Northeast: FAO seeks $10m funding to assist 385,000 Nigerians with farming support

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisaiton (FAO) has said its seeking funding to the tune of $10 million to provide emergency agricultural support to internally displaced people and host families, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO told NaijaAgroNet that urgent action is needed to provide farming and livelihood support to 385,000 people in parts of Nigeria's northeast where food insecurity is rampant.

As said by FAO in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, the resumption of agricultural activities in these areas is of utmost priority to ensure that people can produce enough food for themselves.

FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Bukar Tijani, said “This includes those who have been internally displaced by the conflict as well as communities who have been hosting them.”

These populations, Tijani noted, need urgent assistance to recover their livelihoods, which are mostly based on crop farming, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture and livestock production, stressing that for the last three to four years this has not been possible due to the conflict.

As at press time, over 3 million people are affected by acute food insecurity in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

The FAO's Emergency and Response Manager in Nigeria, Tim Vaessen, revealed that FAO has launched a full-scale corporate response to the ongoing crisis and urgently requires $10 million to supply seeds, fertilizers and irrigation equipment for the upcoming irrigated dry season.

Meanwhile, he said, FAO is preparing its response for the main agricultural season for which even more resources are required.

"This year, significant territory previously controlled by Boko Haram has been rendered accessible to humanitarian assistance so we have a critical opportunity to tackle the alarming levels of food insecurity in northeast Nigeria," Vaessen said.

He explained that with funds received to-date, FAO has reached over 123,000 people to improve their food security by enabling them to grow their own food during the ongoing rain-fed season.

While this assistance is crucial, FAO said it reached just a fraction of those in need of support and now is seeking funds to support irrigated crop production, livestock restocking and animal health treatment, including disease control and supplementary feed, in the newly liberated areas. ##

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Pix: FAO/Sonia Nguyen … A displaced farmer preparing land for planting in Kukarata, northeastern Nigeria.

FAO says ‘When protecting forests, don't forget the trees’

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that forests have an acclaimed role as a carbon sink needed to tackle climate change and called to mind that when protecting forests, people should not forget the trees, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO, in its latest study said that less known is how their contribution could be scaled up even after a tree has been logged.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the new publication, Forestry for a low-carbon future: Integrating forests and wood products in climate change strategies, offered insights in how to catalyse a "virtuous cycle" that exploits the life cycle of wood products - ranging from home furniture to wood pellets burned for fuel - to enhance and even multiply the well-known ability of forests to remove and store carbon from the atmosphere.

The Assistant Director-General for Forestry, René Castro-Salazar, said that forests are at the heart of the transition to low-carbon economies, stressing "not only because of their double role as sink and source of emissions, but also through the wider use of wood products to displace more fossil fuel intense products."

Forests, Castro-Salazar pointed out, do herculean work in locking carbon dioxide into leaves, branches and soils, while deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 12 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. The relative speed and cost-effectiveness with which forests make their presence - or absence - felt is one key reason they figure prominently in the plans countries are crafting to meet commitments made in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Designed primarily for policy makers and experts but of interest to architects and the energy industry, the report - the fruit of innovative collaboration involving more than 100 experts - looks at how forests can be harnessed to the global climate change challenge.

FAO further said that its guiding message is that optimal engineering of the carbon lifecycle of trees and wood products allows, over the long term, for sustainably harvested forests to complement and even enhance the climate mitigation benefits provided by conserved forests.

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2bn people live in drylands globally says FAO

NaijaAgroNet:

A total of 2 billion people live in drylands globally says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports NaijaAgroNet.

The new study from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) helps to fill a significant knowledge gap on the presence and extent of forests and trees in the world's drylands, where the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, already precarious, are increasingly being threatened by climate change.

The study's preliminary findings made available to NaijaAgroNet Tuesday showed the full report will be launched later this year, showed that trees are present with hugely varying densities on almost one-third of the world's 6.1 billion hectares of drylands, which cover an area more than twice the size of Africa. Almost 18 percent of this area contains forests.

