Six million Lagos children face malnutrition crisis – NaijaAgroNet

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Lagos State, with an estimated population of 30 million people, is facing a deepening nutrition crisis, with no fewer than six million children under the age of five suffering from various forms of malnutrition.

According to fresh data presented at a regional workshop in Lagos on Tuesday, the situation has worsened considerably in recent years. Wasting among children rose from 11.4 per cent in 2021 to 15.8 per cent in 2022. Stunting increased from 11.4 per cent to 39.4 per cent within the same period, while the number of underweight children climbed from 14.5 per cent to 23.3 per cent.

Osun identifies 60m active cocoa trees - Aregbesola

NaijaAgroNet:

The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has disclosed that the state has identified 60 million active cocoa trees, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He made disclosure at a meeting with Cocoa Produce Merchants in the state at the Government House Banquet Hall in Osogbo at the weekend, assuring that his administration endeavour  to make the state great again, hence the recent investment and research into Cocoa production among other areas of agriculture.

For the state to start on reproducing 'Cocoa Omoluabi', Aregbesola said, the state has enumerated and identified 60m active cocoa trees in the state, there will be a new cash inflow making the economy of the state prosperous.

Osun in furtherance to boost agriculture signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to develop agriculture and massive food production as alternative to reliance on oil sector.

The agreement according to Aregbesola involved releasing of 204.39 hectares of land in Ago Owu Farm Settlement to IITA for the purposes of conducting research and setting up demonstration farms for best farming practices.

IITA, he pointed out, will also carry out cassava, plantain and other crops multiplication including Cocoa as well as train the youths in the state in modern, commercial and profitable farming.

Aregbesola emphasised that the state in her bid to increase Internally Generated Revenue in Osun, will establish commodity board to directly supervised by the office of the governor to ensure that Osun ranks among the best cocoa producers in Nigeria within the next two years.

Earlier, Chairman of All Farmers Association of Osun, Chief Raheem Adeniji said that the association is ready to partner and cooperate with government in her bid to revamp the cocoa farming in the state.

He lamented poor economic state of the country attributing it to neglect of cocoa which was the backbone of the economy in the 60s, identifying the cancellation of Cocoa and marketing Board by the then military government as a setback for the industry in Nigeria.

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Over $20m needed to rescue Nepal farmers – FAO

NaijaAgroNet

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as part of the revised United Nations (UN) Flash Appeal for Nepal has said over $20 million is urgently needed to support farmers in earthquake-hit Nepal to resume agricultural activities, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The organization seeking to starve off the threat of prolonged food insecurity facing an estimated one million people, NaijaAgroNet learnt has received only 13 per cent of the $23.4 million emergency agricultural assistance.

The disaster, according to an FAO-led Agricultural Livelihood Impact Appraisal, has disrupted agricultural activities threatening the livelihoods of rural families, hitting hard in six Nepal districts causing half of all farming households to lose nearly all of their stored crops of rice, maize, wheat and millet, with some 16 percent of cattle and 36 percent of poultry lost in the disaster creating a detrimental effect on rural household consumption and income.

A representative of FAO in Nepal, Somsak Pipoppinyo told NaijaAgroNet that two-thirds of Nepalis depend on farming for their livelihood, "agriculture is a critical priority because two-thirds of Nepalis depend on farming for their livelihoods,’ he added that,’current levels of international assistance for Nepal's earthquake-affected farmers will deliver ‘only a fraction’ of the assistance urgently required."

Somsak also stressed that there is limited window to act, noting how rice seeds have to be distributed urgently before the start of the heavy monsoon rains which are expected to arrive in the coming days.

In addition, FAO’s appraisal team, noted that the repair and functioning of irrigation systems will be critical for the winter cropping season, as well as barley and wheat seeds and recommends that the most urgent needs for the current cropping season are seeds and fertilizers, followed by irrigation, tools and technical support, as well as urgent shelter, feed water, medicine and vaccinations, for livestock breeding.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that the organization has received around $3 million for emergency relief from Belgium, Italy and Norway; which has aided it to distribute 40,000 (5 kilogram) bags of rice seeds to the six most-affected districts of Dhading, Dolakha, Gorkha, Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhupalchowk, in time for farmers to plant before the monsoon.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE

  

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