South-South, South-East States’ Lawmakers say ‘NO’ to grazing reserve

NaijaAgroNet:

The first joint parliamentary session of South-East and South-south State Houses of Assembly ended in Owerri, Imo State, Friday with a declaration to prohibit grazing of cattle in the geo-zones in all ramifications, report NaijaAgroNet.

The session hosted by Imo State House of Assembly, with the Theme: "Alternatives to Militancy and the harmonisation of South-East/South-South Grazing Reserve Proposals" condemned the proposed National Grazing bill currently being sponsored on the floor of the National Assembly.

Also the session urge the various Houses of Assembly in the South-East and South-south zones to pass bills restricting cattle rearing, prohibit grazing of cattle from one location to another through farmlands which has the tendency for causing damages to farm farmlands, health hazards, and obstruction of vehicular and human traffic.

“And to reject the proposed Bill to Establish and Control Grazing Routes and Reserves before the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly,” the parliamentarians said in a public statement made available to NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ugonna Ozurigbo, the session equally urged the Governors of the South-East and South-South to establish special task forces drawn from various security agencies and neighbourhood watch in each Local Government to checkmate the excesses of herdsmen and prosecute them.

They argued that the proposed bill tend to authorize the National Grazing Commission to take over any piece of land they so please, and pay a token as compensation for such, completely negates the spirit of capitalist economy which Nigeria runs.

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Pix: South-South+South East Speakers of House of Assembly with Gov. Okorocha,

Malnutrition: NEMA commences feeding of 1.6m IDPs in Borno State

NaijaAgroNet:

The North-East zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Maiduguri, has commenced direct responsibility of daily feeding of estimated 1.6 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), reports NaijaAgroNet.

This present activity, NaijaAgroNet learnt has taken off at various resettlement camps and other satellite centres across Borno State, in effort to address malnutrition and other related humanitarian issues currently being faced by IDP camps.

The North East Coordinator of the agency, Mallam Mohammed Kanar, made this disclosure at the flag-off of the distribution and presentation of relief items to officials of State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, for onward delivery to IDPs in the state.

“The decision to resume 100% feeding of IDPs by NEMA is to complement effort of the state government and other humanitarian agencies. With sustained effort by the military in liberating many communities, more IDPs are now willing to go back to their communities to continue their normal lives” he said.

He pointed out, NEMA was solely feeding the IDPs, but it stopped doing so in the last two to three months following coordinated effort by the federal and the state government and other international donor agencies in managing the crisis.

He noted that with concerted efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari towards the plight of IDPs and victims of insurgency, NEMA had been mandated to resume and take care of feeding of IDPs.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that recently, officials of Medicine San Frontiers, known as Doctors without Borders, reported that there was acute malnutrition and food crisis at various camps in Borno State, leading to deaths, but the state government through Governor Kashim Shettima denied the report.

The governor insisted that those that suffered severe malnutrition in Bama and other camps were some hostages freed from insurgency, who spent over two years in captivity without enough food and access to health care delivery before they were taken to IDP camps.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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What Pope Francis told FAO

NaijaAgroNet:

The Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis, has told the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) his desire over its role in the new Mediterranean migration initiative to save 2,500 people food insecurity, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Holy Father in a meeting with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva commended the agency's efforts to address migration in the Mediterranean region as well as its work to promote the strong links between peace and food security, climate change and sustainable development.

Graziano da Silva while briefing the pontiff on FAO's Blue Hope Initiative said it seeks to transform Southern Mediterranean coastal zone communities into engines of stability and growth, in particular by supporting the activities of small-scale fisheries.

"Migration is an issue which is very close to Pope Francis' heart. Much more needs to be done to tackle what is happening in the Mediterranean where more than 2,500 people are estimated to have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by sea," the FAO Director-General said after today's meeting.

The pontiff and Graziano da Silva also discussed the current peace efforts underway in Colombia and in the Central African Republic and the hope that lasting solutions will be found for the conflict in the two countries.

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El Nino impact at Dry Land corridor, leaves 3.5m people food insecure

NaijaAgroNet:

The El Niño climate event is having a devastating impact on agriculture in Central America’s Dry Corridor where one of the worst droughts in decades has left 3.5 million people food insecure, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In the most affected countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras some, NaijaAgroNet gathered that some 2.8 million people are dependent on food aid.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) at the end of June organized a high-level meeting in Rome, to focus on the urgent need for long-term action to address the impact of El Niño, including building resilience for food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable populations in the affected countries.

El Niño and its counterpart La Niña occur cyclically, but in recent years, mainly due to the effects of global climate change, extreme weather events associated with these phenomena, such as droughts and floods, have increased in frequency and severity.

