrive.
Livestock protection measures, including concentrated livestock feed, fodder crop seed, and animal health services are also being provided. Livestock are a key source of food and livelihoods for the majority of rural Afghans; keeping livestock healthy through the harsh winter is therefore essential for rural food security, preserves breeding stocks and sustains rural livelihoods for the coming years.
FAO’s drought response plan is also intended to help people stay at their places of origin and reduce drought-induced displacements.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Agro-experts outline how to survive drought _ NaijaAgroNet
Although
preventing or mitigating drought impacts could be cheaper than providing
drought relief, this does not necessarily translate into action through
planning, budget allocations and changes in the institutions' behavior, says
the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.
In
the latest United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report available to NaijaAgroNet,
experts at FAO outlined how to survive drought.
As
said by them, providing emergency food assistance, access to water, fodder, and
creating jobs are the most common approaches adopted by most governments when
supporting drought-stricken populations.
They
noted that while these are essential to saving lives and alleviate hunger, these
also have several limitations as the above approaches do not help vulnerable
populations become more resilient to future shocks.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that many
countries do not have a structure dedicated to drought and drought action plans,
stressing that coordination at the highest levels of governments when planning
for droughts also need reinforcing.
“Current
agricultural policies are rendering land more degraded and impoverished, and
need to be re-examined to mitigate the impacts of drought,” they posited.
NaijaAgroNet noted that the report had
argued that developing and implementing national drought management policies should
be consistent with the country's development objectives as well as establishing
early warning systems are essential.
It
recommends disseminating technologies to combat drought, and support policies
and incentives to use land and water resources rationally.
Growing
drought-tolerant, fast maturing and watershed crops, and encouraging advanced
methods of irrigation (including drip and spray irrigation) are some of the
measures that should be adopted at larger scale to combat climate change.
Setting
parcels of land apart to grow trees or small trees in agricultural fields and
pastures to ensure their growth is a practice that can generate multiple-use
trees to mitigate impacts of droughts.
Traditional livestock
herding practices including keeping stocking rates low and moving herds when
forage is low, capable of reducing risk of overgrazing and land degradation.
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Monday, June 18, 2018
Experts stress impacts of drought in Africa region - NaijaAgroNet
The experts at the Foodand Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have given some insights into the impacts of
drought for African continent and mostly the North East and North Africa,
reports NaijaAgroNet.
According to them, agriculture is the first and worst hit sector
when drought strikes, stressing that due to the impacts of drought, domestic
food production has declined in the past four decades and rural populations'
income dropped.
They noted that though oil supports a number of economies,
agriculture is still an important part of the region's Gross Domestic Products
(GDP) and essential for populations' food security.
“Droughts are costly and can severely compromise
the agricultural sectors,” they declared in a latest report made available to NaijaAgroNet, and endorsed by the FAO's Assistant Director-General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and
Water Department, Mr. Rene Castro.
Further, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the latest drought in Northern Africa, which
was in 2015-2016, affected all countries and caused a significant drop in
cereal production in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
“As recently as the 1980s, 70 per cent of
Mauritanians were nomads and subsistence farmers. In
the past three decades, recurrent droughts have forced many to move to cities where they suffer
due to high unemployment and a severe lack of social services,” they noted.
the past three decades, recurrent droughts have forced many to move to cities where they suffer
due to high unemployment and a severe lack of social services,” they noted.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
Pix: FAO's Assistant Director-General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department, Mr. Rene Castro
Friday, June 15, 2018
UN Report demands proactive shift in drought management - NaijaAgroNet
The
latest United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has called
for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near
East and North Africa region, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The
agency said in a new report issued today that a more pro-active
approach based on the principles of risk reduction is needed to build greater
resilience to droughts.
Even
though drought is a familiar phenomenon in the region, over the past four
decades, droughts have become more widespread, prolonged and frequent - likely
due to climate change.
The
region is not only highly prone to drought, but also one of the world's most
water-scarce areas, with desert making up three quarters of its territory.
The
FAO's Assistant Director-General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water
Department, Rene Castro, was quoted as saying that the Near East and North
Africa's technical, administrative, and financial capacities to deal with
drought are inadequate, rendering farmers and herders - the first and worst hit
when drought strikes - even more vulnerable.