In addition to an estimated 2 billion people, FAO said, 90 percent of whom are in developing countries, live in drylands. Recent studies have indicated the need to restore these areas to cope with the effects of drought, desertification and land degradation.

In particular, water availability in drylands is expected to decline further due to changes in climate and land use.  Poor people living in remote rural areas will be most vulnerable to food shortages, which combined with violence and social upheaval, are already leading to forced migration in dryland regions in Africa and western Asia.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that until now, there has been little statistically based knowledge on dryland trees - particularly those growing outside forests - despite their vital importance to humans and the environment.

FAO further said that the leaves and fruit of trees are sources of food for people and fodder for animals; their wood provides fuel for cooking and heating and can be a source of income for poor households; trees protect soils, crops and animals from the sun and winds, while forests are often rich in biodiversity.

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What Pope Francis told FAO

NaijaAgroNet:

The Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis, has told the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) his desire over its role in the new Mediterranean migration initiative to save 2,500 people food insecurity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Holy Father in a meeting with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva commended the agency's efforts to address migration in the Mediterranean region as well as its work to promote the strong links between peace and food security, climate change and sustainable development.

Graziano da Silva while briefing the pontiff on FAO's Blue Hope Initiative said it seeks to transform Southern Mediterranean coastal zone communities into engines of stability and growth, in particular by supporting the activities of small-scale fisheries.

"Migration is an issue which is very close to Pope Francis' heart. Much more needs to be done to tackle what is happening in the Mediterranean where more than 2,500 people are estimated to have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by sea," the FAO Director-General said after today's meeting.

The pontiff and Graziano da Silva also discussed the current peace efforts underway in Colombia and in the Central African Republic and the hope that lasting solutions will be found for the conflict in the two countries.

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FAO, IFAD, WFP host joint high-level meeting on El Nino impact

NaijaAgroNet:

The rise on impact of El Niño climate devastation on agriculture in the Central America’s Dry Corridor has forced the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to organize a high-level meeting in Rome, tomorrow, June 30, 2016, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Central America, NaijaAgroNet gathered has become one of the worst droughts zones in decades leaving some 3.5 million people food insecure, with most affected countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras having estimated 2.8 million people who are dependent on food aid.

The high-level meeting in Rome, NaijaAgroNet reports, would focus on the urgent need for long-term action to address the impact of El Niño, including building resilience for food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable populations in the affected countries.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that El Niño and its counterpart La Niña occur cyclically, but in recent years, mainly due to the effects of global climate change, extreme weather events associated with these phenomena, such as droughts and floods, have increased in frequency and severity.

As said by FAO’s Peter Mayer, IFAD’s Joanne Levitan, and WFP’s Frances Kennedy, in a joint press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, this situation has put at risk the livelihoods of millions of small-scale family farmers in the Dry Corridor, many of whom are heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture.

The trio equally clarified that the aim of the high-level meeting is to increase awareness of and the response to, this protracted and recurrent crisis, and to mobilize the international community to support the efforts of governments, UN agencies and other partners.

This includes strengthening of early warning systems, disaster risk management, and improving preparedness and coordination for emergency responses at national and regional levels.

In addition to relief work, they said, responding to the impacts of El Niño requires investing in improving poor rural communities’ ability to access land, credit and other resources while also ensuring they are provided with basic services like water, sanitation, health, education, transport infrastructure and electricity.  

Just as the FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze, and World Food Programme Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, would deliver the opening remarks, while the meeting would include a roundtable session with ministers from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.

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ICT helps to monitor crop growth – FAO

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director General José Graziano da Silva has said at a meeting of agriculture ministers of the G20 in China that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) helps in monitor of crop growth, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He also said that this would promoting sustainable agriculture requires a renewed focus on innovation and investment in research, technology and capacity development,

"ICT helps in the monitoring of crop growth, utilization of new techniques, field management and harvests,” the FAO Director-General said, stressing that it has also become an essential tool for improving people’s livelihoods and welfare while advancing social justice and ensure equal access to opportunities, particularly in rural areas.

