Alimosho: HELWEI partners CI, SSNC on WASH campaign, links market sanitation to food security - NaijaAgroNet

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The Healthy Living and Women Empowerment Initiative (HELWEI), in collaboration with Consumers International and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), has launched a campaign to address poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in traditional markets, with a specific focus on Alimosho Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The campaign, themed "Kick Dirt, Hug Life!", links market hygiene directly to food safety and nutrition, highlighting the urgent need for targeted interventions to protect public health.

Precision agriculture market to reach €4.2 billion by 2021

NaijaAgroNet:

A new research report from the M2M/IoT analyst firm, Berg Insight, has revealed that the global market for precision agriculture solutions is forecasted to grow from € 2.2 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6 per cent, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The report also revealed that with the CAGR of 13.6 per cent, its expected to reach about € 4.2 billion in 2021.

According to Berg Insight, a set of technologies are applied in precision farming practices, which are aimed at managing variations in the field to maximise yield, raise productivity and reduce consumption of agricultural inputs.

“While solutions such as auto-guidance and machine monitoring and control via on-board displays today are mainstream technologies in the agricultural industry, telematics and Variable Rate Technology (VRT) are still in the early stages of adoption. Interoperability between hardware and software solutions remains a challenge, although standardisation initiatives led by organisations such as Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation and AgGateway make progress,” part of the report read.

For them, the most major agricultural equipment manufacturers have today initiatives related to precision agriculture although strategies vary markedly. Leading vendors of precision agriculture solutions include the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment Deere & Company, followed by the US-based precision technology vendors Trimble, Topcon Positioning Systems, Raven Industries and Ag Leader Technology.

Hexagon further holds a strong position in the positioning segment through its subsidiary NovAtel. Major providers that specialise in data-oriented applications and agronomic services are the Monsanto subsidiary The Climate Corporation, Canada-based Farmers Edge and the newly formed DowDuPont with its Encirca services. A group of companies have furthermore emerged as leaders on the nascent market for in-field sensor systems. These include Davis Instruments, Pessl Instruments with its METOS brand, Semios, Hortau, AquaSpy and CropX.

“The traditional industry boundaries within the agricultural sector are slowly beginning to blur as agricultural equipment and precision farming solutions are becoming parts of broader systems”, said Fredrik Stålbrand, IoT Analyst, Berg Insight.

Partnerships and consolidation among agricultural equipment manufacturers and precision technology companies marked the theme of the last decade, but alliances are now expanding in scope among OEMs, input producers, software companies and agronomic services providers.

“The market is today evolving into a thicket of interlocking relationships that create complex competitive dynamics. Investments in APIs along with open IT architectures will be key to support the level of flexibility needed in the digital ecosystem that is emerging within the agricultural industry”, concluded Mr. Stålbrand.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Over 5000 market women protest in Abuja over land grabbing

NaijaAgroNet:

Estimated 5,000 traders, including market women and widows under the auspices of Association of Wuye Ultra Modern Market Allottees (AWUMMA) on Sunday in Abuja staged a protest over alleged continued harassment, intimidation and suppression by All Purpose Shelters, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The protesters also called on President Muhammad Buhari to intervene in the market crisis despite subsisting judgement by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court demanding that traders take possession of their shops.

They carried placards with inscriptions such as,"Mr President, defend the poor traders from persecution"; "Disobedience of court order is corruption"; and "Democracy on trial at Wuye market."

NaijaAgroNet gathered that All Purpose Shelters is owned by the Wife of immediate past Governor of Benue State, Mrs Yemisi Suswan.

On July 28 2016, the market reopened for business through the combined efforts of armed mobile policemen from FCT Police Command and Wuye Police Station. However, the next day, the traders were chased away from the market by security men allegedly acting on instructions from 'the above.'

Speaking with newsmen shortly after the protest, the Chairman of AWUMMA, Comrade Nnaemeka Nwobodo called on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC),World Human Rights, Due Process Office and good spirited individuals to "rise up for justice today for our tomorrow."

Nwobodo decried that over 5000 members of AWUMMA have resolved to lay down their lives for justice today except if President Buhari intervenes in the crisis even as they enjoined the Presidency to call the FCT Commissioner of Police to order who they accused of obstructing justice in Wuye market. 

Equally speaking, the Public Relation Officer, AWUMMA, Barr. Sunny Anyanwu noted that after three and half legal battle at the High Court Apo, that the court on 29th April 2015 delivered a landmark judgement in favour of the traders under AWUMMA.  

"It was on the strength of victory again at the Appeal Court that traders wrote to the then FCT Commissioner of Police, Usman Alkali who directed that the court judgement should be respected after obtaining due legal opinion,” he said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Dangote to engage 50,000 youths in sugarcane market

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

Dangote Group is set to engage about 50,000 youths in sugarcane market following the acquisition of the 80000 hectares of land by company for sugarcane plantation from the Kebbi State Government.

The Kebbi, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Sani Kanya, dropped the hint in Kebbi, and said that the President of the group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote would soon lead a team of experts on sugarcane production  Kebbi State to meet with all stakeholders on the project which would be sited in Uru, Bagudo, Koko/Besse and Shanga local government areas.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the famers in the state that partake in the project would benefit from improved sugarcane seedlings, fertilisers and modern production implements that would be given by the government.

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