AUC wants African varsities to coordinate research on agriculture

NaijaAgroNet:

The chairperson, African Union Commission (AUC), Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said universities across Africa must harmonize their agricultural research and teaching programmes to help modernize farming on the continent, NaijaAgroNet reports.

She stressed that this would encourage young people to study agriculture and then introduce better farming technologies. “The harmonization of agricultural science is the first step in streamlining university courses to attract young people to science and technology,” she told delegates.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Haile mariam Desalegn and Dlamini Zuma were among discussants on African farmers’ inability to adopt technologies and methods that could make agriculture more efficient, saying that young people in Africa have little interest in studying agriculture at university because they see farming as a laborious, low-income profession.

According to the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the continent imported 83 per cent of its food in 2013, despite more than half the population being smallholder farmers. Having a greater number of trained agricultural scientists would help increase yields for food grown in Africa.

“We import a ridiculous amount of food, and still many suffer from malnutrition. All those initiatives to improve food security will not come to anything if we do not invest more in science and research, and get more young people into agricultural sciences,” Dlamini Zuma said.

Speakers told the UN’s Third Financing for Development Conference in Ethiopia recently that universities should align their agricultural science efforts and collaborate with each other to compete internationally, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

The African Union’s Agenda 2063, a 50-year development plan for the continent, says widening the use of modern agricultural technology would help secure a steady food supply and improve farmers’ contribution to economic growth.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE 

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

ITREALMS: Child rape: UN Watch calls for more accountability...

ITREALMS: Child rape: UN Watch calls for more accountability...: ITRealms : Geneva-based human rights organization under the aegis of United Nations Watch has called for a greater accountability a...

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Avian flu to gulp $20m

NaijaAgroNet

The resurgence of the deadly avian flu virus H5N1 across West Africa has sent jitters in the spine of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as it has call for a whopping $20 million, about N3.98billion to stem spread of the disease to all the parts of the region, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana are said to be among countries where the avian flu have made a comeback following outbreaks of the virus in poultry farms, markets and family holdings in these countries.

The disease comes even as some countries in West Africa are still recovering from, and in some cases still battling, Ebola. Avian flu could trigger a mass death of chicken – a nutritious and inexpensive source of food for many people– with detrimental impacts on diets and on the economy of the region, exacerbating an already difficult situation.

To save other countries from the flu, NaijaAgroNet learnt, FAO has embarked on assessment missions to Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Togo – to undertake in collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health, the African Union, and in some cases with the World Bank –  the existence or otherwise cases of H5N1 in their poultries because these countries and other countries in the Sub-Region need to put preventive  measures in place.

Chief of FAO’s Animal Health Service Division, Juan Lubroth, said “Based on what we do know, there is a real risk of further virus spread. Urgent action is needed to strengthen veterinary investigation and reporting systems in the region and tackle the disease at the root, before there is a spillover to humans.”

While the first incursion of the H5N1 in West Africa occurred in 2006 it was eliminated by 2008. In late 2014, however, the virus was re-introduced in Nigeria, where it spread rapidly in the following three months - to date more than 1.6 million birds have been culled or have died from the virus, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

SDGs take effect September

NaijaAgroNet

The United Nations (UN's) new Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that details the investments needed to eradicate world hunger by 2030 is expected to take effect from September,2015, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano Da Silva at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said additional investments in social protection and rural development is necessary.

"Through the SDGs and the Accord, the world has declared: ‘Our goal is to end poverty and hunger,'" da Silva said while addressing world leaders, civil society and private sector groups gathered for the conference plenary, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Significant boosts, according to him, is therefore required in investment in both social protection and rural development to ensure that every person has adequate access to food all year long, and improve the productivity, incomes and livelihoods of the poor, he stated.

Graziano da Silva's remarks, NaijaAgroNet gathered, follow the release of a report by FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that details the investments needed to eradicate world hunger by 2030 - a key aim of the SDGs to be adopted in September.

To make hunger history by 2030, the UN food agencies estimate that an additional $267 billion, about N53.1trillion per year on average needs to be invested in rural and urban areas, as well as in social protection measures that give poor people access to food and the means to improve their own livelihoods.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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

Cooperative society targets 150,000 jobs in agric sector

NaijaAgroNet

A cooperative society, Reality International, with base in Niger Delta said it has plans to create about 150,000 jobs to tackle unemployment and create an agro-based economy, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Leader of the group, Prince Thankgod Njoku Ezenwata disclosed this at the maiden edition of its demonstration farm at Rumuodomaya in Port Harcourt. He stated that the programme which would begin in the Niger Delta would be replicated across the country within a period of three years.

