To improve access to safe water, the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to have a holistic revitalization of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for the residents.
Search NaijaAgroNet
Showing posts with label USAID. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USAID. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Safe water: Lagos, USAID to improve access, supply - NaijaAgroNet
NaijaAgroNet:
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Friday, July 7, 2017
USAID lifts African CNC with agro transformation grant
The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) is advancing undisclosed grant to the Africa Lead II and the CAADP Non-State
Actors Coalition (CNC) in support of initial CAADP four countries including
Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.
This was a key resolution from the just ended meeting of Africa
Lead II and the CAADP Non-State Actors Coalition (CNC) in Ghana.
The grant is to support CAADP in Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda,
and Kenya in the first phase.
The official communique from the meeting made available to NaijaAgroNet
invited interested organizations to submit a brief concept paper in order to
earn the chance to apply for resources and support, build relationships and
networks with key actors in CAADP, and put their idea into action.
The grant activities, NaijaAgroNet
reports, would help to create and effectively bring about approaches towards
improving citizen engagement in national food security investment priorities as
outlined by the CAADP themes.
NaijaAgroNet equally reports that
interested non-state actors should submit proposals with focus on aligning Non-State Actors (NSA) programme
design and development to the CAADP agenda to support relevant National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP)
priorities.
Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that proposal should include on how to
make use of agricultural performance data relevant to specific CAADP themes for
advocacy and strategic communication purposes; and ready to generate relevant
data sets to support the ongoing monitoring of CAADP progress.
“Applicants may propose new projects or scale up small
projects that have demonstrated success. Awardees will be expected to share
evaluation results and key lessons, and periodically disseminate activities and
outcomes with the broader community. If
your organization is working towards creative solutions for these objectives in
Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, or Senegal, please review the application and submit
your idea,” our source told NaijaAgroNet.
Chuks Egbune/GEE ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
USAID, FAO sign $15m MoU to boost agro data collection
The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have signed a $15 million Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) to boost the capacity of developing countries to track
key agricultural data -information that is essential to good policy making,
reports NaijaAgroNet.
This MoU, NaijaAgroNet gathered will assist in tracking
progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly
considering the second goal of SDGs which is to end hunger, achieve
food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
Director-General at FAO, José Graziano da Silva, said that in the decades to come, humanity will need to produce more food for a growing population using natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity in a sustainable way, while coping with the challenges imposed by climate change.
"Our ability to boost food yields sustainably and meet the SDG hunger eradication target will hinge on the availability of better, cost-effective and timely statistical data for agriculture and rural areas" he said.
The Assistant to the Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for
Food Security and Deputy Coordinator for Development for the U.S. Government’s
Feed the Future initiative, Beth Dunford, said that they are pleased to have
the opportunity to collaborate with the FAO on this important endeavor that
will help build sustainable agricultural and food systems.
“Strong national data systems are critical for governments
and private sector actors to make informed and smart decisions that foster food
security and economic prosperity. Our work with FAO under the Feed the Future
initiative builds on years of success and lessons learned, and is essential to
bring about the types of data systems to support the more catalytic investments
needed to achieve a food-secure world by 2030” she said.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
USAID supports Asia, Africa, Middle East with N17.33b
The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced further $87
million, about N17.33 billion to combat
pandemic animal disease threats in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, reports NaijaAgroNet.
.
The funding which backs the Food and
Agricultural Organisation (FAO) efforts to combat global animal disease, covers
the 2015-19 period and is expected be channeled into monitoring and
surveillance, epidemiological studies, prevention and control activities as
well as improving veterinary capacities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and
promoting links between animal health specialists and the public health sector.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, NaijaAgroNet gathered, thanked the U.S. for its support and longstanding partnership.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, NaijaAgroNet gathered, thanked the U.S. for its support and longstanding partnership.
"This shows how important
transboundary diseases are for FAO and the UN system, and how much more
important they will be in the future if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development
Goals. Millions of people rely on livestock for survival, income and nutrition,
and their livelihoods must be protected," he said.
The Director, Global Health Security
and Development with USAID's Bureau for Global Health, Dennis Carroll, said:
"We are pleased by what our partnership with FAO for emerging pandemic
threats has so far achieved, and the important contribution FAO's work is
making to the U.S. Global Health Security Agenda programme to address threats
posed by the natural emergence of new diseases and the intentional and/or
accidental release of dangerous pathogens.