Farmers
and herders, UN reported, face mounting challenges as water becomes scarcer,
land more degraded and eroded, and soils more fragile.
It
lamented that there is still too much focus on recovering from drought rather
than being less susceptible to it, with insufficient funding, preparedness, and
coordination remaining significant constraints, warns the report.
"We
need to perceive and manage droughts differently, and shift from emergency
response to more pro-active policy and long-term planning to reduce risks and
build greater resilience," Castro said, pointing out that "The
report assesses gaps in current drought management and provides a solid base to
help governments rethink policies and reformulate preparedness and response
plans by offering solutions that take into account each country's specific
context."
Launched
ahead of World Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought,
the report was developed by FAO and theWater for Food Daugherty Global Institute at
the University of Nebraska.
It
covers 20 countries in the region - Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Drought-stricken herders in Ethiopia need urgent support
Supporting herders to get back on their feet and preventing
further livestock losses and suffering are crucial in drought-hit Ethiopia
where hunger has been on the rise this year, warned today the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.
Drought has devastated herders’ livelihoods as it exhausted
pastures and water sources, leading to a significant number of animals dying or
falling ill, particularly in the southern and southeastern regions of the
country as other areas recover from previous seasons’ El Niño-induced drought.
Drought-hit pastoralists face reduced milk production,
rising malnutrition, and have limited income-earning capacity and severely
constrained access to food.
Some 8.5 million people – one in 12 people – are now suffering
from hunger; of these, 3.3 million people live in Somali Region.
The current food and nutrition crisis is significantly
aggravated by the severe blow to pastoral livelihoods. For livestock-dependent
families, the animals can literally mean the difference between life and death,
especially for children, pregnant and nursing women for whom milk is a crucial
source of nutrition.
With up to 2 million animals lost so far, FAO is focusing on
providing emergency livestock support to the most vulnerable pastoralist
communities through animal vaccination and treatment, supplementary feed and
water, rehabilitating water points, and supporting fodder and feed production.
“It is crucial to provide this support between now and
October – when rains are due – to begin the recovery process and prevent
further losses of animals. If we don’t act now, hunger and malnutrition will
only get worse among pastoral communities,” said Abdoul Karim Bah, FAO Deputy
Representative in Ethiopia.
By providing supplementary feed and water for livestock,
while at the same time supporting fodder
production, FAO seeks to protect core breeding animals and enable drought-hit
families to rebuild their livelihoods. Animal health campaigns will be reinforced
to protect animals, particularly before the rains set in, when they are at
their weakest and more susceptible to parasites or infectious diseases.
FAO-supported destocking and cash-for-work programmes will also provide a
crucial source of cash for families.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Extreme drought hits Sri Lanka
Extreme drought has reported hit Sri Lanka following heavy
rainfalls with large swaths of cropping areas, threatening the food security of
some 900,000 people, NaijaAgroNet
reports.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), while confirming this
to NaijaAgroNet, saying that the
joint Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission, showed that drought conditions
in 2016 and early 2017 led to widespread crop failures, in particular for rice
paddy - the country's staple food.
This NaijaAgroNet
reported has resulted in a Total paddy production in 2017 worth forecast at 2.7
million tonnes, almost 40 per cent less than the last year's output and 35
percent lower than the average of the previous five years.
Other crops, including various pulses, chillies and onion,
which rely mainly on rainwater, were also heavily damaged by the dry weather.
The situation was exacerbated by subsequent heavy rainfalls
in May. Floods and landslides in the south-western parts of the country caused
deaths, large population displacements and damage to infrastructure. The rains
did not ease the water supply constraints in the drought-impacted north-central
and eastern parts of the country.
Now, nearly 225,000 households (or about 900,000 people)
face food insecurity. The most vulnerable groups are struggling to earn an
income after losing their own crops and have fewer employment opportunities. In
ten districts, a previous joint assessment showed that about one third of the
drought-affected population had its regular income reduced by more than half,
compared to the income generated from the 2015-2016 Maha season.