The Reality International draws its membership across the Niger Delta region and aims at using agriculture to correct social vices occasioned by unemployment in the country and redirect the government policy towards agro based economy.

Ezenwata, NaijaAgroNet gathered, said the group is working in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the area of assistance to create jobs for Nigeriansto assist it access the agricultural development loan to enable its members develop their farms and pay back within a stipulated time.

"A lot has been said about agriculture in Nigeria. Some said it is dead while others say it is still alive. Whatever the case maybe, it is irrelevant, what matters most is the way forward and that is the main focus of our group. What government at both state and federal levels need do is to improve the standard of agriculture in Nigeria. The availability of accessible roads and transport system is a necessity for agriculture to thrive in Niagara,” he said.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

FF, AUC say leadership, partnership key for Africa’s agricultural transformation

NaijaAgroNet

 
A panel co-hosted by the United States government's global food security initiative, Feed the Future, and African Union Commission (AUC) have said government leadership and partnerships with the private sector as well as civil society are crucial for Africa to achieve food security, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Held recently in Addis Ababa, the panel was a side event of the Third Finance for Development Conference aimed to highlight how the commission's Comprehensive Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) set the foundation for enhanced engagement for the governments throughout the continent with the private sector as well as how non-state actors could play a role in advancement of country-led approaches towards food security.

Deputy Chairperson, AUC, Erastus Mwencha, in his keynote said, "Since the initiation of CAADAP we have seen a tremendous transformation in agriculture sector."

Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),  Ambassador Alfonso Lenhardt, on his part, said that "the possibilities are truly endless" when the private sector, the civil society and all relevant stakeholders are engaged in ensuring food and nutrition security, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

He went further to say, "We are on a critical part of the post-2015 agenda. And we must work together" towards the transformation of the agricultural sector."

In support of  Lenhardt’s position, NaijaAgroNet reports, was a panelist, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Government's Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), Khalid, Bomba who said "increase production and productivity, manage risks and disaster as well as work on commercialization, we must work together to translate policies into action. We must engage the private sector and civil society groups."

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

EIB, FAO partnership to bolster private sector investment

NaijaAgroNet

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are collaborating to broaden investment in agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The two institutions, NaijaAgroNetgathered, signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that seeks to foster investment operations in the field of agriculture, private sector development and value chains that promote both EIB's priorities and FAO's strategic objectives outside the EU.

Speaking at the event, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, said "This is a landmark opportunity for both of us to combine technical knowledge and financial capacity to engage private and public investors in eradicating hunger," noting that ensuring enough global food supply for a growing population and making agrifood systems more sustainable would require robust investments in developing countries.

According to EIB Vice-President, Pim van Ballekom, "Agriculture and agribusiness are key sectors for development impact, as they are and will remain central to lives, livelihoods and social stability. But they are also a primary base for local entrepreneurship, employment and growth in many countries around the world. If we can combine FAO's local experience and know-how with our investment capabilities and technical expertise to better channel much needed finance to benefit both food supply and entrepreneurship, then why should we not do that?"

NaijaAgroNet recalls that FAO and EIB have collaborated before, through information-sharing platforms like Eastagric, with the latest MoU intensifying their cooperation in the joint analysis, planning and execution of investment operations.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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

New farming methods sack workers in South Africa

NaijaAgroNet

The two new farming methods expected to revolutionize agriculture globally namely, Precision farming and Conservation, have succeeded in reducing jobs in South Africa’s agric sector, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Precision agriculture, experts say, taps into Global Positioning System (GPS) technology such thatfarmers could gather precise soil data to target exactly what inputs they need and where, while conservation involves trying to preserve South Africa’s erosion-prone soils.

Information reaching NaijaAgroNet said that samples are scooped from each hectare of a field, which is marked off into grids. The field map that emerges is colour-coded to denote exactly what needs to be applied in each square.

Analysts say this is at odds with policy proposals by the ruling African National Congress, which is seeking to limit farm size and create rural jobs. Technology, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is threatening to uproot such efforts.

South African farmer,Cobus van Coller, report said, usedthe technology to demonstrate “precision” farming for maximum profit. He scans the computer screen in the cab of his harvester. As the machine mows down corn stalks, numbers are updated on the screen, giving the precise moisture levels and yield in each section of his field. “This shows you if you’re going to make money,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Van Coller also uses the technology for planting. “The GPS tells the computer where you are, and the computer tells the seeder which product to apply and how much.”

“We need to build up our soils again because they have been so degraded,” said Hendrik Smith of industry group GrainSouth Africa.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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