The latest USAID contribution of $87
million to FAO, NaijaAgroNet learnt,
will further strengthen the programme and partnership between our two
organizations, and build upon the good work already underway in the second
phase of the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats program (EPT-2).
Nearly $50 million of this contribution will
support the global fight against the Ebola virus by building global capacity to
prevent, detect, and respond to future outbreaks and prevent them from becoming
epidemics."
Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Friday, April 10, 2015
Sirleaf, Malac; Inaugurates Industrial Rice Processing Facility
Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, President of Liberia, will today officially inaugurate Liberia’s first industrial rice processing and
warehousing facility, Fabrar Liberia Inc., in Kakata, Margibi County, alongside
U.S Ambassador to Liberia, Deborah Malac, NiajaAgroNet reports.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that with financial and
technical support from the U.S. Government through the USAID Food and
Enterprise Development (USAID FED) program and private equity financing from
West Africa Venture Fund in 2014, Fabrar Liberia Inc. was able to procure an
automated rice processing plant and expand its warehouse facilities.
The USAID FED Program, NaijaAgroNet learnt is implemented
in six counties: Bong, Nimba, Lofa, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado and
aims to reduce hunger and promote food security by increasing agricultural
productivity and profitability of food crops (rice, cassava, vegetables, and
goats), stimulating enterprise development and building agriculture workforce.
As against the previous supply of rice entirely
by foreign imports due to a lack of domestic supply, NaijaAgroNet gathered that,
the Liberia Government through the industrial rice processing and warehousing facility
and Fabrar Liberia Inc. would market rice to local consumers in Monrovia and
throughout the country.
Fabrar Liberia Inc. (Fabrar) was fully
incorporated 2009, as Liberian owned and run agriculture holding firm to tackle
food insecurity in Liberia by improving the livelihoods of farmers and
providing them with increased access to domestic and international food markets
Daniel Nsolibe/Ed, Ops.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Labels:
Bassa,
Bong,
Deborah Malac,
Ellen,
Fabrar Liberia Inc,
Grand,
industrial,
Johnson Sirleaf,
Kakata,
Liberia,
Lofa,
Margibi,
Montserrado,
NiajaAgroNet,
Nimba,
President,
rice processing,
USA Ambassador,
USAID
Thursday, January 30, 2014
USAID backs FG with N480bn agric fund
The
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the
Federal Government’s agriculture programme with $3billion, about N480bn agric
funding, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Governor,
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Lamido Sanusi, made this known in the
company of Federal Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who signed on
behalf of the Federal Government, whereas the USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv
Shah, endorsed the dotted lines for the agency.
NaijaAgroNet reports that the agreement, which was signed at the CBN headquarters in Abuja,
showed that it will enable the parties to use co-guaranties, joint technical
assistance, combined training and workshops for local banks and
agriculturally-linked enterprises to encourage the growth of the agriculture
sector in Nigeria.
Also
speaking, Shah said under the agreement, the US would immediately provide
guarantee of up to $100m in commercial lending to Nigerian banks. Stressing
that the move will help increase private financing to the sector as well as
reduce banks’ apathy to agricultural lending.
“We
are very proud of this partnership agreement because we know that in all of the
promise and success that the future holds for Nigeria; agriculture nearly 70
per cent of small scale farmers lack access to financing. Because of this
partnership, hundreds of millions of dollars will be made available so that
farmers can access and improve their production system and their processing
operations,” he said.
Equally
commenting, Adesina said the grant would help to address some of the issues
affecting lending to the sector by banks, noting that the high interest rates,
persistently decline in the quantum of lending to the sector and risk of
default.
“What this facility is going to do, and I
really commend the Central Bank governor, is to reduce the risk of lending by
banks,” he said.
Pointing
out that they were thrilled at the $8bn
investment commitment into this sector in one year and were also excited by the fact that of the N3bn
that was lent last year to seeds and fertilizer companies, the default rate was
zero per cent.
“So,
on this facility, the central bank will put out risk sharing instruments, which
will leverage the excess liquidity from the commercial banks. The total amount
that we are looking at is $3bn overtime,” he said.
Adesina
said, the amount that would be facilitated under the Nigerian Incentive-based
Risk Sharing for Agriculture Lending had about four components.
The
components are to reduce the risk faced by banks, provide technical assistance
to banks, improve the agriculture value chain and provide insurance cover.
As
said, Adesina noted that the grant is an endorsement of the fact that the Central
Bank and the banking community recognise there is a revolution on the way in
Nigeria in agriculture.