The situation may further deteriorate if the next cropping
season fails. Due to a critical shortage of seeds and a lack of water for
irrigation, the second 2017 paddy harvest - known as Yala, due to be harvested
in August and September - is forecast at 1.2 million tonnes, 24 percent below
last year's level.
Friday, February 17, 2017
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
Friday, December 30, 2016
Drought: Somalia, Kenya benefits from FAO's Early Warning fund
The two
countries of Somalia and Kenya are among the first countries to benefit from the
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO's) new Early Warning Early Action Fund
(EWEA), reports NaijaAgroNet.
The fund, NaijaAgroNet gathered, ensures quick
activation of emergency plans when there is a high likelihood of a disaster
that would affect agriculture and people's food and nutrition security.
Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that the fund
will be part of a larger Early Warning Early Action System that tracks climate
data and earth imaging to determine what areas are at risk of an imminent shock
and will benefit from early intervention.
Although at the
time of filing this report, FAO has not disclosed how much the benefits to the
two countries are worth.
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Monday, February 15, 2016
Saving Africa from El Nino drought
The effects of El Nino cannot be over-emphasised. REMMY NWEKE writes that Africa must be proactive in managing the situation.
Introduction:
A new concern may be worrying
experts in the agriculture industry in the name of El Nino drought, especially
in Ethiopia, otherwise known as horn of Africa. For many observers in the
development world, this is coming at a time the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) have been invigorated.
What is El Nino
El Nino is
an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the
equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the
appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and
Ecuador, typically in late December.
But
investigations revealed that el Nino has since gone beyond the northern Peru
and Ecuador to other part of the world including the United States as Southern
California was reported recently to have a high-pressure mass in order to keep
brunt of El Nino away.
During an El
Nino, the physical relationships between wind, ocean currents, temperature, and
biosphere break down into destructive patterns, says Dr. John Kermond, the Communications
Director for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The United States-based National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) through its earth observatory department sees El Nino as
a climate change that occurs every three
to seven years during the months of December and January, culminating in fish
in the coastal waters off of these countries virtually vanishing and causing
the fishing business to come to a standstill.
South American fishermen, according to David Herring, one of
the earth observatory experts, have given this phenomenon the name El Niño,
which is Spanish for "the Boy Child," because it comes about the time
of the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child. He explained that during
an El Niño, the physical relationships between wind, ocean currents, oceanic
and atmospheric temperature, and biosphere break down into destructive patterns
that are second only to the march of the seasons in their impacts to weather
conditions around the world.
Cushioning
El Nino in Africa:
It was this concern that got the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) worried by the amount of drought witnessed at
the end of 2015 and cross over to 2016; voted the sum of $50m for emergency in
the drought-ridden Ethiopia, although this drought is not limited in Ethiopia
alone, just as the droughts were attributed to the strongest El Niño weather
episode in the last several decades, which has caused repeated crop failure,
decimated livestock herds and driven some 10.2 million people across Ethiopia into
food insecurity.
FAO also disclosed in its emergency response plan to urgently
protect livestock and rebuild crop production in the Horn of Africa nation.
According to the FAO Representative for Ethiopia, Mr. Amadou Allahoury, the
outlook for 2016 is very grim, stressing that after two consecutive seasons of
failed crops, the success of the main cropping season that starts now will be
critical to preventing conditions from worsening.
The continued drought throughout the beginning of 2016, he
said means pasture will become even more scarce which will negatively impact
livestock keepers that rely on those grazing lands and water points for their
food security. Asserting that overall, food will become harder to access if the
drought continues and prices rise, food stocks deplete and livestock become
weaker, less productive, and perish.
The El Niño phenomenon is associated with the abnormal
warming of sea surface temperature in parts of the Pacific Ocean that has
severe effects on global weather and climate patterns - leading to reduced
rainfall and drought in some regions and heavy rains and flooding in
others. Under the current El Niño, crop production in Ethiopia has dropped
by 50 to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the east. The
drought resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of livestock.
