e-Waste in mind @ Earth Day 2016

The 2016 World Earth Day has come and gone, REMMY NWEKE examines concerns for electronic waste as Nigeria's use of electronics, including mobile devices keep rising. 

What is World Earth Day:
The month of April has become known with the popular April-Fool phenomena, but the fourth-month of year holds a lot more for humanity than a global prank season, especially as the world holds the Earth Day every 22^nd of this month with the theme “Trees for the Earth.”

This year’s commemoration of the World Earth Day, 2016 marks the 46th year of a movement that continues to inspire, challenge ideas, ignite passion, and motivate people to action. Recalling that in 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, the movement gave voice to an emerging consciousness, channeling human energy toward environmental issues.

Forty-six years later, the campaign has continued with groundbreaking ideas and by the power of examples by concerned citizens of the world.  For some of the advocates, Earth Day goes beyond just a single day known as April 22, 2016, hence, it’s bigger than attending a rally.

Although in the year 2009, the United Nations instituted the International Mother Earth Day via the General Assembly under Resolution A/RES/63/278. The Resolution was introduced by The Plurinational State of Bolivia and endorsed by over 50 member states, recognizing that "the Earth and its ecosystems are our home" and that "it is necessary to promote harmony with nature and the Earth."

The term Mother Earth, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is used because it "reflects the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the planet we all inhabit" hence April 22 was designated as International Mother Earth Day.

In Nigeria … e-waste reaches 75% of ‘Tokunbo’ electronics:
As the world marks the 2016 Earth Day, NaijaAgroNet reports exclusively that 75 per cent of used electronics devices also known in local parlance as ‘second hand’ or ‘Tokunbo’ electronics imported into Nigeria are unserviceable thus unusable, therefore constitute electronic waste ever before sailing into the country.

The assistant Secretary-General of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr. John Oboro affirmed that 75 per cent of these Tokunbo items are not usually functional and cannot even be fixed. Declaring, “I will tell you that we have greater percentage of those (second hand electronics) that cannot be used, than can be used. Honestly speaking, I can tell you that about 75 per cent of these items are not usable.”

Equally speaking, the Director, Basel Convention, Regional Centre, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo decried that the burning of used electronic devices generally are very hazardous, and those working on this could be prone to cancer, especially in Nigeria.

This, he said, is because those set of workers could take-in components that are dangerous, so it cannot be distanced from the incidence of high cancer rates which is on the rise now in Nigeria. Maintaining that most of these electronic items are not usable and warned on the impact of continuous exportation of unusable electronics to developing countries, which he said negates the global village theory of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Where’s the global village in e-waste?
“We claim one global village, its important to ensure that countries from where these used electronics are being shipped from are cleaned up and the same goes to those importing nations, to ensure that eventually all sides are safe at the end of the day,” Prof. Osibanjo counseled.

However, NaijaAgroNet reports that exporters of these electronics argued that Tokunbo devices extends the life span of these electronics when refurbished and help in bridging the digital divide in the developing economies.

But another school of thought confirmed to NaijaAgroNet that large number of computers and electronics devices imported into Nigeria via Lagos, every month, are largely non-functional and non-repairable, hence these end up being stacked in private warehouses across the country, especially in the South-Western Nigeria.

Equally, NaijaAgroNet reports that very often these items are dumped in the residential areas at uncompleted buildings and invariably burnt, thereby releasing highly content pollutant into the atmosphere, air and water.

NaijaAgroNet further reports that over one billion people in 192 countries took part in actions to protect shared environment; all across the globe, in big cities to small villages and everything in-between, people are organizing, demanding climate action, cleaning up their local communities, meeting with their elected officials, planting trees, and teaching their children to protect their planet.

2016 World Earth Day in Nigeria:
In Nigeria, the African Environmental Action Network (AEAN) in collaboration with Hubert H Humphrey Alumni partnered with the Federal Ministry of Environment and support of the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in hosting an event tagged "Rebranding Personalised Legacy Tree Planting and Nurturing for Sustainable Empowerment, Climate Safety and National Development" in addition to a subtheme on "Every Nigerian a Tree Every Year."

According to the coordinator, AEAN, Dr. Victor Fodeke, tree planting and nurturing will become a natural lifestyle when "we grow money on trees" and celebrate events with legacy tree planting and nurturing lifestyle. He expressed hope that the work to adopt and brand support for muti-purpose tree nurseries for seedlings, community woodlots for food, fodder, fuel-wood, finance, fence, pharmacy, beautification, among other, calling on all hands to be on deck to save the planet because "Earth Day is every day for everybody, every day is earth day for everybody.”

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement, thus leading to the passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. 

World leaders sign Paris climate agreement:

Precisely on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2016, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited every world leader to the United Nations to officially sign the Paris Climate Agreement reached this past December.

