IFAD votes N243.3bn to fight food insecurity in developing nations

The International Food for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) member states ended its meeting in Rome for Consultations on the Ninth Replenishment of the Fund's resources by voting the sum of US$1.5 billion about N243.3 billion, a contribution to food security in developing countries.

NaijaAgroNet gathered through a press statement revealed that the new funds, which is 25 per cent more than IFAD's Eighth Replenishment is meant to finance agriculture and rural development projects across the developing world.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that every three years, IFAD member states replenish resources provided by the organisation as loans and grants to developing countries.

The fund also leverages members’ contributions to mobilize much higher amounts of grants through project co-financing with national governments, international donors and private sector.

Almost 2 billion rural dwellers depends on 500 million smallholder farms in developing nations for their livelihoods, hence the injection of new funds from member states is a confirmation of IFAD's important role in international development architecture; an effective organization delivering results in the area of food and income security, especially for the poorest people.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that between 40 and 50 per cent of the new funds will be channeled to the Sub-Saharan Africa for development projects.

IFAD President, Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze said "This significant support from IFAD's member states, especially during these challenging global economic times, demonstrate extraordinary resolve and political will to give agriculture a major boost and help the world's small farmers find their way out of poverty."

He also pointed out that a replenishment cementing IFAD's unique status is the echoing of the spirit of global development partnership that emerged from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea, early December this year.

IFAD, he said, has members from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) among other developed world; playing an active role in the Fund's governance.

NaijaAgroNet found out that all these partners contributed to the upward trend of the IFAD-9 pledges.

'Yinka Awosanya

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Land acquisition, a threat to Tanzanian small-scale farmers - Sungusia

Tanzanian land experts have said that land acquisition by foreigners in the country is a threat to small scale farmers, reports IPPMedia.

A research on laws and policy about land and investment in Tanzania, according to a lawyer, Guardian Harold Sungusia, confirmed that most of the laws and policies do not have adequate safeguards to protect the ordinary citizens from land grabbing.

"The legal framework in Tanzania is unduly favouring investors to the detriment of citizens," he said, noting that the current investment on land would not assure Tanzania of food security unless strict measures are taken.

As said by him, only through changing laws and policies would local people benefit from the investments that it should go along with empowering local communities to be able to invest in various sectors.

He warned that failure to create an equitable balance between people's interests vis-a-vis those of investors, Sunguisia insisted that a manifestation of this is in the exclusion of the public from decision making, unfair and inadequate compensation with low level of public knowledge on land issues and contracts.

He also affirmed that it will be a violation of the laws safeguarding land rights among many others. Read more

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Study warns large land deals impoverishes the poor

The latest study released by the International Land Coalition (ILC) has warned that large land deals is known to have consistently threatened the poor further, according to the Secretariat Director, Dr Madiodio Niasse.

The International Land Coalition membership includes United Nations (UN) agencies, International Financial Institutions, research institutes, and civil society and farmers’ organisations.

He said that the study outlined some key failures of governance which harm the rural poor in developing nations including the fact that national elites play a much larger role in land acquisitions than has been noted to date by media reports that have focused on foreign investors.

Equally, he noted that food was not the main focus of the land deals following revelations that out of the 71 million hectares in deals that the study could cross-reference, 22 per cent was for mining, tourism, industry and forestry and three-quarters of the remaining 78 per cent for agricultural production was for biofuels.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the study revealed that while large land deals could create opportunities, they are more likely to cause problems for the poorest members of society, who often lose access to land and resources that are essential to their livelihoods.

The lead author of the study, Ward Anseeuw of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) was quoted as saying that under current conditions, large-scale land deals threaten the rights and livelihoods of poor rural communities and especially women.

The study went on to stated that of large land acquisitions in developing countries to date published online on 14 December by ILC, more evidences of harm than benefits were discovered.

He pointed out that the over 40 organisations collaboration on the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project, which synthesised 28 case studies, thematic studies and regional overviews gave credence to this report.

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5 banks reiterate commitment against global warming

With the end of the Conference of the Parties (COP-17) in Durban, South Africa five Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), who lend some $8.4 billion annually for climate action in cities, joined force to further combat global warming.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the aim was to better coordinate and deepen support to cities in adapting to and mitigating climate change.

These banks include the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (AsDB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-Am.erican Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank, even as they agreed to work more closely to develop common tools and metrics for cities.

NaijaAgroNet was also informed that these five MDBs would develop a common approach for cities to assess climate risk, standardize greenhouse gas emissions inventories, and encourage a consistent suite of climate finance options.

A press statement confirming this development to NaijaAgroNet quoted the Director of the African Development Bank’s Energy, Environment & Climate Change Department, Hela Cheikhrouhou as saying that considering the rates of urbanization in Africa, which is the highest in the world, this is a timely initiative and is aligned with the Bank Group’s recently approved Urban Development Strategy.

For the Deputy Director General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department at ADB, Woochong Um,  "ADB is working with multilateral development banks through the Climate Investment Funds and other avenues to mobilize the public and private sector financing needed by developing Asia and the Pacific to support climate change."

