Water, fundamental for food security in North Africa, Near East

NaijaAgroNet:

Access to water is a fundamental need for food security, human health and agriculture, and its looming scarcity in the North Africa and Middle East region, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said in Cairo, that this is a huge challenge requiring an "urgent and massive response."

Accessible fresh water in the region, he said, has fallen by two-thirds in the past 40 years.

“It now amounts to 10 times less per capita availability than the worldwide average, underscoring the need for a significant overhaul of farming systems, he said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that a recent study by FAO showed that higher temperatures may shorten growing seasons in the region by 18 days and reduce agricultural yields a further 27 per cent to 55 per cent less by the end of this century.

The rising sea level in the Nile Delta, FAO said, is exposing Egypt to the danger of losing substantial parts of the most productive agriculture land due to salinization.

"Competition between water-usage sectors will only intensify in the future between agriculture, energy, industrial production and household needs," he said.

Graziano da Silva attended a high-level meeting covering FAO's collaboration with Egypt on the ‘1.5 million feddan initiative', the government's plan to reclaim eventually up to two million hectares of desert land for agricultural and other uses.

He expressed his strong support to the Egyptian Authorities and committed to back programmes aiming at addressing water scarcity and promoting climate resilient agriculture.

The Director-General's visit to Egypt included meetings with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Investment and International Cooperation, as well as the Secretary General of the League of Arab States.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Rural women empowerment, fundamental for achieving 2030 agenda – UN agencies

NaijaAgroNet:

The trio of United Nations (UN) agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) have said that rural women empowerment is fundamental for achieving the 2030 agenca, reports NaijaAgroNet.

As said by the leaders of these organisations, the world that women and girls play a crucial role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, the goal of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty become more realistic.

The leaders of these agencies made this joint statement in commemoration of International Women's Day by reinforcing their commitments to step up efforts to invest in the capacities of rural women as key agents of change in building a world without hunger.

"Women play a critical role in agriculture and food systems - not just as farmers, but also as food producers, traders and managers," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on the occasion of the Day. "However, women still face major constraints in rural labour markets and in agricultural value chains. They are more likely to be in poorly paid jobs, without legal or social protection. This limits women's capacity to advance their skills, earn incomes and access employment opportunities." 

Graziano da Silva noted that the future of global food security depends on unleashing women's potential. "Achieving gender equality and empowering women are crucial ingredients in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition which is strongly recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," he said.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze said, "We need to face the fact that we will never overcome poverty and hunger without empowering rural women."

For him, there are ample evidence from around the world that greater empowerment of women in rural and urban areas leads to higher economic growth and a better quality of life for women and men alike. 

“Despite progress, it is still the case today that rural women's double burden of farm labour and unpaid domestic work prevents them from participating fully and fairly in income-generating activities. Improving rural women's access to technologies that save time and labour is essential to reducing their workloads. Transforming gender relations within the family is also crucial to empowering women and enabling them to make decisions about their lives," he said.

WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said, "Empowering women economically is one of the key steps to realizing gender equality and achieving Zero Hunger. The changing world of work - as patterns of economic activity shift - provides the opportunity to achieve these goals.

"Ensuring women have adequate access to land, tools, fertilizers and credit improves their lives and the lives of their families; potentially freeing millions from hunger. We also know that school meals are a powerful incentive to keep girls in class, boosting their chances of completing school and finding employment. Enabling women to seize these opportunities will transform lives and help bring the Sustainable Development Goals within reach," she said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Prevention fundamental to containing zika – FAO boss

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Mr. Graziano da Silva has offered FAO’s technical assistance in collaboration with the  International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the effort to contain Zika, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Zika, NaijaAgoNet gathered, is a mosquito-borne disease that has been detected in the country, where a humid and warm climate is ideal for the insects’ proliferation.

Speaking in Rome at the weekend, FAO boss said they are responsible for prevention, describing prevention as fundamental to containing zika globally.

“FAO is responsible for prevention, not for the disease itself. Prevention is fundamental,” he said, stressing that using insecticides in urban areas may not be enough to eradicate the mosquitos.

He revealed that FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have a joint programme to support member countries in insect pest control which has developed a technique of using sterile insects to combat such disease vectors.

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

FAO warns on Asia, Pacific food insecurity

NaijaAgroNet:

Governments in Asia and the Pacific have been warned to take some major, fundamental decisions and very soon too on ways to increase their food production and address undernourishment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The warning came as nearly 40 FAO member countries gathered in the Mongolian capital for the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific to examine the state of food and agriculture in the region and a number of other important agriculture-related issues.

NaijaAgroNet reports that while the Asia-Pacific region is making good progress in reducing under-nutrition, it still has more hungry people than all the other regions of the world combined – more than 550 million. 

The Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015 is on course to be met, and in Southeastern Asia has already been achieved. Timor-Leste has launched a national campaign to take forward the fight against hunger beyond 2015, inspired by the UN’s global Zero Hunger Challenge (with a goal of 2025).

However, the region as a whole needs to improve food production systems and delivery to consumers or face significant food security problems within the next generation. Indeed some developing countries in Asia and the Pacific will need to increase their food production by up to 77 percent to feed their people by 2050, when the world’s population is expected to top nine billion.

Asia and the Pacific accounts for more than 90 percent of world rice production and consumption. The region’s food security and people’s livelihoods are very much dependent on rice. As a response to a request by FAO member countries, FAO has produced a Regional Rice Strategy which is being discussed at the regional level for finalization.

Farming, fishing and forestry practices need to be modernized and made more profitable, while countries in the region must take serious, coordinated steps to reduce food losses and food waste, which is as high as 30-50 percent regarding grains, fruits and vegetables.

Accordingly, FAO launched the regional Save Food Asia-Pacific campaign in August 2013 with an aim to promote public awareness of the need to minimize food losses and food waste.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, people & technology