El
Nino in Africa:
Of course, the African continent is not immune to El Niño as
it has lowered crop prospects in southern Africa countries and many countries
in the region are taking measures. South Africa has already declared drought
status for five provinces, its main cereal producing regions, while Lesotho has
issued a drought mitigation plan and Swaziland has implemented water
restrictions as reservoir levels have become low.
FAO, thus is implementing response plans in 20 high-priority
countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the South
Pacific, including Ethiopia. Another 21 countries are being monitored
closely.
What
the emergency plan portends:
NaijaAgroNet gathered that FAO in its emergency response
plan made budget for an estimated to 360,000 households, that is some 1.8
million people, as some households to receive assistance under more than one
activity.In addition, FAO says there is plan to reduce the food gap and enhance
nutrition through support to agricultural production through emergency seed
distribution to affected areas for the meher season, quality drought resilient
seed production at community level, reduce risk of malnutrition through
backyard vegetable production initiatives.
FAO equally plans to offer rapid response for irrigated food
production at household level, safeguard livestock-based livelihoods, provision
of cash to destock already weak animal through slaughter, protection of core
breeding animals through survival feed provision, voucher-based supplementary
feed support, increase fodder production at community level, support to animal
health interventions and vector control, restore livelihoods through restocking
with small ruminants, enhance resilience of households’ affected by El Niño.
Whereas they intend to work towards adoption of the approach
for better mitigation of future crises, cash-for-work initiatives to improve
critical infrastructure for water access, coordination for efficient and
effective response, and coordination of overall response.
According to the FAO latest assessments, access to pasture and water will
continue to deteriorate until the start of the next rainy season in March. As a
result, experts anticipate that livestock will become leaner, sicker and
produce less milk and many more will die.
Crop reserves are severely depleted, leaving farmers
vulnerable without means of production for the upcoming planting season that
starts in January -- in many cases, farmers lost valuable seeds through
recurrent crop failures, planting time and time again in the hopes of rains that
never came.
As a result, malnutrition rates have soared and the number
of admissions for severe acute malnutrition among children is now the highest
ever reported.
Response plan
The new FAO response plan aims to assist 1.8 million farmers
and livestock keepers in 2016 to reduce food gaps and restore agricultural
production and incomes.
The first critical phase of the $50 million will focus
on the meher season between January and June.
FAO plans to help 131 500 households plant with a focus
on the meher season. This intervention will include a mix of
emergency seed distribution, small-scale irrigation projects, and backyard
gardening initiatives targeted at empowering women's groups with tools,
knowledge and access to micro loans.
As the current drought has not only affected smallholder
farmers but also seed producers, it has aggravated already existing seed
shortages across the country and made it even harder for farmers to plant. For
this reason, FAO is also supporting 10 000 seed producers to produce high-quality
seeds and get the local market for seeds back on its feet.
Another 293 000 households will
benefit from livestock interventions, such as the distribution of
emergency animal feed, vaccination drives to protect some 3 million animals
against disease, and restocking of 100 000 goats and sheep to vulnerable
households.
As many animals have been severely weakened by lack of food
and water, FAO will also implement a cash-for-livestock exchange that will
reimburse farmers for bringing unproductive livestock to slaughter and support
community feed production.
A third leg of the response plan will focus on
strengthening livelihoods of more than 30 000 households and build
their resilience to future shocks. This will include cash-for-work programs
that will boost families' incomes and improve critical local infrastructure and
water access for livestock. This part of the plan will also target farmers' and
women's groups through integrated community projects that support community
savings-and-loan schemes, farmer field schools and other methods to help
families accumulate and diversify assets.
Rebuilding now
By focusing specifically on rebuilding the productive
capacity of farming and pastoralist families, FAO is supporting ongoing efforts
by the Government of Ethiopia, other UN agencies and NGO partners that are
tending to the immediate needs of at-risk families.
"In Ethiopia, El Niño is not just a food crisis -- it's
above all a livelihood crisis. And we need to intervene now to protect and
rebuild these livelihoods and people's capacity to produce, to prevent families
from becoming long-term dependent on food aid," said Dominique Burgeon,
Leader of FAO's Strategic Programme on Resilience and Director of FAO's
Emergencies and Rehabilitation Division.
