Aquaculture to produce 2/3 global food fish supply – Report

NaijaAgroNet:

A joint research by the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPI) have shown that fish farms sub-sector is to produce two-third of the global food fish supply by 2030, reports NaijaAgroNet.

With this, NaijaAgroNet also reports that there are prospects for fisheries and aquaculture globally.

Fish farming, the tripod report equally showed has potential to provide close to two thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030 as catches from wild capture fisheries level off and demand from an emerging global middle class, especially in China, substantially increases. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the collaboration between the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted the extent of global trade in seafood which tends to flow heavily from developing to developed countries. 

According to FAO, at present 38 per cent of all fish produced in the world is exported and in value terms, over two thirds of fishery exports by developing countries are directed to developed countries.

The "Fish to 2030" report finds that a major and growing market for fish is coming from China which is projected to account for 38 percent of global consumption of food fish by 2030. 

China and many other nations are increasing their investments in aquaculture to help meet this growing demand. 

The Asia including South Asia, South-East Asia, China and Japan is projected to make up 70 per cent of global fish consumption by 2030.

Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, is expected to see a per capita fish consumption decline of 1 per cent per year from 2010 to 2030 but, due to rapid population growth of 2.3 per cent in the same period, the region's total fish consumption will grow by 30 percent overall.   

The report further predicted that 62 per cent of food fish will come from aquaculture by 2030 with the fastest supply growth likely to come from tilapia, carp, and catfish. global tilapia production is expected to almost double from 4.3 million tonnes to 7.3 million tons a year between 2010 and 2030. 

One of the report's authors Siwa Msangi of IFPRI, revealed to NaijaAgroNet that the fast-moving nature of aquaculture made this a particularly challenging sector to model and at the same time, embodies the most exciting aspect of it in terms of future prospects for transformation and technological change.

"Comparing this study to a similar study we did in 2003, we can see that growth in aquaculture production has been stronger than what we thought," Msangi said. 

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World Bank, ADB, IFAD boost agriculture with N200.3bn

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (ADB) have approved $1.23 billion, about N200.3bn to boost food production in Nigeria, according to the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr Akinwumi Adesina.

 

He disclosed this NaijaAgroNet in Abuja, during a press meeting on the activities of the ministry, saying that $900 million was approved by the World Bank, $250 million by ADB and $80 million by IFAD.   

He explained that the international community is rallying round government’s effort, saying that $500 million of $900 million obtained from the World Bank was meant for agriculture, while $400 million would support water and irrigation projects.

‘‘As you know, the World Bank has agreed to invest $900 million behind agricultural transformation in Nigeria, $500 million for agriculture and $400 million for water and irrigation. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), their board has approved the release of $80 million to Nigeria to support the agricultural transformation going on in Nigeria. The African Development Bank is considering $250 million in support of the transformation agenda on agriculture,” he said.

He further disclosed that American billionaire and philanthropist, Bill Gates, has agreed to co-opt with the eminent persons group to advise President Goodluck Jonathan on matters concerning agriculture and health in the country.

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FAOSTAT to provide a platform for food statistics

A screenshot of FAOSTAT

FAOSTAT, a new online interface designed to provide easy access to food and agricultural statistics was recently unveiled by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The online platform according to a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet has data of 245 countries and 35 regions, and would cover data from 1961 till date.

The Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Labour Organization (ILO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN Statistics Division, World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO) partnered FAO in developing the FAOSTAT portal.

Statistical analyses to be covered at the initial stage of the platform include trade, food balance sheets, food supply, population, prices, production, forestry, investment, resources and commodity balances, while greenhouse gases, food security and agri-environmental indicators are expected to be added over the next few months.

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IFAD projects in Yemen worth $230m

Nwanze, IFAD President

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has valued its projects in the west Asian country of Yemen to the tune of $230million, about N36.19 billion.

The United Nations’ specialised agency’s recent pledge to support agriculture and rural development in Yemen to the tune of $41million, brings the total investments in the country’s projects to $230million, as at September 2012

Of the total sum, $130 million was co-financed from domestic sources and the rest by external financiers, such as the European Union, International sDB and World Bank.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that some of the previous projects co-financed by IFAD in the Asian country include a $32.9, about N5.17billion Fisheries Investment Project in 2010, a project which benefited small-scale fishers, their associations as well as poor households that want to engage in aquaculture.

IFAD came up with the Fisheries investment project in a bid to improve the economic status of small-scale fishers through the creation of sustainable and diversified economic opportunities for poor women and men alike with special focus on the development of value chain development.

