Kilimanjaro Initiative heads to AU Summits

NaijaAgroNet:

As part of the action plans for the Kilimanjaro Initiative, which commenced since March, this year, will in the coming months head to the headquarters of the African Union Commission (AUC) to register the advocacy and call for action, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered, will come as part of their participation via delegation at selected AU summits between the month of July and August 2016.

Confirming these plans in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire during a presentation at a workshop hosted jointly by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) and World Bank in Abidjan, the Africa Advocacy Officer, ActionAid International, Mr. Buba Khan, informed NaijaAgroNet that the plan to AU Summits is a continental call to action so as to push the advocacy to the heads of governments and states in Africa.

Khan also said that the march to AU Summits, will be heralded with a launch of a flagship report on the status of women land rights in Africa.

The target for this specific action will be regional actors in support of rural women to engage in African Union (AU), Southern Africa Development Commission (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) heads of states summits.

Further, he said, the journey to Kilimanjaro as scheduled between September and October this year, will see to the launch of Caravans to Kilimanjaro as a creative digital engagement tools will be made available to communicate, mobilise and engage supporters from global North.

Additionally, he revealed that stunts, speaking tour, lobby visits and story-gathering will be planned to engage the public and decision makers in the north.

“Rural Women across Africa, Latin America and Asia will be mobilized to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa,” he said, stressing they will reclaim their power and demand right to access and control of land. Just as government officials and high profile women leaders will be called upon to witness and hear direct voices from rural women.

Key demands the initiative will be asking from AU, Khan hinted will include full implementation of the AU guiding principles on large scale land based investment and the tenure guidelines on land, fisheries and forests through participatory, inclusive mechanisms that prioritise the rights and needs of legitimate tenure users, especially women.

The summit will be charged to ensure free, prior and informed consent for all communities affected by land transfers, including the fair and equitable participation of local communities, especially excluded and marginalised groups such as women, youth, children, minorities, the elderly and disabled.

Participation of the delegation, he explained, will spur review of public policies and projects that incentivise land grabbing, and instead support policies that prioritise the needs of small-scale food producers – particularly women – and sustainable land use.

This, he pointed out will help in regulating businesses involved in land deals so that they are fully accountable for respecting human rights, tenure rights and environmental, social and labour standards. This includes ensuring that investors carry out comprehensive human rights due diligence, are transparent and are fully accountable throughout all their operations at home and abroad, to name a few.

+Remmy Nweke in Abidjan/ED Ops 

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Cape Verde battles unregulated fishing, joins Port State Measures Agreement

NaijAgroNet:

An African country of Cape Verde also known as Cabo Verde, has joined the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), as President Jorge Carlos Fonseca personally delivered his country’s ratification papers for the treaty to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as part of efforts at regulating fishing, reports NaijAgroNet.

The FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva who lauded Cape Verde for this step, invited the head of state to a forthcoming event in Rome to celebrate the first international treaty to focus specifically on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

“Cape Verde is acting responsibly and joining the international community’s effort, led by the United Nations and FAO, to combat practices that limit sustainable access to resources that are important not only to the whole world but in particular to our island country,” said Mr. Fonseca.

NaijAgroNet recalls that as many as 60 countries have signed the PSMA will be at the special event when the Committee on Fisheries begins its 32nd session at FAO’s headquarters on July 11.

Although FAO drafted the treaty and began shepherding its adoption in 2009, the PSMA, which requires all fishing vessels to allow inspectors aboard when they stop in foreign ports, went into legal force earlier this month after over 25 countries including Cuba and the United States of America, Mozambique and the European Union acting on behalf of its 28 members deposited their instruments of adherence.

Graziano da Silva signalled FAO’s willingness to support Cape Verde’s fisheries sector, saying the agency’s collaboration with the country is “very progress”. Current projects include initiatives to tackle desertification, bolster reforestation efforts and to promote marine resources management and the Blue Economy.

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69m children awaiting death from preventable causes - UNICEF

NaijaAgroNet:

Latest study released Tuesday by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has raised an alarm that if urgent steps are not taken, an estimated 69 million children across the globe who are under five will die from mostly preventable causes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

UNICEF, in its annual flagship report entitled The State of the World’s Children also said that some 167 million children will live in poverty and 750 million women married out on child-marriage by 2030, which is the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals unless the world refocuses, mostly on the plight of disadvantaged children.

The report, NaijaAgroNet gathered painted a stark picture of what is in store for the world’s poorest children if governments, donors, businesses and international organizations do not accelerate efforts to address their needs.

UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake noted that denying hundreds of millions of children a fair chance in life does more than threaten their futures, particularly by fueling intergenerational cycles of disadvantage, which imperils the future of their societies, stressing “We have a choice: Invest in these children now or allow our world to become still more unequal and divided.”