FAO's appeal for $50 million to protect Ethiopian
livelihoods comes at a time when international donor funds are stretched thin
in light of a multitude of major human-induced crises.
But intervention to secure farming livelihoods now is the
best way to help the country bounce back and prevent a further slide into
chronic food insecurity, according to Burgeon.
"If response is delayed, recovery will be difficult and
the cost of interventions will only increase," he stressed.
Between FAO and El Niño
Agriculture
is one of the main sectors of the economy that could be severely affected by
the El Niño phenomenon. While drought is the main threat to food production, El
Niño can also cause heavy rains, flooding or extremely hot or cold weather.
This can lead to animal disease outbreaks, including zoonosis and food-borne
diseases, as well as plant pests and forest fires.
Previously
El Niño events have been lined up to create more awareness and share knowledge,
therefore, people whose livelihoods depend on fisheries have been heavily
affected in certain areas.
With
climatologists predicting that the 2015-16 El Niño
event
could become one of the strongest on record, FAO is moving forward with
specific plans for early interventions under its Early Warning - Early Action
System.
As
at the time of filing this report, 14 countries on the continent of Africa, the
South Pacific, Asia and Central America are being specifically targeted due to their
increased risk to extreme weather and a subsequent negative effect on
vulnerable people. Another 19 countries are classified as facing moderate risk,
of, which their future status will be proclaimed by FAO.
Whilst
waiting for the future of Africa and El Nino, the continent has to take
cautionary steps to ensure, first of all that El Nino does not expand beyond
its current state in order to be contained in and within the proposed FAO
lifeline in this regard, in which line the African Union (AU) via its CAADP
initiative.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Africa needs GMO tools to overcome weeds, pests, drought
Genetic Literacy Project, a Science trumps ideology
group, has said that what Africa needs are genetically
modified organism (GMO) tools to overcome weeds, pests and drought, NaijaAgroNet
reports.
“One major
problem is that we don’t benefit from the latest technologies. From Africa, we
look at North and South America farmers with envy, wishing we could use the
same genetically modified organism (GMO) tools to overcome weeds, pests
and drought they have access to.
“We don’t need handouts from wealthy
countries. We just need the same opportunities to succeed. Africa’s current
drought has not yet touched Ghana, but it stretches the full length of our
continent. The United Nations predicts that more people in Ethiopia will need
food assistance next year than in war-torn Syria”, NaijaAgroNet
gathered.
The continent of Africa is suffering
its worst drought in a generation. The failure of the African skies to
pour nourishing rain onto the soil could cost millions of people their lives.
Drought can affect farmers anywhere.
The drought in California has devastated farmers in an area world famous for
its agricultural productivity. The United States, however, is a developed
nation — the drought has caused hardship but nobody expects it to lead to
large-scale malnutrition and starvation.
NaijaAgroNet
reports that things are different in Africa, with no simple solutions to its
agricultural dilemmas. Farmers lack
access to credit, land and labour. Many suffer from illiteracy, poor management
skills and bad or nonexistent infrastructure. The delivery of extension
services is skewed. And although agriculture is essential, it’s held in low
regard.
Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs
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Tuesday, May 12, 2015
WFP predicts food shortage in South Africa
NaijaAgroNet
Last month's outbreak of anti-foreigner riots in South Africa, in which at least seven were killed and thousands more forced to flee, NaijaAgroNet gathered, might also lead to a drop in remittance flows from Africa's most advanced economy, adding to the problems of nearby countries, the WFP said.
The WFP said maize production was estimated to have dropped by a third compared with last year, putting it on track for a harvest of 9.665 million tonnes, its worst in eight years,
Besides South Africa, which produces more than 40 per cent of regional maize, NaijaAgroNet learnt, the drought was also likely to hit harvests in southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Madagascar, the U.N. agency said in a report.
The problems in landlocked and impoverished Malawi were compounded by heavy rains and flooding in early January which destroyed crops and roads, it added.
.Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
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The World Food Programme (WFP) has predicted an acute food shortage in South Africa in a couple of months due to a severe drought in the 'maize belt' of South Africa, where a lack of rain had caused crop failure rates of over 50 per cent, NaijaAgroNet reports.
