UN stresses need to eradicate poverty

NaijaAgroNet:

In marking the 24th anniversary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), the United Nations has underscored the need to recognize and address the humiliation and exclusion endured by many people living in poverty, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, noted that as the world work together to honour the pledge to build a life of peace, prosperity and dignity for all, the world must recognize that prejudice and discrimination seriously impede efforts.

“To end poverty, we must commit to respect and defend the human rights of all people and end the humiliation and social exclusion that the poor face every day,” he said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that this year marks the first commemoration of IDEP since the launch of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in January 2016. Recent estimates show that despite significant gains since 2002 – the number of people living below the poverty line dropped by half – 1 in 8 people still live in extreme poverty, including 800 million people who do not have enough to eat.

Equally, NaijaAgroNet gathered that an estimated 2.4 billion people have no access to improved sanitation, 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity and 880 million people live in urban slums. Opportunities continue to remain scarce for the world’s most vulnerable people – 59 million children of primary school age are out of school and the youth unemployment rate is 15 per cent, more than three times the rate of adults.

“With its central pledge to leave no one behind, the historic and ambitious new 2030 Agenda recognises that development will only be sustainable if it is inclusive,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo.

“We need to change the course of human development from one characterized by exclusion, inequalities, conflict, and unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, to one that is more inclusive, equitable and sustainable,” Hongbo said.

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Lack of hand washing, kills over 300,000 in 2015 – UNICEF

NaijaAgroNet:

The spate of cholera in aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti and with a new outbreak of war-in Yemen, have made it difficult for children, families and communities to make washing hands with soap a habit to help prevent the spread of diseases, says United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as UNICEF said over 300,000 lives should have been saved if hand washing has become a habit globally.

Chief of Communication for UNICEF Nigeria, Ms Doune Porter, told NaijaAgroNet that as the world celebrate the Global Handwashing Day, UNICEF has discovered that, in 2015 alone, over 300,000 children under the age of five died globally from diarrhoeal infections linked to poor access to safe drinking water and sanitation – a rate of over 800 per day.

“Yet many of these deaths could have been prevented through the simple act of handwashing with soap,” she said.

Porter quoted the UNICEF’s global head of water, sanitation and hygiene Sanjay Wijesekera as saying that every year, 1.4 million children are dying from largely preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea.

“These are staggering numbers, but they could be greatly reduced by working with children and families to adopt a very straightforward solution – handwashing. We know, for example, that handwashing with soap before meals and after using the toilet could reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal infections by 40 per cent,” Sanjay said.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that a recent survey conducted by UNICEF in Nigeria found that about 10 per cent of households did not know about the critical times to wash hands and could not demonstrate proper handwashing techniques.

The survey, Porter further said revealed that only 12 per cent of households have handwashing facilities with soap or ash located at their latrines.

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Africa: Bracing up for post AGOA period

Opinion@NaijaAgroNet:

Next time you pick up sporting gear or a pair of jeans in a U.S. mall, do check the label. It may have been made in Lesotho, a small, mountainous and land-locked country completely surrounded by South Africa, with a population of around two million. 

Lesotho is a beneficiary of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows over 6,400 products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries to enter the U.S. market duty-free. The country has made big strides in the garment industry with U.S. exports estimated at US$330 million in 2015, against US$140 million in 2000. Today, according to the Lesotho Textile Exporters Association, about 80% of Lesotho's textile and garment exports go to the U.S.   With 44,000 employees, the garment industry is the country’s largest private sector employer.

There are other ‘Made in Africa’ success stories that have emerged since AGOA was introduced in 2000 and extended by 10 years in September 2015.  According to the 2016 AGOA report released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, non-oil exports to the United States under AGOA nearly tripled from $1.4 billion in 2001 to $4.1 billion in 2015. Automobiles from South Africa and apparel from Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Swaziland were the leading exports.

The gains from AGOA are undeniable, despite criticisms that the agreement favours petroleum products and that it excludes some agricultural products in which Africans have a comparative advantage. There have also been concerns that the export of Africa’s agricultural products to the United States is made even more difficult by complex health and food safety regulations. This, however, has not stopped bolder, export-ready, African countries from capturing shares in the U.S. market. In July, for instance, Namibia became the first African country to be eligible to export boneless (not ground) raw beef products to the US.

A key challenge for Africa will be to ensure that its industries that have thrived under AGOA do not collapse, that the thousands of jobs created in the automobile and automobile parts, apparel, fruit and nut, cocoa, footwear, and flower industries are sustained and continue to grow beyond 2025.

This will demand that Africa strengthens its skills base and capacity to compete. Failure to do so could see competitors such as Vietnam erode its growing market share in especially textiles and apparel should the United States ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.   The US textile and apparel market is estimated at US$350 billion. Africa, despite its large potential, supplies a paltry one per cent of this. A challenge for the continent is use the next nine years up the end of AGOA in 2025 to build competitive industries in the sector. A country that could emerge as key player is Ethiopia.