This situation, NaijaAgroNet report, is also putting at risk the livelihoods of millions of small-scale family farmers in the Dry Corridor, many of whom are heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture.

The aim of the high-level meeting is to increase awareness of, and the response to, this protracted and recurrent crisis, and to mobilize the international community to support the efforts of governments, UN agencies and other partners.

This includes strengthening of early warning systems, disaster risk management, and improving preparedness and coordination for emergency responses at national and regional levels.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Conde urges improved fisheries governance in Africa, reiterates AU commitment

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of the Republic of Guinea, Professor Alpha Conde, has urged for improved fisheries governance on the continent of Africa, reiterating African Union (AU) commitment to conducive environment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Conde in a keynote address at the 32nd Session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) held recently in Rome, declared that his initiatives as champion will reinforce the efforts already undertaken by the African Union in creating an environment conducive to dialogue on African development issues.

Conde who also doubles as the NEPAD Agency’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Champion, implored African Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to the United Nations agencies based in Rome to drum support for continuous improvement in the governance of the fisheries sector in Africa.

President Conde further committed himself to support the implementation of reforms in the fisheries sector for effective governance of this important sector towards Africa’s development.

The contribution of fisheries to national economies in Africa is quite significant.  Revenues amount to nearly $24 billion per year, representing 1.26 per cent of the continent’s GDP and 6.02 per cent of its agricultural GDP.  Moreover, the sector provides more than 12 million people with direct employment. Women account for a quarter of the workforce in the sector and are also active in fish processing.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, in his remarks, emphasised that fisheries and aquaculture are not only important for eradication of poverty and hunger, but are also key to improving nutrition.

Challenges, he said, exist in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors that require urgent action, stressing that among them are the over-exploitation of fishery resources, the growing expansion of international demand for fish to which is added the lack of capacity of African institutions for adequate management of fisheries resources on the continent. 

Mr. Jose further said that the result of this is that Africa generally has the lowest fish consumption, estimated at 9 kg per capita, which represents less than half of the world average of 21 kg.  The per capita consumption is expected to decline further due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

NaijaAgroNet, to counter the challenges of fishing on the continent, African Heads of State and Government adopted a policy framework and a fisheries and aquaculture reform strategy in July 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, with the aim of improving governance of the sector for the benefit of its people.

In addition African countries including Benin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Sudan are party to FAO’s international accord aimed at stamping out illegal fishing which came into effect in June 2016.  The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) is the world's first illegal fishing treaty.

Mr. Jose Graziano da Silva encouraged other countries to also be party to this agreement as soon as possible. “The agreement must be used with other tools in order to attain sustainable and legal fisheries. Generations to come will recognise the importance of this achievement,” he said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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LDRI launches comprehensive source for agriculture data on Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) has launched a knowledge and data portal encompassing research, reports, policy briefs and news on agriculture in Africa, known as TransformAgriculture.org, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The Executive Assistant and Communications Officer, Wangui Muriu, in a press statement sighted by NaijaAgroNet, quoted the LDRI’s Executive Director, Mr. Muchiri Nyaggah as saying that the portal makes it possible to find, for the first time, data, research and news on Africa’s agriculture from multiple sources in one place.

“The portal is also the online home of a multi-stakeholder collective known as the Network for Agricultural Transformation in Africa (NATA),” he said.

Data and research on Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda, Nyaggah said, currently resides in numerous locations spread out across the Internet. This makes discovery of insights, content and data for decision-making fairly difficult for the continent’s growing number of public, private sector and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) experts.

He explained that TransformAgriculture.org has been designed to solve this problem for members of the network and any expert looking for data, research or news on Africa’s agricultural transformation journey.

Organized along the categories used by the results framework for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), Nyaggah said, the portal will make it possible for those supporting or reporting on the CAADP Biennial Review to find the information they need.

“During the last quarter of 2016, additional functionality to accommodate the Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals have been provided to further improve discoverability of content within those frameworks,” he said.

Nyaggah emphasised that numerous organizations at the multi-lateral or NGO level are producing data and research as part of efforts to end extreme poverty, hunger and reduce inequality in Africa.

“The data and research are vital for implementation of CAADP as well as the SDGs and Agenda 2063; making it easier to find and share is therefore very important in empowering our continent’s experts to get their job done,” he enthused.

Equally speaking, the Co-founder and Director for Technology at LDRI, Mr. Steve Nyumba, said that TransformAgriculture.org will help to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio for those seeking data, research and news related to implementation of Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda.

“It is part of our commitment to support African Union member states in implementing programmes such as CAADP that have transformative impact on the continent’s growing population” Nyumba said.

