Animal deaths worsen food crisis in Africa

ITRealms:

The Animal Health Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Dr. Felix Njemi has said that the large number of animal deaths is worsening the food crisis in Africa, especially in countries south of the Sahara, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Njemi was among experts from across Africa who agreed that trans-border diseases kill between 10 and 20 per cent of the continent’s animals every year. The experts, who gathered in Cameroon recently to discuss the problem, suggested large vaccination and pest eradication programmes to stop the spread of the diseases.

He said, “The strategy is the large vaccination at the country level. Undertake surveillance to detect any case of the disease and strengthen collaboration between member nations and even between international institutions. Imagine somebody who has 10 animals and loses eight. The disease can have impact in food security.”

Many poor people in African countries, he said, depend on goats and sheep for their livelihoods, even as he said  FAO is urging farmers to be on guard against transboundary animal diseases warning that ticks, lice and other pests can spread quickly from one country to the next, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

According to information from, Voice of America (VOA), the Cameroon’s livestock minister, Dr. Taiga, he does not use a first name, on his part, said pests like nose bot flies and wool maggots are harming animals in some communities in his country.

He said that all animals in an area must be killed if one animal is affected because the diseases are contagious. They spread quickly from animal to animal. He said that is why the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health are working together to destroy the diseases. He says that when central African countries succeed in killing the pests, their human populations will enjoy better quality protein, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

129 million hectares lost to deforestation

NaijaAgroNet

About 129 million hectares of forest, an area almost equivalent in size to South Africa, have been lost since 1990, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The world's forests continue to shrink as populations increase and forest land is converted to agriculture and other uses, but over the past 25 years the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 per cent, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) comprehensive forest report-- The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015-- published today, September7.

The FAO study covers 234 countries and territories and was presented at this week's World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, launching the report in Durban, said, "Forests play a fundamental role in combating rural poverty, ensuring food security and providing people with livelihoods. And they deliver vital environmental services such as clean air and water, the conservation of biodiversity and combating climate change,"

"The direction of change is positive, but we need to do better. We will not succeed in reducing the impact of climate change and promoting sustainable development if we do not preserve our forests and sustainably use the many resources they offer us," he added.
Meanwhile, the net annual rate of forest loss has slowed from 0.18 per cent in the early 1990s to 0.08 per cent during the period 2010-2015, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Africa and South America had the highest net annual loss of forests in 2010-2015, with 2.8 and 2 million hectares respectively, but the report notes how the rate of loss has "substantially decreased" from the previous five year period.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Peruvian child wins 'family farming' drawing contest

NaijaAgroNet:

A 10-year-old Ariadne Cahuana Tapia, a Peruvian, has won one of the five regional prizes of a drawing contest, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Ariadne emerged one of the winners of the contest where in at least 100 other Peruvian students and 4,000 children in Latin America submitted drawings. The contest was aimed at promoting the meaning of family farming through drawings and families.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), NaijaAgroNet learnt, celebrated the award to Puno native, 10-year-old Ariadne Cahuana Tapia. Her drawing entitled, “Tribute to Earth” depicts the relationship Ariadne and her community has with the land, Pachamama.

According to Peruthisweek.com, the drawing portrays the sowing and harvest processes, and traditional products from the Puno region including quinoa and barley.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the prized drawings were chosen by the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. And to congratulate Ariadne the FAO, the Humanitarian Global Organization, and Puno’s Provincial Municipality granted a plaque, an official diploma and a distinguished citizen medal to her and her school.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Serena Williams, Kolo Touré, Neymar partner UNICEF on World’s Largest Lesson

NaijaAgroNet:

The Global Goals campaign and UNICEF have launched the world’s largest lesson to teach children from over 100 countries about the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in collaboration with celebrities including Serena Williams, Kolo Toure, Neymar among others in preparation to be adopted by the UN General Assembly later this month. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that as part of the campaign to tell everyone about the Global Goals, the World’s Largest Lesson will engage children and young people in the global effort to build a more sustainable future for every citizen. 

