PAA Africa helps promote local agricultural

NaijaAgroNet:

The ongoing Purchase from Africans for Africa programme (PAA Africa) in five African countries is helping to promote local Agriculture in Africa report NaijaAgroNet.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the programme is structured on Brazil's achievements in fighting hunger and poverty and is implemented by five countries, namely Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal coupled with some technical control and expertise from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Florence Tartanac of FAO's rural infrastructure and agro-industries division said the PAA Africa programme contribute towards government efforts to combat rural poverty as it is shows in developing countries how the purchasing of produce from family farmers frequently among the most marginalized groups adds more value to the local market.

"Public purchasing from local producers adds value to local markets by integrating small scale family farmers and by channeling demand in this case from schools for their produce, contributing to food security and diversity."
 
While the government do the planning and policy aspects, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides technical assistance for them, as the Financial support for the work comes from the Brazilian government and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) while its experts work with  family farmers.

Chidozie Anibueze/GEE
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UN calls for urgent actions against food price hike

The United Nations (UN) agencies have called for swift and coordinated international actions in a bid to maintain stable prices for food stocks.

In a press statement jointly prepared by three UN agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) made available to NaijaAgroNet, revealed the need to maintain food price so that it does not turn to a catastrophe.

This, the agencies said, could hurt tens of millions over the coming months, and that the problems of some high food prices must be solved as well as the long-term issue of how we produce and consume.

Also, the agencies, disclosed that the food price hike does not affect every country in same way that the urban, rural poor and those in food import-dependent countries are most vulnerable to the international increase in prices as the listed categories spent a larger part of their incomes on food.

Findings by the bodies affirmed that although some smallholder farmers fall into the category of poor and food insecure that they can powered to take the food price hike advantages by becoming part of the solution and improve the overall food security.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that part of initiatives employed by the UN agencies comprise the UN High-Level Task Force on Global Food Security and Agricultural Markets Information System (AMIS), to improve transparency in the global food market.

Also part of the initiative, the Rapid Response Forum was set up to facilitate coordinated policy responses by the major world producers and traders of key cereals and soybeans.

WFP made an estimation of extra $200 million, about N31.6 billion per year for food assistance for every 10 per cent increase in food price; everyone is vulnerable as global grain production in a good year is not enough to meet the growing demand for food.

 

 Yinka Awosanya/LS

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