LDRI launches comprehensive source for agriculture data on Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) has launched a knowledge and data portal encompassing research, reports, policy briefs and news on agriculture in Africa, known as TransformAgriculture.org, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The Executive Assistant and Communications Officer, Wangui Muriu, in a press statement sighted by NaijaAgroNet, quoted the LDRI’s Executive Director, Mr. Muchiri Nyaggah as saying that the portal makes it possible to find, for the first time, data, research and news on Africa’s agriculture from multiple sources in one place.

“The portal is also the online home of a multi-stakeholder collective known as the Network for Agricultural Transformation in Africa (NATA),” he said.

Data and research on Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda, Nyaggah said, currently resides in numerous locations spread out across the Internet. This makes discovery of insights, content and data for decision-making fairly difficult for the continent’s growing number of public, private sector and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) experts.

He explained that TransformAgriculture.org has been designed to solve this problem for members of the network and any expert looking for data, research or news on Africa’s agricultural transformation journey.

Organized along the categories used by the results framework for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), Nyaggah said, the portal will make it possible for those supporting or reporting on the CAADP Biennial Review to find the information they need.

“During the last quarter of 2016, additional functionality to accommodate the Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals have been provided to further improve discoverability of content within those frameworks,” he said.

Nyaggah emphasised that numerous organizations at the multi-lateral or NGO level are producing data and research as part of efforts to end extreme poverty, hunger and reduce inequality in Africa.

“The data and research are vital for implementation of CAADP as well as the SDGs and Agenda 2063; making it easier to find and share is therefore very important in empowering our continent’s experts to get their job done,” he enthused.

Equally speaking, the Co-founder and Director for Technology at LDRI, Mr. Steve Nyumba, said that TransformAgriculture.org will help to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio for those seeking data, research and news related to implementation of Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda.

“It is part of our commitment to support African Union member states in implementing programmes such as CAADP that have transformative impact on the continent’s growing population” Nyumba said.

Reassuring that LDRI and partners will continue to add content to the portal on an almost daily basis and welcome data and content publishers wishing to use it as one of their dissemination tools. Even as LDRI collaborates with the African Media Initiative in data journalism training across Africa.

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SUN Movement Strategic roadmap 2020 for launch in September

NaijaAgroNet:

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has advanced plans to launch its strategic roadmap 2020 in the month of September, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The launch, NaijaAgroNet gathered would form part of the inauguration of the SUN Movement’s new Lead Group at the UN General Assembly in New York on Assembly in New York on 22 September, 2016.

Disclosing this, the interim coordinator, SUN Movement, Mr. Tom Arnold, told NaijaAgroNet, pointed out that it would be a moment members strive to connect all every member to join the event and engage with the Lead Group via webinar.

According to him, the SUN Business Network, for instance, is also organising an event in New York on August 20 to highlight business commitments to nutrition.

This meeting, he revealed will be a prelude to Ministers of Finance from partnering countries, presenting their scale up plans to accelerate actions on early child development and stunting reduction will be held during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington in October.

Arnold further said that the SUN Movement Lead Group, Networks and Secretariat will support SUN country stakeholders in efforts to engage with Ministries of Finance ahead of this important meeting and in follow-up initiatives focusing on resource mobilization.

Just as he said, the 43rd session of the Committee for World Food Security will take place in Rome between October 17 and 21 with a focus on “Making a difference in Food Security and Nutrition.”

All SUN Countries and SUN Stakeholders, he said, are encouraged to participate to share their experience and to contribute to defining policy guidance which promotes convergence for food security and nutrition.

The Micronutrient Forum, Arnold said will be held in Cancun during the month of October from 24 through 28, where there will be an opportunity to convene SUN stakeholders, especially those from Latin America, for experience sharing.

With the SUN Movement Secretariat, we are dedicated to ensuring that you and your countries can make the most of these significant opportunities to bring political attention to nutrition, and galvanise finance for effective action.

“Given this busy agenda for nutrition actors across the Movement, in order to maximise attendance at the SUN Movement Global Gathering and offer an innovative and content rich opportunity for sharing and learning, the SUN Movement Secretariat will organise the Global Gathering in late February 2017,” he submitted, assuring that information to this effect will follow shortly on its location and logistical aspects of the event.