President, Earth Day Network (EDN), Kathleen Rogers said Earth Day is the largest, most recognizable face of the environmental movement as “Millions of people in dozens of different countries will become lifelong environmentalists this and every Earth Day. Hundreds of thousands will be children – our planet’s future. They will join the more than 1 billion people who already use Earth Day to focus on the urgent need to stabilize and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, fight climate change, act locally, become climate voters, and protect their children’s futures.”

This year Earth Day Network, she said, focused on the urgent need to plant new trees and forests worldwide, underscoring the fact that EDN sponsors and takes part in tree plantings across the US and worldwide, but this year raised the stakes with the beginning of the four year count down to Earth Day’s 50th anniversary in 2020, “Earth Day Network is pledging to plant 7.8 billion trees worldwide – one for every person on Earth! That’s incredibly ambitious, but we believe this down-payment must be made in order to combat climate change and keep our most vulnerable eco-systems from facing extinction.”

EDN, she also said, have no higher priority this year than to make sure the United States, China, India, the EU, and all the largest CO2 emitters sign the Paris Agreement. EDN has launched a petition calling on world leaders including President Obama to show leadership.

“We need to prove that what happened in Paris last December was not all talk. We need to take action.  Signing the Paris Agreement this Earth Day at the United Nations is just the beginning. That, coupled with our global activities, will make this the largest, most significant Earth Day in years. And it’s the perfect start in our countdown to Earth Day 2020, our 50th!” Rogers said.

Conclusion:
As we expect to plant an estimated 7.8 billion trees globally in the next four years for the Earth to become even better place for habitation and by taking a stand via divesting from fossil fuels and making cities 100 per cent renewable, its very important that electronic waste take a front row, considering that more and more electronics are coming into the continent of Africa, and mostly in Nigeria with the increased use of mobile devices on the prowl.

It is therefore advisable that organisations begin to look at how these electronics are disposed eventually to avoid setting up yet another Improvised Explosive Device (IED) by ourselves’ unknown to man.

In Nigeria, there seems to be silent over how to gather these used electronic devices and even the ones we now generate ourselves which may have become obsolete as technologies change almost within monthly basis.

Its through that over 40 certified eWaste in the world as at the time of filing this report, none is in Africa let alone in Nigeria. Uncracked nuts for those who may foresee the underlining businesses and help this society align itself with the global village, given that Nigeria now has over 90 million connected to the Internet for instance, most of whom are on mobile. Where do they discard those devices in the event of damage or at the point of unusability?

These much, must be explained to millions of schoolchildren and their teachers who participate in 2016 Earth Day in education, civic, and outdoor programmes so as to teach them about the importance of clean air, water and adequate disposal of electronic devices as well as how to begin a lifelong practice of civic participation, and experience the wonders of nature. 

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Pix: Courtesy: al jazera

WHO, FAO unveil roadmap to deal with highly hazardous pesticides

NaijaAgroNet:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have unveiled new guidelines aimed at reducing the damage done by pesticides that pose especially high toxic risks to human health and the environment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Sources from both organization, informed NaijaAgroNet that products with high acute toxicity account for high numbers of immediate poisoning cases, particularly in developing countries, while products with chronic toxicity effects may cause cancer or developmental disorders among growing children. 

NaijaAgroNet reports that in industrialized countries, such so-called "highly hazardous pesticides" may be no longer permitted or subject to strict use limitations, yet they often remain widely available in developing countries. 

“Even hazardous products are still permitted in industrialised countries can cause severe problems in the developing world, where use circumstances can be very different,” FAO source said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that small-scale farmers in developing countries in particular often do not have, or use, the necessary protective gear and mostly use back-pack sprayers that pose high risk of exposure.

Therefore, both WHO and FAO pointed out that restriction on the use of such highly hazardous products often prove hard to enforce, leading to widespread use by untrained persons, warning that high numbers of poisoning cases, contaminated food and environmental damage could be the result.

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Investments in agriculture will unlock prosperity in Africa – IFAD President

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of the United Nations (UN's) International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, has told African leaders that investments in agriculture have the capacity to unlock prosperity of the continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Nwanze in a message to African leaders participating in the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Kigali that he is optimistic that such investment which must be a collaborative one between government and businesses will grow Africa tremendously.

"Investments in agriculture can generate great riches for the continent and lift millions out of poverty and hunger," said Nwanze en route to Rwanda. "There are high returns to those countries that take agriculture seriously."

Since 2009, he said, Africa has been seen as the next great investment frontier yet, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), economic growth on the continent is now predicted to be slower than the rest of the world for the first time in sixteen years.

He emphasised that with many countries in southern and eastern Africa suffering from the worst drought in decades, coupled with fiscal deficits widening and conflicts increasing, some experts are questioning whether Africa is still on the rise.

