2018 State of Food, Agriculture report for launch - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

As part of the World Food Week starting today, Monday, 15 October, the report on State of Food and Agriculture is set for launch, reports NaijaAgroNet.

A series of events, NaijaAgroNet gathered, have been lined up including World Food Day on 16 October to explore the actions needed to put achieving Zero Hunger back on track.  

NaijaAgroNet recalled that World Food Day is marked each year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of FAO in 1945.

A package of multimedia feature stories depicting real people’s actions towards Zero Hunger is available for media use, including accompanying photos and video, and a brochure about the day is available.

The launch of the State of Food and Agriculture report 2018, slated for Sheikh Zayed Centre, FAO.

This year’s edition explores how migration is linked to food security, agriculture and rural development. 

The report will be presented at a press conference with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development Kostas Stamoulis.  

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UN Report demands proactive shift in drought management - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The latest United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has called for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near East and North Africa region, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The agency said in a new report issued today that a more pro-active approach based on the principles of risk reduction is needed to build greater resilience to droughts.

Even though drought is a familiar phenomenon in the region, over the past four decades, droughts have become more widespread, prolonged and frequent - likely due to climate change.

The region is not only highly prone to drought, but also one of the world's most water-scarce areas, with desert making up three quarters of its territory.

The FAO's Assistant Director-General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department, Rene Castro, was quoted as saying that the Near East and North Africa's technical, administrative, and financial capacities to deal with drought are inadequate, rendering farmers and herders - the first and worst hit when drought strikes - even more vulnerable.

Farmers and herders, UN reported, face mounting challenges as water becomes scarcer, land more degraded and eroded, and soils more fragile.

It lamented that there is still too much focus on recovering from drought rather than being less susceptible to it, with insufficient funding, preparedness, and coordination remaining significant constraints, warns the report.

"We need to perceive and manage droughts differently, and shift from emergency response to more pro-active policy and long-term planning to reduce risks and build greater resilience," Castro said, pointing out that "The report assesses gaps in current drought management and provides a solid base to help governments rethink policies and reformulate preparedness and response plans by offering solutions that take into account each country's specific context."

Launched ahead of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, the report was developed by FAO and theWater for Food Daugherty Global Institute at the University of Nebraska.

It covers 20 countries in the region - Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen.

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Five UN agencies to unveil first-ever consolidated report on malnutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

Five United Nations (UN) agencies have concluded plans to unveil the first-ever consolidated UN report on progress towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030, reports NaijaAgroNet.

These agencies include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the UN World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the unveiling slated for FAO headquarters on Friday, September 15, this year, would see the new edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World with updated estimates of the number and proportion of hungry people on the planet and includes data for the global, regional, and national levels.

“It offers a significant update on the shifting global milieu that is today affecting people's food security and nutrition, in all corners of the globe,” a source at UN disclosed to NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet further gathered is the first time that UNICEF and WHO join FAO, IFAD and WFP in preparing the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report.

 

NaijaAgroNet reports that this change reflects the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) broader view on hunger and all forms of malnutrition. Stressing the report would include enhanced metrics for quantifying and assessing hunger, including two indicators on food insecurity and six indicators on nutrition.

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NEPAD, Pardee Zero Hunger report for launch

NaijaAgroNet:

The chief executive officer of NEPAD Agency, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, would lead a group of expert speakers to launch the NEPAD PARDEE Zero Hunger study on Tuesday in South Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to the Senior Communications Officer, NEPAD Agency, Ms Mwanja Ng’anjo, the launch will herald the efforts of agency towards eliminating hunger in Africa by 2025.

Dr. Mayaki would be joined on Tuesday, September 13, at the Conference room, ISS Pretoria, Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria, South Africa, by Dr Jakkie Cilliers , Head, African Futures and Innovation, ISS, Jay Naidoo, GAIN, Dr Lindiwe Sibanda, FARNPAN, and Chris Nikoi, Regional Director, World Food Progrramme (WFP).

She also said that the new report by the NEPAD Agency and the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures analyses the ‘conditions for success’ if Africa is to achieve the target set by African Union in Agenda 2063 and the 2014 Malabo Declaration on agriculture transformation.