The initiative, NaijaAgroNet also gathered, has already attracted support from influential leaders and public figures including Eminent Advocate for UNICEF Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan; UNICEF ambassadors Nancy Ajram and Serena Williams; PLAN International global ambassador Freida Pinto; and Dani Alves, Hrithik Roshan, Kolo Touré, and Neymar and the Neymar Jr. Institute.  

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said that the World’s Largest Lesson will do more than teach children about the global goals. Stressing that it will engage them in the effort to achieve those goals – educating them about the challenges that are shaping their futures and encouraging them to drive change in their own communities.

“Young people can help achieve the global goals by holding their leaders accountable for the promises they are making – and by holding themselves accountable for building a better future for everyone,” he said.  

The World’s Largest Lesson, UNICEF official said, will be held in classrooms on every continent during the week of 28 September. 

“A potential 500 million girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 14 will have the chance to learn about the Global Goals, which range from ending extreme poverty for all people everywhere, to tackling climate change, and giving all children the opportunity to gain a quality primary and secondary education. Government leaders and ministers from a number of countries will be teaching and participating in lessons,” UNICEF said.
Specifically created lesson materials, NaijaAgroNet gathered include an animated film by Aardman and author and education expert Sir Ken Robinson that introduces the Global Goals, and a downloadable comic book by Josh Elder, Karl Kesel and Grace Allison. Some of the public figures backing the campaign have recorded their own introductions to the World’s Largest Lesson, including Serena Williams, Kolo Touré, Neymar and Dani Alves. Additional lesson plans and information are available for teachers to select based on the themes most relevant for their pupils.

“The World’s Largest Lesson is a fantastic opportunity to tell all children, everywhere what the Global Goals are and how they can play their part to make sure they are achieved,” said Richard Curtis, founder of the Global Goals campaign. “It would be wonderful if all teachers could make sure the World’s Largest Lesson is taught at their school. By making the Global Goals famous we can give them the best chance of working around the world – and help make us the first generation to end extreme poverty, the most determined generation in history to end injustice and inequality, and the last generation to be threatened by climate change.”

The World’s Largest Lesson provides a unique opportunity to foster global citizenship in schools across the world. It supports student learning across a range of subject areas such as science, geography, citizenship and technology and helps teachers explore important global issues such as human rights, poverty and climate change. 

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

FAO, MasterCard partnership kick starts with Turkana 170,000 refugees

NaijaAgroNet:

 

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) partnership with MasterCard, the technology company in the global payments industry, will take off by caring for Kakuma refugee camp, Turkana County, Kenya, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The camp is currently housing 170,000 refugees who have fled wars and violence in neighboring countries.

According to the agreement, camp residents will be provided with prepaid cards that will permit them to buy charcoal produced locally by the host community – charcoal that has been certified as being produced in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way. The scheme, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is designed to improve incomes of Turkana residents, reduce social tensions between those residents and the refugees, and relieve pressure on the environment.

MasterCard will provide its technology expertise and a meaningful financial contribution, to kick-start the business chain by providing 1,240 host-community households with improved charcoal making kilns and 7,000 refugee households with energy efficient stoves and credit to purchase 25 per cent of their annual charcoal needs.

The FAO and MasterCard are joining forces to create this innovative alliance against hunger.  The new partnership agreement which was signed recently by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Walt Macnee, Vice Chairman of MasterCard, at FAO headquarters, NaijaAgroNet reports, will  pave the way for a collaborative effort that will develop inclusive payment systems to support small-scale farmers and poor families.

Among other activities, the collaboration will explore ways to provide credit or money to households for purchases of basic needs and farming inputs on local markets, thereby supporting local economies and putting financial tools in the hands of economically marginalized communities.