Telecommunication tools, he told NaijaAgroNet, have the potential to provide Internet access for millions of people and connect farmers with digital agriculture. This includes the use of mobile phones to report animal disease outbreaks, which is one area FAO has been supporting in recent years.

Among the innovative ways FAO is using ICT, Graziano da Silva highlighted a new partnership with Google, whose satellite data and processing power will usher in an unprecedented level of environmental literacy, especially on forestry and fisheries, he said.

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FAO names Carlo PetriniSpecial Ambassador Zero Hunger for Europe

NaijaAgroNet:

President of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini has been named FAO Special Ambassador Zero Hunger for Europe, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva praised Petrini's contribution to increasing public awareness on the need to improve agriculture in Europe and ensure a sustainable food supply chain.

He also said that Petrini's nomination and his involvement in FAO's advocacy activities will "send a strong signal to the international community that we can create a world where no one is hungry”, adding that it would contribute towards building the Zero Hunger Generation and ending hunger by 2030.

As a Special Ambassador Zero Hunger, Petrini will help ensure a better understanding of FAO's vision of a world free of hunger and malnutrition in which food and agriculture contribute towards improving livelihoods, particularly those of poor people.

Slow Food is an international, non-profit grassroots organization that aims to promote quality food produced and distributed in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner, having over 100,000 members worldwide and is active in 160 countries.

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FAO, WFP require $169m to save CAR from drought

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have cried out for lack of $169m funding for the ‘seed protection’ programme going-on in the Central African Republic (CAR) to be successful, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In a joint press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, WFP noted it requires US$83 million to respond to the urgent needs of 1.4 million people in CAR and in neighbouring countries hosting Central African Republic refugees, while the FAO is appealing for US$86 million to support 1.55 million people with inputs to produce crops and keep their livestock healthy, in order to boost food security.

The programme,NaijaAgroNet gathered, is currently being funded by governments of Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States, as well as the African Development Bank, the European Union and ECHO, the FondsBêkou, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, the Common Humanitarian Fund for the Central African Republic, UN Women, and World Bank, yet only half of the estimated number of beneficiaries could receive support based on available fund.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that with 75 percent of the population depending on agriculture, FAO, WFP and their partners have been working together since the beginning of the unrest to mitigate negative impacts on agricultural production and food security.

The programme which involves provision of seeds, hand tools and food to nearly 50,000 hungry farming families in the most food-insecure areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) in a bid to make sure families do not survive with the current scarcity by eating the seeds meant for planting.

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UN agencies provide seeds, tools and food to drought stricken areas

NaijaAgroNet:

Two United Nations (UN) agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have commenced provision of seeds, hand tools and food to nearly 50,000 hungry farming families in the most food-insecure areas of the Central African Republic (CAR), NaijaAgroNet reports.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered is being done under the ‘seed protection’ initiative of the UN in which FAO uses to provide crop and vegetable seeds, while WFP provides groundnuts, maize, rice, sorghum, and beans to the same families.

The FAO country representative Jean-Alexandre Scaglia, said that “critical we make sure families don't cope with the current scarcity by eating their seeds meant for planting”, while the WFP Central African Republic Country Director, BienvenuDjossa, said that the food provided by WFP ensures that the seeds get planted and families don't go hungry at the same time, saying, "Our support now can help people escape the vicious cycle of hunger."

It was gathered by NaijaAgroNet that the exercise is being funded by governments of Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the African Development Bank, the European Union and ECHO, the FondsBêkou, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, the Common Humanitarian Fund for the Central African Republic, UN Women, and the World Bank.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that another 50,000 families will be supported during the second planting season in August/September, meaning 100,000 families in total (500,000 people) will be supported under the initiative this year, which is not enough as the WFP requires US$83 million to respond to the urgent needs of 1.4 million people until the end of September in CAR and in neighbouring countries hosting Central African Republic refugees, while the FAO is appealing for US$86 million to support 1.55 million people with inputs to produce crops and keep their livestock healthy, and strengthen the government's efforts to boost food security. However, there is a serious funding gap, to date only 8 percent of these requirements have been met.