A 2015 McKinsey survey of 40 global chief procurement officers in the apparel industry, for the first time named Ethiopia as a possible global sourcing destination. Like with many other African countries, the challenge for Ethiopia is to shift from being of the world’s leading sourcing options to becoming a priority.

For responsive countries, AGOA has provided invaluable lessons that Africans can use to stimulate the growth of their export industries and seize market share elsewhere.  It has also helped enhance intra-African trade by enabling producers in different countries to create new value chains that deliver mutual benefit. Botswana, for instance, now exports leather to South Africa where it is processed into upholstery for luxury car exports to the United States.

Meanwhile, the AfDB will continue to play its part by building infrastructure to improve Africa’s competitiveness in U.S. markets. This will include promotion of regional integration that enhances trade and skills for greater global competitiveness.  Equally important, within Africa is the creation of solutions for export-oriented small and medium enterprise (SME) to help bridge the unmet demand for trade finance in Africa, currently estimated at US$ 120 billion.  Work in this direction is already well underway. Established in February 2013 the Bank’s Trade Finance Program (TFP) has already supported more than 85 domestic banks in 27 African countries, catalyzing approximately US$3.4 billion of trade in vital sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and construction and energy.  More than 60% of the transactions supported are on account of SMEs.   Furthermore, the Bank’s emphasis on regional value chains in its “Industrialize Africa” strategy recognizes the opportunities that anchor industries in one country can provide to industries in neighboring countries.

African governments are aware of the challenges. At the September 2016 Ministerial AGOA Forum, African trade ministers recognised the urgent need to plan ahead.  They committed to the creation of a task force to outline strategies for US-Africa trade and investment relations beyond 2025. This is a good start. Now, the clock is ticking and the bell signaling the end of AGOA privileges will soon resonate across Africa.  We must be ready when it rings.

*Moono Mupotola is the Director of the NEPAD Regional Integration and Trade Department at the African Development Bank (AfDB)

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NEPAD says Africa needs transformative adaptation to climate change

NaijaAgroNet:

For the efforts of most countries in Africa are making to highlight the impacts of climate on agriculture to effectively touch the growth of agriculture on the continent, there should be transformative adaptation to climate change, reports NaijaAgroNet.

NEPAD Agency’s Director of Programme, Mrs Estherine Fotabong, made this call at the 2nd Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance Forum ongoing in Nairobi, Kenya.

She noted that despite these efforts, gaps and disconnects still exist between climate change impacts and adaptation efforts.

These gaps, she told NaijaAgroNet include absence of plans and policies that incorporate climate change issues, education on climate change among communities, and information on outreach programmes.

She highlighted that institutional frameworks for action, drought resistant crop varieties, small holder water harvesting and supply strategies, as well as strategies for alleviating poverty that makes people less resilient to climate variability are also lacking.

“In order to catalyse better adaptation and cope with the impacts of climate change, the various stakeholders such as governments, NGOs and civil society, and private sector should work together with communities proactively. Communities should be fully capacitated in the various areas of crop management, community mobilisation and empowerment, disaster preparedness and have access to robust technologies and information such as new crop varieties that are drought and disease tolerant,” Mrs Fotabong said.

In a related development, a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, the Governor of Nairobi City Council, Dr Evans Kidero, it was revealed that Nairobi makes a profound contribution to urban food consumption in Kenya, if not in the whole of east Africa.

“Therefore, urban farming is highly promoted for sustainably increasing agricultural productivity,” he said.

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Climate adaptation, resilience vital for achieving Sustainable Development Goals

NaijaAgroNet:

Evidence is increasing that climate change is taking the largest toll on poor and vulnerable people, and these impacts are largely caused by inequalities that increase the risks from climate hazards, according to a new report launched by the United Nations.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2016: Climate Change Resilience—an Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities (#WESS2016), found that governments can play a significant role in reducing the risks of climate change to vulnerable populations. Through transformative policies,  the report shows that governments could address the root causes of inequalities and build climate change resilience.

While there is considerable anecdotal evidence that the poor and the vulnerable suffer greater harm from climate-related disasters, the report determined that much of the harm is not by accident, but that it is due to the failure of governments to close the development gaps that leave large population groups at risk.

In the past 20 years, 4.2 billion people have been affected by weather-related disasters, including a significant loss of lives. Developing countries are the most affected by climate change impacts. Low-income countries suffered the greatest losses, including economic costs estimated at 5 per cent of GDP.

“Sadly, the people at greater risk from climate hazards are the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized who, in many cases, have been excluded from socioeconomic progress,” noted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the report. “We have no time to waste—and a great deal to gain—when it comes to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities that deepen poverty and leave people behind.”

The report argues that while climate adaptation and resilience are overshadowed by mitigation in climate discussions, they are vital for addressing climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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Action on malnutrition is critical – da Silva

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mr. José Graziano da Silva has explained why a global action is paramount on malnutrition, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He gave this explanation at the recently held United Nations General Assembly in the New York city, noting that some 159 million children under the age of five are stunted, which means they have a low height for their age.