According to UNICEF, nearly half of the 69 million children who will die before their fifth birthday from mostly preventable causes; More than half of the 60 million children of primary school age who will still be out of school; and   9 out of 10 children living in extreme poverty. 

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Feed Africa focuses on 4 goals, targets 2025

NaijaAgroNet:

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has disclosed that the Feed Africa initiative will drive transformation of African Agriculture into a globally competitive, focuses on four goals to be delivered by 2025, reports NaijaAgroNet.

These four goals, NaijaAgroNet gathered include to end extreme poverty, eliminate hunger and malnutrition, make Africa a net exporter of agricultural commodities and attempt to move to the top of key agricultural value chains.

AfDB also revealed that these four goals have appendage of aspirations comprising that for the continent to end extreme poverty, there must be corresponding contribution towards alleviating poverty though job creation and providing sustainable livelihoods, while targeting to lift some 130 million out f extreme poverty by 2025.

The second goal of Feed Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports, centres on eliminating hunger and malnutrition tend to bring forth food security for all Africans that are ‘undernourished’ even as the goal targets zero hunger and malnutrition before the end of next nine years.

On the third goal, AfDB informed that making Africa a net exporter of agricultural commodities will be ambitiously matched by eliminating large scale imports of commodities that could be produced in Africa, and selectively begin to export, such that Africa’s target will be to net trade balance in the billions of dollars.

Whereas the fourth goal, NaijaAgroNet reports is to move the continent to the top of key agricultural value chains, by becoming Number 1 in either processing or the overall value chain, by market share and by value addition, thereby positioning Africa’s share of the market value for processed commodities to about 40 per cent, for instance with cocoa grinding.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet learnt that Feed Africa is to further turn agriculture into inclusive and business-oriented sector that creates wealth, generates gainful employment, and improves quality of life.

Thus, Feed Africa echoes the commitments made under the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) as articulated in the Maputo (2003) and the Malabo (2014) Declarations.

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Kilimanjaro Initiative gathers momentum

NaijaAgroNet:

The Kilimanjaro Initiative is gathering momentum as its council with five-regional representatives acting in the capacity of Rural Women Steering Group step-up activities for the actualization of its objectives, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The council, NaijaAgroNet comprising five regional women representatives from Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa.

This is coming as international agency steering group, is currently being convened by ActionAid and made up of Oxfam, ILC, WILDAF, Tanzania Gender Networking programme, Kenya Land Alliance among others, to see to the success of the programme.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that members of the council include Moroccoan Ghita Ait Ben Lmadani, who is representing North, Flora Mathias Mlowezi of Tanzania representing Eastern Africa; Cameroonian Augustina Takah and Vanessa Adoko standing in for the Central Africa, whereas Nigerian Lovelyn Ejim Nnenna is representing West Africa in the council.

Kilimanjaro Initiative, conceived by rural women in 2012 with support from civil society organisations at a meeting held in Dar e salaam, Tanzania, creates space for rural women to participate in decision making about the issues dear to them.

Also, the initiative seeks to mobilise rural women from across Africa towards an iconic moment at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro in October 2016, with access to and control over land and natural resource as an entry point.

The mobilisation is expected to culminate in a mass African rural women’s assembly and a symbolic ascent of the mountain by a delegation of women to proclaim a charter of principles and demands on women’s access to and control over their land. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, is a powerful symbol of a challenge to climb and of a starting point to spreading a message across Africa.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that the objectives include strengthening the movement of rural women in claiming and defending their defending land and natural resource rights in Africa; engender political will amongst national governments, donor and regional institutions to implement an all-inclusive African women’s charter.

The initiative, NaijaAgroNet reports, will work towards mobilising and supporting the participation of 100,000 rural women in the Kilimanjaro initiative across Africa and raising awareness on existing frameworks and safeguards around large scale land based investments and demand for their application in securing legitimate tenure rights of rural women in Africa.

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ActionAid mobilises West Africans for Kilimanjaro standup on land rights

NaijaAgroNet:

A global movement known as ActionAid International is mobilising West Africans from six countries in the region for the Kilimanjaro Initiative Caravan expected to attract some 30,000 women and youth to stand up for Women’s Land Rights, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Disclosing this at a just concluded media training workshop organized by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) and World Bank in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, the Africa Advocacy Officer, ActionAid International, Mr. Buba Khan, is working on mobilizing an estimated 30,000 women and land activists to participate in the international programme on land rights for women.

He said that ActionAid, a global movement of people working together to further human rights for all and defeat poverty is partnering other stakeholders, like Oxfam to deliver on this.

Also, he said that the nine-month project will see to a global Key Change Promise (KCP) towards boosting women access and control to land and natural resources.