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FAO heads to World Humanitarian Summit 2016

NaijaAgroNet:

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit slated for Istanbul, Turkey has attracted the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.

The summit which commences Monday, May 23 through Tuesday, 24, 2016, NaijaAgroNet gathered comes at a time when the world is witnessing the highest level of humanitarian needs since the Second World War.

NaijaAgroNet reports that rural communities are often the hardest hit by crises and disasters, hence, FAO believes that much more must be done to ensure they have unimpeded access to food and nutrition and that their livelihoods, which are mostly based on agriculture, are protected.

Globally disasters and conflicts, FAO said, are increasing in frequency and magnitude, stressing that these are as diverse as Typhoon Haiyan, the recent Ebola outbreak, and civil war in Syria, to name just a few.

FAO said, supporting agricultural livelihoods could help reduce risks, promote stability, and drive post-crisis recovery, just as investing in agriculture is a good investment in building a future in which no one is left behind.

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WHO, FAO unveil roadmap to deal with highly hazardous pesticides

NaijaAgroNet:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have unveiled new guidelines aimed at reducing the damage done by pesticides that pose especially high toxic risks to human health and the environment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Sources from both organization, informed NaijaAgroNet that products with high acute toxicity account for high numbers of immediate poisoning cases, particularly in developing countries, while products with chronic toxicity effects may cause cancer or developmental disorders among growing children. 

NaijaAgroNet reports that in industrialized countries, such so-called "highly hazardous pesticides" may be no longer permitted or subject to strict use limitations, yet they often remain widely available in developing countries. 

“Even hazardous products are still permitted in industrialised countries can cause severe problems in the developing world, where use circumstances can be very different,” FAO source said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that small-scale farmers in developing countries in particular often do not have, or use, the necessary protective gear and mostly use back-pack sprayers that pose high risk of exposure.

Therefore, both WHO and FAO pointed out that restriction on the use of such highly hazardous products often prove hard to enforce, leading to widespread use by untrained persons, warning that high numbers of poisoning cases, contaminated food and environmental damage could be the result.

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FAO, 4 Nobel laureates join forces against hunger, violence

NaijaAgroNet:

Acclaimed four Nobel laureates for their efforts to stop civil war, promote women’s rights, provide microcredit to the poor, and halt interreligious violence are now joining forces with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to tackle the twin problems of hunger and violence, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, NaijaAgroNet gathered  would Wednesday, May 11, 2016 play host to Muhammad Yunus, Oscar Arias Sánchez, Tawakkol Karman and Betty Williams in Rome for the launch of the FAO-Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace, a new initiative  that will advise FAO on how to strengthen the link between peace and food security in countries. 

The event will include addresses by all four laureates and the FAO Director-General, followed by a discussion and the signing of a declaration.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias Sánchez was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his tireless efforts to end the civil wars that plagued Central America at the time.

Tawakkol Karman is a Yemeni women’s rights activist and advocate for peace. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work in the non-violent struggle for the safety of women.

1976 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Betty Williams is a Northern Irish activist for peace.

Just as the founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunuswas awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his ground-breaking work in the use of microcredit and microfinance in poorer countries.

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Outlook for cereals output improves slightly

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, has raised the forecast for world cereal production in 2016 slightly to nearly 2,526 million tonnes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This figure, NaijaAgroNet notes is virtually the same as in 2015 and potentially on course to be the second-largest global harvest ever.

According to FAO, the larger figure results almost entirely from improved prospects for wheat production, as winter weather conditions have been favourable for prospective yields in the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

“At 717 million tonnes, the 2016 wheat output forecast remains 16 million tonnes short of last year's record,” experts at FAO said.