Reassuring that LDRI and partners will continue to add content to the portal on an almost daily basis and welcome data and content publishers wishing to use it as one of their dissemination tools. Even as LDRI collaborates with the African Media Initiative in data journalism training across Africa.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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SUN Movement Strategic roadmap 2020 for launch in September

NaijaAgroNet:

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has advanced plans to launch its strategic roadmap 2020 in the month of September, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The launch, NaijaAgroNet gathered would form part of the inauguration of the SUN Movement’s new Lead Group at the UN General Assembly in New York on Assembly in New York on 22 September, 2016.

Disclosing this, the interim coordinator, SUN Movement, Mr. Tom Arnold, told NaijaAgroNet, pointed out that it would be a moment members strive to connect all every member to join the event and engage with the Lead Group via webinar.

According to him, the SUN Business Network, for instance, is also organising an event in New York on August 20 to highlight business commitments to nutrition.

This meeting, he revealed will be a prelude to Ministers of Finance from partnering countries, presenting their scale up plans to accelerate actions on early child development and stunting reduction will be held during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington in October.

Arnold further said that the SUN Movement Lead Group, Networks and Secretariat will support SUN country stakeholders in efforts to engage with Ministries of Finance ahead of this important meeting and in follow-up initiatives focusing on resource mobilization.

Just as he said, the 43rd session of the Committee for World Food Security will take place in Rome between October 17 and 21 with a focus on “Making a difference in Food Security and Nutrition.”

All SUN Countries and SUN Stakeholders, he said, are encouraged to participate to share their experience and to contribute to defining policy guidance which promotes convergence for food security and nutrition.

The Micronutrient Forum, Arnold said will be held in Cancun during the month of October from 24 through 28, where there will be an opportunity to convene SUN stakeholders, especially those from Latin America, for experience sharing.

With the SUN Movement Secretariat, we are dedicated to ensuring that you and your countries can make the most of these significant opportunities to bring political attention to nutrition, and galvanise finance for effective action.

“Given this busy agenda for nutrition actors across the Movement, in order to maximise attendance at the SUN Movement Global Gathering and offer an innovative and content rich opportunity for sharing and learning, the SUN Movement Secretariat will organise the Global Gathering in late February 2017,” he submitted, assuring that information to this effect will follow shortly on its location and logistical aspects of the event.

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Save the Children report highlights unequal progress in tackling malnutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

A new report recently launched by Save the Children has revealed the results of what makes some children more vulnerable to malnutrition than others, tagged ‘Unequal Portions: Ending malnutrition for every child’ reports NaijaAgroNet.

The report, NaijaAgroNet gathered is part of a new campaign, Every Last Child, aiming at ensuring that every last child survives and thrives.

Good nutrition, the report revealed centres on a healthy, balanced, adequate diet which is a matter of life or death, stressing on the difference between surviving or thriving.

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that it is essential for a healthy immune system, to protect against disease throughout life, which is crucial for a country’s inclusive and sustainable development.

The report further showed that although progress in tackling malnutrition is far too slow, millions of children are missing out on adequate nutrition because of who they are and where they live.

“They are discriminated against because of their ethnicity or disability; they are excluded because of their parents’ lack of income or after being forced from their homes,” part of the report read.

The report analyses data from a range of sources to show how a deadly combination of poverty and discrimination is robbing certain groups of children – girls, children from ethnic minorities, those in disadvantaged regions of their country, disabled children, and children affected by war – of the healthy, balanced diet they need to survive and thrive.

Drawing on new findings and analysis, this report went on to identify a series of measures to ensure no child is left behind. Just as it calls on world leaders to address exclusion and ensure every last child gets the nutrition they need.

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Ban Ki-moon appoint Gerda Verbrg, new coordinator SUN Movement

NaijaAgroNet:

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Mr. Ban Ki-moon has appointed former German Agriculture Minister, Gerda Verburg as the new Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Mr. Ki-moon, NaijaAgroNet gave this approve in February 2016 with the anticipation that Madam Gerda Verburg will assume full office by August 2, 2016.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Gerda had participated in the 2016 Women Deliver Conference on May 16 through 19, to demonstrate that empowering women is essential for sustaining improvements in the nutrition status of everyone, everywhere. 

She spoke recently at the European Development Days held between June 15 and 16, about the centrality of nutrition to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the action needed from European development partners to build country nutrition capacity.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that this came as SUN countries in the last quarter, shared their experiences through two virtual meetings of the SUN Country Network, discussing national commitments and setting nutrition targets, and the steps you are taking to build and sustain political commitment for nutrition action.

Arnold said, SUN Countries from across Asia came together in a regional workshop, held in Bangkok on April 25 through 27, to mobilise public finance for nutrition and another workshop to be held in Nairobi, Kenya between August 22 and 25, 2016 for African SUN countries.

SUN, is a unique movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition and tends to unite people from governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers—in a collective effort to improve nutrition.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

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 Pix: Gerda Verburg