Despite these dire predictions, Nwanze said Africa is still a continent of unprecedented opportunity, and supporting small-scale farmers and investing in rural areas are some of the best ways for countries to meet their broader development objectives, including poverty reduction.

“With the right investments, Africa could double its agricultural productivity in the next five years,” he said, stressing that half of the world's uncultivated land which is suited for growing food crops is in Africa.

"We need to work together to harness the continent's potential and this means investing in small-scale farmers who are the backbone of African agriculture," Nwanze said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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FAO, 4 Nobel laureates join forces against hunger, violence

NaijaAgroNet:

Acclaimed four Nobel laureates for their efforts to stop civil war, promote women’s rights, provide microcredit to the poor, and halt interreligious violence are now joining forces with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to tackle the twin problems of hunger and violence, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, NaijaAgroNet gathered  would Wednesday, May 11, 2016 play host to Muhammad Yunus, Oscar Arias Sánchez, Tawakkol Karman and Betty Williams in Rome for the launch of the FAO-Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace, a new initiative  that will advise FAO on how to strengthen the link between peace and food security in countries. 

The event will include addresses by all four laureates and the FAO Director-General, followed by a discussion and the signing of a declaration.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias Sánchez was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his tireless efforts to end the civil wars that plagued Central America at the time.

Tawakkol Karman is a Yemeni women’s rights activist and advocate for peace. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work in the non-violent struggle for the safety of women.

1976 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Betty Williams is a Northern Irish activist for peace.

Just as the founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunuswas awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his ground-breaking work in the use of microcredit and microfinance in poorer countries.

*Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Commentary: Why are earth’s 4th deadliest terrorists headed South

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

Introduction:

Preoccupied with everyday living, unruffled politicking, unrestricted worship, busy days and quiet nights, Southern Nigerians have been paying little or no attention to the fact that two of Earth’s top 4 deadliest terrorist groups are at home and active in Nigeria. Popular Boko Haram have been constrained to the North East but the other are nomadic unchecked. Now, having restricted their operations to regions that separate North from South, they’ve finally announced their planned ubiquity beginning with an audacious assault on South Eastern State of Enugu on Monday 25th April.  They are the Fulani militants.

They’ve ransacked communities that lie on their grazing routes since 2010 (actually for decades), leaving thousands dead, more injured, tens of thousands displaced, with assets worth millions of naira destroyed on their exit. The ascension to power of Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, suspiciously coincides with the stepping up of their degree of deadliness.

But The Igbos Are Not United:

For centuries, the Fulanis have traversed the breadth of West Africa unimpeded, not by pre-modern hostile cultures; and not by modern day immigration. The trend of slaughtering owners of farms is however a 20th craving they developed. While they pounded Middle Belt states again and again, other Southerners wondered why the Federal Government would not as little as release a statement to condemn the attacks; and the indigenes would not stop them. But now, the militants are through with the intervening region and are at the door steps of the interior South. They are going closer to the Atlantic coast and this advancement will surely evoke a different kind of response.

South East Nigeria, occupied by the Igbo ethnic group, is the epicenter of calls for the breakup of the country. And their primary reason can be summarized as hatred from and for the Northerners consisting of the Hausa/Fulani tribes. Having endured and survived pogroms in Northern Nigeria leading to the Nigerian civil war of 1967, and several perceived follow-up acts of persecution – well documented – the Igbos were nearly unanimous in rejecting the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari in the March 2015 elections. As a result, odium between Hausa/Fulani and the Igbos is still very high.

Already, many southern Nigerians on Social media are calling for self-defense, citing the silence of the Buhari administration, his spokesperson’s admittance of “working in silence”, and the well-established inability of the nation’s security forces to contain the daring Fulani marauders – especially as Boko Haram in the extreme north and Niger Delta militant threats have stretched them thin. We must keep in mind that the generations of Igbos who suffered the perils of the Civil War are long past. The present generation of young Igbos neither listen to their elders nor possess deference for chilling history. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for Nigeria, they are not united too.

No Logistic Problem

But the Hausa/Fulani are everywhere inside Nigeria. In every state, they have their community.  In cities further south where there have been little or no inter-ethnic tensions, these communities exist. In Calabar, they call it Bogobiri. In Uyo, Nasarawa; and in Port Harcourt they call it simply Slaughter. In fact, in PH, at Slaughter, they have their own ‘agberos’, their mosques are built there, and if there’s any ethnic clash, they mobilize and protect themselves. Imagine that these brazen Fulani militants decide to advance till they can see the Ocean; these settlements will automatically serve as bases and barracks. What other logistic problem have they?

