Maseru hosts Africa Environment Day, Wangari Maathair Day

African leaders, civil society and youth groups marked 2014 Africa Environment Day and also to honour Wangari Maathai, with aim of accelerating actions on several environmental challenges on the continent, to be hosted in Maseru, the Kingdom of Lesotho, with the theme ‘Combating Desertification in Africa: Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Food Security.’

NaijaAgroNet reports that the regional host of the 12th annual celebration, which attracted over 200 young people and high-level experts, reviewed key environmental issues impacting Africa, including illegal wildlife crime, forest conservation and food security.

The event which dovetails with Wangari Maathai Day, a celebration of the life and work of the Green Belt Movement founder is organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Government of Kenya and the Green Belt Movement.

Professor Maathai was Africa's first female Nobel laureate, a champion of grassroots environmental activism and a fervent defender of biodiversity. She was also the inspiration for the Billion Tree Campaign, which UNEP began in 2006. Eight years later, 13.8 billion trees have been planted under the campaign, which is now run by the Plant for the Planet Foundation.

"The Green Economy transition is already well underway in Africa," said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "From plugging into solar power in Algeria and Tunisia to investing in green funds in South Africa, diverse pathways to greener and more-inclusive economies are being pursued across the continent."

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Denting youth unemployment through agriculture in Africa thumbnail

Agriculture is not glamourous. It suffers from entrenched negative perceptions. In the minds of many African youths, a farmer is someone like their parents, doing backbreaking labour in the fields and getting little to show for it. Nonetheless, agriculture is the engine driving many African economies. If it were to get the same political support and financial investment as the mining sector, agriculture would be capable of providing more decent jobs and filling millions more stomachs with nutritious meals.

Francisca Ansah, an extension officer with expertise in agriculture and rural services, works with farmers in the upper west regions of Ghana. At a farmers’ conference in Ghana last year, she said the image of poor, ragged and weather-beaten farmers puts off many young people. Having seen their aging parents go through the traumatic experience of farming using basic equipment, these young people opt to settle in urban areas in search of employment. “Young people have second thoughts about agriculture as the source for jobs,” said Ms. Ansah.

Despite the negative perceptions, the agricultural sector employs as much as 60% of Africa’s labour force, according to the Africa Economic Outlook Report 2013, published jointly by the African Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN Development Programme. Yet because of low productivity, the sector accounts for only 25% of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP).

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Nigeria, Israel enter agricultural deal

NaijaAgroNet.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and State of Israel, penultimate Friday signed a cooperation agreement to share expertise and step up cooperation in the agriculture field aimed at boosting food security in both countries, report

The agreement was signed on behalf of the FG by the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and his Israeli counterpart, Yair Shamir at a short ceremony in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Speaking, Adesina said Nigeria will work closely with the state of Israel to boost fish production, so as to cut down on the amount spent yearly importing fish, noting that Nigeria spends 125 billion naira, about $760 million annually, on fish imports alone.

“… This ought not to be, considering the abundant water resources in this country. The cooperation will also include areas of beef production, horticulture and training," he said.

Pointing out that Israel will also help Nigeria to structure her rural communities in a way that youths in these communities will be able to create wealth through agricultural activities instead of migrating from their local areas.

The minister said, the government is trying to woo private investors in hopes of bolstering the local agricultural sector and up to $4 billion has already been invested in local agriculture projects by private companies.

Adesina said the Nigeria-Israel cooperation deal would foster development in the sector and "impact private-sector businesses tremendously, bringing wealth to youths by creating gainful jobs."

Equally, Shamir said Israel would cooperate with the Nigerian government to develop agriculture in Africa`s top oil producer. Stressing that the Israeli government would begin by training employees of Nigeria`s Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasising that the partnership would boost food security for both countries.

Isaac Oyimah with agency report/GEE

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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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NENA countries pledge cooperation on hunger, nutrition

 Governments from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) has wrapped up a five-day meeting on regional food security challenges pledging enhanced cooperation to tackle the critical issues of water management, food waste and building more resilient rural communities, reports NaijAgroNet.

The communiqué made available to NaijAgroNet after the 32nd regional conference of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for the Near East and North Africa, endorsed three key proposals tabled during the talks.

NaijAgroNet also reports that the first was a regional strategy framework to bring countries together to improve food security and nutrition. Though at present, the number of undernourished people in the 19 countries of the Near East and North Africa remains high at nearly 43.7 million, or 10 per cent of the population.

Reducing those numbers while coping with a ongoing population growth, increasing scarcity of natural resources and climate change will require much closer inter-governmental cooperation.

The framework endorsed today calls on governments to work together to  address lagging productivity growth through increased investment in research and development; improvements to supply chain efficiencies that will reduce exposure to market volatility and other shocks; and strengthened safety nets and nutrition education programs.

The creation of strategic regional cereal reserves to help offset spikes in commodity prices is another tool considered by the framework.

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