WFP’s Food and Nutrition Security Working Group’s April assessment states, "The rains experienced in late March and early April provided some relief to livestock farmers but arrived too late for both staple food and cash crops."Last month's outbreak of anti-foreigner riots in South Africa, in which at least seven were killed and thousands more forced to flee, NaijaAgroNet gathered, might also lead to a drop in remittance flows from Africa's most advanced economy, adding to the problems of nearby countries, the WFP said.
The WFP said maize production was estimated to have dropped by a third compared with last year, putting it on track for a harvest of 9.665 million tonnes, its worst in eight years,
Besides South Africa, which produces more than 40 per cent of regional maize, NaijaAgroNet learnt, the drought was also likely to hit harvests in southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Madagascar, the U.N. agency said in a report.
The problems in landlocked and impoverished Malawi were compounded by heavy rains and flooding in early January which destroyed crops and roads, it added.
.Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Global food price index down by 1% in October
Traders at the Oshodi Market, Lagos |
The
October Food Price Index by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organisation recorded a two-point drop, a one per cent drop from September.
The price
index for October was at 213 points against 215 points of the previous month.
The Food
Price Index made available to NaijaAgroNet
showed that the decline is characterised by the reduction in international
prices and freight rates, lower cereal purchases which has the capability to
push down the world food import bill of the year.
Commenting
on the latest price index, FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva noted
that a set of conditions and measures were put in place to stop international
food price from spiraling up as it did in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010.
One of the
important measures, da Silva said is the improved international coordination
and market transparency by the G20's Agricultural Market Information System
(AMIS) which assisted in preventing panic and putting a stop to the worst
drought in decades, which is already leading to a food price crises.
"Droughts
or floods are not what cause crises, its lack of governance," the FAO boss
said, adding that there is a need to strengthen the global governance of food
security.
NaijaAgroNet
further gathered that the first 10 months of the year experienced food prices
on average of 8 per cent lower than the same period in 2011, and food forecast
for 2012 was $1.14 trillion, about N179 trillion.
Yinka Awosanya/ED
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Friday, August 10, 2012
Food Price Hike: Effects of importation on Africa
World Food Laureate, Dr. Monty Jones |
There
have been changing fortunes on food price hikes on the continent. YINKA
AWOSANYA examines the effects despite claims that Africa’s major occupation is
agriculture.
Introduction:
In Africa, the record is still high
when it comes to cost of food importation despite having a higher percentage of
the population claiming to be practising agriculture. As such both local and
international institutions as well as African governments have been lamenting
the effect on the continent’s economic standing, especially long run.
For instance, the global food
import bill for the year 2012 was projected to decline to $1.24 trillion, a
3.87 per cent less 2011 record of $1.29; the feasibility of the prediction lies
in the increase to be recorded in food productivity in individual countries.
Traceable Facts:
This is traceable to the fact that
the youths are not showing enough interest in taking up agriculture due to its
unattractive status thereby leaving food production at the mercy of the aged as
well as those living in the rural areas to cater for the food needs of all,
both those in the urban and rural dwellers.
World Food Laureate, Monty Jones
once raised an alarm that crop production in Africa is lagging behind the rest
of the world with a very wide gap. This, he said, contributed greatly to the
rate of food importation as little produce is not enough to cater for the ever
growing population. Noting though that some African countries still export farm
produces, but the rate of exportation is insignificant compared to importation.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that one of
the stable food exporting countries in Africa, Kenya still imports maize to
boost stocks of foods despite recording a big harvest which followed good rains
in the last season. The maize imports for Kenya last season stood at 1.05
million 90-kg bags, both from regional and international markets in a bid to
supplement food supplies.
Nigeria is not exempted from the
food importing countries of the continent despite being the largest producer of
cassava in the world, even though most of the cassava produce come from
subsistence farmers. For instance, in 2011 alone, Nigeria recorded about N1.59
trillion in the importation of wheat, rice, sugar and fish only.
To curtail the rate of importation,
Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan recently revealed an increase in
tariff on wheat in a bid to encourage the use of cassava flour in the
production of bread which will lead to a drastic reduction in wheat
importation.
He also said that Nigeria, in 2012
alone will be making an export of a million metric tonnes of dried cassava
chips to China which will work in favour of the economy as the export would
earn the nation the sum of $136, about N21.7 billion in foreign exchange.
Factors:
The increase in global food prices
in the past few months could be attributed to poor weather conditions leading
to low productivity as well as drought and social insecurity.
Various food prices index,
especially the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO’s) recent food price
index which showed that agricultural commodities from November 2011 to April
2012 indicated an upward movement of food prices globally.
With foods like cereals, sugar, dairy
products and meat leading the global food index with high prices, the overall
price index rose by two per cent, 7 per cent lower than that of January 2011.
Nigeria records downward trend:
Although maize in Nigeria recorded
a downward trend in January 2012; selling 100kg for N5,500 equivalent of $34.08
as against N6,500 in December 2011, the latest peak then. While the global
maize price has the highest rate of increase with six per cent, wheat also
recorded an increase but less significant despite the improved weather
conditions in favour of the crop.
The global food prices could be
attributed to poor weather condition affecting crops in major food producing
regions of the world and the rate of mechanised or commercial farming compared
to subsistence farming as the produce from subsistence farming is not enough to
feed the ever growing world population.
Drought and insecurity:
Recent droughts that affected some
parts of the world, especially Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa, hinder global
food security as food situation of vulnerable groups of people remained
precarious.
The global price of Wheat, for
instance, may not witness a sharp reduction in 2012 as its production is
expected to drop to 675 million tones, a 3.6 per cent decline; another
influence that may also contribute to this is the price of maize.
Due to the critical growing months
ahead, crops that might have witnessed a drop in May 2012 may still remain high
and vulnerable. Just as the cereal price towards the end of the year might
reduce as the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicted
an increase in cereal production, which is anticipated to reach 2.371billion
tones, thereby creating a new cereal production record.
Other agriculture produce to
witness an increased production capable of leading to a reduction in their
market prices or at least maintain a stable price includes milk with a forecast
of 750m tones, a 2.7 per cent growth with the expectations that Asia will
account for most of the productions.
While the wholesale price of local
maize in Kano State in Nigeria, recorded an increase in February 2012 to
N6,300, a 14.5 per cent rise over the January’s price, it dropped again in
March to N6,200 and N6,800 in April, just N300 down its peak in seven years;
February 2005 it was at N7,100.
Conclusion:
Although Nigerians would have
expected a very sharp increase in food price in the country and never to drop
from its January 2012 price due to the increase in pump price of petrol with
about 50.76 per cent in January as well as the case of insecurity in the
northern part of the country.
Yet, food prices did increase but
not all food commodities correlate with the 50 per cent rise in fuel pump
price, because some commodities did not witness an increase while others get
about 20 to 100 per cent rise in prices.
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Friday, July 27, 2012
Somalia may slide back to food insecurity – FAO warns
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Irrigated crops make Somali farmers more resilient. |
Head of operations at the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FOA) in Somalia, Luca Alinovi has sounded a warning
that the country may slide back into food crisis, if present initiative towards
food security is disengaged.
“By designing and executing a
build-back-better process,” Luca said affected Somalia communities had get back
on their feet in months but the danger is that the initiatives should be
sustained in order to ensure full recovery from drought.
The eastern Africa republic is still at the
verge of drought as the situations remains critical, hence, the United Nations
Food and Agricultural Organization affirmed that continued aid is vital.
NaijaAgroNet
recalls that the United Nations made a declaration last year July about the
state of famine in Somalia which caused thousands of deaths and call for a
massive humanitarian aid programme in a bid to preserve food security in the
affected areas.
One of FAO’s latest forecasts also warns of
reduced rains in the year which will lead to a below-average to poor harvest in
some parts of the south which include the major sorghum-producing region, and
deterioration of food security situation.
Aid strategy by the UN agency was designed to
help farmers and herders to build long-term resilience to drought and other
emergencies in regions plagued by recurrent droughts.
Yinka Awosanya/LS
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Labels:
Aids,
Declaration,
Drought,
Famine,
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