What a Global Terrorism Index publication of 2015 designates as Fulani militants was responsible, according to the report, for the death of 1229 in 2014r. Hundreds more have been added to that figure in 2015 and 2016. In Nigeria, victims and survivors alike no longer separate Fulani militants from Fulani herdsmen. They’re now one and the same. How else can one explain countless herdsmen armed with assault rifles captured on camera?

According to Secretary to the Government of Benue State – which is a frequent target region of the militants – Barrister Targema Takema, speaking on a national radio interview, natives of the State had cohabited with the nomads for ages until recently when a different set of Fulani began to arrive. The farming communities started complaining of herdsmen leading their cow herds into crop farms and destroying agricultural assets worth millions of naira. As they began to take measures to prevent further occurrence of these widely confirmed incidences, the herdsmen began to arrive closely followed by the dreaded Fulani militants.

They Will Head To The Atlantic If…

It is not unhealthy to imagine these Fulani herdsmen taking their militants all the way through Southern Nigeria, to the ocean coast in the future, for four reasons.

1.            The Sahara desert is expanding. The country is presently losing about 350,000 square meters of its land mass to desertification, which is advancing southward at an estimated rate of 0.6 kilometers a year. This is according to Fade Africa. The website also records that the activities of Fulani herdsmen is greatly responsible for desertification in the north; and they’re heading south.

“In some areas, Nomads moving to less arid areas disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the rate of erosion of the land. Ironically, Nomads try to escape the desert, but with their land use practices, ignorantly set off another process of desertification in their new settlement. They will have to move soon taking with them their land use practices, leaving a trail of desert behind, and the chain goes on.”

The desert is driving them down south. They need more land to graze in.

2.            The return to agriculture. Crash in global oil prices has driven more Nigerians back to farms. In most Southern states, governments and private sector industry heads are not only advocating a return to commercial agriculture, but are investing too. And that means, more people are going back from cities to rural areas to reclaim their farmlands for expansion from subsistent to commercial agriculture. Governments, like in Akwa Ibom and Cross River, are packaging even more robust supports for the re-emerging venture. But don’t Fulani herdsmen have destructive objectives?

3.            Fulani herdsmen are respecters of no man. Nothing is beyond their imagination. Inherently, a Fulani man is forthright, blunt and fearless – even the policies and communication style of the President of Nigeria are proofs of this – to a fault. Their fearlessness frequently transforms into thoughtlessness. This is why they can attack different regions of ‘enemy territory’, on different fronts – thousands of miles apart – simultaneously. They can breach the security of a former Presidential aspirant, surrounded by his own tribesmen, and kidnap the man, demanding for ransom. They can poison the source of drinking water of an entire community, carrying out wanton crimes against humanity without thinking twice. They can attack the convoy of an ex-military chief and former Senate president of the nation without fearing his military escorts. They have achieved all these already and there is no carnage too unthinkable for their conscience.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration, according to a House of Representatives member from Taraba state, and one time BBC correspondent in Jos, Nigeria, Rima Shawulu, did rebuild several dams to enhance irrigation and reduce desertification in the North. Yet the Fulani ignore their green grass, to head south.

4.            According to Max Gbanite, a security consultant, speaking on an AIT programme, Focus Nigeria recently, the Fulanis do not understand that in southern Nigeria, unlike in the North, “every inch of land belongs to an individual, a family or a community.” And you can’t just move into someone’s land and graze. Hence, if they keep encroaching into the south, which they will due to 1, 2 and 3, more land owners will kick against them and, without desiring to sound like a prophet of doom, more Fulani militants will attack more towns and the rest is left for the mind’s eye.

Fulani Herdsmen already have settlements close to the Atlantic shore, I’ve earlier mentioned. Southern Nigerians can expect their militant sons in the near future, unless [emphasized] the leadership of Nigeria come up with a solution for the nomadic culture.

The solution, I believe, that would come closest to preventing the prediction of more Fulani herdsmen attacks is borrowed from Gbanite. And that is a combination of creating cattle ranches across the nation and providing a reorientation to Fulanis aiming to make them embrace cultural changes; in effect, strategically abolishing ‘nomadism’ -“the way of life of a nomad” according to my dictionary. For, creating grazing routes for them will most certainly not be welcomed by those who stand to lose their property and the temptation to graze beyond the created routes will dominate the minds of the nomads.

Obudu Cattle Ranch, For Example:

Besides, the herdsmen themselves would admit that they lose hundreds of livestock subjecting them to those strenuous trips on foot. Next, the animals can hardly be made to birth up to a calf per year, wandering as they do. It also exposes the animals to all manner of diseases that end up in the stomach of human beings. Whereas in a ranch, several scientific rounds of research can be carried out to try to improve the breed of the cattle; the country can now benefit from Cattle farming in monetary terms by managing a more controlled farming system. Obudu cattle ranch was established by late Sir Michael Okpara decades ago to serve as a model for the rest of the country.

