Canada responds to multiple food crises in sub-Saharan Africa with $19.8m

NaijaAgroNet:

The Canadian government has responded to multiple food crises in the sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, with the sum of $19.8 million, about N70,967,741,935.48 billion, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, Canada said, would assist in addressing the critical needs of millions of vulnerable people across sub-Saharan Africa, including women and children suffering from a lack of access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their daily needs —the result of severe drought and conflict.

Proclaiming this via the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Ambassador Marc-André Blanchard, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, the $19.8 million is additional funding to address extreme levels of food insecurity in Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda.

In these seven countries and neighbouring regions, Canada’s funding of experienced and trusted Canadian and international partners will respond to critical humanitarian needs. This includes the provision of basic necessities, such as emergency food, potable water, adequate sanitation, health care, shelter and protection services.

“Canada is pleased to provide critical humanitarian assistance to address the effects of drought and conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa and to ensure those requiring emergency assistance are reached. Today’s announcement will help save lives, alleviate suffering and bring relief to people who need urgent help,” Marc-André Blanchard said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that in March 2017, Canada voted close to $120 million in humanitarian funding in response to severe food crises in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Also, between March 17 and June 30, 2017, Canadians generously donated over $21.3 million to registered Canadian charities in response to humanitarian crises, including an unprecedented famine, food insecurity and conflict-induced displacements affecting over 55 million people across Africa.

Uj. N. Dominic/ED, Ops

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

Experts list key dominant food trade in sub-Saharan

NaijaAgroNet:

Experts at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Food and Agriculture Orgaanisation (FAO) have projected some key dominant food trade to be expected in the next nine years, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was contained in the latest Agricultural Outlook by the two organistion, saying that the bulk of all commodity exports will continue to originate in just a few countries, noting that imports, however, will be far less concentrated among countries, although China is projected to remain a critical market for some commodities, in particular soybeans. 

The duo of OECD and FAO emphasised the importance of well-functioning markets in enabling food to flow from surplus to deficit regions and improving food security.

At the Outlook's launch in Rome, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría said: "Although we are now witnessing a period of lower agricultural prices, we need to remain alert as changes in markets can take place rapidly.”

He also said that the key priority for governments in the current context is to implement policies that will increase agricultural productivity in a coherent and sustainable way. Getting our agricultural policies right is critical to end hunger and undernourishment in the decades to come.

"Significant production growth is needed to meet the expanding demand for food, feed and raw products for industrial uses, and all of these have to be done in a sustainable way," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. 

"We are optimistic that most of that future demand for agricultural commodities will be mainly met through productivity gains rather than expansion of crop area or livestock herds," Gurria said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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

Sub-Saharan: OECD, FAO optimistic to end high agro price regimes

NaijaAgroNet:

The 20^th joint edition of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Food and Agriculture Orgaanisation (FAO) has shown optimistic of ending high price regime of agricultural products in the Sub-Saharan Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The outlook published Monday and made available to NaijaAgroNet, projected that inflation-adjusted agricultural commodity prices will remain relatively flat overall in the coming decade. However, livestock prices are expected to rise relative to those for crops.

They noted that as incomes improve, especially in emerging economies, demand for meat, fish and poultry will demonstrate strong growth, stressing that this creates additional demand for feed, particularly from coarse grains and protein meals, causing their prices to rise prices relative to food staples such as wheat and rice.

The duo also noted that globally, the increased demand for food and feed for a growing and more affluent population is projected to be mostly met through productivity gains. Yield improvements are expected to account for about 80 percent of the increase in crop output.

In line with the baseline analysis made in the Outlook, under a "business as usual" scenario -- in which agricultural productivity grows at the current trend rate and no major action is taken to reduce hunger -- projected growth in food availability would result in a reduction in the number of undernourished people in the world from around 800 million now to under 650 million in 2025.

The analysis indicates that in sub-Saharan Africa the rate of undernourishment would decline an estimated 23 to 19 percent -- but because of rapid population growth the region would still account for a rising share of the world's population suffering from hunger.

This implies that without decisive steps to move away from business-as-usual, hunger would not be eradicated by 2030 - the global target recently adopted by the international community - and that decisive action is needed.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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

UN - 34 African nation’s soil endangered

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations (UN) climate changes conference in Germany tagged “International Year of Soils” has come to an end with scientist and environmental advocates estimating that nearly a third of the world’s soil is degraded, with the figure closer to two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the one week-long conference reports that 34 of Africa’s 54 countries have over 20 percent in either the amount of land degraded or the amount of population affected by land degradation.

Emphasizing the importance of soil, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the experts view the soil as one of the most important resources obtainable, if not the most important. They further substantiate that it sustains all our agricultural and livestock food production, wood for fuel production, filters water so that we can drink it and fish can live in it, as well as useful for construction – therefore sustaining our homes and infrastructure. 

It further maintained as NaijaAgroNet learnt, that in Africa, the issue of land degradation (a decline in land quality caused by human activities) and soil fertility decline is deeply complex with intertwining and cyclical causes. These range from poverty, inadequate farming techniques, and poor inherent soil qualities to population pressure, to insecure land tenure and climate change, amongst other factors.

Stating also that if these are issues are not addressed, the cycle of poor land management will result in higher barriers to food security, agricultural development for smallholder farmers and wider economic growth for Africa.

According to Agriculture for Impact (A4I), an independent advocacy initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the economic loss as a result of land degradation is estimated at approximately N13.5 trillion ($68 billion) per annum.

It further advocates that better land management practices could deliver approximately N279 trillion ($1.4 trillion) globally in increased crop production which is 35 times the losses.  

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that a 2008 report on the “Global Assessment of Land Degradation” by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and partners offered some shocking insights and surprises into the degree of soil degradation in some African countries. 

The African countries on the UN watch list as NaijaAgroNet gathered would be the dry land African countries around the Mediterranean and Middle East and relatively small areas in the Maghreb and the Nile delta. 

The conference NaijaAgroNet gathered, advocates that the rate of soil nutrient depletion is a factor that must be considered when ranking which countries should be on the soil watch list, as an important concern directly linked to food insecurity in developing countries due to the intensification of land use for agricultural production. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that 650 people from 80 countries gathered in Germany for the conference that brought together scientists and environmental advocates to discuss climate change’s increasingly hottest topic - soil. 

Daniel Nsolibe /Ed,Ops.

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