As said by him, people expected to benefit from this initiative include some 300,000 women, youths, activists, artists, ActionAid, media and other partners, while women and youth in six countries are being targeted for wider community impact in specifically six West African countries.

Khan equally said the multi-country Kilimanjaro Initiative involves Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.

This, he explained is the part of the decentralized actions and events expected to take place in about 16 countries across the continent of Africa, namely Mozambique, South Africa, Congo DRC, Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Seychelles, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Togo, Senegal, Nigeria, Namibia and Cameroon.

He used the opportunity to drum media support and participation for the initiative through adequate publicity, which will encourage African women to stand-up for their rights on various issues of social emancipation including land for the rural women farmers.

+Remmy Nweke just back from Abidjan/ED, Ops.

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House summons agric minister, Ogbeh over GMO food import

NaijaAgroNet:

The lower chambers of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives have summoned the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, over concerns allegedly arising from the importation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) foods into Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), GMOs are organisms including plants, animals or microorganisms in which the genetic material (DNA) have been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and or natural recombination.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that recently over 100 groups representing some 5 million Nigerians, comprising of farmers, faith-based organisations, civil society groups, students and local community groups, passionately opposed Monsanto’s attempts to introduce genetically modified (GM) cotton and maize into Nigeria’s food and farming systems.

In written objections submitted to the biosafety regulators, the groups cited numerous serious health and environmental concerns and the failure of these crops especially GM cotton in Africa, alleging that the former President, Goodluck Jonathan hurriedly signed the bill on National Biosafety Management into law at the exit point.

They rejected the plans for the regulator to licence Monsanto Agricultural Nigeria Limited which applied to the National Biosafety Management Agency (NABMA) for the environmental release and placing in the market in Zaria and surrounding towns of GM cotton (Bt cotton, event MON 15985). A further application they said was made for the confined field trial (CFT) of two GM maize varieties (NK603 and stacked event MON 89034 x NK603) in multiple locations in Nigeria.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that NBMA, the regulatory body for biotechnology in Nigeria, had since May 1, a public holiday in Nigeria, issued two permits signed by the DG, NBMA, Mr. Rufus Ebegba, to Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited for the commercial release and market placement of these GMO cotton and the confined field trial of GMO maize.

However, the summon monitored on Channels TV, followed a motion raised by a member of the House of Representatives from Imo State, Hon. Austin Ikechukwu, on Thursday at the National Assembly in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which was promptly carried.

Also, the House in agreeing to the summon, asked the Minister to appear before them over the issuance of permits to a company, Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited, to introduce some of the foods into the Nigerian market.

The House Committees on Healthcare Services and Agriculture Products have been mandated to also meet with the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the impact of GMO.

The committees are to get a list of food supplements and genetically modified foods that have been granted NAFDAC registration numbers and have 12 weeks to report back to the House.

Isaac Oyimah/Channels TV/GEE.

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Pix Audu Ogbeh.

WAAP: Research, development critical for agricultural transformation

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

... Three observations from WAAPP initiative in Côte d'Ivoire.

Africa relies on rain fed agriculture to feed its people and millions of others around the world. Rain, however, isn’t always the most reliable partner in this endeavour. Realisation of agricultural transformation in Africa will need the continent to make some changes.

The World Bank, the International Water Management Institute and many others estimate rain fed agriculture coverage in sub Sahara Africa to be greater than 95%. This places a great deal of the continent’s food production at the mercy of temperamental rain and the effects of climate change.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to meet a farmer in Abidjan’s Azaguiè area who has broken his reliance on rain to feed his family. Albert Kangah is the proprietor of the Plantation Dougba, a plantain plantation dedicated to producing off-season plantain.

During regular plantain season, farmers can realize prices of about 100CFA per unit but off season plantain prices rise to highs of 600CFA. By planting 3 months after other farmers have planted and investing in irrigation equipment, Albert exploits the price increase to generate higher than average income from his farm. Albert’s story provides us with an example of the possible positive impact of adopting irrigation on livelihoods and signals the possibilities irrigation provides us in improving food and nutrition security on the continent. This is what agricultural transformation is all about.

Albert Kangah is a beneficiary of the West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program supported by the World Bank and running in 13 West African countries. The West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) was designed to respond to the challenges of improving agricultural productivity, an important part of any agriculture policy and central to the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). It started in 2008 under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with financial support from the World Bank (WB) and coordinated at sub-regional level by CORAF/WECARD.

WAAPP aims to generate and accelerate the adoption of improved technologies in key priority areas of the agriculture sectors in participating countries. It also aims to provide producers with technologies to enhance and improve the competitiveness of their produce. The generation of technologies and innovations, including new crop varieties, is done through participating national centers of specialization hosted by the national agriculture research centers of the member states.