The Igbos are not as easily forgiving. They are still licking wounds of humiliation – reopened by frequent friction with their Hausa/Fulani countrymen – from the 1967 war that claimed over 1 million of them; and from several ethnic killings suffered by their brothers in northern Nigeria. The agitation for their own country has been heating up lately, with increased debates amongst them on continuing with Nigeria or not. With the Fulani herdsmen invasion of Igboland,and taking into consideration the thoughtlessness of their militants – prospecting that they will surely return; more reasons to remain with Nigeria are getting eliminated. This is yet another implication of the nagging Fulani herdsmen crusades.

If the tiers of Nigeria’s Government keep foot-dragging in containing the Fulani herdsmen, they may prepare for anarchy. Once people are forced to defend themselves; and none of the parties accepts to be the defeated foe, the situation could degenerate so dreadfully that Boko Haram would be child’s-play; Gbanite believes it can lead to a civil war. Senator Godswill Akpabio, too. And there are more who believe same.

*Uduak Umo is a Lagos/Uyo based PR consultant and Public interest researcher. Follow him on Twitter @umo2013

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DMWA targets partnerships across West and Central Africa in oil & gas

NaijaAgroNet:

Oil and gas advisory, E&P and trading firm, has set up DMWA Resources to seek robust partnerships across the West and Central Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

DMWA, NaijaAgroNet gathered, capitalized on the extensive African knowledge and experience of its management and the financial firepower of large institutions to become the partner of choice for Africa’s governmental and private oil & gas institutions.

NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that the company is the brainchild of Sebastian Wagner, who previously worked as Business Developer and Trading Operations Manager for Trafigura and associated firms, managing oil trades across the barrel of African crude and refined products while simultaneously pursuing pre-financing opportunities with West and Central African sovereigns.

Executive Director of the company, Mr. Wagner said, DMWA Resources is a knowledge and relationship-driven oil and gas advisory firm.

“Our African-specific expertise provides a strong platform to showcase our value in the markets where we seek to provide advisory services, acquire prospective acreages and specialize in the resale of crude oil, natural gas and refined products. We assist our private sector partners in the industry’s ongoing consolidation, as well as our governmental clients in their financial and knowledge-based recapitalization,” he said.

DMWA Resources is targeting various regions across Africa, including Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville and Ghana. The company offers a range of petroleum industry and fiscal advisory services and partners with world-class partners with the capacity to undertake E&P ventures in Africa's oil and gas sector. DMWA is built on a flat structure and is financially and structurally independent, which allows the company to partner with the energy industry’s heavyweights.

On June 6-7, 2016, DMWA will sponsor the Africa Oil & Power conference in Cape Town, South Africa, joining industry elites Gunvor Group, Marathon Oil, RoyalGate Energy, DeltaTek Group, General Electric and Centurion Law Group. DMWA will host a reception gathering African energy ministers, IOC’s, NOC’s and financial institutions. Mr. Wagner will moderate a Projects & Prospects Panel that discusses the reasons for success or failure of oil and gas projects in Africa’s competitive marketplace.

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Build farmers capacity, increase efficiency – Lubinda

NaijaAgroNet:

The Zambian Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Given Lubinda, has stressed the importance for building farmers’ capacity on the continent, NaijaAgroNet reports.

He gave this position at an address to the just concluded World Farmers Organisation (WFO) General Assembly in Livingstone, Zambia, saying that building farmers capacity it will increase efficiency in the agriculture sector.

“Africa is home of the small scale ‪farmers poors that create wealth, and feed the world,” Lubinda said.

Farmers, the Minister said, need to develop the right skills and knowledge needed to effectively improve their capacity.

“A secure access to the land, ownership and control over land, access to productive resources and inputs, including modern technology, markets, inputs and financial resources are essential elements to enable farmers to improve agricultural efficiency and productivity,” Lubinda said.

The farmers, minister further said, need to develop their agricultural management and marketing skills to efficiently strengthen their entrepreneurial skills.

“In this respect, agricultural extension and advisory services are increasingly seen as a key means to build farmers’ capacity,” the Minister said.

These services, Lubinda pointed out, help farmers deal with risk and change, by providing options and capabilities to make the right choices at the right time.

“The services assist rural actors to share technology and practices, and support farmers to acquire a better position in value chains and markets,” Lubinda said.

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Canada denounces attack on Syrian displaced persons camp

NaijaAgroNet:

The Government of Canada has condemned attack on Syrian displaced persons camp, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, in a press statement available to NaijaAgroNet on the airstrike on the Kamouna camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Syria, strongly condemned the attack.

