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The African agriculture ministers attending the United Nations climate summit in Egypt reiterated a commitment to work with development partners to unlock the continent’s agriculture potential.
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Showing posts with label continent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label continent. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Investments in agriculture will unlock prosperity in Africa – IFAD President
The President of the United Nations (UN's) International
Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, has told African
leaders that investments in agriculture have the capacity to unlock prosperity
of the continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Nwanze in a message to African leaders participating in the ongoing
World Economic Forum (WEF) in Kigali that he is optimistic that such investment
which must be a collaborative one between government and businesses will grow
Africa tremendously.
"Investments in agriculture can generate great riches
for the continent and lift millions out of poverty and hunger," said
Nwanze en route to Rwanda. "There are high returns to those countries that
take agriculture seriously."
Since 2009, he said, Africa has been seen as the next great
investment frontier yet, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
economic growth on the continent is now predicted to be slower than the rest of
the world for the first time in sixteen years.
He emphasised that with many countries in southern and
eastern Africa suffering from the worst drought in decades, coupled with fiscal
deficits widening and conflicts increasing, some experts are questioning whether
Africa is still on the rise.
Despite these dire predictions, Nwanze said Africa is still
a continent of unprecedented opportunity, and supporting small-scale farmers
and investing in rural areas are some of the best ways for countries to meet
their broader development objectives, including poverty reduction.
“With the right investments, Africa could double its
agricultural productivity in the next five years,” he said, stressing that half
of the world's uncultivated land which is suited for growing food crops is in
Africa.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Monday, May 9, 2016
Build farmers capacity, increase efficiency – Lubinda
The Zambian Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Given Lubinda, has
stressed the importance for building farmers’ capacity on the continent,
NaijaAgroNet reports.
He gave this position at an address to the just concluded World
Farmers Organisation (WFO) General Assembly in Livingstone, Zambia, saying that building
farmers capacity it will increase efficiency in the agriculture sector.
“Africa is home of the small scale farmers poors that create wealth, and feed the
world,” Lubinda said.
Farmers, the Minister said, need to develop the right skills
and knowledge needed to effectively improve their capacity.
“A secure access to the land, ownership and control over
land, access to productive resources and inputs, including modern technology,
markets, inputs and financial resources are essential elements to enable
farmers to improve agricultural efficiency and productivity,” Lubinda said.
The farmers, minister further said, need to develop their
agricultural management and marketing skills to efficiently strengthen their
entrepreneurial skills.
“In this respect, agricultural extension and advisory
services are increasingly seen as a key means to build farmers’ capacity,” the
Minister said.
These services, Lubinda pointed out, help farmers deal with
risk and change, by providing options and capabilities to make the right
choices at the right time.
“The services assist rural actors to share technology and
practices, and support farmers to acquire a better position in value chains and
markets,” Lubinda said.
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Friday, March 11, 2016
PermSecs reiterate commitment to accelerate agriculture in Africa
The second retreat for the Permanent Secretaries ended in the city of
Accra, Ghana with reiteration to accelerate agricultural transformation across
the continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The retreat, NaijaAgroNet also reports was aimed at accelerating the
implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) to transform agriculture in Africa, assembled over 100 participants
including Permanent Secretaries and CAADP Focal persons of Ministries of
Agriculture, Rural Development, Livestock and Aquaculture and the Regional
Economic Communities.
Declaring open the expert gathering convened by the African Union
Commission in collaboration with the NEPAD Agency in Accra, the Ghanaian
Minister for Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed-Munira Limuna noted that even
though the agricultural sector is faced with numerous challenges such as low
uptake of modern technologies, depleting natural resources especially water and
climate change negative impacts, solutions that could be adopted to counter them
at national level should be sought and implemented.
In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the retreat provided space for
Permanent Secretaries to reflect on several thematic and policy factors,
especially on the El Nino and implications on agricultural transformation and
food security; Trade and industrialization drive and implications for
agriculture; and Land tenure systems and trends and implications for the Malabo
commitments.
They also focused on validating the revised Country CAADP Implementation
Guidelines. This includes modalities for
monitoring and evaluation, reporting and accountability including
operationalisation of the African Union Biennial CAADP Review Cycle. Country perspectives were also sought on
CAADP-Malabo Financing Architecture; technical networks arrangement to mobilise
and make accessible expert support arrangements, and; revising the CAADP
partnership architecture.
NEPAD’s Head of Programme Development, Mr. Martin Bwalya told participants
that the outcomes of the meeting will clarify the necessary measures needed to
achieve the CAADP Malabo Declaration targets for results and impact in
agriculture, food security and nutrition.
While the AUC Director for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Dr. Janet
Edeme, reiterated one of the critical objectives of meeting as being “The review of progress in implementing CAADP
and the guidelines developed to help guide countries in implementation.”