In Côte d’Ivoire, WAAPP’s national center of specialization focuses on plantain with farmers like Albert benefiting from the new better yielding, pest and drought resistant varieties that become available. Thanks to the inventory of plantain on his farm, he produces at least 12 tonnes a year. He says plantain changed his life. It’s not hard to see why.

WAAPP is also investing in value chain development for the priority commodities in participating countries. One example is the adoption of technology from Senegal through which at least 15% of the flour used in baking bread and pastries is corn or cassava flour. Through an improved manufacturing process, the amount of wheat consumed would reduce while improving the value of cassava and corn for producers through increased demand and new use cases. Establishing partnerships with the Union of Bakery Owners of Cote d’Ivoire has made it possible for the project to expand from the pilot 10 bakeries using the composite flour in Abidjan to more than 50 in Abidjan and two other towns up country.

I made three observations from this visit to WAAPP project sites:

1. We need to ensure agriculture is a profitable business for Africa’s farmers if it is to become a key driver for Africa’s industrialization. Its profitability will draw young people to the farms and help lower the average age of Africa’s farmers while propelling efforts to reduce hunger, end poverty and reduce inequality on the continent.
2. Investment in research and development cannot be left to happenstance. It must be deliberate and determined by the agricultural transformation strategy in place at the national and regional level. Data from the Agriculture Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) shows Cote d’Ivoire’s spending, in 2011 PPP US dollars, has reduced by 50% between 1981 and 2011. During the same time the population more than doubled but plantain production did not resulting in lower per capita plantain production in 2011 than 30 years earlier. R&D on better varieties and increased adoption of better technologies could have been useful in avoiding this. They are now imperative to reversing the trend.
3. Increased production without investment in value chains development won’t deliver the added value to small holder farmers at the point of origin. WAAPP’s effort to invest in new use cases for cassava and corn flour could result in better prices and incentivize production whilst improving the nutritional value of pastries in Ivorian society.

The work being done by WAAPP partners provides valuable lessons for other regions in the continent especially where value chains development, R&D and regional collaboration on food and nutrition security is concerned. These are some of the elements which are important for CAADP compacts if Africa’s quest for agricultural transformation is to be realised.

*Muchiri Nyaggah, Executive Director, Local Development Research Institute (LDRI)

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Pix: Ivoiren farmer, Mr. Albert Kangah speaking to visiting journalists recently.

N8 Research Partnership to explore food security, agritech

NaijaAgroNet:

The Chairman of the N8 Research Partnership and Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of York, Professor Koen Lamberts, has said that the collaboration is a fantastic agrifood opportunity to explore food security, agritech and consumer health, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at the recently launched N8 Research Partnership comprising Manchester, Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and York Universities, Prof. Lamberts told NaijaAgroNet in a press statement by Joe Paxton, from the Media Relations Office, The University of Manchester said they will focus on solutions on agritech and food security.

“The launch of N8 AgriFood is a fantastic opportunity to explore new projects and solutions to the main food security, agritech and consumer health issues across the supply chain," Prof. Lamberts said.

He revealed that the N8 would facilitate academics and researchers to collaborate closely with industry, farmers and the government, and aims at solving the global challenge of ensuring sustainable, resilient and healthy food supplies for everyone.

Keynote speakers at the launch held between June 21 and 22 at Manchester, UK, included Professor Ian Noble, Senior R&D Director at PepsiCo; Professor Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser for Defra; Tim Benton, UK Champion for Global Food Security; Keith Gill, food industry pioneer and founder of Phileas Fogg crisps and Dr Emma Hennessey, Head of the Science and Innovation team at the Foreign Office.

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Pix: Prof. Koen Lamberts

Bama IDP camp: 323 children suffering Severe Acute Malnutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

Out of the estimated 15,000 children at the Internally Displaced suburb in Bama, Borno State, 323 of them suffered from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Confirming this, the Chief, Communication at UNICEF Nigeria, Doune Porter, said though these children are now receiving assistance after being admitted.

She also said that the worrisome situation here is that the figure reflected an average of 6 new cases per day within 34 days, across April 3 and May 31, 2016.

Just as out of the 15,000 children in the camp, they have also identified three thousand children who have become separated from their families and efforts are ongoing to register them with the aim of tracing their families and reunited them.

Porter reassured that these children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) are receiving treatment to change their situation as UNICEF is collaborating with the Borno State government to provide additionally some social amenities.

These, she said, include repairing and upgrading five boreholes in Bama, providing some 10 to 12 litres of water per day in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.

UNICEF Nigeria, the spokeswoman said, would in the coming days construct 150 latrines among others to further improve the living situation in the camp.

Remmy Nweke/ED,Ops

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