Climate crisis fuels drought, severe hunger across Horn of Africa - NaijaAgroNet

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The climate crisis is fueling one of the worst droughts on record across the Horn of Africa, with up to 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to ActionAid’s emergency teams, with millions of people still recovering from the devastating drought that hit the region in 2017, a large-scale response is urgently needed to avert a catastrophic food and malnutrition crisis.

Public funding can’t end poverty, hunger - NaijaAgroNet

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Public funding alone has been identified as not being enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and development even as international financing institutions must collaborate more strategically to leverage private investments, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was the seemingly consensus of over 200 investors, business leaders, representatives from multilateral development institutions, and policy-makers and government officials from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas in attendance at 2018 Global Forum.

NaijaAgroNet reports that the Forum supported by the European Union and organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), estimates that incremental resources of up to USD 265 billion a year are needed to end poverty and hunger by 2030. This is 0.3 per cent of the average projected world income for the period.

"With the 2030 deadline approaching fast, development and international financial institutions must work together with the private sector to find durable solutions to major development challenges such as poverty, climate change and migration. That means creating environments where innovation can flourish and where private investors have incentives to contribute to inclusive economic growth and environmental sustainability," said EBRD's President Sir Suma Chakrabarti.

Food and agriculture systems face daunting challenges - from having to produce more with less to feed a growing planet, to shrinking the sector's carbon footprint, to creating decent employment opportunities, especially for youth in developing countries.

"FAO is custodian of 21 of the SDG's indicators, and can play a key role in helping the private sector to shape and monitor their contributions to these sustainability goals. We are also committed to promoting more enabling environments for private investment in sustainable agrifood systems, while also making sure those finances reach where they are needed most," FAO's Deputy Director-GeneralDaniel Gustafson said.

"One encouraging trend - already visible in the agriculture sector - is impact investing, in which private investors are investing in initiatives that generate profits as well as social and environmental impacts," Gustafson added.

According to a survey by the Global Impact Investment Network, the world's leading impact investors collectively manage over USD 228 billion in impact assets. That is more than the amount of public funding available in 2017 through official development assistance.

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AfDB, partners to lift 1 billion people out of hunger globally - NaijaAgroNet

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The African Development Bank called on global partners to join hands to lift one billion people worldwide out of hunger and said it was leading the way by investing US$24 billion in African agriculture over the next 10 years in the largest such effort ever, reports NaijaAgroNet.

“We are not winning the war against global hunger,” Bank President Akinwumi Adesina told an agriculture conference at Purdue University in Indianapolis on Tuesday, 25 September.

“We must not get carried away,” he added, referring to statistics showing a decline in the global population living on less than two dollars per day. In reality, the number of hungry people in the world had increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016, he said citing the latest World Food Security and Nutrition data.

Adesina told the audience that included researchers, implementing organizations, business leaders, policymakers and donors that simple technical and scientific methods were already making a whole difference to farm yields and income in Africa. While such technologies to deliver Africa’s green revolution exist, they are mostly just sitting on the shelves, he said.

“The release of water efficient maize varieties now allows farmers to harvest good yields in the face of moderate drought,” he noted. “Today, rice varieties exist that can give yields of 8 tonnes per ha. Cassava varieties exist with yields of up to 80 tonnes per ha. Heat tolerant and disease resistant livestock and technologies for ramping up aquaculture exist.”

Bank experts put current comparative yields at 1.5-2 tonnes per ha for rice and 10-15 tonnes per ha for cassava.

What was needed urgently was deployment of supportive policies to ensure technologies are cascaded down to millions of farmers. “All Africa needs to do is to harness the available technologies with the right policies and rapidly raise agricultural productivity and incomes for farmers and assure lower food prices for consumers.”

The Bank has launched its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), a $1 billion initiative to extend the use of farm technologies. TAAT is currently engaging seed companies, public and private entities, and financial institutions in 27 countries to make technology available to a total of 40 million African farmers.

Combining targeted subsidies for farmers with a market-based system for rapidly expanding access to financing for farmers and agricultural value chains is the fastest way to get many people out of poverty to a sustained pathway for economic growth, Adesina added.

The conference on “ Scaling Up Agricultural Technologies for Transformation” (http://bit.ly/2NK3XL5) marked Adesina’s fond return to his alma mater.

“It was here, as a graduate student, that I began the journey of searching for ways to get technologies into the hands of millions of farmers,” he said. Adesina was to go on to make a huge impact on the transformation of agriculture in Africa, including implementing game-changing policies in his years as Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development before taking up his post at the Bank in September 2015.

Adesina said the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa needed particularly urgent intervention due to the ravages of climate change. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that Africa will add 38 million to its number of hungry people by 2050 as a result of climate change.  The Institute forecasts that Africa will experience major food shortages by 2020 and beyond, while malnutrition will be on the rise over the next 20 years.

The Bank’s ongoing initiatives had the objectives of growing income for farmers, stabilizing prices for staple crops, reducing losses and stimulating multiplier effects in local economies.  With its Staple Crop Processing Zones and other initiatives, the Bank is demonstrating how this can be done.

“The African Development Bank put feeding Africa as one of its topmost priorities when it launched its Feed Africa strategy (http://bit.ly/2Q7A04c) in 2015 and is investing $ 24 billion in agriculture for Africa over 10 years – the largest ever such effort,” the Bank President said. Across Africa, the Feed Africa Strategy (http://bit.ly/2Q9GnUv) is supporting the development of policies, markets, infrastructure and institutions that will ensure that agricultural value chains are well developed and that technologies reach several millions of farmers.

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Sahel’s hunger attracts UN Food chiefs head to Niger in support - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Three heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are headed to Niger on a three-day working visit between 15-18 August 2018, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This visit, NaijaAgroNet gathered will see these chiefs highlighting regional efforts to address the critical food and nutrition security situation in the Sahel.

The trio including FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo, and WFP Executive Director David Beasley, will meet Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou as well as Prime Minister Brigi Rafini and other members of the country’s government.

They will also visit several projects where collaboration among FAO, IFAD  WFP, the Government of Niger and other partners, is providing people with new opportunities to feed their families, earn an income and build more resilient livelihoods through agricultural activities.

These initiatives illustrate the need to closely link humanitarian and development assistance within the context of building peace in the region. Similarly, FAO, IFAD and WFP are supporting the Government of Niger’s “les nigériens nourissent les nigériens” (Nigeriens feed Nigieriens) initiative which aims to reduce poverty and build resilience to food crises.

In Niger, as in many parts of the Sahel, climate shocks have resulted in recurring droughts with devastating impacts on the region’s already vulnerable populations, particularly those relying on crop and livestock production for their livelihoods and survival.

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

FAO reiterates support to eradicate hunger, malnutrition - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reiterated support to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, especially in Portuguese-speaking countries, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva disclosed this in Cape Verde, Monday, as part of efforts at consolidating the National Councils of Food and Nutritional Security function.

He pointed out to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) that in the implementation of their Regional Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition to eradicate hunger and will ensure adequate food in the lusophone countries.

He stressed that FAO will continue to support the work of the National Food and Nutritional Security Councils (CONSAN), that have been set up in seven of the bloc’s nine member states (Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste, Guinea-Bisau and, as of last week, Portugal)) and said he hoped that both Angola and Equatorial Guinea would follow their example.

"National Councils are fundamental to promote better governance of the Regional Strategy and an inclusive dialogue between the various governmental and non-governmental actors," said Graziano da Silva, addressing the Second Meeting of the Food and Nutrition Security Council of the CPLP taking place this week in Cape Verde.

"Today, more than ever, it is essential to listen to and consider the opinions of international organizations, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians, research institutes and the academic world," he added.  Graziano da Silva reiterated that only by working together, the international community will be able to overcome the challenges for sustainable development and ensure that no one is left behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Ulisses Correia e Silva, Prime Minister of Cape Verde, emphasized the importance of raising the status of CONSAN as an advisory body to CPLP Heads of State and Government, suggesting that is regular meetings always be held on the sidelines of CPLP summits.

The Santa Maria Declaration adopted today by CONSAN-CPLP recognized Graziano da Silva’s work and leadership as FAO Director-General and his efforts to make it a more efficient and effective organization in support of member states for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The community of Portuguese-speaking countries includes Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor Leste.

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

Set up food banks to counter hunger - Guber Aspirant

NaijaAgroNet:

The governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Mr Olawale Rasheed, has called on state governments across the country to set up food banks to cushion the growing hunger in the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was contained in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet on the occasion of #WorldFoodDay, the aspirant lamented that hunger among the populace is widening and poses serious threat to societal stability and democratic sustainability.

"I urge state leaders to set up food banks across local governments to hand out weekly food ration to the poor of the poor and thousands of our food -deprived fellow citizens. The situation is critical especially at the grassroots.

" A food bank operated in conjunction with non-governmental organisations  will go a long way to alleviate the food crisis and provides succor to thousands of our citizens . It does not cost much and it will also serve to boost local economy as food materials will be sourced from local markets" he said.

The media entrepreneur explained further that "many among the citizenry needs help and a critical step is to offer food lifeline to allow the weak to re-plan their lives without hunger as immediate threat.

"Our leaders are widely travelled. Across Europe and elsewhere, food bank is an integral part of the society because their leaders recognise the need to cater for the poor. As Governor of Osun state, food bank will become operational a month after my assumption of office" the former ministerial adviser said.

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7m people may suffer severe hunger in Lake Chad Basin region

NaijaAgroNet:

Estimated 7 million people may suffer severe hunger in the Lake Chad Basin region, including northeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking during a visit to Lake Chad Basin, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mr. José Graziano da Silva, this region requires immediate food and livelihood assistance.

"The situation we have now is largely due to the conflicts and armed groups that have devastated the lives and livelihoods across the whole of Lake Chad region. It is like an opportunistic infection, which is largely taking advantage of an already weak body from underlying problems of environmental degradation, related droughts, low investment in rural development and limited employment and livelihood opportunities for young men and women. We need to work on the symptoms by restoring peace and treat the disease by making the body stronger. This is all about resilience," Graziano da Silva said.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet reports that over 1 million returnees and the majority of internally displaced people in areas which have recently become relatively strife-free, have access to land and may benefit from the forthcoming rainy season starting in May 2017 should sufficient agriculture support be provided.

"Protracted conflict has eroded coping capacities, exhausted livelihoods and left people with no way to feed themselves and their families.  Agriculture cannot be an afterthought. More than 80 percent of people rely on farming, fishing and herding for their livelihoods," the FAO Director-General said.

NaijaAgroNet reports that Graziano da Silva during his visit, met local farmers on several FAO supported farms in Gongolong and Old Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria's Borno State.

He was accompanied by the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh.

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UN cautions on why hunger may not end by 2030

NaijaAgroNet:

The latest study by the United Nations (UN) agency, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has cautioned on why hunger may not end by 2030 after all, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The study entitled “The Future of Food and Agriculture: Trends and Challenges” the UN agency noted that mankind's future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to intensifying pressures on natural resources, mounting inequality, and the fallout from a changing climate.

Pointed out though that very real and significant progress in reducing global hunger has been achieved over the past 30 years, "expanding food production and economic growth have often come at a heavy cost to the natural environment."

Emphasising that "Almost one half of the forests that once covered the Earth are now gone. Groundwater sources are being depleted rapidly. Biodiversity has been deeply eroded," it notes.

Sounding the cautions, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva in his introduction to the report, noted that as a result, "planetary boundaries may well be surpassed, if current trends continue."

By 2050, NaijaAgroNet gathered, humanity ranking is expected to likely have grown to nearly 10 billion people.

FAO further said that in a scenario with moderate economic growth, this population increase will push up global demand for agricultural products by 50 per cent over present levels projects, noting that  ‘The Future of Food and Agriculture,’ intensifying pressures on already-strained natural resources.

At the same time, greater numbers of people will be eating fewer cereals and larger amounts of meat, fruits, vegetables and processed food — a result of an ongoing global dietary transition that will further add to those pressures, driving more deforestation, land degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Alongside these trends, the planet's changing climate will throw up additional hurdles. "Climate change will affect every aspect of food production," the report says. These include greater variability of precipitation and increases in the frequency of droughts and floods.

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Hunger crisis deepens in Nigeria’s northeast, rolls over into Lake Chad Basin

NaijaAgroNet:

As conflict and instability continue in the Nigeria’s North-eaast, the food security situation in the country and the Lake Chad Basin has drastically deteriorated, says the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, the agency also called for swift and decisive action from the international community to protect the livelihoods of millions of families dependent on farming, livestock and fishing for their food and livelihoods. 

With the next planting season starting in May, FAO noted that with scarcity of animal fodder and water points during the lean season, it is crucial that crop seeds, tools and livestock support reach families urgently to limit the scope of the deepening crisis that now involves four countries; Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.  

FAO is among the UN agencies and governments attending the Oslo Humanitarian Conference today, organized to mobilize international funding for the crisis-struck region, where 80 to 90 percent of people rely on farming, fishing and herding for their livelihoods.

The Director, FAO's Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, Dominique Burgeon, said that in the worst-affected areas, famine continues to loom and millions will remain trapped in cycles of severe hunger if the world don't enable farmers to start cropping now.

"Our collective efforts cannot be limited to merely avoiding massive famine - they need to allow people to return to a dignified life. And supporting agriculture is the key to both," he said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that besides reducing hunger and boosting nutrition, FAO’s Burgeon said, investing in farmers also provides much needed job opportunities that would reduce migration and limit the potential for radicalization of unemployed youth.

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Hunger looms in Horn of Africa – UN agency

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has pronounced that with continued drought, that another hunger season looms in the Horn of Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO also said that the subregion needs agricultural support in order to protect livestock, equip families to plant in rainy season.

According to FAO, countries in the Horn of Africa are likely to see a rise in hunger and further decline of local livelihoods in the coming months, as farming families struggle with the knock-on effects of multiple droughts that hit the region this year.

This is coming as the growing numbers of refugees in East Africa, meanwhile, are expected to place even more burden on already strained food and nutrition security.

NaijaAgroNet gathered from FAO in an official statement made available to correspondent, that currently, about 12 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are in need of food assistance, as families in the region face limited access to food and income, together with rising debt, low cereal and seed stocks, and low milk and meat production. Terms of trade are particularly bad for livestock farmers, as food prices are increasing at the same time that market prices for livestock are low.

Farmers in the region, the UN agency said, need urgent support to recover from consecutive lost harvests and to keep their breeding livestock healthy and productive at a time that pastures are the driest in years. 

“Production outputs in the three countries are grim,” part of the statement read.

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Political will needed to fight against hunger

NaijaAgroNet:

The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared that the fight against hunger is essentially a political issue, reports NaijaAgroNet.

"Italy maintains that the fight for food security is, at this point in history, a question of politics with a capital ‘P'," he said while speaking at a session  in Rome to mark the 2016 World Food Day.

He also said, that the international community needs to urgently address the problems of inequality and injustice.

“Italy would strive to ensure that these themes are at the top of the international agenda, including at two important events in March next year: the G7 summit, which Italy will host and preside and a meeting of European Union leaders,

Renzi noted that Europe should reject a "culture of waste". Italy recently passed a new law aimed at curbing food waste, one that was based, "more on collaboration and less on punishment".

Another keynote speaker at the ceremony, Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco, whose country is hosting next month's COP22 climate talks, said these would be "action-oriented" and geared towards implementing the Paris Agreement.

"The Moroccan Presidency will seek to nurture and promote the spirit of mobilization which prevailed in Paris in terms of increasing climate funding, developing expertise and ensuring the transfer of technology. It will lay special emphasis on adaptation, primarily for the countries of the South and for Small Island States." Princess Hasnaa said.

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NEPAD, Pardee Zero Hunger report for launch

NaijaAgroNet:

The chief executive officer of NEPAD Agency, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, would lead a group of expert speakers to launch the NEPAD PARDEE Zero Hunger study on Tuesday in South Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to the Senior Communications Officer, NEPAD Agency, Ms Mwanja Ng’anjo, the launch will herald the efforts of agency towards eliminating hunger in Africa by 2025.

Dr. Mayaki would be joined on Tuesday, September 13, at the Conference room, ISS Pretoria, Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria, South Africa, by Dr Jakkie Cilliers , Head, African Futures and Innovation, ISS, Jay Naidoo, GAIN, Dr Lindiwe Sibanda, FARNPAN, and Chris Nikoi, Regional Director, World Food Progrramme (WFP).

She also said that the new report by the NEPAD Agency and the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures analyses the ‘conditions for success’ if Africa is to achieve the target set by African Union in Agenda 2063 and the 2014 Malabo Declaration on agriculture transformation.

The study, she said, puts the magnitude of the task into perspective and highlights the major levers in policy, investment, technology as well as human and institutional capacity needed to sustain access to food.

This launch, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is hosted jointly with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordination Agency (NEPAD Agency) and the Pardee Center for International Futures. 

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FAO, 4 Nobel laureates join forces against hunger, violence

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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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SOS: Ethiopia farmers need $10m to provide seeds

NaijaAgroNet:

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.

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War against hunger: Africa inaugurates Centre for Agric Innovation

NaijaAgroNet:

Hunger and poverty may soon be a thing of history in Africa, courtesy the Green Innovation Center, which was inaugurated at AfricaRice in Benin early this month; NaijaAgroNet reports.

The centre aims to boost agricultural productivity, increase the incomes of smallholder farmers and create job opportunities, particularly for youth and women in African countries namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.

The Green Innovation Center is supported by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in partnership with other institutions such as Benin Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and AfricaRice.

BMZ has given 2.7 million euros (almost US$3 million) to AfricaRice to implement the centre’s activities in 2016 and 2017, according to Bernard Marc Winfried, a knowledge management specialist at AfricaRice.

He also said that in Benin the initiative would facilitate the exchange of knowledge and interaction between researchers and development experts in 17 communities, stressing that the centre will strengthen the agricultural innovation system by promoting partnerships and developing an operational framework for innovation.

Minister for BMZ Gerd Müller, said during the inauguration that agriculture does not only need water and fertiliser but also needs knowledge and innovation. 

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pix; center plague