Aquaculture to produce 2/3 global food fish supply – Report

NaijaAgroNet:

A joint research by the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPI) have shown that fish farms sub-sector is to produce two-third of the global food fish supply by 2030, reports NaijaAgroNet.

With this, NaijaAgroNet also reports that there are prospects for fisheries and aquaculture globally.

Fish farming, the tripod report equally showed has potential to provide close to two thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030 as catches from wild capture fisheries level off and demand from an emerging global middle class, especially in China, substantially increases. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the collaboration between the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted the extent of global trade in seafood which tends to flow heavily from developing to developed countries. 

According to FAO, at present 38 per cent of all fish produced in the world is exported and in value terms, over two thirds of fishery exports by developing countries are directed to developed countries.

The "Fish to 2030" report finds that a major and growing market for fish is coming from China which is projected to account for 38 percent of global consumption of food fish by 2030. 

China and many other nations are increasing their investments in aquaculture to help meet this growing demand. 

The Asia including South Asia, South-East Asia, China and Japan is projected to make up 70 per cent of global fish consumption by 2030.

Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, is expected to see a per capita fish consumption decline of 1 per cent per year from 2010 to 2030 but, due to rapid population growth of 2.3 per cent in the same period, the region's total fish consumption will grow by 30 percent overall.   

The report further predicted that 62 per cent of food fish will come from aquaculture by 2030 with the fastest supply growth likely to come from tilapia, carp, and catfish. global tilapia production is expected to almost double from 4.3 million tonnes to 7.3 million tons a year between 2010 and 2030. 

One of the report's authors Siwa Msangi of IFPRI, revealed to NaijaAgroNet that the fast-moving nature of aquaculture made this a particularly challenging sector to model and at the same time, embodies the most exciting aspect of it in terms of future prospects for transformation and technological change.

"Comparing this study to a similar study we did in 2003, we can see that growth in aquaculture production has been stronger than what we thought," Msangi said. 

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FAO raises alarm over influenza virus in China

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has once again raised an alarm over the increasing human cases of influenze A (H7N9) in Southern and Eastern China, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO official statement made available to NaijaAgroNet and endorsed by FAO Chief Veterinary Officer, Juan Lubroth, human infections with the influenza A (H7N9) virus are on the rise again in China and the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities provide opportunity for further spread and human exposure.

“Millions of people and poultry are expected to be on the move and many households will slaughter poultry at home to celebrate the New Year. FAO called upon neighboring countries to remain vigilant in the face of A (H7N9) and other avian influenza viruses, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1,” part of the statement read.

Also, FAO said that the number of human infections with H7N9 has considerably increased since late December in East and Southeast China, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Equally, they said that the increase in cases was expected, as influenza viruses traditionally show increased activity during the winter months. So far, no other country has reported influenza A (H7N9) in humans, animals or in the market place.

“There is strong evidence that people become infected following close contact with infected live poultry, mostly in live bird markets or when slaughtering birds at home. According to WHO, no sustained human-to-human transmission has occurred so far. Genetic analysis by FAO reference centers has revealed that the virus has not changed significantly since its emergence last year,” FAO officials said.

Lubroth further said that Chinese authorities are enforcing important measures to reduce the risk of human exposure to the A (H7N9) virus.

"This includes temporary closures of live bird markets, regular market rest days, improved hygiene in markets, heightened and ongoing surveillance in poultry and live bird market environment, and control of poultry movements," Lubroth advised.

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Pix: FAO DG, Da Silvia

South Sudan: $61m required to protect, rebuild food security

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that the continuous political crisis in South Sudan would require the sum of $61 million, about N9.7 trillion, to protect, rebuild food security and livelihood in the new country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The recent violence in South Sudan, NaijaAgroNet reports is threatening to increase hunger and human suffering considerably, unraveling modest gains made in food security in the past two years, according to Sue Lautze, FAO Representative in South Sudan, the agency's newest member country.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that under the United Nations' Crisis Response Plan, FAO and its partners in the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster are seeking $61 million for crucial food assistance and livelihoods activities.

FAO's efforts are focused on getting seeds, livestock vaccines, fishing gear and other agricultural inputs, technologies and services to vulnerable rural and urban families whose food production and income activities are being disrupted by conflict and the displacement of people.

This, NaijaAgroNet reports would afford FAO to mitigate the environmental impact of displacement.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the humanitarian situation in South Sudan deteriorated rapidly since fighting broke out in mid-December, causing not only the loss of life and displacement, but also disrupting agricultural development and humanitarian activities crucial to the survival and future livelihoods of millions.

“The impacts on diversified livelihoods in four of South Sudan's ten states are generating an alarming risk of food insecurity and malnutrition,” Lautze noted.

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C.A.R: FAO warns on potential food security crisis

NaijaAgroNet:

The continuous security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) is giving the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) some nightmares, hence it warned on the potential food security crisis in the country.

NaijaAgroNet reports that FAO says that despite security challenges in half of the prefectures, farmers in the Central African Republic are counting on the next agriculture season to restore their food production capacity to avoid risks of famine and malnutrition.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that since last year when they had to flee the violence, farming communities had to abandon their fields along the main roads to replant deep in the bush.

This disruption, experts say has led them to produce much less than previous years with a major impact on their food reserves that will last till February instead of July 2014.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that FAO of the United Nations is already working to provide farmers with seeds and tools for the next campaign however more funds are needed for the food security component of the 100-day response plan.

According to NaijaAgroNet, the initial assessments conducted in the past weeks indicated a deteriorating situation in terms of low food stocks, widespread disruption to village food markets and a lack of purchasing power overall among other issues.

Acting FAO Representative in the Central African Republic, Alexis Bonte, who recently visited Bossangoa revealed to NaijaAgroNet that the combination of food shortages and poor sanitary conditions in the camps and deep in the bush, as well as extreme poverty, risk triggering serious malnutrition.

The success of the next planting season Bonte noted is crucially hinging on the return of farming families to the fields, stressing that families who are unable to plant in March will have to wait one whole year before they could hope to harvest again.

“Failure to help these families will have dramatic consequences on the food security for a quarter of the Central African population. The low production perceived from the last harvest coupled with a prevailing situation of chronic country-wide malnutrition is setting the stage for a full scale food and nutrition security crisis should the next planting season fail, reports the Organization today,” FAO official said.

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West Africa food security: Small-scale farmers must have access to markets

NaijaAgroNet:

A new study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) made available to NaijaAgroNet shows that for West Africa to surmount its food security challenges, small-scale farmers must have greater access to markets.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the study, entitled Rebuilding West Africa’s Food Potential, presented a range of successful case studies since the region stepped up investments in agricultural development in the wake of the world food crisis in 2007-2008. 

The study revealed to NaijaAgroNet that countries could benefit significantly from policy support that targets broader agricultural development and greater coordination among producers, private industry and the public and financial sectors. 

FAO Senior Economist, Aziz Elbehri, who edited the publication told NaijaAgroNet that although some West African countries are doing better than others, the region has lagged behind other parts of Africa in terms of basic infrastructure, investments, research and development and agricultural processing.

The book reasons, Elbehri said that the region should direct greater efforts to develop its staple food crops, which in the past have been sidelined in favour of a few export commodities. 

NaijaAgroNet  noted that Maize and cassava, which are two of the main pillars of West Africa’s food security, could form the backbone for a thriving agro-industry given their multiple market applications, the publication suggests. 

“There is a huge production deficit in rice in the region, which currently imports an unsustainable 70 per cent of what it consumes,” FAO said, stressing that yields of sorghum and millet which are critically important for the food security of 100 million people in the Sahel, could double or triple with the help of improved seed varieties and fertilizer. Pointing out that providing farmers’ with the means to boost the yields of staple food crops is not enough.


“Farmers have little incentive to increase production if they can’t sell their crops because of cheaper and easily accessible imports. Policy and market incentives are needed to improve the competitiveness of locally grown crops and increase their share in the consumer market,” Elbehri said. 

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the study also underscored the importance of continued investment in export crops such as cotton, coffee and cocoa, which play a significant role in generating income and employment, and flags tropical fruit and vegetables and other emerging niche products like sesame and cashew nuts as another viable area for export growth. 


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FAO: Nelson Mandela is champion of right to food

NaijaAgroNet:

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) lauds Nelson Mandela, describing him as champion of right to food, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Director-General, FAO, Mr. José Graziano da Silva on learning of the death of Nelson Mandela, former South Africa president declared that "We have lost one of the world's passionate defenders of the right to food." 

"As a true champion of human rights, Nelson Mandela understood that the hunger of millions of people was unjust and unsustainable," he said.

At FAO, he said, have been inspired over the years by Mandela's repeated calls to address hunger and the many social and economic ills that either led to hunger or resulted from a lack of access to food in a world of relative plenty.

"Mandela understood that a hungry man, woman or child could not be truly free. He understood that eliminating hunger was not so much a question of producing more food as it was a matter of making the political commitment to ensure that people had access to the resources and services they needed to buy or produce enough safe and nutritious food," he said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that since 2009, the United Nations has recognized July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day.

Graziano da Silva further said to NaijaAgroNet that it was fitting that the South African government had chosen to highlight food security and nutrition issues in celebrating Mandela's 95^th birthday this year, even though the former president and anti-apartheid activist had been too ill to participate.

"Mandela has been an inspiration to me in 30 years of work to improve food security in the world, and he will continue to inspire our work at FAO," Graziano da Silva said. 

FAO, he said, owe him a debt of thanks for speaking out on hunger. More importantly, “we owe it to the 842 million people in the world who suffer from chronic hunger to redouble our efforts to eliminate hunger in our lifetimes."


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Animal milks not recommended for infants under 12

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that animal milks are not recommended for infants under 12 months, according to the latest publication: Milk and Dairy Products in Human Nutrition.

NaijaAgroNet gathered this position from FAO Senior Nutrition Officer Ellen Muehlhoff, who co-edited the publication, noting though that milks are efficient vehicle for delivering vital nutrients and improving growth for young children, whose nutrition is critical in the first 1 000 days of life.

FAO also lamented on prohibitive prices of milks and dairy products saying these are still too expensive for the poorest families to buy.

Dairy consumption in developing countries, FAO disclosed to NaijaAgroNet is expected to increase by 25 per cent by 2025 as a result of population growth and rising incomes, but milk and dairy products will likely still be out of reach for the most vulnerable households.

Governments, therefore, FAO insists need to address the issue by making nutrition a specific objective in dairy sector development and by investing in programmes that help poor families keep small dairy livestock like goats at home, according to the publication.

Also speaking, FAO Livestock Industry Officer, and co-editor of the new publication, Anthony Bennett, said that small-scale dairy farming is especially beneficial to poor households as it provides food and nutrients but also a regular income.

“Whereas crop agriculture means getting paid once or maybe twice a year, dairy is produced and sold daily so smallholders have cash in hand for immediate family needs such as food, household goods, clothing and schooling – and that changes lives,” he said.

FAO says that currently about 150 million households made of some 750 million people are engaged in milk production around the world, the majority of whom are in developing countries.

“A major challenge is for governments to develop inclusive policies and encourage investment from the private sector that helps these small-scale farmers take advantage of the escalating demand for milk and dairy in developing countries to improve their livelihoods,” Bennett said.

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FAO drums urgent support for farmers hit by Typhoon Haiyan

NaijaAgroNet:

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for assistance for the region’s most severely affected by the typhoon account for one-third of the total rice production in the country of Philippines.

NaijaAgroNet reports that FAO lamented the fact that hundreds of thousands of farmers in the Philippines whose crops were destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan need urgent assistance to sow new seeds before the end of the current planting season.

FAO also warned that the typhoon caused damage in the central part of the country to the 2013 main season rice crop, harvesting of which was well advanced.

“It also badly disrupted planting of the current 2013-2014 secondary season, which ends in late December,” FAO declared in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by Fiona Winward, stressing concern that many storage facilities may have been destroyed, along with their contents.

For instance, FAO informed NaijaAgroNet that damage to the main season paddy crop both by Typhoon Haiyan and by Typhoon Nari, which hit northern parts of the country in October, as well as disruption to the planting of the second season is expected to result in lower rice production than anticipated for 2013.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that FAO has downgraded its forecast for the 2013 rice production in the country to 18 million tonnes from the expectation of a bumper crop of 18.9 million tonnes at the beginning of the season, FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

The rice production shortfall of 900,000 tonnes will be felt disproportionally in the five most affected regions.  

While rice production at the national level is likely to remain close to last year’s level, the damage at the regional level is more severe. FAO warned that farmers in areas hit by the typhoon could face severe food security and livelihood problems if they do not succeed in planting the next crop in the weeks ahead.  

The five regions most severely affected by the typhoon in terms of cereal crop losses accounted for one-third of the total rice production in 2012.

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FAO, WHO host preparatory technical meeting on nutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), Wednesday commence a three-day preparatory technical meeting on nutrition in Rome on major nutrition challenges (ICN2).

The meeting is also expected to enhance international cooperation, even as they would collaborate with the Italian Foreign Ministry on Thursday to host the ‘Gender, nutrition and agriculture’ side-event.

NaijaAgroNet reports that the United Nations (UN) System Standing Committee on Nutrition seminar with Bioversity International and Govt of Malawi on nutrition and sustainability was held on Tuesday.

Also NaijaAgroNet reports that everyone has the right to good nutrition and yet the figures showed that all too many people are denied this right.

“Some 842 million people are chronically hungry, but many more die or suffer the ill effects of inadequate nutrition,” experts from FAO disclosed, while about 2 billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that an estimated 7 million children die before their fifth birthday every year, 162 million children under five are stunted while at the same time, 500 million people are obese.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that over 50 countries and many international experts will gather at FAO headquarters in Rome to focus on ways to speed up improvements in nutrition - especially in developing countries, through policy changes, international coordination and the exchange of knowledge.

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Pix: Graziano da Silva  DG, FAO

FAO advocates monitoring food loss, waste

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The Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), José Graziano da Silva has advocated for innovative thinking to keep retailers and individual households from throwing away food in order to speed up efforts to eliminate hunger globally, NaijaAgroNet reports.

 Graziano da Silva told participants at the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) in Copenhagen that FAO estimates shows that each year, one-third of about 1.3 billion tons food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted and stressed that this lost or wasted food costs around 750 billion dollars, about N119, 557,350,388,487.12 annually and if reduced to zero would give additional food to feed two billion people.

According to him most food loss takes place in post-production, harvesting, transportation and storage, and is primarily related to inadequate infrastructure in developing countries, while food waste is largely a problem in the marketing and consumption stages in more developed countries.

"One of my priorities in FAO is opening our doors to potential allies. Fighting food loss and waste is clearly one area in which partnership is needed. Developing a global protocol can help provide clear measurements and indicators on which we can base guidance on how to reduce food loss and waste.

“Zeroing food loss and waste is one of the elements of the Zero Hunger Challenge launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Rio+20 Conference last year. Because of all this, FAO has a huge vested interest in bringing about rapid reductions in food losses and waste," FAO Director said.

NaijaAgroNet recorded that FAO launched the SAVE FOOD initiative together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Messe Dusseldorf while more than 150 public organizations and private sector partners are currently conducting case studies on food losses in specific chains that will help give guidance on strategies to upgrade the sectors concerned.

The organization also collaborates with UNEP, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and other partners in the Think.Eat.Save  campaign designed to target and change wasteful practices, especially at the retail and consumer end of the food-supply chain. 

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World agriculture ministers to brainstorm on international food prices

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 Agriculture Ministers from around the world would Monday, 7 October assemble at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome for the second ministerial meeting to brainstorm on international food prices.

NaijaAgroNet gathered from a news briefing hosted by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silvawith that some 40 ministers and deputy ministers have confirmed their participation in the forum that is meant to pool knowledge on how to enhance the effectiveness of measures to address food security problems caused by international food price volatility.

It will recalled that the first meeting on food price volatility was held in October 2012 in response to the third spike in international grain prices in five year, although prices of cereals and oilseeds on international markets have fallen from the peaks reached in July 2012, they remain high and there are concerns that markets continue to be vulnerable to supply shocks.

“The event will be held on the first day of the 40th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), even though  the ministerial meeting is not part of CFS, it will allow CFS delegates to follow the proceedings,” he said.

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