Search NaijaAgroNet

Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts

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.

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

Monday, August 22, 2016

FAO warns of likely outbreak of crop, livestock diseases in Ethiopia

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Representative to Ethiopia, Amadou Allahoury, has warned that if the current floods in the country continues, it could lead to crop and livestock diseases, reports NaijaAgroNet.

"If floods worsen later this year, there could be outbreaks of crop and livestock diseases, further reducing agricultural productivity and complicating recovery,” Allahoury declared.

The situation, Allahoury said, is critical now and urged the world make sure that farmers will be able to plant between now and September and grow enough food to feed themselves and their families thus avoiding millions of people having to rely on food assistance for another year.

“Ethiopia needs urgent global support to respond to its humanitarian needs, we have no time to procrastinate," Allahoury said.

The FAO official described the meher season as Ethiopia's main agricultural season and produces up to 85 per cent of the nation's food supplies.

Also, Allahoury warned that if the farmers do not plant enough now, Ethiopia may face significant food shortages, which may further exacerbate food and nutrition insecurity in the country.

“To ensure the last remaining planting window of the year is met, an estimated $8.8 million is needed to provide root crop planting materials, legumes, vegetable and cereal seed to 530 000 households,” the representative said.


NaijaAgroNet reports that FAO estimated that households who lost small ruminants such as sheep may need at least two years to return to pre-drought levels, while cattle-owning households may need up to four years to recover. While animals that survived the recent drought are still weak and susceptible to diseases during the rainy periods; $36.2 million is required to undertake the necessary interventions to support 2.4 million livestock-dependent households or 12 million people.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Saturday, August 20, 2016

El Niño: Ethiopia needs $45m to scale over

Following the starvation caused by the El Nino in Ethiopia with this year's main planting season winding down, the country needs $45 million in agricultural support, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was contained in the newly released Mid-Year Review of the Ethiopia Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) developed jointly by the Government of Ethiopia and UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and other development partners and made available to NaijaAgroNet, indicated that 900 000 additional households need urgent agricultural support bringing the total number to 2.9 million in August.

The review, NaijaAgroNet gathered also showed there is still a small window of opportunity in September for farmers to plant the last set of crops this year and grow food for millions facing hunger, provided the necessary support arrives on time.

In order to meet additional agricultural sector needs HRD reviewed stated will require $45 million bringing the total requirement for the agriculture sector to $91.3 million for 2016.

“The overall food security situation has improved only slightly, with the number of people requiring emergency food assistance having decreased from 10.2 million to 9.7 since the beginning of the year,” part of the report read.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the El Niño-induced drought caused a wide-scale failure of crops and loss of livestock critical to the livelihoods of farmers and agropastoralists. Even as the drought is being followed by seasonal floods, which have already led to crop damage and the inundation of pastures and may be further exacerbated by a phenomenon called La Niña, expected from October onwards.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Friday, May 6, 2016

SOS: Ethiopia farmers need $10m to provide seeds

In less than five weeks to the main cropping season in Ethiopia, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for urgent funding to the tune of $10 million, to help farmers sow their fields and prevent drought-hit areas of the country from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO, if seeds are not delivered in time, help will be too late to secure a decent harvest from the imminent meher season, which produces 85 per cent of the nation's food supply.

FAO also said that while the food security situation is worsening, the overall funding response to the crisis has so far been disappointing, with just 15 percent of FAO's 2016 appeal for Ethiopia covered.

"The meher season will be critical to improving families' food security and self-sufficiency in 2016. Seed distributions allowing farmers to plant crops and produce food must be a humanitarian priority," said the agency's country representative Amadou Allahoury Diallo, stressing that decreasing dependence on external humanitarian assistance will diminish the costs of food aid.

Therefore, FAO said, some $10 million is needed within the next two weeks to distribute seeds to Ethiopian families at risk of hunger and losing their livelihoods.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that about 10.2 million people in Ethiopia are food insecure following successive crop failures and widespread livestock deaths caused by the El Niño-induced drought since early 2015. With this year's delayed and erratic spring rains, the situation may become worse in the most affected areas, particularly in the north.


Even as Ethiopia's government has already dedicated considerable resources to the El Niño response and is working closely with FAO to help ramp up joint efforts.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

STC-ARDWE extends document grace period to 60 days before sessions

NaijaAgroNet:
The meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment (ARDWE) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, may have resolved to increase the number of days documents of discussion will be made available prior to any meeting, reports NaijaAgroNet
 .
This was part of the fillers from the close door session recommendation from the on-going meeting.

This, our source who declined mention said is to enable expert members participating in such meetings to have ample time to peruse such documents and same time for lengthy discussion in the future on a given subject.

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that the new resolution which means two months is to enable them digest the relevant contents of the document.

Also, some of the objectives and mandates of STC were tweaked by its members to be presented to the Council of Ministers for adoption.

In addition, it was gathered that STC deliberated on the procedures to make the meeting ideal for future and easy engagement.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the Specialized Technical Committees are responsible to the Executive Council of the AU and (STCs) comprised of Ministers responsible for key sectors.

The AU’s Constitutive Act states that STCs could meet as often as necessary and should prepare their own rules of procedure for adoption by the Executive Council.

