NANTS, ECOWAS boost FCT with milk factory - NaijaAgroNet

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The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have boosted the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with the siting of milk production factory in Giri Community of the Gwagwalada Area Council, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This followed the formal performing of the ground breaking of the factory on Friday, September 23, this year.

ECOWAS gets $1bn Israeli solar energy boost

NaijaAgroNet:

An Israeli renewable energy company, Energiya Global and the USAID Power Africa Initiative have collaborated to boost the electricity power supply in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with some $1billion solar commitment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed Friday between the State of Israel and ECOWAS, Israel’s leading solar developer to invest $1 billion over the next four years to advance green energy power projects across the 15 member states of the West African economic community.

“In honor of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s two terms in office, and Liberia’s friendship with the State of Israel, Energiya Global and our international partners will finance and build a commercial-scale solar field at the Roberts International Airport, which will supply 25 per cent of the country’s generation capacity,” says Yosef I. Abramowitz, CEO.  “We are prepared to finance and build the first National Demonstration Solar Projects in all ECOWAS-affiliated countries in order to promote political stability and social and economic development, as well as to advance knowledge transfer.”

Energiya Global and its associated companies developed the first commercial scale solar field in sub-Sahara Africa in Rwanda, which is supplying 6 per cent of the country’s power, and the group broke ground on a similar power plant in Burundi, which will supply 15 per cent of the country’s power by the end of the year.  The solar group has fields at various stages of development in ten African countries and expects to announce its full program at the Israel-Africa Summit in Togo at the end of October.

In an historic first, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is scheduled today to address the 15 West African heads of state of ECOWAS, as well as the head of the African Union. “Israel is coming back to Africa,” the Prime Minister will announce, and will outline the technological innovations in agriculture, water, green energy and more that can support economic development in West Africa. 

Isaac Oyimah/GEE 

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African Union commends ECOWAS on CAADP implementation

NaijaAgroNet:

The African Union (AU) commissioner in charge of  Rural Economy and Agriculture (REA), Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumuslime, has commended the Economic Community for West Africa States (ECOWAS) on its strides in implementation of agricultural-related policies of the commission, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking to NaijaAgroNet at the press conference on-going meeting of Specialised Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the headquarters of AU Commission, the Commissioner, commended ECOWAS, saying the regional organization is well organization, especially on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) initiatives.

“ECOWAS is organized very well around CAADP, creating relevant institutions to ensure compliance on implementation,” she said.

Responding on how to optimise CAADP at the regional levels, she said, adding they have made efforts at setting up REC across the regions of the continent.

She further said that some other regions and precisely the Regional Economic Communities (REC) tend to meet very often to restrategise for the benefit of the continent.

The Commissioner also assured that AU has plans to evaluate the activities of STC within the intermediary years before its next meeting which has been scheduled every two years.

According to her, it is easier for nations on the continent to meet, have resolutions and see it through adequate implementation.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
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NACCIMA calls for industries protection against ECOWAS’s CET

NaijaAgroNet

The Director-General, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Emmanuel Cobham, has advocated protection of local industries in the wake of the implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET).

NaijaAgroNet reports that NACCIMA‘s position on the policy is that manufacturing companies need some level of protection against the influx of foreign products that the tariff favours. Cobham said since the CET regime has commenced, government may need to consider ways by which the hardship on importers and manufacturers alike could be alleviated.

He stated this in response to a World Bank report, ‘Connecting Food Staples and Inputs in West Africa: A Regional Trade Agenda for ECOWAS countries,’ calling on Nigeria and other governments in West Africa to move beyond nationally-focused food policies and address regional trade within ECOWAS to link farmers with consumers in the region’s booming urban areas, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

“Food staples belong at the heart of the ECOWAS agenda on agriculture,” said World Bank senior economist and lead author of the report, Jean-Christophe Maur. He said the importance of cross-border cooperation to secure food supply, as well as manage common natural resources, regional diseases and security challenges, has been made painfully clear in recent years, calling for a new  commitment to regional trade in the West African 

Sub-region to accelerate agricultural production, boost growth and ensure food security.
The report obtained by The Nation builds on the lessons of the World Bank report, “Africa can help feed Africa,” and examines the specific circumstances in West Africa, which is home to one-third of the continent’s population, and bringing new analysis to the food staples trade and policies in the region.

