Jerry Rawlings warns of renewed food crisis in Somalia

Ghanaian former President, Jerry John Rawlings has said Somalia may face another phase of food crisis if there is shortage of humanitarian aid, reports PeaceFM.

Rawlings who is also the African Union’s High Representative for Somalia affirmed that crisis ridden state of Somalia needs the sum of $1.5billion, about N238.7billion in order to sustain the present state of food security in the country.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Rawlings sounded this warning in his address to the second annual conference of the Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED) of the New York University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate recently.

He disclosed that the total population of those facing famine presently in the Horn of Africa is 9.5 million out of which 2.3 million is from Somalia.

“Almost one-third of the population, are still in need of aid. Across the Horn of Africa region, a staggering 9.5 million people still need help,” he said. Read moreAdmin/LS

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Experts call for policies to tackle environmental crises

Scientists and experts in the field of sustainable development have called for immediate changes in the policies and institutions to enable humanity to combat environmental crises.

The group made this known in a press release made available to NaijaAgroNet by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

The scientists and experts, who are all past winners of the Blue Planet Prize, a yearly award programme organized by Asahi Glass Foundation with which individuals or organizations globally are recognized for their outstanding achievements in scientific research and its application.

The Blue Planet Prize past recipients assembled in London in order to put a final touch to a paper which will be launched at the United Nations Environmental Governing Council meeting to be held in Nairobi between 20 and 22 February.

Unveiling the major conclusions and recommendations of the paper titled 'Environmental and Development Challenges: The imperative to act', Bob Watson, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra) and a co-author of the paper said the paper focus on transformational solutions to key environment and development challenges.

NaijaAgroNet gathered the paper also highlights the policies, technologies and behaviour changes necessary to protect the local, regional and global environment, and stimulate the economy and enhance the livelihoods of the poor.

Emphasizing on the focus of the paper, Bob Watson who won the Blue Planet Prize in 2010 said "The challenges facing the world today need to be addressed immediately if we are to solve the problem of climate change, loss of biodiversity and poverty."

Commenting on the paper, the UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner appreciated the efforts of the 14 authors of the paper for articulating their vision on how key development challenges can be addressed. 

"The paper by the Blue Planet laureates will challenge governments and society as a whole to act to limit human-induced climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in order to ensure food, water energy and human security," Achim Steiner said.

'Yinka Awosanya

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African agronomists in Kenya for food enhancement

Agricultural experts from Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania gathered in Kenya for an empowerment workshop on carbon projects geared towards enhancing food production, reports CoastWeek.

The workshop is organized by World Bank; NaijaAgroNet gathered is to support farmers in Africa to earn from carbon credits.

Speaking about the workshop, Dr. Mei Xie, a Senior Specialist of Climate change at the World Bank Institute said the programme is aimed at building hand on capacity ad know how to establish activity monitoring systems and model derived emission factors for smallholder carbon agricultural projects.

"We look forwards to empower the agricultural experts from the respective countries on the development of carbon projects and take back home the experience and knowledge to the benefits of the farmers," she said.

The workshop is a platform for networking and sharing experiences among participants during and beyond the forum. Read moreAdmin/LS

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FAO says food prices rise by 2%

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has said that food prices has risen by two per cent.

FAO in its latest Food Price Index datasets revealed that the price index of food increased by almost 2 per cent in January 2012.

The Food Price Index datasets made available to NaijaAgroNet showed an increase of nearly 2 per cent, exactly 4 points in food price index with oils in the lead; recording the highest increase.

Foods items topping the list include cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat, even as the index stood at 214 as at January 2012, which is 7 per cent lower to the record of January 2011.

Speaking on the dataset, a Senior Grains Economist at FAO, Abdolreza Abbassian said that the index could not be traced directly to the value of the dollar and oil prices which were much involved in January.

"But one reason is poor weather currently affecting key growing regions like South America and Europe. It has played a role and remains a cause for concern,” he said.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that international prices of all major cereals with the exception of rice rose, with maize gaining most, which is 6 per cent. Wheat prices also gained, though less significantly.

The fear of a decline in the export supplies in the Commonwealth of Independent States also played a part in the increase as prices mostly reflect worries about weather conditions affecting 2012 crops in several major producing regions.

A latest forecast by FAO on world cereal production also revealed that cereal production is expected to be more than sufficient to cover anticipated utilization in 2011/2012 as production is expected to reach 2,327 million tones, a 3.6 per cent more than that of 2010, hence a new record.

 'Yinka Awosanya/LS

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