Food security: Equatorial Guinea boosts new solidarity fund with N4, 7bn

With the donation of $30 million, about N4, 724,096,988 Equatorial Guinea has contributed to a new solidarity trust fund on the February 22, 2013 that aims to organize African financial resources in support of strengthening food security on the continent, reports India Education.

The first donation to the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund was made official in a ceremony at the limits of the third Africa-South America Summit in Malabo, attended by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.


Speaking at a meeting with the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Graziano da Silva said that before the signature of the donation agreement, “that the contribution was a sign of the country's commitment to eradicate hunger in Africa.”
NaijaAgroNet reports that Maria Helena Semedo (FAO Regional Representative in Africa), who signed the agreement on behalf of FAO, also said that the generous contribution by Equatorial Guinea will help transform political will to end hunger into concrete action.

She also invited other countries to follow this example and lend their financial support as well.

Further, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the goal of the new trust fund is to get resources from Africa's strongest economies and use them across the continent to support national and regional food security initiatives aimed at eradicating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the idea of the fund was launched during FAO's April 2012 regional conference held in the Republic of Congo, when the host President Denis Sassou Nguesso, called for greater solidarity between African nations to fight hunger.



Apart from Equatorial Guinea, other African countries like Angola have expressed their intention to contribute to the fund, as President José Eduardo dos Santos told Graziano da Silva when he visited Luanda in late January 2013.



The Africa Solidarity Trust Fund is intended to complement and not to replace development assistance from overseas donors. At the onset, it will focus in particular on strengthening the flexibility of rural families and communities in the face of recurrent famine and other crises.

FAO regional representative also said that "We can end hunger in Africa if we work together under the leadership of African governments and regional institutions, learning from one another through South-South cooperation and other exchanges".

Semedo also explained that the effort should involve not only governments and international organizations like FAO, but also civil society, the private sector, academia and other partners.

  NNEKA ALAMAEZE/LS

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Agroforestry proffers solution to world hunger

Recently released guidelines to promote agroforestry shows the industry is proffering solution to the world hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), saying that this often neglected sector of agriculture combines forestry with agriculture is important to the food security and lives of millions of people in the world.

   

The FAO says agroforestry is an important source of local commodities, such as timber and fruit, and fodder for livestock, adding that with proper development, agroforestry could help solve hunger, land degradation and poverty.

Gerard Buttoud, professor of Forest policy at Tuscia University in Viterbo, Italy and also a key consultant to the FAO on developing the guidelines explained how agroforestry is a good system for improving production at the local level because it helps to arrange the agricultural production and the environmental benefits.

“It maximizes the production on the long run because it produces food under the trees. The trees are then used as means to sustain the land and the production. Also agroforestry is a very good system to adaptation to climate change because as a complex system it minimizes the risk,” he said.

Buttound said it is important to have a framework in which to promote agroforestry properly. He also provided insight into another use of agroforestry and he gave an example of a success story in Africa.

The Arabic gum in Sudan, for instance, he said, is known as the first category of parklands developed through strong demand from the market to have this kind of product. 

"This resulted into a development of agroforestry which was really productive even in terms of money in this part of Africa,” he said.

For the farmer, he said that the benefit comes from maintaining the soil so it could continuously produce crops for a long period of time.

 NNEKA ALAMAEZE/LS

 

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EU boosts world wheat production with 20m grains

The United Nations (UN) says that the European Union (EU) will boost the recovery strategy in the world wheat production in 2013-2014, by lifting the industry with about 20 million tones of grains.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that early prospects for 2013 cereal production points to increased world wheat output and by contributing largely to this outlook is an estimated 4-5 per cent increase in the winter wheat area in the European Union where, additionally, winter wheat conditions have been generally favourable so far.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that EU is the world's top wheat producer, ahead of China and India.

The FAO also highlighted that prospects are "satisfactory" in Russia and Ukraine, where winter plantings had remained in line with the previous year's levels.

Moisture conditions, FAO noted are somewhat improved in the region, except for areas of southern Russia, an important source of export supplies, which was worst affected by drought last year.

Equally, prospects are reported favourable in China, boosted by a higher minimum purchase price which has encouraged seedings, as said by FAO, to allay the fears from some other observers earlier in the winter of potential damage from unusually cold temperatures.

In India, plantings are around last year's good level, and another bumper crop is in prospect, the organization said, raising the drought-hit US as the exception to the upbeat picture.

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NOVUS AGRO BOOST AGRIC INFORMATION TO FARMERS

Novus Agro, a Nigeria-based entity has outlined plans to boost the agricultural information for farmers in the country.

Giving this assurance in Lagos were the duo of Messrs Victoria Ononuju and Obiajuru Igborgbor from Novus Agro, at a forum in Lagos, Wednesday, said the organization helps to bridge agriculture information in the country in the past three years with many enterprise signing up.

The main objective of Novus Agro, they said, is to contribute to the growth of agriculture in the country by getting information about agriculture and enlightening the farmers as well as people in the country about the importance of Agriculture.

Also, by helping individuals and farmers involved in agricultural business to be successful via taking the time to understand their problems and how they could best help them to meet their needs.

They said farmers as well as some people in the country have been turning away from agriculture because of lack of information and lack of production.

"Whereby a farmer does not know what to produce for sale in the market at a particular time and the farmer also does not know where and when to sell their produce and it is not encouraging; that the farmers need to know the selling price of a particular produce in the market," they said.

According to them, agriculture could better the lives of the farmers and how the beneficiaries could take control of agriculture in Nigeria.

Novus Agro, they pointed out also gets in touch with the farmers as well as people who want to know the price of a produce in the market through a Short Messaging Service (SMS) or through the internet.

Even as they are planning on creating a link between the farmers and the consumers so that they could have a better relationship. While assisting people who want to buy large amount of produce.

Citing the need to purchase about 500 bags of garri, for instance, Novus Agro will help such a person to contact the head of the farmers in a community and also one of the members so as for all of them to work together and produce the bags of garri.

Plans are up to deploying Interactive Voice Response (IVR) in delivery of the SMS in different languages including Pidgin English, Yoruba, Igbo and others.

Special Assistant on Media and Strategy to the Minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye express thanks to the participants at the forum, enjoining them to ensure that people get to know and be enlightened about agriculture.

Nneka Alamaeze/LS/DSB News

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