Part of the statement read:

“Canada strongly condemns the bombing of the Kamouna IDP camp in the Syrian province of Idlib. The death and destruction is heartbreaking. On behalf of all Canadians, we are deeply saddened by the loss of life and hope for a speedy recovery for those injured.

“If this was a deliberate attack targeting civilians, then it was a war crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable. This incident follows the recent escalation of violence, particularly against hospitals and clinics in Aleppo, and further undermines the efforts of the international community to resolve the conflict peacefully.

“Canada calls on all parties to immediately adhere to the Terms for Cessation of Hostilities in Syria agreement and to return to the negotiating table in good faith. The people of Syria deserve a future that has hope and is free from violence. It is up to the parties to work toward that.”

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Farmers, backbone for food, nutrition security – Gornass

NaijaAgroNet:

The Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Ambassador Amira Gornass has described farmers as the backbone of any efforts for food and nutrition security, report NaijaAgroNet.

Ambassador Gornass gave this description in her video message to the opening ceremony of the 2016 General Assembly of the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) holding in Livingstone, Zambia on the theme, Partnership for Growth.

“Farmers are the backbone of any efforts for food and nutrition security” she declared.

Gornass who also is the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to FAO noted that the role of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of food security and nutrition (VGGT) cannot be over-emphasised.

She pointed out that the guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in 2012 serves as a reference to improve the governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all and supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

“An effective implementation of this instrument will be achieved only if also farmers will advocate for the application of the guidelines at the country level,” she said.

WFC, Gornass said, should never forget that according the recently released figures, in the middle of the 21st century, 793 million is still going to bed hungry.

“The challenges to ensure their rights to adequate food are huge,” she said, maintaining that farmers are the most powerful solution to global hunger and malnutrition.

“Farmers are responsible for providing the food we all need,” she said, encourage adequate management of farm lands.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Pix: Ambassador Amira Gornass

SOS: Ethiopia farmers need $10m to provide seeds

NaijaAgroNet:

In less than five weeks to the main cropping season in Ethiopia, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for urgent funding to the tune of $10 million, to help farmers sow their fields and prevent drought-hit areas of the country from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO, if seeds are not delivered in time, help will be too late to secure a decent harvest from the imminent meher season, which produces 85 per cent of the nation's food supply.

FAO also said that while the food security situation is worsening, the overall funding response to the crisis has so far been disappointing, with just 15 percent of FAO's 2016 appeal for Ethiopia covered.

"The meher season will be critical to improving families' food security and self-sufficiency in 2016. Seed distributions allowing farmers to plant crops and produce food must be a humanitarian priority," said the agency's country representative Amadou Allahoury Diallo, stressing that decreasing dependence on external humanitarian assistance will diminish the costs of food aid.

Therefore, FAO said, some $10 million is needed within the next two weeks to distribute seeds to Ethiopian families at risk of hunger and losing their livelihoods.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that about 10.2 million people in Ethiopia are food insecure following successive crop failures and widespread livestock deaths caused by the El Niño-induced drought since early 2015. With this year's delayed and erratic spring rains, the situation may become worse in the most affected areas, particularly in the north.

Even as Ethiopia's government has already dedicated considerable resources to the El Niño response and is working closely with FAO to help ramp up joint efforts.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Outlook for cereals output improves slightly

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, has raised the forecast for world cereal production in 2016 slightly to nearly 2,526 million tonnes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This figure, NaijaAgroNet notes is virtually the same as in 2015 and potentially on course to be the second-largest global harvest ever.

According to FAO, the larger figure results almost entirely from improved prospects for wheat production, as winter weather conditions have been favourable for prospective yields in the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

“At 717 million tonnes, the 2016 wheat output forecast remains 16 million tonnes short of last year's record,” experts at FAO said.

The Cereal Supply and Demand Brief made available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO says new production forecast for global coarse grains including barley, maize, millet, oats, rye and sorghum stands at 1,314 million tonnes, about one per cent below the 2015 output.

FAO, NaijaAgroNet gathered, left unchanged its worldwide rice production forecast at 495 million tonnes, about one per cent higher than the previous year, although the full impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon will not be clear for a few more months.

“World cereal utilization in the season ahead is expected to rise by only 1.1 percent due to slower growth in the use of cereals - especially wheat and barley - as livestock feed,” FAO said.

As a result, the world body also said that cereal stocks are likely to drop by 3.3 per cent or 21 million tonnes over the course of the new season, while stocks are forecast to drop most in Brazil, Thailand, India, China, Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Argentina and South Africa.

