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.

Okoli Vincent/GEE

 

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Food security: UN, EU launch global network for joint assessments, coordinated action

NaijaAgroNet:

A new network to achieve joint global food-security assessments and joint responses to food crises, including those related to phenomena such as El Niño, was launched in Istanbul Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the European Union, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Global Network for Food Insecurity, Risk Reduction and Food Crises Response, NaijaAgroNet gathered, would pave the way for enhancing the impact of future responses to food crises at the global level by regularly producing, in real time, joint reports based on key analyses and containing timely response options.

According to FAO, this will prompt coordination among stakeholders and promote joint planning and joint responses to food crises, in addition, to improving learning from past crises and increase the level of transparency and availability of crucial analysis of global needs.

The "Global Network" and its outputs are public goods, available for everybody. Participation in the network will be broadened to all key stakeholders that can contribute to the analysis and/or to the response. The network’s pilot publication “Global analysis of food and nutrition security situation in food crisis hotspots 2016” is the example that a joint analysis is possible. It covers 70 countries affected by a food crisis in 2015, including chronically vulnerable countries at or above Phase 2 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). 

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Over $20m needed to rescue Nepal farmers – FAO

NaijaAgroNet

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as part of the revised United Nations (UN) Flash Appeal for Nepal has said over $20 million is urgently needed to support farmers in earthquake-hit Nepal to resume agricultural activities, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The organization seeking to starve off the threat of prolonged food insecurity facing an estimated one million people, NaijaAgroNet learnt has received only 13 per cent of the $23.4 million emergency agricultural assistance.

The disaster, according to an FAO-led Agricultural Livelihood Impact Appraisal, has disrupted agricultural activities threatening the livelihoods of rural families, hitting hard in six Nepal districts causing half of all farming households to lose nearly all of their stored crops of rice, maize, wheat and millet, with some 16 percent of cattle and 36 percent of poultry lost in the disaster creating a detrimental effect on rural household consumption and income.

A representative of FAO in Nepal, Somsak Pipoppinyo told NaijaAgroNet that two-thirds of Nepalis depend on farming for their livelihood, "agriculture is a critical priority because two-thirds of Nepalis depend on farming for their livelihoods,’ he added that,’current levels of international assistance for Nepal's earthquake-affected farmers will deliver ‘only a fraction’ of the assistance urgently required."

Somsak also stressed that there is limited window to act, noting how rice seeds have to be distributed urgently before the start of the heavy monsoon rains which are expected to arrive in the coming days.

In addition, FAO’s appraisal team, noted that the repair and functioning of irrigation systems will be critical for the winter cropping season, as well as barley and wheat seeds and recommends that the most urgent needs for the current cropping season are seeds and fertilizers, followed by irrigation, tools and technical support, as well as urgent shelter, feed water, medicine and vaccinations, for livestock breeding.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that the organization has received around $3 million for emergency relief from Belgium, Italy and Norway; which has aided it to distribute 40,000 (5 kilogram) bags of rice seeds to the six most-affected districts of Dhading, Dolakha, Gorkha, Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhupalchowk, in time for farmers to plant before the monsoon.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE

  

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Adopt Forest and Land-use policies to alleviate global hunger – IUFRO

NaijaAgroNet

International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), at a United Nations Forum on Forests in New York, called on countries with big forest-dependent population to adopt national policies and land-use strategies that support the planting of multi-functional trees to provide food, timber, fuel wood, medicine and a host of environmental services that could access safe nutritious food for all, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The Union, NaijaAgroNet gathered, estimates that some 805 million people – one in nine citizens of Earth – are undernourished, primarily in Africa and Asia. At the same time, between 1.2 and 1.5 billion people worldwide depend on forests for all or most of their diet and livelihood.  

Stepha Mcmullin, social scientist and member of the Union report’s Authors, also concurred that forests and tree-based farming systems such as agroforestry can complement agricultural production to ensure greater food security and better nutrition for some of the world's most vulnerable communities.

“If you're familiar with shade-grown coffee, then you have an idea of what agroforestry is all about. By planting fruit trees and other useful species, selectively weeding and otherwise managing the forests as intensively as any farmer might tend their fields and rotate their crops; people all over the world have created gardens that resemble natural forests in many ways, including providing suitable habitat for a diverse array of flora and fauna.” He said.

McMullin who, NaijaAgroNet gathered, advocated that forests and tree-based systems also benefit people indirectly, sited an instance in the Sahel region of Africa, noting that by planting trees, poor farmers have turned millions of acres of what had become semi-desert by the 1980s into more productive land, where trees now account for 80 per cent of average household incomes in the region, largely through shea-nut production.