Although STCs main functions include the preparation of projects and programmes of the Union and submit it to the Executive Council; ensure the supervision, follow-up and the evaluation of the implementation of decisions taken by the organs of the Union; ensure the coordination and harmonization of projects and programmes of the Union; submit to the Executive Council either on its own initiative or at the request of the Executive Council, reports and; recommendations on the implementation of the provisions of the Constitutive Act; and carry out any other functions assigned to it for the purpose of ensuring the implementation of the provisions of the Constitutive Act.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that the Constitutive Act makes provision for seven (7) STC, comprising “The Committee on Rural Economy and Agricultural Matters; The Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs; The Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration Matters; The Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment; The Committee on Transport, Communications and Tourism; The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs; and the Committee on Education, Culture and Human Resources.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) in Addis Ababa 
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Monday, October 5, 2015

STC-ARDWE 5-day inaugural confab kick-off in Addis Ababa

NaijaAgroNet:
The five-day inaugual conference of the Specialised Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment (ARDWE) has opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting which would last till Friday, October 9, NaijaAgroNet reported, came to the fore following the adoption of the configuration of STC and its modalities of operationalization by the African Union Assembly of Heads of the State and Government.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Specialised Technical Committees are made up of Ministry or senior official s responsible for the concerned specific sectors based on the area of competence.

This special Committees are responsible for preparing projects and programmes of the Union and submitting same to the Executive Council of African Union.

Equally they are expected to meet every two years in order to discharge the responsibilities vested on them by AU assembly.

This conference is organised by the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of AU in partnership with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA).

The rational, NaijaAgroNet gathered was based on fact that by end of September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly was expected to endorse the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals in addition to the 21st session of the UN Convention on Climate Change by December 2015 as well as the Malabo Declaration on Africa Accelerated Agriculture Growth and Transformation (3AGT) among others.

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

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Africa launches Climate Smart-Agriculture Alliance Forum





The Africa’s first Climate Smart-Agriculture Alliance Forum, an Africa’s strategic approach for food security and nutrition in the face of climate change has been slated to hold in Addis  Ababa, Ethiopia,  NajiaAgroNet reports.

The launch of the Africa CSA Alliance Forum which will hold at Capital Hotel and Spa, NajiaAgroNet gathered, was formulated to foster harmonisation across various programmes being undertaken by African countries in climate change and agriculture. It is also a critical milestone in facilitating the sharing and learning on the various Climate Smart-Agriculture initiatives.

According to the information made available to  NajiaAgroNet, the Africa CSA Alliance Forum will specifically  agree on the general Africa-specific guiding principles and standards in domesticating the CSA definition into local/country and farming systems specific circumstances; validate the Africa CSA Vision 25x25 toolbox, an important tool for continental benchmarking and measuring CSA adoption for the “25 million targeted farming households by 2025”;  facilitate sharing across the various CSA initiatives at various levels.

It will also foster alignment in regional efforts in supporting and contributing to delivering on the “Africa CSA Vision 25x25” (based on ecosystems potential and related political economy issues).

 NajiaAgroNet also learnt that the Africa Climate-Smart Alliance Forum will be attended by: H.E Ato Sileshi Gutahun, Ethiopian State Minister for Agriculture; H.E Rhoda Peace Tumusiime – African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Yasmine Foaud – Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development and External Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Arab Republic of Egypt. H.E Andreas Gaarder - Norwegian Ambassador to Ethiopia 

Also in attendance will be representatives and participants from Governments, Regional Economic Communities, Farmers’ Organisations, Private Sector, Civil Society, specialised agencies and development partners.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ ED,OPs

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

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

EU boosts Ethiopia food security with N10.9 bn


Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The European Union (EU) as part of the Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience (SHARE) initiative has released a EUR50-million about N10, 873,196,311.82 aids to improve food security and build resilience to drought in southern and eastern Ethiopia.

This was made known in a press release signed by the EU Commissioners Andris Piebalgs and Kristalina Georgieva and made available to NaijaAgroNet that the new funds will help boost food security in the lowland areas of Ethiopia through a series of long-term measures.

"with this new program, we will be helping Ethiopian people in the longer-term; providing support to help them rebuild their lives, make a living, and make sure they are well equipped to deal with droughts that will inevitably come again in the future," Piebalgs said.

Georgieva explained that SHARE initiative is a prime example for how to ensure better coherence of EU external assistance instruments and a maximum impact of its aid for the benefit of the targeted populations.

NaijaAgroNet findings  showed that the Ethiopia is plagued by recurrent droughts, which often translate into emergencies, with high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity thereby increasing demographic pressures on natural resources, along with poor infrastructure, absence of alternative livelihoods, insecurity and  make people particularly vulnerable to droughts in this region.
.
The Accelerating Resilience Capacity in Southern and Eastern Ethiopia (ARCE) project, which is part of the SHARE regional program, is said to be implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), FAO and the World Bank, along with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).


... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Ethiopia to host first African confab on chemistry education



The first-ever African conference on Research In Chemistry Education [ACRICE-1]  will be hosted by the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in December 2013, reports NaijaAgroNet.

President of the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) Dr. Temechegn Engida, confirmed this to NaijaAgroNet, saying that FASC and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, will be co-host at the event. He noted that at the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) the conference has become imperative and has been scheduled for December 5-7, 2013.

ACRICE-1, Dr. Engida said, will bring together university staff members, chemistry educators and chemistry teachers from across African continent and the world at large and provide a unique pan-African forum for the sharing ideas and new findings to solve education problems in African countries.

Participants at the confab with the theme: Chemical Education for the Human Development in Africa, FASC president said, will examine a wide range of pedagogical best practices that address local and global issues in educating African students for total quality in the global age.

Therefore, ACRICE conference, Dr. Engida pointed out, is intended as a platform for understanding and enriching education for preparation of African citizens who are able to deal with local and global challenges.

To this end, FASC is calling on educators and researchers at all levels to share vital knowledge and strategies for teaching and learning in culturally responsive ways, capable of boosting chemistry for sustainable development in Africa.
 
Remmy Nweke
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology