Legumes important crops for food security - FAO boss

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, has said that legumes are important crops for food security of a good part of world population, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Silva made this statement while announcing 2016 as International Year of Legumes, with beans in the leading role. Under the slogan Nutritional Seeds for a Sustainable Future, it will deal with an international campaign to raise awareness of its benefits and promote its production and trade, besides encouraging new and more intelligent uses in all the food chain for their protein content and its health benefits.

According to FAO there are hundreds of varieties of legumes all over the world and says the most popular of its dry bean varieties like the haricot beans, Lima beans and little beans, besides chick peas and coupes.

Graziano da Silva underlined the fixing nitrogen properties of legumes that can improve soil fertility, increasing at the same time the productivity of arable lands, which also raises productivity of the lands and eliminates dependency on synthetic fertilizers, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

Such conditions lead to a lesser trail of carbon and, indirectly, to less emission of greenhouse gases, he assured.

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in a communique read in his name during the ceremony of presentation, NaijaAgroNet learnt, expressed the view that legumes may contribute significantly to treat hunger, food security, malnutrition, environmental challenges and human health.

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FAO’s trade-weighted index rose by 3.9%

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO’s) trade-weighted index which tracks prices on global markets of five major food commodity groups, rose by 3.9 per cent over the previous month of September, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to FAO information portal, the agency cut its forecast for world production of grains, including rice, this year by 4.7m tonnes to 2.53bn tonnes, reflecting in the main “less buoyant expectations” for corn output in Asia and Ukraine thanks to dry weather.

The FAO, NaijaAgroNet gathered, said the forecast reduction reflects “dimmer expectations” about maize crops in India and Ukraine due to recent adverse weather.

Intensifying concerns that El Niño may hamper next year’s palm oil supply in Indonesia, coupled with slow progress in soybean plantings in Brazil, due also to unfavourable weather, spurred a 6.2 increase in the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index,

Global cereal stocks are expected to stay at a reasonable level since wheat inventories worldwide are continuing to rise, now standing at their highest level seen in 15 years.
The FAO’s sugar price index rose 17.2 per cent from September because of fears of heavy rains in the main sugar-growing regions of Brazil and concerns of drought in India and Thailand.

On the other hand, NaijaAgroNet  learnt, the agency said prices of rice remained low although the cereals sub-index increased modestly by 1.7 per cent month-on-month, adding that meat is an extension of overall price stability that has been evident since March of this year.

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South Sudan 3.9m citizens face severe hunger– UN

NaijaAgroNet:

Three United Nations agencies haveraised alarm thatestimated3.9 million South Sudanese now face severe hunger, NaijaAgroNetreports.

These agencies include Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

This was revealed in a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis made available to NaijaAgroNet, which although noted that the number of food insecure households has decreased - as expected - during the harvest season, it is almost 80 per cent higher than in the same period last year, as even people living in states not directly affected by conflict with its long-term effects, erratic rainfall, depleted livelihood options, high food prices, fuel costs and inflation, equally experience the downturn in a generally degraded economic environment.

They called on the parties to the conflict to grant urgent and unrestricted access to Unity State, where a newly released Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis shows that at least 30 000 people are living in extreme conditions and are facing starvation and death.  

Since the war in South Sudan began nearly two years ago, NaijaAgroNet learnt,it is the first time that an IPC analysis has found any parts of the population in phase five (catastrophe) on the five-point IPC scale.

 “This is the start of the harvest and we should be seeing a significant improvement in the food security situation across the country, but unfortunately this is not the case in places like southern Unity State, where people are on the edge of a catastrophe that can be prevented,” said WFP Country Director, ,Joyce Luma. “The people of South Sudan need peace, nutritious food and other humanitarian assistance and livelihood support to survive and rebuild their lives," she stated.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that unless unrestricted humanitarian access is urgently granted, the food insecurity could deteriorate to famine in parts of Unity State, where humanitarian assistance has been hampered by the dreadful violence and lack of access in recent months. Some displaced families say they survive on just one meal a day consisting of only fish and water lilies.