Coordinator of IUFRO’s Global Forest Expert Panels initiative, Christoph Wildburger, told NaijaAgroNet that tree-based farming can help prevent climate change calamities, which is also a threat, not just to the productivity of agroforests but to conventional agricultural operations, as well.

“Large-scale crop production is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, which may occur more frequently under climate change. Science shows that tree-based farming can adapt far more better to such calamities. We know that forest already play a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change. It should also be made very clear that they also play a key role in alleviating hunger and improving nutrition.” He said.

Ultimately, lack of community control over forests and, of course, deforestation could limit the abilities of forests to enhance food security. Forest management in most countries is fragmented across different governmental agencies and administrative jurisdictions.

Daniel Nsolibe /Ed, Ops.

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UN - 34 African nation’s soil endangered

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations (UN) climate changes conference in Germany tagged “International Year of Soils” has come to an end with scientist and environmental advocates estimating that nearly a third of the world’s soil is degraded, with the figure closer to two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the one week-long conference reports that 34 of Africa’s 54 countries have over 20 percent in either the amount of land degraded or the amount of population affected by land degradation.

Emphasizing the importance of soil, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the experts view the soil as one of the most important resources obtainable, if not the most important. They further substantiate that it sustains all our agricultural and livestock food production, wood for fuel production, filters water so that we can drink it and fish can live in it, as well as useful for construction – therefore sustaining our homes and infrastructure. 

It further maintained as NaijaAgroNet learnt, that in Africa, the issue of land degradation (a decline in land quality caused by human activities) and soil fertility decline is deeply complex with intertwining and cyclical causes. These range from poverty, inadequate farming techniques, and poor inherent soil qualities to population pressure, to insecure land tenure and climate change, amongst other factors.

Stating also that if these are issues are not addressed, the cycle of poor land management will result in higher barriers to food security, agricultural development for smallholder farmers and wider economic growth for Africa.

According to Agriculture for Impact (A4I), an independent advocacy initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the economic loss as a result of land degradation is estimated at approximately N13.5 trillion ($68 billion) per annum.

It further advocates that better land management practices could deliver approximately N279 trillion ($1.4 trillion) globally in increased crop production which is 35 times the losses.  

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that a 2008 report on the “Global Assessment of Land Degradation” by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and partners offered some shocking insights and surprises into the degree of soil degradation in some African countries. 

The African countries on the UN watch list as NaijaAgroNet gathered would be the dry land African countries around the Mediterranean and Middle East and relatively small areas in the Maghreb and the Nile delta. 

The conference NaijaAgroNet gathered, advocates that the rate of soil nutrient depletion is a factor that must be considered when ranking which countries should be on the soil watch list, as an important concern directly linked to food insecurity in developing countries due to the intensification of land use for agricultural production. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that 650 people from 80 countries gathered in Germany for the conference that brought together scientists and environmental advocates to discuss climate change’s increasingly hottest topic - soil. 

Daniel Nsolibe /Ed,Ops.

  
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e-Agriculture, solution to world food crises

NaijaAgroNet:

 A forum co-convened by the United Nations (UN’s) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has hinted that guidelines to improve the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

This according to FAO officials have gains which could bring innovation in agricultural technology, ensure more efficient food production, mitigate food losses and attract the younger generation to become successful farmers – are close at hand,

FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Hiroyuki Konuma, told NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that the applications of validated e-Agriculture processes will be a great addition to innovative agricultural production, attract young generation in agriculture and help safeguard farmers from losses, especially small holders.

“These applications could range from a farmer using a smart phone to scan the barcode of a packet of certified seeds – something that could ensure quality and a fair price, to the installation of low-cost sensors at the village-level for hyper local weather information. The lack of available and correct information at the right time and in the right format is a major obstacle to many activities along the traditional agricultural value chain and this is something that e-Agriculture could help address efficiently,” he said.

Konuma also told NaijaAgroNet during the opening of an “e-Agriculture Stakeholders Consultation” attended by government officials and researchers, primarily from Asia, Africa and Near East to the three day event in the Thai capital, pointed out that the finalization of the e-Agriculture Strategy Guide and its applications for national context is ongoing.

“Countries have tried to implement e-Agriculture solutions in isolation,” Konuma pointed out. “This guide provides valuable guidelines and offers a template to implement sustainable e-Agriculture services.” Concerns over food losses due to natural disasters, or lack of timely information during planting or harvesting, along with increased pressure for food traceability – all offer entry points for the application of proven ICT interventions in agriculture

Konuma added the e-Agriculture Stakeholders Consultation is co-convened by FAO, ITU and CTA – the Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation

@Cyriacus Nnaji

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

 

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