The Cereal Supply and Demand Brief made available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO says new production forecast for global coarse grains including barley, maize, millet, oats, rye and sorghum stands at 1,314 million tonnes, about one per cent below the 2015 output.

FAO, NaijaAgroNet gathered, left unchanged its worldwide rice production forecast at 495 million tonnes, about one per cent higher than the previous year, although the full impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon will not be clear for a few more months.

“World cereal utilization in the season ahead is expected to rise by only 1.1 percent due to slower growth in the use of cereals - especially wheat and barley - as livestock feed,” FAO said.

As a result, the world body also said that cereal stocks are likely to drop by 3.3 per cent or 21 million tonnes over the course of the new season, while stocks are forecast to drop most in Brazil, Thailand, India, China, Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Argentina and South Africa.

As said by FAO world trade in cereals is expected to decline slightly to 367 million tonnes with sharp drops in China's imports of barley and sorghum as well as EU imports of maize, more than offsetting soaring imports of maize by drought-stricken countries in southern Africa.

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Palm oil keeps global food price trending in April

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that its latest founding shows that palm oil keeps global food price trending in the month of April 2016, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Just as NaijaAgroNet gathered that its updated global cereal harvest forecast points to stable markets for key staples, which also rose in April, marking its third consecutive monthly increase after four years of decline.

Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that the FAO Food Price Index averaged 151.8 points in April, a 0.7 per cent increase from March, which is about 10 per cent below its level a year ago and more than a third off its 2011 highs.

The gradual increase, FAO said, is far from even across the board, adding that April's increase was driven by palm oil prices and, in a minor key, cereals, while sugar prices tapered down after a strong increase in March.

The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index tracking international market prices for five key commodity groups, namely the major cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar. Its decline over the past year reflects ample food supplies, a slowing global economy and a stronger U.S. dollar.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price index rose 4.1 per cent, due largely to a grim 2016 production outlook for palm oil coupled with a growing worldwide demand.

NaijaAgroNet equally reports that the FAO Cereal Price Index rose 1.5 per cent on the month, due primarily to international maize quotations, themselves influenced by a weaker United States dollar and spillover from the oilseeds complex.

However, rice prices declined marginally, while wheat markets posted limited gains amid expectations of large supplies in the new season for the crop.

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Drones assist Philippine farmers prepare for climate disasters

NaijaAgroNet:

The government of the Philippines in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has started using unmanned aerial drones to assess where farmlands are most at risk from natural disasters and quickly assess damages after they strike, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This, NaijaAgroNet also reports is in a bid to stay ahead of the negative impacts of climate change, floods and typhoons on food security, especially in the Philippines.

In addition, under a pilot phase of the still-fledgling project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Philippines and the FAO, two drones have already been sent soaring over the Philippines provinces that have been affected by the current El Niño.

NaijaAgroNet equally reports that some 25 FAO and government technical experts are ready to be deployed across the archipelago to support drone missions. They were recently trained over three weeks on how to fly the drones and learned a range of remote aerial assessment methods.

The drones, NaijaAgroNet reports, are equipped with navigation and photogrammetric equipment that could generate detailed and data rich maps from aerial photographs including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or NDVI, a formula used for assessing vegetation and plant health.

Data gathered, NaijaAgroNet gathered, could be used to see where agricultural systems are at particular risk from natural disasters and identify ways through which such risks can be countered, for example, through ground contouring, building retaining walls, or planting protective vegetation.

Capable of covering up to 600 hectares a day, the drones should significantly accelerate the process of risk analysis, according to Christopher Morales, Director of Field Operations for the Philippines Department of Agriculture.

"It is efficient, it saves time and we will be using a reliable source of data so that we can plan and provide appropriate interventions and responses for our farmers in times of disasters and calamities," he said.

"Additionally, imagery generated from drone flights can reveal where agricultural infrastructure projects and service facilities like irrigation or storage facilities could be sited to best serve local farmers. The technology can also potentially support in the assessment of coastal and forest areas." said Jose Luiz Fernandez, FAO Representative in the Philippines.

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