As said by FAO world trade in cereals is expected to decline slightly to 367 million tonnes with sharp drops in China's imports of barley and sorghum as well as EU imports of maize, more than offsetting soaring imports of maize by drought-stricken countries in southern Africa.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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World Farmers lights up Zambia with ‘Partnership for growth’

NaijaAgroNet:

The sixth session of the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) General Assembly 2016 commenced in the city of Livingstone, Zambia on Wednesday will last till Saturday, with main theme on ‘Partnership for Growth’ reports NaijaAgroNet.

The theme, NaijaAgroNet also reports was in view to promote the importance of a farmer-centric approach of the sector-lead to the work programme of WFO.

The Secretary General of WFO, Marco Marzano de Marinis, opened the event at the AVANI Victoria Falls Resort, Livingstone, Zambia, bringing together WFO members and non member farmers’ organizations from about 60 countries worldwide, ministers, key government representatives as well as UN officials, academia and research institutions.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that WFO General Assembly built momentum on the status of arts of the organization as well as to set goals and achievements and also to focus on innovative solutions for the upcoming years.

Marinis also noted that last year represented a crucial year for the international community works towards the achievement of a global sustainability, pointing out that the WFO has been very much involved in the overall negotiation process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including representing the voice of farmers in the six interactive dialogues organised in 2015, in consultation with the United Nations Member States.

WFO further commended the farmers’ advocacy work, stressing that an entire goal number 2 is dedicated to food security and agriculture.

NaijaAgroNet reports that in recognition of the central role played by the WFO during the negotiations for the SDGs and Agenda 2030, as well as, its active participation in ECOSOC work, the WFO was invited to address the plenary session of the 2015 United Nations General Assembly in New York, on 26th September 2015.

At COP21, WFO, as leader of the farmers’ constituency, attended with a huge delegation and was actively engaged in a series of activities to raise awareness of the critical role agriculture plays in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.

For WFO President, Evelyn Nguleka said that the 2016 General Assembly of the WFO held under the overarching theme of Partnership for Growth, with a view to promote the importance of a holistic approach to the agricultural sector, where different actors stand together for the same goal implementing sustainable food systems; ensure that farmers of the world gain an effective position in the food chain; look after the environment; implement together the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030.

“Establishing effective partnership is and remains a great priority of the WFO” she said.

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Palm oil keeps global food price trending in April

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that its latest founding shows that palm oil keeps global food price trending in the month of April 2016, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Just as NaijaAgroNet gathered that its updated global cereal harvest forecast points to stable markets for key staples, which also rose in April, marking its third consecutive monthly increase after four years of decline.

Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that the FAO Food Price Index averaged 151.8 points in April, a 0.7 per cent increase from March, which is about 10 per cent below its level a year ago and more than a third off its 2011 highs.

The gradual increase, FAO said, is far from even across the board, adding that April's increase was driven by palm oil prices and, in a minor key, cereals, while sugar prices tapered down after a strong increase in March.

The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index tracking international market prices for five key commodity groups, namely the major cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar. Its decline over the past year reflects ample food supplies, a slowing global economy and a stronger U.S. dollar.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price index rose 4.1 per cent, due largely to a grim 2016 production outlook for palm oil coupled with a growing worldwide demand.

NaijaAgroNet equally reports that the FAO Cereal Price Index rose 1.5 per cent on the month, due primarily to international maize quotations, themselves influenced by a weaker United States dollar and spillover from the oilseeds complex.

However, rice prices declined marginally, while wheat markets posted limited gains amid expectations of large supplies in the new season for the crop.

Remmy Nweke

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Exclusive: Truly, there is no grazing reserve bill before NASS

NaijaAgroNet:

The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, was at the weekend quoted as saying there is no such bill on national grazing reserve before the National Assembly and if there is, NASS will not support it, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had reported Ekweremadu as saying that this is a hoax, while addressing newsmen on Sunday after a meeting of the South East governors and stakeholders in Enugu.

Ekweremadu had insisted that there was no bill on the creation of grazing reserves before the National Assembly.

He therefore said that the purported bill for the creation of grazing reserves was a “hoax”, adding that the press should strive to stop such rumours.

“There is no such proposal or bill on the creation of grazing reserves either in the Senate or House of Representatives. Nobody is considering it; not even at the executive level. I do not think they are considering it but we will not support it even if it has been considered,” he said.

Investigations by NaijaAgroNet showed that truly there is no such bill listed before the 8th Senate.

According to NaijaAgroNet findings, the purported bill for National Grazing Reserve Bill was initially presented to the National Assembly in 2008 sponsored by Senator Zainab Kure.

The bill sought to become an Act to provide for the establishment of the National Grazing Reserve (Establishment and Development) Commission for the Preservation and Control of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes and for other Matters Connected Therewith.

NaijaAgroNet further discovered that the Bill has submitted bill number 114 tagged C1681.