The report regretted that though Africa has tremendous agriculture potential with more than half of the world fertile yet unused land, countries on the continent are increasingly dependent on food imports from the rest of the world, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
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EU invests N251.1billion in West Africa

NaijaAgroNet

The European Union (EU) will pump about €1.15 billion (N251.1b) into peace, security and regional stability, including support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its regional mandates, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Other aspects of interest covered by the fund include regional economic integration and trade, the private sector, regional integration and support for infrastructure.

The assistance made possible by the 11th European Development Fund, NaijaAgroNet gathered, was made public during the signing of a new regional funding for cooperation between European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimic and  representatives of regional organizations from West Africa.

 Mimica said, “Regional integration in West Africa is already bearing impressive fruits and today’s signing is the ambitious starting point for preparing new, concrete projects that will benefit the region and its countries. Having almost doubled our support from the last programming period, we will work with a wide range of partners to tackle the challenges that remain in West Africa, such as peace and security, economic integration and trade, as well as sustainable development,” NaijaAgroNet learnt.

The West Africa Regional Indicative Programme was co-signed by President Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and President Cheikhe Hadjibou Soumaré of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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16,600 children lost parents to Ebola in West Africa - UNICEF

+Naija AgroNet:

The United Nations United Nations Children's Fund has revealed that no fewer than 16,600 children have been registered as having lost one or both parents or primary healthcare-givers to Ebola in three countries within the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), reports NaijaAgroNet.

The affected countries, UNICEF confirmed to NaijaAgroNet include Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

According to the UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Mr Manuel Fontaine in New York penultimate Friday, said less than three per cent of this population has had to be placed outside family or community care.

“Since overcoming their initial fears and misconceptions about Ebola virus, families have been showing incredible support, providing care and protection for children whose parents have died. This shows the strength of kinship ties and the extraordinary resilience of communities at a time of great hardship,’’ he said.

UNICEF said as of mid-January, nearly 3,600 children had lost both parents to Ebola virus in the three countries, while 16,600 were registered as having lost one or both parents.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered from the regional director that the disease affected primary healthcare-givers.

He pointed out that UNICEF was helping to identify children without parents or caregivers with the view to providing immediate care and protection to them.

In Guinea, he said for example that UNICEF gathered that all 773 children who lost both parents have been placed with their extended families.

@IsaacOyimah with additional report byNews Agency of Nigeria   +Naija AgroNet @unicef

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USAID, ECOWAS food security confab ends in Accra

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have concluded a three-day conference to improve food security, free movement and services in Accra.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports that the objective of the conference was to jump-start the actions needed to unleash the full potential of regional trade to help safeguard the region’s food security in the future.

NaijaAgroNet also notes that the three-day conference attended by officials of civil society groups, governments, technical partners and private institutions in West Africa had the theme: “Food Across Borders: Improving Food Security through Regional Trade in West Africa.”

Mr Salifou Tiemtore, Director of Customs, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said there were many barriers to free movement of goods including lack of understanding of legislation, high tariffs and non-compliance with products.

He said a lot of countries within ECOWAS were refusing to implement the ECOWAS regulations, saying “the lack of regional trade policy within the sub-region is also a challenge”. Read more

Nneka Alamaeze and Sherif Ayilara/LS

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ECOWAS partner UNDP to boost food production

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have partnered in a scheme towards value addition for a number of key crops in the West Africa sub-region.

The partnership seeks to boost food production in the sub-region while creating jobs, increasing farmers' income opportunities and Small and Medium Enterprise that deal with cash crops.

Some of the crops sidelined for the initiative include mangoes, onions and cassavas. NaijaAgroNet learnt that Cassava has been chosen following its classification as staple food in Sierra Leone and Ghana over the past three years while Nigeria is on the forefront of its producers in the region.

Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali are the leading producers of onion in the region, however NaijaAgroNet further gathered that these three countries face stiff competition from farmers in Europe, Asia and North Africa as regards quality and packaging.

Yinka Awosanya/LS

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