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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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Ban Ki-moon appoint Gerda Verbrg, new coordinator SUN Movement

NaijaAgroNet:

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Mr. Ban Ki-moon has appointed former German Agriculture Minister, Gerda Verburg as the new Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Mr. Ki-moon, NaijaAgroNet gave this approve in February 2016 with the anticipation that Madam Gerda Verburg will assume full office by August 2, 2016.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Gerda had participated in the 2016 Women Deliver Conference on May 16 through 19, to demonstrate that empowering women is essential for sustaining improvements in the nutrition status of everyone, everywhere. 

She spoke recently at the European Development Days held between June 15 and 16, about the centrality of nutrition to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the action needed from European development partners to build country nutrition capacity.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that this came as SUN countries in the last quarter, shared their experiences through two virtual meetings of the SUN Country Network, discussing national commitments and setting nutrition targets, and the steps you are taking to build and sustain political commitment for nutrition action.

Arnold said, SUN Countries from across Asia came together in a regional workshop, held in Bangkok on April 25 through 27, to mobilise public finance for nutrition and another workshop to be held in Nairobi, Kenya between August 22 and 25, 2016 for African SUN countries.

SUN, is a unique movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition and tends to unite people from governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers—in a collective effort to improve nutrition.

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 Pix: Gerda Verburg

Papua New Guinea, Uttar Pradesh, join Scaling Up Nutrition movement

NaijaAgroNet:

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has announced the joining of the campaign by two states, namely Papua New Guinea and the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Interim Coordinator of the SUN Movement, Tom Arnold, disclosed this to NaijaAgroNet as part of the update on new phase of the campaign, which he was delighted has continued to grow and inspire transformative action as part of the collective efforts at improving nutrition.

He said that so far, in this first half of the year, the SUN Movement has welcomed Papua New Guinea and the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh as its newest members.

According to him, a new Strategy and Roadmap (2016-2020) has been developed with a consultative process, supervised by SUN Movement Executive Committee. 

“It will be launched by the Lead Group in September,” he said.

Arnold equally commended the respective nutrition communities for their contributions and commitment through the SUN Movement’s Annual Joint-Assessment exercise to consider progress and define future priorities.

“Congratulations to you all on sustaining the momentum and your continued efforts to drive the SUN Movement forward,” he said.

Nigeria has been a member of SUN Movement since November 14, 2011.

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Pix: Interim Coordinator, SUN Movement, Tom Arnold

African media urged to leverage WBG’s 9,000 open data to boost good governance

NaijaAgroNet:

Africa media practitioners have been urged to leverage on the World Bank’s estimated 9,000 open data on agriculture, so as to give drive to good governance, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Making this call recently at a 3-day workshop on reporting agriculture hosted by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) in conjunction with the World Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the Lead Operations Officer, World Bank Institute’s Global Media Development programme, Mr. Craig Hammer advised participants to explore the power of open data to improve the state of content on agriculture and other sectors of the economy.

He disclosed that World Bank Group, for instance, has over 9,000 development indicators opened including data on health, nutrition, population, gender, poverty and equity, jobs, climate change to name a few.

“There are microdata on 650,000 variables from 1,200 surveys in addition to over 150,000 analyses, reports,” he said.

According to him by leveraging open data, media practitioners on the continent will spur good governance because open data has evidence to drive its story or information.

Hammer, whose presentation was on ‘Data-Driven Journalism Media,’ defined data as information that has been translated into a form that is more convenient to analyze, pointing out that nowadays, the world thrives on three distinct avenues, more so for media practitioners, comprising having access to information and open data, finding agriculture data with today’s relevance.

Showcasing where media fits in open data usage in what he described as information circle, Hammer described media as a watchdog that discloses to the public in real time relevant infomation; microscope which helps to simplify technical governance information thereby promoting accessibility by the public and facilitate engagement.

He also said that by way of media being a megaphone, it helps with the dissemination of now accessible governance information through various channels available to practitioners.

Equally, Hammer said the aforementioned would assist the citizens to understand, discuss and eventually offer feedback for the government to respond adequately.

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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.

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