Equally for the Director, Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD), Jean-Patrick Marquet, the sustainability and climate change challenges for cities could be managed with a multi-faceted approach involving active stakeholders’ participation in pursuit of both environmental benefits and transition objectives.

In addition, the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Chief at the IDB, Mr. Walter Vergara, pointed out that this is an effort to disseminate best practices on an issue of global importance and where south-south cooperation aided by multilateral banks could really make a difference.

World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development, Ms Rachel Kyte, stated that while cities account for over two-thirds of global energy consumption and an estimated 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, they are also crucibles of innovation as cities are critical in the fight to tackle climate change.

“With this new partnership, the development banks will be able to better leverage city-level leadership on climate change mitigation and adaptation across the world,” she said.

Further, it was gathered that many cities around the world are already responding to the challenges of climate change. Just as they are increasingly acting in concert and learning from one another, regionally, and through national as well international networks such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, United Cities and Local Governments, the EU’s Covenant of Mayors, and the World Mayors Council on Climate Change.

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NaijaAgroNet emerges finalist @ Ardyis Award 2011

NaijaAgroNet, an international award-winning online publication of DigitalSENSE Africa Media has emerged finalist at the Ardyis Project Award known as the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards).

Confirming this, the Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) Media, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke said that NaijaAgroNet’s emergence was within the West African region and in the institutional blogs category.

She explained that what is now left is for comments from readers of the blog at http://ardyis.cta.int/yobloco/?page_id=239 before 31^st December, 2011.

Mrs. Nweke also urged Nigerians and especially visitors and readers of NaijaAgroNet to be part of this progress by commenting on the above web link.

Official of the Netherlands-based Centre for Technical Agriculture (CTA) the organizers of the away in collaboration with African Union (AU) had informed that one of the aims of the competition is to put into limelight issues, successes and challenges faced by youth engage in agriculture and urban and rural areas, and the promotion of the sharing of information on issues of agriculture and rural development in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Noteworthy is that the last edition of Highway Africa conference which held in the city of Cape Town, South Africa, saw Nigeria winning the first runner up by NaijaAgroNet, an initiative of DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) Media.

DSA was honoured for the innovative use of new media for corporate category at this year's Highway Africa New Media Award, which held International Conference Centre, Cape Town.

The prize was presented to the Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke by the Honourable Minister of Information, Nigeria, Mr. Labaran Maku in the company of the Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Dr. Saleem Badat and Group Executive Director, Telkom, Mrs. Brenda Kali among others.

Maku also commended the management of DSA for the initiative and invited more Nigerians to emulate such step to sustain the tempo of good image for the nation.

Speaking after receiving the award, the Executive Director, Operations, DSA, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, expressed gratitude to God Almighty for his mercies, especially considering the fact that NaijaAgroNet was an initiative that berthed a few months ago.

This award, she said, indicates there is a brighter future for online revolution in the most populous nation on the continent and the world generally with focus on agro business and sustainable development of the environment.

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African artists, activists want end to famine

Artists and activists on the continent have called on African leaders to stand up to the challenge of famine in the region to make the ongoing drought in Somalia the last one.

The activists and artists at the event.     courtesy: Oxfam

The group under the coalition of "Africans Act 4 Africa" also wants Africans to use the social media in a day of action to end hunger all over the continent.

Looking at the famine in the Horn of Africa which affected over 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, the group drew the attention of African leaders to the fact to prevent any future famine in any part of the continent.

According to a press release made available to NaijaAgroNet, a member of the coalition, Kenyan artiste, Ms Amani Wairimu affirmed that African leaders are realizing the need to get connected to the youth, hence the group as the face of the youth, represents them.

Amani also said that they choose to use the social media because it's a powerful tool and there is need for governments to prioritize the issue of famine in the continent.

Nanjira, another member of the coalition, said "Africa is not poor, it's just mismanaged. We should be telling a different story of Africa right now. Our Presidents, our Prime Ministers and Ministers, they are public servants. They are there to serve the people. We must remind them that their actions are based on the will of the people.”

The press release also revealed that the famine in the Horn of African has shown improvement but there are indications that there is a looming food crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa of which nations at risk include Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

With this, the group said, ‘Africans Act 4 Africa’ urged leaders in the region to act as soon as possible to prevent the indications from turning into famine.

"We are Kenyans, we are Africans, we are stakeholders in this," said Juliani another member of the coalition group. She further said that leaders in the continent have made commitment to act and they are there to remind them of those commitments made.

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Prepare West Africans against food insecurity, Oxfam warns

International association of independent non-governmental bodies working against poverty and injustice, Oxfam has warned that failure to increase the preparation of West Africans for food security may leave millions of citizens unprotected.

Oxfam in a press statement made available to the award winning NaijaAgroNet, the organization also called on governments of West African nations that have already taken note of the coming food crisis to scale up measures so as to ensure that people have money to buy food with animal feed for their livestock.

The stocking of emergency food items ready for distribution, Oxfam noted could aid to avert the situation.

The Humanitarian Lead, West Africa at Oxfam, Mr. Mamadou Biteye, said the situation is looking extremely worrisome for millions of people in West Africa, but the worst is not yet inevitable.