NaijaAgroNet recalls that permanent secretaries are the primary
custodians of government policy and practice.
They are also the overall accounting officers in their government ministries,
thus putting their offices and mandates at the centre in driving institutional
reforms and overall transformation in national development goals.
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Saturday, June 6, 2015
Grow Africa Partnership secures $10bn to boost agriculture
NaijaAgroNET
Over 200 member companies have
committed $10-billion about N1.99 trillion in the Agricultural sector in 12
African countries aimed at boosting agriculture and employment on the continent.
This figure represents an
increase of about 40 per cent over 2013 commitment levels reports NaijaAgroNet.
Grow Africa released the figures at
the Grow Africa Investment Forum in Cape Town as the first stage of a joint
reporting process for Grow Africa and the New Alliance, on behalf of the
African Union.
According the information received
by NaijaAgroNet, “Investment
continues to increase: in 2013 and 2014, investments totalling $1.8 billion
about N358.2billion have led to the creation of 58 000 jobs, bringing
improvements in services and market opportunities to 8.6 million smallholder
farmers, who form the backbone of the sector’s production capacity.
Sarita Nayyar, Managing Director, World Economic Forum said, “We stand at a pivotal moment of opportunity to capitalize on an enormous body of collective learning to foster successful public-private cooperation. We must seize this opportunity to deliver on the promise of African agriculture to drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth for the continent.”
“Over half of the investment commitments come
from domestic agribusiness and service companies, which benefit from Grow
Africa’s focus on convening and facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships to
strengthen inclusive agricultural value chains.”
NaijaAgroNet gathered that the Grow Africa Partnership was founded jointly in 2011 by the African Union (AU), The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the World Economic Forum to enable countries to realize the potential of the agriculture sector for economic growth and job creation, particularly among farmers, women and youth.
In 2014, about $300-million, about
N59.7 of staple and cash crops were sourced from smallholders as a result of
the investments.
Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
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Saturday, May 2, 2015
AU, Harvest Plus sets to promote farming technologies
African Union commissioner for
Rural Economy and Agriculture, Tumuslime Rhoda Peace, has said that the union
would partner with lead research-based agriculture institution, Harvest Plus, to
promote farming and consumption of boi-fortified crops, through the use of farming
technologies, especially among poor farming and urban communities, to boost
Agriculture in the African continent. NaijaAgroNet, reports.
NaijaAgroNet gathered
that Tumuslime appreciated the role of the institute in lifting the rural poor
communities in Africa out of poverty and stressed that in order to improve
market access, the use of farming technology needs propagation at higher policy
making levels so that farmers can adopt it and
sellers can buy the micro nutrient-added to produce in good quantities.
Director
Harvest Plus, Dr. Howarth Bouis and Harvest Plus, Head of Africa Strategic
Alliances, Dr. Anna-Marie Ball NaijaAgroNet
learnt, briefed the commissioner on its accomplishments in breeding and
production of bio-fortified food crops and distribution bio-fortified seed
varieties as well as improved cultivars, thereby empowering rural communities.
Dr.
Bouis said, “The organisation also helps add value to locally produced
agricultural crops in countries where the organization is working in Africa.”
She added that “we have released a number of bio-fortified crops including:
iron beans, iron pearl millet, vitamin A cassava, vitamin A maize, vitamin A
sweet potatoes, Zinc rice and Zinc wheat.”
NaijaAgroNet
gathered that the Harvard Plus has executed countless programmes in Africa,
especially the rapid expansion in production and consumption of yellow cassava
in Nigeria.
Harvest
Plus as NaijaAgroNet learnt, is a lead research-based, agriculture technology
institution that was established to respond to the problem of ‘hidden hunger’
which is caused by the lack of essential vitamins and minerals in the diet,
such as vitamin A, zinc, and iron, thus reinforcing agriculture’s pivotal role
in improving the quality of diet and increasing micro-nutrient
consumption.
Nsolibe
Daniel/Ed, Ops.
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Monday, April 6, 2015
Working against tide of global warming
As we enter the last month of the
first quarter of 2015, an alarm was recently raised by scientists from the United
Nations-affiliated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) over the
anticipated effect of climate change in the East African region of the
continent.
IPCC counseled that an estimated millions
of people in East African nations should be ready for intense weather events-related
as a result of climate change.
Defined as a whether due to
natural variability or as a result of human activity, climate change to some
experts means any change in climate over time, which could be ascribed to a
change of climate either directly or indirectly to human activity but alters
the composition of the global atmosphere with an increase in natural climate
variability observed over comparable period of time, according to 2001 impacts,
adaptation and vulnerability Working Group II to the third assessment report of
IPCC.
But
experts at New Mexico Solar Energy Association (NMSEA) pointed out that global
warming is the increase of earth's average surface temperature due to effect of
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels or
from deforestation, which trap heat that would otherwise escape from earth.