The effort will benefit from the complementary strengths of each organization: MasterCard’s expertise in payments technology and FAO's global reach and track record in combating hunger and malnutrition, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

FAO's three main goals, NaijaAgroNet discovers, include the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

 

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

WFC to launch five-year forests, water action plan

NaijaAgroNet:

The World Forestry Congress (WFC) has said it will launch a five-year forest and water action plan to tackle rise in global demand for fresh and access to safe drinking water, and call for action in areas of science, policy, economics and forest practices,  NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered, will form part of the programmes for the XIV World Forestry Congress slated to hold in Durban, South Africa from September 7 to 11, 2015. The congress will also highlight the need for governments, civil society and the private sector to boost investment in forests as a key element for sustainable development.

Themed  “Forests and People: Investing in a Sustainable Future”, participants will discuss ways to unleash the full potential of forests to lift rural populations out of poverty, act as buffers against climate change and inspire new technologies and renewable products, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

Being the first time the congress will be hosted on African soil, about 20 ministers and deputy ministers from around the world will join heads of international and national agencies and several thousand delegates gathering for the Congress, which takes place every six years. The Congress proceedings will be in English, French and Spanish and will be webcast

Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, Prince Laurent of Belgium, Special Ambassador to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Forests and the Environment, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, are among speakers who will open the Congress.

The winner of the Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award 2015, NaijaAgroNet learnt, will be announced at a special ceremony. The USD 20,000 prize was established by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests in 2012 and recognizes extraordinary efforts by an individual to improve and sustain forests and the people who depend on them.

At the opening ceremony, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva will launch FAO’s latest Global Forest Resources Assessment, which reveals how the world’s forests have changed over the last 25 years and provides the latest information on the state of sustainable forest management.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

Dons ask ACE, WACCI to address food insecurity in Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

 Some university lecturers in Ghana have called on Africa Centres of Excellence (ACEs) and West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI), to address the problem of food insecurity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana (UG) in-charge of Research, Innovation and Development, Prof John Gyapong, charged ACEs to help address the problem of food insecurity in West Africa through the training of plant breeders who will develop superior crop varieties of staple crops.

While the Director, WACCI, Professor Eric Yirenkyi  Danquah, on the other hand, said that after a rigorous, transparent and merit-based evaluation, WACCI and ACEs were selected to receive eight million dollars, about N1.59billion each as a project grant from the World Bank and recounted achievements of the centre to include the newly established Vegetable Innovation Laboratory (VIL) as part of efforts to promote vegetable production and food security in Ghana and the sub-region, saying that the VIL thematic areas include genetic improvement; vegetable production and quality control; processing; value chains and socio-economic research; policy research and knowledge management systems

The duo, NaijaAgroNet learnt, were speaking at a forum organized by WACCI of the University of Ghana (UG) for the five World Bank Africa Centres of Excellence (ACEs) in agriculture.

The forum titled, “Workshop for the Agriculture Education Front-runners in West Africa: ACE’s Learning Experience at WACCI” was on: “The march towards food security in Africa.”

Gyapong said the West African sub-region is looking up to the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) to train a critical mass of quality PhD graduates, NaijaAgroNet informs,

The program drew 52 participants, including scientists, researchers, Centre and Management staff from West and Central Africa the purpose of which was to allow the ACEs draw on lessons from the experiences of WACCI and also exchange institutional best practices.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology 
Pix:Prof John Gyapong,

Gov Gaidam partners China, trains 40,000 youths in irrigation

NaijaAgroNet:

 

The Governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, has concluded plans with Chinese agricultural investors to train about 40,000 youths in irrigation scheme, NaijaAgroNet reports.

 Gaidam said he will set up a new irrigation scheme which will engage youths across the State as part of his effort to empower youths for self-reliance.