The study, she said, puts the magnitude of the task into perspective and highlights the major levers in policy, investment, technology as well as human and institutional capacity needed to sustain access to food.

This launch, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is hosted jointly with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordination Agency (NEPAD Agency) and the Pardee Center for International Futures. 

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Save the Children report highlights unequal progress in tackling malnutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

A new report recently launched by Save the Children has revealed the results of what makes some children more vulnerable to malnutrition than others, tagged ‘Unequal Portions: Ending malnutrition for every child’ reports NaijaAgroNet.

The report, NaijaAgroNet gathered is part of a new campaign, Every Last Child, aiming at ensuring that every last child survives and thrives.

Good nutrition, the report revealed centres on a healthy, balanced, adequate diet which is a matter of life or death, stressing on the difference between surviving or thriving.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that it is essential for a healthy immune system, to protect against disease throughout life, which is crucial for a country’s inclusive and sustainable development.

The report further showed that although progress in tackling malnutrition is far too slow, millions of children are missing out on adequate nutrition because of who they are and where they live.

“They are discriminated against because of their ethnicity or disability; they are excluded because of their parents’ lack of income or after being forced from their homes,” part of the report read.

The report analyses data from a range of sources to show how a deadly combination of poverty and discrimination is robbing certain groups of children – girls, children from ethnic minorities, those in disadvantaged regions of their country, disabled children, and children affected by war – of the healthy, balanced diet they need to survive and thrive.

Drawing on new findings and analysis, this report went on to identify a series of measures to ensure no child is left behind. Just as it calls on world leaders to address exclusion and ensure every last child gets the nutrition they need.

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FAO to unveil report of hungry people

NaijaAgroNet

 

The annual State of Food Insecurity in the world report would be unveiled at the forthcoming World Food Summit in Rome with expectation it will provide new figures for the number of chronically hungry people globally, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting, NaijaAgroNet  reports, would also take stock of progress made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) as it kicks off on Wednesday, May 27, 2015.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that United Nations (UN) bodies slated to present their reports include the three Rome-based food agencies, namely the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP).

The new hunger report, NaijaAgroNet gathered, would be presented jointly at FAO’s headquarters by its Director-General José Graziano da Silva, IFAD Associate Vice-President, Josefina Stubbs and Stanlake Samkange, Director of WFP's Policy and Programme Division.

In addition, Maurizio Martina Italy's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, NaijaAgroNet learnt, would participate via videolink from EXPO 2015 in Milan.

This year’s edition of State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) contains updated estimates of the number and proportion of hungry people in the world in 2015, the target year of the Millennium Development Goals.

It also offers analysis into what drives successful anti-hunger programs, such as agricultural investments, in addition to the growing importance of social protection schemes and the new challenges presented by the increasingly protracted nature of crises, NaijaAgroNet also gathered.

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World cereal production may decline----FAO

NaijaAgroNet

Indications are that world cereal production may decline by  1.5 per cent from what it was  last year due mainly to the reduced acreage planted with maize, even though the effect will be mitigated by "exceptionally high" levels of existing stocks, according to the latest forecasts in FAO's biannual Food Report published May 7, 2015, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO's first forecast for global cereal production in 2015, assuming normal weather conditions for the remainder of the season, amounts to 2.509 billion tonnes, a bit down from last year's record but nearly 5 per cent above the average of the past five years.  

The report, NaijaAgroNet further gathered, stated that the modest decline in output would require running inventories down by around 3 per cent in the new season (2015/16), with faster drawdowns for coarse grains and rice than for wheat

"The world food import bill is forecast to reach a five-year low in 2015", the report say, mainly driven by a decline in international prices, low freight rates and a strong US dollar. Import volumes of the various food components of the bill were little changed or even rising. Low income countries are also expected to benefit from lower import bills. 

Several years of solid harvests and stockpiling mean most basic food commodities are in surplus. As a result, the projected drop in cereals output is not expected to impact availability of food for consumption.