Global
warming, NaijaAgroNet reports, will have catastrophic
effects such as accelerating sea level rise, droughts, floods, storms and heat
waves, which invariably impacts on some of the world's poorest and most
vulnerable people, disrupting food production, and threatening essential
important species, habitats and ecosystems.
IPCC experts, NaijaAgroNet reports equally said that global warming is no longer an
issue of argument because since the 1950s a lot of the observed changes have
been dramatic.
An official representing the director, Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Center
(ICPAC), Guled Artan said the challenges on east Africa due to climate change
are grave.
“The problem in East Africa is serious. When there’s rain,
the rain will be more intense, so there will be floods. The dry spells will be
wider, so there will be more droughts. That’s the risk so, increased likelihood
of floods, increased likelihood of drought; and two extremes: too much
water, too little water,” Artan said.
However, in the bid to create more knowledge base on this
global warming and climate change, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) has
concluded a two-day training on the Global Information System (GIS), a climate
change project (PARCC) at Baobab Hotel, The Gambia, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The aim of the project, NaijaAgroNet
learnt, is to assess the vulnerability of protected areas in West Africa and
impact of climate change in view of enhancing resilience by developing
strategies and tools to improve effectiveness management in climate change.
The training held with the JEF-fund
project was executed by UNEP-WCMC in partnership with (IUCN PACO) and has been
in operation since 2010. This project covers five core countries in West
Africa, namely The Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Chad, Togo, Bukina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire
and Ghana as beneficiaries.
"It is indisputable that conservation is the key in sustainable development, especially in our environment that has not been constantly and properly managed. It is interesting to know that research has shown that more than 13 percent of the global land surface is designated as ‘protected area,’" Minister Jarju stated.
As said by Jarju, governments of ECOWAS are aware that region contains a high level of biodiversity and endemic species across multiple areas, having been projected to experience extreme climate change in the future.
Stressing that the government of The
Gambia, for instance, was fully aware of the achievements that PARCC project
registered in the past year, and these achievements include preparation of a
report on projected impacts of climate change on biodiversity in West Africa
Protected Area in which impact on reptiles, birds, mammal has been highlighted.
California
Governor Mr. Jerry Brown had in the wake of drought bedeviling the state, said
that climate-change deniers should wake up, because with the weather and what
it's happening in California, climate
change is not a deception.
For experts at ‘Building
Nigeria's Response to Climate Change’ a non-governmental organization, noted
that in Nigeria, this means that some stable ecosystems such as the Sahel
Savanna may become vulnerable because warming will reinforce existing patterns
of water scarcity and increasing the risk of drought in Nigeria and indeed most
countries in West Africa. As well, the country’s aquatic ecosystems, wetlands
and other habitats will create overwhelming problems for an already
impoverished populace.
Although
industry observers there are compelling scientific evidences, governments and
businesses have responded very slowly. Despite the fact that even if nations in
the region fulfill live up to their promises and pledges in international
conventions, the world will still face between 2.6 and 4 ºC of warming.
As work at various part of the continent towards reduction of emissions, Africans must simultaneously begin to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
As work at various part of the continent towards reduction of emissions, Africans must simultaneously begin to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
AAKNet says USD2bn flowing across Africa for environmental adaptation by 2020
NaijaAgroNet:
The Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network (AAKNet) has estimated
USD 2 billion is flowing across the continent for adaptation through a variety
of sources, reports NaijaAgroNet.
This is coming as AAKNet predicts that an estimated 15
billion United States dollars will be committed for cost of emission by year
2020.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that past global emissions already commit Africa to adaptation costs of USD 7-15 billion per year by 2020.
The report, NaijaAgroNet gathered, builds on the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2014 emissions gap report that showed global emission-reduction efforts are not yet at the level of what is required to put the world on track to hold global warming below 2°C.
Equally, NaijaAgroNet reports that by 2050, Africa’s adaptation costs could rise to USD 50 billion per year for a scenario holding global warming below 2°C, and up to USD 100 billion per year by 2050, if the world does not manage to turn away from the current path that could lead to more than 4°C warming by 2100.
To take a step back: this is not just a question of money, millions of people and their livelihoods are at stake. Africa’s population would be at an increasing risk of undernourishment due to increasing food demand and the detrimental effects of climate change on agriculture on the continent.
A warming of 2˚C globally, AAKNet pointed out, would put over 50 per cent of the African continent’s population at risk of undernourishment.
“Yet, right now, we are heading to 4˚C of warming,” AAKNet stated.
Further, NaijaAgroNet learnt that the report findings showed that sea level could rise by a metre above present-day levels, putting millions of people at risk of flooding in the large coastal cities across the continent.
“These are the striking impacts of climate change risk reversing Africa’s economic and development gains,” AAKNet warned.
+Naija AgroNet
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