Make earth suitable for human - Ward urges

"We have to combine our immediate commitment to meeting human needs with our longer term need to protect the earth as a place suitable for human life now and in the future" according to the Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres.

Madam Executive Secretary made this quote in honour of late Barbara Mary Ward, an economist on issues of the protection of the earth, at the 2012 Barbara Ward Lecture last weekend.

She appreciated late Barbara Ward for stressing the need to simultaneously address the inner limits of human requirements and the outer limits of what the earth could sustain.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Christiana in her speech made known that the RIO+20 conference, a medium that allows the world to take stock of past efforts is fast approaching, hence, she stressed the need to do away with "business-as-usual" in order to make the ground shake now more than ever before.

"With billions of people still in abject poverty and with environmental depletion and greenhouse emissions at an all time high, one cannot help but conclude that this was not what Barbara Ward had in mind," she said.

She also affirmed that climate change has the potential to undo many of the development gains that have been made, including in the context of the Millennium Development Goals.

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Brazil supports 5 African countries with N371 million

The Brazilian government has promised to provide the sum of $2, 375, 000 about N371.09 million to support farming in five African countries.

These countries as revealed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet are Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal.

The fund according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is in accordance with the agreement signed by the government of Brazil with FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) for a new local food purchase programme to benefit farmers and vulnerable populations in the listed African countries.

Based on the agreement, FAO said, it would receive $1.55million, about N242.2 million to look after the production side of the new project, making provisions for seeds and fertilizer, also increasing the capacity of small-scale farmers and boosting farmers' association's growth.

FAO is also to work towards mobilizing Brazilian expertise in support of local purchase initiatives as the Brazilian government is providing her expertise drawn from its the Food Purchase Programme (PAA) of Brazil.

WFP will be held responsible for purchasing and delivering the food to schools and vulnerable groups as well as receiving $800,000 about N125 million as stated in the agreement.

Purchase for Progress (P4P), NaijaAgroNet gathered is a pilot project of the World Food Programme which has already made local purchases of food and also looking for ways to buy more directly from small-scale farmers.

One of the motives for the Agreement is to strengthen local food markets and help improve food security in order to prevent future food insecurity.

The programme also seeks to supplement the diets of hungry people.

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Canada supports the West African Sahel with N6.45b

In a bid to help the victims of famine in the Sahel region of West Africa, the Canadian Government is providing the sum of $41 million, about N6.45 billion, Reports CityNews.

Bev Oda, International Cooperation Minister of Canada affirmed the impending food security and crisis in the region which calls for a great concern.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the United Nations and other international institutions had warned of famine which could affect about 23 million across Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania if major global rescue efforts are not mounted.

The Minister said Canada will not relent efforts to monitor the developing situation closely.

"We must act now with help for millions of people struggling to meet their immediate basic food security and nutrition needs to avoid a more tragic situation later," Oda said. Read more

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FAO introduces long-term actions to assist South Sudan

 The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has concluded plans to provide series of emergency based on long-term actions to assist South Sudan state of Jonglei to feed itself.

As revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement by FAO, the UN agency is supporting the affected areas with the supply and distribution of livestock vaccines, fishing gear, vegetable seeds and tools.

The supplies, FAO said is necessary for cereal production in the world's newest nation, an indication that it’s currently about 19 per cent lower than the previous year and 25 per cent below the average for the last five years.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the supplies and distributions have moved towards long-term development and capacity building in South Sudan, even as the deficit in cereal for 2012 is estimated at more than 470,000 tonnes, which is about 50 per cent of the country's total consumption requirement for the year,

FAO said it intends to give vaccines and antibiotics to prevent the spread of animal disease and to treat up to 100 000 animals over the course of about a month, according to the FAO Livestock Officer, Nimaya Mogga, noted that South Sudanese are pastoralists or herders, hence cattle are their livelihood, "Without them, they are nothing."

Mogga stated that South Sudan is the sixth largest cattle economy in Africa, adding "Cattle are seen as wealth in South Sudan."

Another agricultural sector where the FAO is helping South Sudan is fishing which is being hampered by lack of fishing gear.

To this effect, FAO is making available 20,000 pieces of fishing gear to Boma and two other towns that were affected, in addition to helping local communities in the planting of vegetable gardens along river banks.

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CGFS to resolve pressing issues on food security

The Center for Global Food Security (CGFS) established last year at Pordue is working towards tackling global food insecurity by tapping into the campus population, PurdueExponent reports.

The Centre as explained by the Managing Director, Gary Burniske has an overarching objective to tap into the knowledge and expertise within Purdue and to utilize the knowledge to resolve the pressing issues with food security globally.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the Center also planned to use grants to send graduate students to developing countries in places such as Africa and Latin America to conduct researches on how locals there handle the issue of food security.

“There are probably 200 definitions of food security,” he said.

The term “food security” covers areas such as agriculture, livestock, veterinary sciences, water management and nutrition. According to Burniske, that’s only the beginning. Read more

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