Cereal production, Oxfam cited for instance, is down compared to the five year average according to national warning systems, even as Mauritania and Chad showed a deficit of over 50 per cent compared to 2010.

He further said that national food reserves are dangerously low with prices of some key cereals going higher upto 40 per cent than the five-year average.

Biteye stressed that considering the major food crisis of 2010 that affected 10 million people in the Sahel region of the continent, noting that people are still recovering from the 2010 crisis and are highly vulnerable to any extra shocks such as increase in food prices.

He affirmed to NaijaAgroNet that other shocks may include poor harvests and or the death of their livestock; hence, he advised the building of resilience before 2012 as acting early could make a big difference.

In a bid to gear up its work in addressing urgent needs of the most vulnerable, Oxfam said, its working in some of the affected areas to help communities to boost their resistance to the coming crisis by getting ready to provide food aid.

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200m Africans are food insecure - ClimDev-Africa

Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) has disclosed that about 200 million of the poorest people on the continent are food insecure.

The Addis Ababa-based team in its latest African Climate Advisory bulletin made available to NaijaAgroNet indicated that many of these Africans have food insecurity through their dependence on climate sensitive livelihoods based on predominantly rain-fed agriculture.

In addition, the team in this publication of the technical arm of ClimDev-Africa, the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) based in United Nations Economic commission for Africa (UNECA) in Ethiopia, revealed that the vulnerability of these Africans is expected to increase with climate change due to anticipated increases in climate variability, citing an instance with more droughts and floods.

Similar changes, ClimDev-Africa stated are anticipated in crop production, seasonal water resources, malaria prevalence, crop pests and other climate sensitive aspects of rural life.

According to the bulletin, poor rural people with fewest choices, least access to resources, and climate sensitive livelihoods, are most at risk from climate uncertainty.

Experts at ClimDev-Africa pointed out that in a similar way, national economies based on rain-fed agricultural production, and all the many people who work in related activities, are highly vulnerable to seasonal climate fluctuations.

“Hydropower production, irrigation resources, fisheries, pastoralism, post-harvest industries, inhabitants of settlements liable to flood, are all at risk from increased climate variability. These are some of the many target beneficiaries for ClimDev-Africa with a diversity of outcomes expected,” part of the bulletin read.

ClimDev-Africa stated that currently, climate data is little used in development processes in Africa because of weaknesses in both demand for, and supply of, pertinent climate services.

“In order to strengthen resilience to short-term climate variability, ClimDev-Africa will assess primary stakeholder needs in relation to climate information and build capacity in institutions; public, private and civil and people to use climate knowledge more effectively in planning and decision-making,” the team stated.

Also, they stated in a summary made available to NaijaAgroNet that building capacity in climate and weather institutions would provide the many information services required.

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FANRPAN boss urges African negotiators to clamour for responsible climate deal

The Chief Executive Officer, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, has urged African negotiators at the 17th edition of the Conferences of Parties (COP17) to clamour for a binding and responsible climate deal for agriculture, reports Times.

Sibanda also said that responsible climate deal for agriculture would ensure security through an agreement for the promotion of food security despite the reality of the effects of climate change.

The FANRPAN boss, said that a deal that will not consider agriculture at the COP-17 is a no deal, this she said will ensure food security so that the continent would be free from the havoc of its insecurity.

"Should they fail to clinch such a deal, civil society will say any deal that does not have agriculture as a stand-alone priority sector with a dedicated work programme is a betrayal to the farming sector and anybody who needs food to survive," she said.

Further, she called on political leaders in the continent to hold responsible those negotiating on behalf of Africa, noting that COP-17 is a means by which the commitments made in Cancun can be sealed. Read more

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IPCC awards Climate Change scholarships to 9-PG students

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has awarded its 2011-2012 postgraduate scholarships to nine students to research on climate change.

IPCC made this known in a public statement made available to NaijaAgroNet on the release of the first round of the IPCC Scholarship Programme Awards.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that a total of nine students and researchers from developing countries were the beneficiaries of the scholarships for postgraduate studies or research for the period 2011-2012.

Seven of these students were named awardees a "Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation grant for IPCC" within the framework of the collaboration between the IPCC Scholarship Programme and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Young Researchers Scholarships Initiative.
the winners would be dwelling on some five themes including Underlying science of climate change, Impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems, water availability, health and agriculture, Climate-related disaster management - institutional and organizational issues, Climate Modelling and assessment of the impacts of climate change, adaptation and mitigation options for different sectors and assessment of socio-economic implications, respectively.

For the theme 1, Ms Rondrotiana Barimala (Madagascar) and Mr Genito Maure (Mozambique) on work on underlying science of climate change.
Theme 2 has Mr Sudeep Thakuri (Nepal), Mr Dibi Millogo (Burkina Faso) and Mr Romaric Ogouwale (Benin). 

Theme 3 has Ms Jamiat Nanteza (Uganda), even as theme 4 has Mr Yakob Umer (Ethiopia) working on it, whereas theme 5 has the duo of Ms Rizwana Subhani (Bangladesh) and
Mr Robert Katikiro (Tanzania) attached to the subject.
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