UK supports agricultural statistics with N3.9bn

The Food and Agriculture Organisatoion (FAO) of the United Nations has signed an agreement with the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom to improve agricultural statistics.

According to the agreement, as revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement made available by the UN agency, the Department for International Development is to support an innovative new global partnership with the sum of $25million, about N3.938 billion.

The innovative new global partnership is to ensure the improvement of agricultural statistics available to governments and farmers around the world.

The UK's contribution is to cover the programme's first phrase between 2012 and 2016. NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the contribution will support mainly African and Asian countries.

Commenting on the agreement, FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva said "Empowering farmers can change their lives. By improving statistics, this programme will contribute to this goal."

"The UK Government's generous support will help deliver enormous benefits to governments around the world and the people they serve," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

The first phase of the programmes is to improve how governments organize and manage their statistical systems and on technical assistance and staff training in national statistics offices and ministries of agriculture. 

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that the DFID's contribution will also support research to identify innovative approaches for cost-efficient data collection, analysis and dissemination. This includes digital and georeferencing technology and devices, such as smartphones, GPS and satellites.

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FAO predicts 690 million tonnes wheat production for the year

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has forecasted that the wheat production for the year will amount to 690 million tones.

The forecasted wheat production is 10 million tonnes less than 2011 wheat production; this was revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement by FAO.

It was also gathered that planting is on the increase or predicted to increase in many countries this year in response to strong prices.

Further NaijaAgroNet noted that the forecast report revealed an expectation of a return to normal yields in areas where high records were achieved last year.

The report also made known that a global forecast of cereal output for the year is too early.

In Eastern Africa, despite some improvement, the food situation of vulnerable groups remains precarious, especially in pastoral areas affected by earlier drought. The food security situation in the Sudan and South Sudan is of concern following poor harvests. 

On another note, the FAO's Food Price index published on the 19th March, 2012 revealed a 1 per cent increase over January's. There have been also increased imports as a result of weaker US Dollar and plunging freight rates have also characterized world markets since the beginning of 2012.

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‘Incentives, attractive environments lure youths into agriculture’

Dr. Namaga Ngongi, the president of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) said enough incentives, profitable economic opportunities and attractive environments will drive youths to agriculture, reports Vanguard.

He said this while presenting a paper on ‘The Role of Young People in Africa's Agriculture Revolution’ at an international conference on “Young People, Farming & Food: the future of the Agrifood sector in Africa,” held in Accra, Ghana.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that he affirmed the conference to be of importance as well as timely that agriculture is the backbone of Sub-Saharan Africa's rural economies. 

He said lack of support to improve productivity and bring innovation into the sector greatly affected the drift of youths away from agricultural practices. Readmore

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FAO to boost Afghanistan's traditional irrigation

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is working towards the boosting of technical support for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan's dilapidated traditional systems.

The organization in a press statement available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO revealed that dilapidated irrigation system is attributable to the decades of war and migration away from rural areas, and has left many farmers without sufficient water for their farmland.

The degraded irrigation system, FAO noted, had also led to the country's Ministry of Energy and Water to place a priority on water resources development within its National Development Strategy.

The UN agency also signed a $27.7 million, about N4.36 billion agreements with the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water to provide the needed technical assistance.

The agreement further covers expertise and training for implementation of the Irrigation Restoration and Development Project (IRDP).

Information available to NaijaAgroNet indicated that FAO is equally working to use the initiative to help Afghan by training personnel and assisting in the use of modern design and management methods.

“There will also be training for farmers in improved water management practices, and operation and maintenance of irrigation systems,” part of the statement read.

Pasquale Steduto, the Unit Head, Water Development and Management at FAO, affirmed that the irrigation systems has suffered over the past three decades as people moved away from the rural areas and this could not be attributed to lack of investment.

The migration, he said, left the maintenance of the traditional irrigation systems to younger generation.

“So, farmers in rural areas were not able to get enough water to cultivate their fields. As a result, they produced fewer crops," said Pasquale Steduto.

The project is primarily supported by a grant from the World Bank with an additional contribution from the government of Afghanistan.'Yinka Awosanya

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FAO says food prices rise by 2%

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has said that food prices has risen by two per cent.

FAO in its latest Food Price Index datasets revealed that the price index of food increased by almost 2 per cent in January 2012.

The Food Price Index datasets made available to NaijaAgroNet showed an increase of nearly 2 per cent, exactly 4 points in food price index with oils in the lead; recording the highest increase.

Foods items topping the list include cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat, even as the index stood at 214 as at January 2012, which is 7 per cent lower to the record of January 2011.

Speaking on the dataset, a Senior Grains Economist at FAO, Abdolreza Abbassian said that the index could not be traced directly to the value of the dollar and oil prices which were much involved in January.

"But one reason is poor weather currently affecting key growing regions like South America and Europe. It has played a role and remains a cause for concern,” he said.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that international prices of all major cereals with the exception of rice rose, with maize gaining most, which is 6 per cent. Wheat prices also gained, though less significantly.

The fear of a decline in the export supplies in the Commonwealth of Independent States also played a part in the increase as prices mostly reflect worries about weather conditions affecting 2012 crops in several major producing regions.

A latest forecast by FAO on world cereal production also revealed that cereal production is expected to be more than sufficient to cover anticipated utilization in 2011/2012 as production is expected to reach 2,327 million tones, a 3.6 per cent more than that of 2010, hence a new record.

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UK leads stakeholders’ dialogue to reshape agro-research

Some stakeholders comprising the United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentarians and Civil Servants joined the African farmers, international donors and scientists for a policy dialogue targeted at reshaping agricultural research.

The reshaping of agricultural research as revealed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet is to serve development goals and the public good.

The agenda of the dialogue is to include prioritising for plant breeding and seed selection, options for managing soil fertility, options for developing accessible markets, ways of governing, organising, funding and practising research, and the types of policies needed to transform Africa’s agriculture, comprising changes to tenure, subsidies and investment.

The event organized by International Institute for Environmental and Development (IIED), was held between February 1 and 3, 2012 in Accra, Ghana.

The Executive Director of Oxfan-Novib, Farah Karimi reportedly co-chaired the event with Olivier de Schutter, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

Emphasizing the importance of the dialogue the Director of IIED, Dr. Michel Pimbert said it is a valuable platform for smallholder farmers to get their voices heard. 

 "We’d like to see this constructive dialogue setting an agenda for future research priorities across the region,” he said.

A major funder of agricultural research in African with a total budget of nearly US$400million about N64.396billion, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), NaijaAgroNet gathered also participated in the dialogue.

The AGRA team at the dialogue followed-up on what the small-scale farmers and food producers from West Africa think agricultural research should be about. 

“Publically funded research can make a huge contribution to eradicating hunger and poverty.  But the way it is designed, managed and implemented rarely involves the people who produce, process and consume agricultural produce,” Dr Michel Pimbert, an expert in agricultural ecology and the governance of food systems and natural resources.

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