A press release made available to NaijaAgroNet from the office of the Director of Press to the governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, Tuesday, said, the governor, who is currently on a visit to the People’s Republic of China on the invitation of Chinese agriculture and infrastructure investors, has already met and held talks with various potential investors, including an irrigation equipment manufacturing firm called Rainfine (Dalian) Irrigation Company Ltd, which specializes in the manufacture, installation and training of people in centre pivot irrigation technology in the Chinese city of Dalia, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

According to the statement, Governor Gaidam has also visited a modern irrigation farm company in the town of Jixian called Tianjing Jixian Lvpusheng Vegetable Planning Company Ltd and had rewarding talks with the farm’s Managing Director, Ms Lu Xiulung, among other companies.

“Irrigation agriculture is very significant in unleashing the enthusiasm and capacity of our youth for self-reliance. We are very much committed to using irrigation as another catalyst for helping to empower our youths. This is why we came here to establish wide ranging partnerships that will accelerate irrigation agriculture in our State.

It went on to say that Governor Gaidam has also announced the setting up of a small committee of agricultural experts, under the leadership of former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Gambomi Goni, to work out modalities on the implementation of the partnership with Rainfine Irrigation Company, including identifying at least four locations where new irrigation farms will be set up across the State, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE with additional report from Daily Post 

...inking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Pix:Ibrahim Gaidam,

Germany doles out N2.39b to assist eight countries

NaijaAgroNets

Germany through its Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety has doled out $12 million, about N2.39billion to assist eight developing countries, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Under a new United Nations (UN) programme called “Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans programme”, Germany will through funding collaborate with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) to work with ministries of agriculture in Nepal, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Uruguay, Viet Nam and Zambia to incorporate agricultural sectors into National Adaptation Plans.

An FAO press release made available to NaijaAgroNet, said under the four-year initiative, countries will receive various types of support. FAO will offer policy advice and technical support to ensure that climate change adaptation priorities in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors are incorporated in this planning process. UNDP will engage with countries in managing climate risk, in planning and budgeting, and help them strengthen information systems, project formulation, and coordination between government institutions.

The initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered, has immediate potential to link with and amplify existing programmes in the target countries and improve their prospects for accessing global funds for climate finance, such as the Global Environment Fund and the Green Climate Fund.

The Executive Coordinator UNDP Global Environment Finance Unit, Adriana Dinu, said, "Our food security in the decades to come depends on our collective ability to innovate and adapt to climate change. The agriculture sector is critical to every nation and is a lifeline for livelihoods. Therefore, FAO and UNDP have joined forces to support partner countries to integrate agriculture into National Adaptation Planning (NAP) processes."

While the Director of FAO's Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Martin Frick, added ,"Ministries of agriculture, fisheries and forestry need to be at the table when countries develop and implement domestic policies to address climate change,"

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

Earth observation applications critical for African regional integration

 NaijaAgroNet

The Commissioner, Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission, (AUC), Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, has said earth observation applications at continental, regional and national levels are critical for African integration, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking recently at the 1st Monitoring for Environment and Security Forum which examined how earth observation data through Monitoring for Environment for Security in Africa (MESA) Project supports policy, planning and decision making at the national, regional and continental level in Africa.

With the theme “Streamlining MESA products and services towards the decision-making cycle in support of sustainable environmental management” the forum, NaijaAgroNet gathered, was organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) in association with Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources with the support of the European Union.

Rhode stated  that  “the MESA Project contributes to the increase of information management, decision-making and planning capacity of African institutions mandated for agriculture, environment, climate, fisheries, food security and related responsibilities. This is critical for African regional integration.”

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources, Judi Wakhungu, said, cases of poaching and deforestation have reduced by 50 per cent this year compared to 2013.

 “Before this, my office and team members had to travel physically to protected area which took several days and incurred huge costs. Thanks to MESA projects, Kenya Wildlife Service can now get snapshots of satellite images of the protected areas on a single page,” said Wakhungu.

MESA has brought together 250 international delegates comprising decision and policy makers, planners, earth observation data users and experts from across the continent, NaijaAgroNet.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE, additional report from Capital News

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