“They are ready to put significant financing behind it,” he said.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
Saturday, February 2, 2013
USAID, ECOWAS food security confab ends in Accra
The United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) have concluded a three-day conference to improve food security,
free movement and services in Accra.
Nneka Alamaeze and Sherif Ayilara/LS
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
The Ghana
News Agency (GNA) reports that the objective of the conference was to
jump-start the actions needed to unleash the full potential of regional trade
to help safeguard the region’s food security in the future.
NaijaAgroNet also
notes that the three-day conference attended by officials of civil society groups,
governments, technical partners and private institutions in West Africa had the
theme: “Food Across Borders: Improving Food Security through Regional Trade in
West Africa.”
Mr Salifou Tiemtore, Director of Customs, Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS), said there were many barriers to free movement
of goods including lack of understanding of legislation, high tariffs and
non-compliance with products.
He said a lot of countries within ECOWAS were refusing to
implement the ECOWAS regulations, saying “the lack of regional trade policy
within the sub-region is also a challenge”. Read
more
Nneka Alamaeze and Sherif Ayilara/LS
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Nigeria, USAID sign MoU, offers huge lending potentials in agric sector
The Federal Government of Nigeria and United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), today, Thursday in Abuja, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Nigerian Incentives-based Risk Sharing
system for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
Confirming this to NaijaAgroNet, the Special Assistant on
Media and Strategy to the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, said
that the MoU involved Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
(FMARD), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and USAID.
In his remarks at the ceremony, the Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was quoted as saying the MoU will
play a significant role in reformation going on in the sector, which is in line
with President Jonathan’s transformation agenda and in order to make the agric
sector attractive to lending.
Dr. Adesina, also said that the implementation of the MoU
would address the issue of low lending rate to the agriculture sector,
stressing that the effort would further get the banks to lend to the farmers as
it would reduce the risk of lending.
“NIRSAL can unlock about N300 billion into the sector but we
have to embark on significant reforms that can make the sector attractive to
lending,” he was quoted as saying in a press statement endorsed by Dr. Oyeleye
and made available to NaijaAgroNet.
Additionally, he said the MoU provides risk mitigation,
financing, trading, and other strategic assistance to agribusiness, a programme
which was launched in July 2011 in Abuja.
In his part, the CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,
said the MoU was a landmark achievement of the apex bank in its effort to
ensure enhanced agricultural sector in the country.
Sanusi noted that commercial banks, with the recent
development, would lend to farmers without much losses as the incentive would
go a long way to reduce the risk in business.
NIRSAL,: he said, will help the banks to diversify; and the
banking industry cannot develop on a sustainable basis unless it locks itself
into production.
“So, we say let’s go to agriculture, manufacturing, SMEs and
also into financial inclusion and development which is central to financial
stability,” the CBN governor said.
Sanusi further said that the apex bank would meet with the
managing directors of banks and the minister of agriculture to evaluate the
implementation and the progress so far made. Pointing out that the sector had
made progress as it accounts for four
per cent of banks portfolio as against one per cent in the last four
years.
“We save more money with what the ministry is doing with
staple crop process zones, reforms of fertiliser regime, research and
development of high yielding varieties (of crops), the whole process of
standardisation and commodity exchanges:
these are critical and necessary
steps to take and pursuits to execute
before banks can lend to agriculture,” Sanusi said.
He was optimistic that in the next one year, there would be
revolution in the sector with the introduction of NIRSAL.
USAID Administrator, Dr Rajiv Shah, observed that the
agreement would equally make agriculture a source of wealth creation in
Nigeria, adding that 70 per cent of farmers in the country lack access to
credit facility.
He expressed hope, however, that the MoU would provide
credit guarantee of about 100 million dollars of agricultural credit to
Nigerian farmers.
“We will guarantee that the agricultural sector will pay
that loan back to banks. So they will have the courage and conviction to lend
the loan to the farmers,” Shah said, emphasizing that the government of the
United States was aware of some of the works the Nigerian ministry was doing in
the agricultural sector.
As said by Shah, USAID has the markets initiative on rice,
cocoa, sorghum and maize, adding the agreement could help develop their value
chain programmes.
NIRSAL, NaijaAgroNet recalls, was established to spur
additional financing for agriculture lending based on its experience with
various guarantee programmes, including USAID’s development credit authority.
Remmy Nweke
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)