Dairy production trends are poised for further steady growth of around two percent in 2015, with lower international prices buoying imports in Africa. The abolition of the European Union's milk quota system is likely to boost output and was one of the main drivers of the 6.7 percent monthly drop in the Dairy Price Index, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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Farmers general assembly to meet in Buenos Aires

NaijaAgroNet.

Plans have been advanced for the General Assembly meeting of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO-OMA) to be held in Buenos Aires from March 25 to 29, 2014, reports

According to information made available to NaijaAgroNet, every year, the event forms an opportunity to gather about 100 agricultural confederations from 80 countries in Argentina to discuss the future of global agriculture.

The annual event, NaijaAgroNet gathered will be hosted by the Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA), the organization designated to host the event after JA ZENCHU, Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Japan.

NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that subjects on climate change, innovation, food security, value chain, women and youth in agriculture are some of the key themes of the meeting, even as it’s an avenue for meetings and debates between the leading experts of world agriculture and large international organizations affiliated to it.

Among other attendees , correspondent learnt will be members of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), World Metrological Organisation (WMO), Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), OIE, the International Meat Secretariat (IMS), International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Prominent personalities expected at the farmers assembly include the United Nations ambassadors of the International Year of Family Farming, Gerd Sonnleitner and Myrna Cunningham, the U.S. Ambassador Dr. Quinn, President of the World Food Prize.

 The presence of the mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, the Director-General of WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and many other representatives of international agricultural is also expected.

The World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly will be preceded by four workshops which will address the following themes: animal welfare on farms, improvement of agricultural contracts, innovative processes in the field of agriculture and services related to climate. The days of the General Assembly will be dedicated to in-depth sessions  on the role of farmers in the food chain, to the changes as a result of climate change, food security, the role of women, gender differences in this area and, finally, issues related to the generational renewal.

Marco Marzano, WFO Executive Director, said that the World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly is an important opportunity for the global agriculture community to discuss the major challenges of the near future.

 Also, he said, towards which direction global agriculture is moving, as it changes to cope with the effects of climate change, such as innovative ways to take on and manage the economic crisis: these are some of the topics on which farmers’ organizations will be called upon to discuss”.

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Prep-eez Tech partners World Bank on 24/7 free call e-extension

The Chief Executive Office, Prep-eez Tech Limited, Mr Kow Sam, has said the company is partnering the World Bank and the West Africa Agricultural Production Programme on piloting the e-Agriculture and extension programme, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He also revealed to NaijaAgroNet that they are up-scaling services to cover the entire Ghana in the next couple of months, covering over 11 languages and also executing similar projects in Nigeria, La Cote D'Ivoire and other West African countries.

The programme, he told NaijaAgroNet is to expand a free multi-lingual interactive voice response system and audio conferencing and free messaging services across the region.

As said by him, the service has currently attracted over 40,000 active subscribers and an average daily usage of 2,000 accessing each day on their standard mobile phone with languages, including Twi, Ga, Ewe, Nzema, Dagbani and Frafra.

"The company is also building a multi-lingual call-centre that is toll-free at the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agricultural (MoFA) resource centre," he said, stressing that this would allow direct access to information in real time from subject matter specialist as well as experts to farmers through standard phones at zero cost to the farmer.

In addition, Sam said three e-resource centres are being established in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale to help build ICT agricultural resource, where MoFA staff, extension officers, women and youth in agriculture would learn to build business plans, research and experimentation, cash flow and productivity and performance analysis for effective output.

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220 varsities, FAO join hands on food security in Latin America, Caribbean

Over 220 universities joined the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to expand learning opportunities and improve policies in the Latin America and the Carribbean, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered is a sign of new educational partnership of putting knowledge into the hands of thousands of professionals working in food security and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the partnership offers individuals and institutions the opportunity to gain access to a broad suite of online courses to develop their capacity to improve policies and programmes.

The initiative, NaijaAgroNet learnt will offer a new Master’s programme in Food Security, in addition to e-learning courses currently offered by FAO. Even as the programme partnership will target current and potential policymakers through a vast network of over 220 universities in the region.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that with the support of the European Union (EU), FAO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUAL) to develop the education programme.

Hence, FAO and UDUAL will work with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to develop the curricula. Rollout of the new courses is slated for January 2015.

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