UN prospects raise in crop production, utilization, trade and stocks - NaijaAgroNet

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The United Nations (UN) is seeing prospects for crop production, utilisation, trade and stocks, especially in the area of cereal supplies, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was made known through its agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its recent sectoral brief made available to NaijaAgroNet.

African Continental Free Trade Area: Moving African integration further forward

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

Twenty years ago, I hoped for an Africa that would draw closer and forge forward boldly, despite a bag of mixed fortunes. Rwanda had just been blighted by genocide; the ubiquitous coup d’état still reared its ugly head in West Africa; although a tentative calm prevailed in Central Africa, political tensions simmered below the surface; Zaïre was in the throes of the ‘first Congo war’; the civil war in Somalia grew in magnitude and intensity; Ethiopia began an experiment in state-led macroeconomic planning; a democratic South Africa rose from the ashes of Apartheid, a veritable validation of the OAU’s ultimate goal of political liberation for Africa.

An interim period of positive change ensued, a growth fuelled by new media including the Internet, greater multiculturalism and a stronger attachment to democratic principles.

In March 2018, 44 of the 55 African Union Heads of State and Government enacted the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) in Kigali, Rwanda at its 10th Extraordinary Session, under the able leadership of H.E. President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, with H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda as current AU Chairperson and H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission. Once in force AfCFTA will be the largest trade zone in the world, increase intra-African trade by 52% by the year 2022, remove tariffs on 90% of goods, liberalise services and tackle other barriers to intra-African trade, such as long delays at border posts.

The end of colonialism in the early 1960s created 55 African countries which cut arbitrarily across ethnic, cultural and traditional boundaries. They established the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to promote unity and solidarity on one hand yet emphasised territorial sovereignty on the other. This hamstrung the OAU insofar as national affairs were concerned, and helped create regional economic blocks or communities (RECs) in the mid-1970s.

RECs engendered political and economic integration. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC) signed agreements for the free movement of goods, services and people. There are now 8 AU-recognised RECs and a number of sub-regional bodies that are actively pursuing Africa’s integration agenda.

In 1991 the Abuja Treaty established the African Economic Community (AEC), building on RECs for integration. At the 2001 OAU Summit, African Heads of States and Government adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as a further vector to accelerate African economic co-operation and integration. The Summit recognised the importance of OAU input into REC programme planning and implementation. In 2002, the Constitutive Act of the AU was adopted in Lomé, Togo, formally replacing the OAU.

These milestones show that African economic integration is best pursued on a regional basis.

Rethinking Africa’s priorities is urgently called for. In this regard Agenda 2063, a consolidated strategy for sustained political and economic integration and prosperity, was launched by African Heads of State and Government at the 50th Anniversary of African Unity in 2013. Agenda 2063’s first Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2013-2023) draws heavily on NEPAD’s experiences. Beyond these broad strokes in development priorities and programmes, African development must be translated into concrete action.

While business and consumer confidence have improved, investment, trade and productivity have not. This has a direct impact on both foreign and domestic investments in Africa, particularly in infrastructure. As the world’s second-fastest growing region, Africa holds much promise for those willing to invest time to study our local economies and identify opportunities presented by a booming middle class with an endless appetite for consumables.

Although the Africa Report 2017 shows that virtually all countries plan large infrastructure projects and understand the need to industrialise, Africa cannot afford to be an ‘investment risk’ for infrastructure projects that advance sustainable inclusive development.

To this end, the AU-NEPAD Continental Business Network (CBN) continues to de-risk infrastructure projects in order to attract financing, especially through Pension and Sovereign Wealth Funds. In September 2017, NEPAD and the CBN initiated an Africa-led and Africa-owned campaign to increase African asset owners’ contributions to African infrastructure from approximately 1.5% of their assets under management (AUM) to 5% of AUM. By using financial resources available on the continent and strengthening public-private partnerships, infrastructure investments should increase. The CBN has called for a more strategic engagement with domestic institutional investors in support of this campaign.

The AfCTA, is a monumental step for Africa; another significant milestone in Africa’s integration process. I have to however aptly point out that the AfCFTA was signed in Kigali the capital that experienced complete turmoil some 24 years ago but is now poised to become the futuristic “Wakanda.”

*Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, a former Prime Minister of Niger, is the current CEO of the African Union’s NEPAD Agency. 

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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

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ARSO President’s Forum to boost inter-African trade

NaijaAgroNet

African Organization for Standardization’s (ARSO) President’s Forum slated for Abuja next month will remove the restrictions placed by the differences in the standards governing trade among African countries, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Dr Joseph Ikem Odumodu, who is the Director-General of the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and president of the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), while speaking to newsmen in his office in Abuja recently, stated that the theme of the seminar is “the Role of Standards in Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Africa.”

Speaking further, NaijaAgroNet learnt, “Every organism prospers by utilizing the material which every part supplies. But hardly does Africa draw strength from the trade the different countries in the continent engage in because, separated by standards, the countries hardly trade among themselves. Now, ARSO President’s Forum Abuja 2015 is bringing fifty-five heads of national standards bodies (NSB) in Africa together to open the gates of harmonization of standards and let goods and services flow smoothly across the continent”.

 Dr. Odumodu elucidated further that the forum will feature African Day of Standardization seminar in addition to the CEOs Roundtable and the Made in Africa Expo.

 
Participants expected at the forum include manufacturers, service providers, medium and small scale enterprises, investors and representatives of government ministries, departments and agencies. The International Conference Centre, Abuja is the venue of the Forum.

The ARSO President’s Forum, NaijaAgroNet reports, is the aftermath of the 20th ARSO General Assembly endorsement of a proposal for the ARSO President to convene a special forum of NSB chief executives and engage them on ARSO standardization programmes to make Africa one market. The ARSO 20th Assembly took place in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2014.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

 
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Strengthen family farming, solve global agro puzzle - Sonnleitner

The United Nations (UN) Goodwill Ambassador of the International Year of Family Farming and World Farmers Organisation (WFO) Member, Mr Gerd Sonnleitner, has declared that strengthening family farming is the answer to global challenges in agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He made this known to NaijaAgroNet at the occasion of the 14^th Asian Farmers’ Group for Cooperation (AFGC), saying that as a family farmer himself, “It is a sustainable, flexible and resilient model, especially with regards to achieving food security.”

Sonnleitner said he could understand from his own experience the role family farmers play - not only for the development of domestic markets but also with regards to international trade.

“They need to be adequately supported, as the economic risk and the responsibility lie in their hands – especially through the development of policies which favour them,” he said.

The 2-day-event which ended at Saturday, March 1, 2014 was hosted by the Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that it is co-organised by the Japanese farmers’ organization JA Zenchu which provides the permanent secretariat of the AFGC, offering opportunity to exchange information and experiences and to promote cooperation amongst the participating member organizations.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that AFGC is a platform for farmers organizations was established in 1999 in Tokyo. Members are national farmer and cooperative organizations from nine countries in the Asian monsoon region (India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam). Small-scale family farming is the main model in agriculture in these countries.

Isaac Oyimah/SA/GEE

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