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CFS side-event: Da Silva, Le Foll call for paradigm shift, curb global warming

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisaion (FAO) Director-General, Graziano da Silva, has called for a paradigm shift towards agriculture and food systems that are more adapted to climate change, if the Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA) by 2030 will be achieved, NaijaAgroNet reports.

"We can end extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. We know what works and we have the tools for it, but we know climate change threatens to derail our efforts. It is already impacting on food security and making hunger eradication even more difficult.

"We believe that agriculture in the broad sense - including forestry, fisheries and aquaculture - can and must play a central role in addressing climate change, particularly in adapting its impacts, such as water scarcity, soil salinity or increasing pests and diseases of plants and animals," he added.

  

On his part, the French Minister for Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, said that every man and woman on the planet would bear the consequences "if the world's leaders cannot find agreement on tangible and concrete objectives" to curb global warming, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Noting that agriculture is often viewed as a problem due to its role in greenhouse-gas emissions, Le Foll called for the need to make progress with techniques that "allow us to be more economical and consume less energy."

"But anyone who looks at agriculture cannot just sit back and sort out the problem with scientific measures...because the technology must be combined with the social aspect," Le Foll said, adding: "We need to revise our agriculture model to adapt to each ecosystem, we need a revolution that is going to use natural mechanisms to benefit production."

Graziano da Silva and Le Foll made their appeals at a side event of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) which is meeting in Rome this week. They both urged countries to find an agreement on how to combat climate change ahead of the 7-8 December United Nations climate change conference, COP21, in Paris.

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New SDAs to end hunger by 2030

NaijaAgroNet:

 

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director General, Graziano da Silva, has said that the Sustainable Development Agenda's goals (SDAs) approved at last month's United Nations summit will end hunger by 2030,NaijaAgronet reports.

The agenda has eradication of hunger as one of its core goals. Its approval at last month's United Nations summit "brings new momentum to our efforts," Silva told delegates at the CFS plenary.

"Now the world has a set date to end hunger, to achieve food security and to end malnutrition in all its forms. I do not doubt that we can become the Zero Hunger generation.

"Building consensus takes time, but it helps things move faster later," he added, noting that FAO, often working with the World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, is already putting the framework's principles into practice.

The CFS opened its plenary October12, marking the first international gathering on food security and nutrition since global leaders approved the Sustainable Development Agenda's goal, NaijaAgroNet.

The CFS is aninter-governmental body that serves as a forum for the review and follow up of food security and nutrition policies.

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FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries makes sector sustainable

NaijaAgroNet:

The Code of Conduct for responsible Fisheries has in the last two decades played a key role in making fisheries more sustainable, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The code made it possible by setting universal standards to guide governments and private actors in conserving and managing the world’s ocean resources.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that Fisheries ministers, experts and representatives of civil society groups and the private sector will gather in Vigo, Spain, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and discuss the state and future of global fisheries.

FAO is partnering with Spain’s Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Environment, and leading Spanish trade association Conxemar on a series of events at this year’s International Fisheries Stakeholders Forum taking place on October 8 to 9, 2015 where discussions will focus on the importance of responsible ocean governance for global food security.

Among other issues billed for discussion at the forum include: expanding role of fish farms, improving seafood safety and traceability, reducing food waste and illegal fishing, and sustainably harnessing marine resources for economic growth.

A press statement by FAO said session will explore ways to develop a global integrated approach to combat illegal fishing, including the role of surveillance systems and consumer awareness, global trends and trade regimes, along with issues of growth and sustainability, including food waste. 

Overview of world production in fisheries and aquaculture, implications for food security and nutrition, the role of scientific knowledge as tool for fisheries management for the future, are all part of a rolled out programme for the Forum, NaijaAgroNet.

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