One of the numerous projects that sum IFAD’s financial commitment to N36.19billion includes the Economic Opportunities Programme early in 2010, which seek to create economic opportunities for the rural poor while working with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to significantly reduce poverty.

The economic opportunities programme, NaijaAgroNet further gathered also assisted landless households to develop the value chains for coffee, honey and horticulture products, being the three high-value agriculture commodities for some of the selected areas for the project.

IFAD in collaboration with the Government of Yemen introduced a private-sector-led approach to development operations with the economic opportunities programme.

The programme also established a private-public partnership to effectively, efficiently and transparently manage development resources and create synergies, whilst women constituted the key target group for the micro-business.

NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that projects by IFAD in Yemen have supported more than 1.2 million poor women and men alike, helping them build resilience to shocks and conflict, and at the same time improving their household food security and incomes.

However, the new pledge by IFAD will also allow the scaling up of successful investments to cater for additional communities and introduce innovations with the IFAD supported country programmes.

The investments according to IFAD are expected to stimulate rural economic growth and job creation for additional one million poor women and men in the rural areas.

Yemen was one of the first countries to receive financing from the UN specialized agency at the early period of its establishment.

IFAD as an international financial institution created in 1977 as a result of the outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference with the aim of financing agricultural development projects targeted at food production in developing countries, has since inception being working towards the eradication of poverty and food insecurity in developing nations of the world.

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New forest investment guidance to triple returns

A man siting next to a felled tree at the Afi mountain
forest reserve near Ikom, cross River, Nigeria 

Various discussions between investors and forest rights-holders in the recent times have led to a new guideline for investment with the capability of returning three-fold on investments.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that the investment guideline if followed will provide livelihood security for local communities and protection for forests.

The guide emanated from eleven meetings organised by The Forests Dialogue (TFD) on behalf of Growing Forest Partnerships and with the support of IIED, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, FAO and the World Bank.

Commenting on the advice on investment in locally-controlled forestry, Gary Dunning of TFD said that the guide shows how investors and forest-dependent community form mutually-beneficial partnerships that would deliver social, environmental and economic gains.

The meetings have in attendance indigenous people, family foresters, researchers, government representatives, investment bankers, donors and philanthropists to share views on the role of investment in the forest sector.

The new guidelines, according to IIED is a representation of the insights of the meetings' participants with many case studies from across the globe showing how investment in locally-controlled forestry offers investors secure access, reduced risks and better long term management opportunities and an evidence of social and environmental sustainability.

The lead author of the guide, Dominic Elson said investing in locally controlled forestry not only leads to improved economic outcomes but it also leads to an improvement in the political economy in a way that can help governments of developing countries to shift into a more sustainable, low-carbon development path.

The guide looks in detail at how to encourage a happy marriage between ‘enabling investments’ that prepare the ground for commercial success and ‘asset investments’ that seek a return, usually as profit or products.

The leader of the team that produced the guide, Chris Buss of IUCN said strong businesses generate profits worthy of asset investment, “But growing those businesses may need enabling investments from NGOs, philanthropists or governments for infrastructure, capacity building or to secure and formalise commercial forest rights."

Another contributor to the guide, Duncan Macqueen of IIED that forests provide livelihoods for a billion people, adding that “About a quarter of the world’s forests are locally controlled, by members of three major alliances of indigenous peoples, forest communities and private family smallholders."

Macqueen revealed that forests also provide goods and services worth $75 - $100 billion annually, stressing "What’s missing is the investment that can boost these benefits in a sustainable way and put local people in the driving seat.”

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IFAD to support Yemen with N6.6b

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has promised to support agriculture and rural development in Yemen with the sum of $41 million, about N6.61 billion.

IFAD made the pledge after a two-day meeting held in Saudi Arabia, according to a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by Jessica Thomas from IFAD.

The $41 million pledge is made up of $31 million from IFAD’s core resources and $10 million from the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), a new financing instrument established by IFAD to scale up and integrate climate change adaptation in smallholder development projects.

The meeting was developed by Yemen’s Government of National Reconciliation with support from the European Union (EU), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), World Bank (WB) and United Nations organisations and IFAD.

Also, the meeting attracted over 280 participants from 27 donor countries, 36 regional development international financial institutions, and observers from NGOs as well as private sector.

The money pledge according to IFAD is for Yemen government to develop new projects during the transition period.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that IFAD commenced operations in Yemen since 1979 which has seen to the enhancement of rural economic growth through the support given to national programmes in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

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