Bank Ki-moon, da Silva call for pro-family farming policies

The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, have called on the international community for commitments during International Year of Family Farming, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They made this call while speaking in support of small-scale family farmers, urging governments to boost support to the world’s small-scale family farmers in order to win the fight against hunger.

Mr. Ban said the International Year of Family Farming being celebrated in 2014 called “for commitments” in a message relayed by Graziano da Silva to the Global Forum and Expo on Family Farming in Budapest.

“Governments can empower family farmers, especially women and youth, by creating policies conducive to equitable and sustainable rural development,” Ban said. “This includes better infrastructure to reduce the amount of food lost after harvest when small-scale producers are unable to store, process and transport their goods.”

The UN Secretary-General also encouraged public and private lenders to provide vital financial services such as credit and insurance.

Ban warned that small-scale family farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate change events such as extreme weather, droughts and floods.

Pro-family farming policies

In his address to the forum, Graziano da Silva echoed the UN Secretary-General in urging governments to adopt explicitly pro-family farming policies.

He underlined that family farmers, fisher folk, forest-dependent people, pastoralists and traditional and indigenous communities are key for food security in most countries but at the same time are among the world’s most vulnerable populations.

A recent study of 93 countries shows that family farms account for over 90 percent of all farm holdings, he told the forum.

Family farmers also manage most of the world’s farm land, including 63 percent in Europe, he said.

“Apart from producing a high proportion of the food we eat, family farmers are by far the biggest source of employment in the world,” the Director-General stressed, adding that they are also the guardians of the world’s agro-biodiversity and natural resources.

... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Agriculture, an information intensive industry-Johnson

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, has acknowledged that agriculture is an information intensive industry.

Speaking in Abuja, recently Mrs. Johnson NaijaAgroNet confirmed that agriculture employs the 

highest number of people, with the highest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Also, she said, ICT is the fastest growing sector in the economy today with increasing rate of contribution to GDP from 5.3 per cent in 2011 to about 8 per cent in first quarter of 2013.

“At every point in time in the agricultural value chain there can be an application of technology and that varies from information systems including DSS/MSS/GIS etc., ICT-enabled learning and knowledge exchange, modelling solutions, sensory and proximity devices, ICT-enabled networking solutions, online commerce tools (eCommerce/mCommerce),” she said.

Omobola explained that the Federal Government saved N25billion in 2012 through the e-wallet programme of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Growth Enhancement Support Scheme, while Nokia Life which is a Nokia proprietary initiative complements the extension services to farmers as it gives information to farmers on weather, soil and so on.

NaijaAgroNet gathered from the Minister that ICTs are becoming the channel by which inputs such as fertilizer are distributed to about 10 million farmers registered in 2012 and the e-wallet programme has helped in making sure that the farmers get these inputs at the right time and in the right quantities.

Based on this fact, it was discovered that ICTs through various interventions had made way for more efficient markets between buyers and sellers both locally and internationally.

However, the CommTech Minister said, that to get the full force of ICT in agriculture the connectivity gap, innovation gap and market gap have to be filled because about 50 per cent of rural population is not connected to any network at all, and  that the ministry is using ICTs to increase the attractiveness of the agric sector. 

NaijaAgroNet.. Linking agrobiz, people & technology
pix:Minister, Communication Technology,Mrs Omobola Johnson