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Drones assist Philippine farmers prepare for climate disasters

NaijaAgroNet:

The government of the Philippines in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has started using unmanned aerial drones to assess where farmlands are most at risk from natural disasters and quickly assess damages after they strike, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This, NaijaAgroNet also reports is in a bid to stay ahead of the negative impacts of climate change, floods and typhoons on food security, especially in the Philippines.

In addition, under a pilot phase of the still-fledgling project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Philippines and the FAO, two drones have already been sent soaring over the Philippines provinces that have been affected by the current El Niño.

NaijaAgroNet equally reports that some 25 FAO and government technical experts are ready to be deployed across the archipelago to support drone missions. They were recently trained over three weeks on how to fly the drones and learned a range of remote aerial assessment methods.

The drones, NaijaAgroNet reports, are equipped with navigation and photogrammetric equipment that could generate detailed and data rich maps from aerial photographs including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or NDVI, a formula used for assessing vegetation and plant health.

Data gathered, NaijaAgroNet gathered, could be used to see where agricultural systems are at particular risk from natural disasters and identify ways through which such risks can be countered, for example, through ground contouring, building retaining walls, or planting protective vegetation.

Capable of covering up to 600 hectares a day, the drones should significantly accelerate the process of risk analysis, according to Christopher Morales, Director of Field Operations for the Philippines Department of Agriculture.

"It is efficient, it saves time and we will be using a reliable source of data so that we can plan and provide appropriate interventions and responses for our farmers in times of disasters and calamities," he said.

"Additionally, imagery generated from drone flights can reveal where agricultural infrastructure projects and service facilities like irrigation or storage facilities could be sited to best serve local farmers. The technology can also potentially support in the assessment of coastal and forest areas." said Jose Luiz Fernandez, FAO Representative in the Philippines.

@NaijaAgroNet

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Grazing reserves: Yoruba youths ask southerners ‘Go and defend your lands’

NaijaAgroNet:

A socio-political organisation, Yoruba Youth Council, has rejected the agitation for grazing reserves for Fulani cattle rearers across the country, with a call on Southerners to go and defend their lands against external aggressors, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The group also condemned the recent atrocities of Fulani herdsmen in some parts of the South West and Enugu State, warning that it was an ominous signal that Fulani want to declare war against Southern Nigeria.

The position of YYC was contained in a communique signed by its President, Eric Oluwole and Publicity Secretary, Oladeinde 'Dare, after its emergency meeting held in Lagos but distributed to political correspondents on Monday in Abuja.

The group specifically called on "all members of the National Assembly representing the Yoruba people to ensure that the bill on grassing reserve die on its arrival."

The communique reads:

"We considered the position of the Northern governors and their leaders on the criminal display of their Fulani Herdsmen as an attestation to the colonisation agenda of the Fulani people on the southerners.

"The violent activities of the Fulani herdsmen that had led to the kidnap of notable Yoruba leaders like chief Olu Falae and their previous attack of Yoruba communities in Oke Ogun, Oyo state and the Imeko/Ipokai in Ogun state, without a feasible solution from government is a pointer that the Hausa/Fulani are momentrically mongering for war against the southerners as it was manifested in the recent attack of innocent and armless citizens in Enugu state.

"The planned grassing reserves by the Federal Government is a poly to impose the Fulani oligarchy agenda on the entire nation which aims at taking over our land through back door to further empower the Fulanis. If not, why is it that their echo is loudest when President Muhammadu Buhari, their kinsman is enthroned in the country?

"We state that we shall resist any incursion or attempt by the Fulani herdsmen and their sponsors to forcefully rear their cattle in any part of Yoruba speaking states including the territorial boundaries, if adequate and workable measures are not given.

"We however calling on our fellow southern brothers to ignore the disintegrative statement made by the Northern Governors, but to be more vigilant and focussed to ensure their lands and territory are properly defended.

"While we are reiterating our support for the stance of Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi that there is no land for grassing reserve in Oyo state, we are calling on all members of the National Assembly representing the Yoruba people to ensure that the bill on grassing reserve die on its arrival."

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Nigeria poverty rate growing @unacceptable high - ActionAid

NaijaAgroNet: 

The poverty rate in Nigeria has grown to unacceptable high, according to the ActionAid Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This position was part of a press statement available to NaijaAgroNet by ActionAid board to mark the 2016 Workers Day in Nigeria by the Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Ojobo Ode Atuluku.

As said by her, the period of grace for the federal government under Muhammadu Buhari to set things right with the economy is enough.

“It is time that the Federal Government make public its plan to fix the economy,” she declared.

Also ActionAid said that the poverty rate in the country has added to the rate of inequality in the country.

“The poverty rate is not only high but also a triggering factor for the state of conflict and insecurity being experienced in different parts of the country,” she said.

In addition, ActionAid urged the FG to “prioritise tackling of inequality and discrimination within the polity.”

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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