“Another 50 million children in that age bracket are wasted in other words, they have low weight compared to their height,” he said.

The FAO boss also pointed out that some 1.9 billion people are overweight of whom 600 million are obese.

“And there is a gender dimension to this, too. Malnutrition continues to disproportionately affect women and girls, who often forgo food for male family members or lack the income to secure adequate nutrition for themselves,” he said.

This estimate, NaijaAgroNet gathered, suggested that maternal and child undernutrition alone cost up to 11 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as malnutrition in early life often results in ill health in adulthood.

Well-nourished children, inversely, are 33 percent more likely to escape poverty as adults. This means that investing in nutrition has significant potential to break endemic poverty cycles and boost economic development by allowing people to live healthy, productive lives.

As with ICN2, stewardship of the Decade of Action lies with FAO and WHO, who together will focus their efforts on two main objectives.

One is assisting governments in building national policies and programs that advance nutrition. The other is to align the efforts of existing global initiatives and social movements towards common goals.

To support concrete action on nutrition programs, both agencies will further organize special meetings to strengthen countries' technical capacities to tackle new nutrition challenges.

One example of this is a symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition to be held in Rome December 1-2.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that both agencies had agreed to put in place a solid system for reporting and monitor achievements.

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Pix: Mr. José Graziano da Silva

IFAD shops for President Nwanze’s replacement

NaijaAgroNet:

The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) is now shopping for the replacement of its current president, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze whose second tenure will end om March 31, 2017, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The President of IFAD, NaijaAgroNet gathered is appointed for four years with a two-term limit. NaijaAgroNet reports that in accordance with the Agreement Establishing IFAD, the Governing Council of IFAD will appoint the President at its forthcoming annual meeting on 14-15 February 2017. The appointed President will take office on 1 April 2017.

Under the direction of IFAD’s governing bodies, the President of IFAD is responsible for conducting the business of the Fund and for organizing its work. The President is the chairperson of the Executive Board, whose membership consists of representatives of IFAD’s Member States.

The Secretary of IFAD Council, Cheryl Morden in a letter addressed to the Governor, with the subject “Appoint of the President of IFAD,” and dated September 27, 2016, said  “I have the honour to inform you that, in accordance with article 6, section 8(a) of the Agreement Establishing IFAD, the appointment of the President of IFAD will be considered at the fortieth session of the Governing Council, to be held in Rome on 14 and 15 February 2017. Information on relevant procedures and modalities for the appointment of the President of IFAD was made available on 20 June and 26 August 2016, and can be found on IFAD’s Member States Interactive Platform.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the duties and responsibilities of the President are mainly set out in IFAD’s basic documents, just as nominations will be communicated to all Members and the Bureau by the President no later than 21 December 2016.

For the first time, the call for nominations is accompanied by a list of questions to which candidates are invited to respond in writing, bearing in mind that both the responses and the nominations must be received by the Secretary of IFAD by midnight, 1 December 2016, Rome time.

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FAO wants UN member states to take concrete action on malnutrition

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has called on the government across the world to take concrete action on malnutrition in all its forms, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva also said that the United Nations (UN) Decade of Nutrition offers a critical window for advances.

He also pointed out that the 10 years running until 2025, will be a critical time for action to build healthy and sustainable food systems and end malnutrition in all its forms, stressed at the just ended United Nations General Assembly celebrating the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition.

"The purpose of the Decade of Action on Nutrition is to continue to draw the world`s attention to the importance of combatting malnutrition," he said, reminding governments of their commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014 and called on them to transform those commitments into action through national policies and programmes.

Better governance on nutrition globally, he said, "starts at country level" emphasizing that nowadays, one in three people worldwide, pointing out that nearly 2.5 billion people suffer from at least one form of malnutrition, ranging from hunger to obesity to a lack of critical nutrients.

"FAO has maintained a great synergy with WHO in leading the efforts in the fight against all forms of malnutrition. WHO is the lead in nutrition and FAO is here to complement that work. FAO has developed a work plan focused on the promotion of healthy food and healthy diets through nutritional education and the transformation of food systems," said Graziano da Silva.

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Njeri Kabeberi leads Greenpeace Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The Kenyan born Njeri Kabeberi, is to lead the Greenpeace Africa as its has been named as Executive Director, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered came as the outcome of an extensive search for a combination of skills required to drive the organisation towards a people –powered movement.

According to the Greenpeace Africa Board, Brain Kagoro, Africans are hungry for a new story, one with a better take on nature, on humanity, their livelihoods, their future and their connection to the earth. “It was critical to find someone who embodies passion, activism and understands the context of environmental justice in Africa and we are confident that Njeri represents that” Kagoro said.

Greenpeace currently runs campaigns on four key issues on the continent, to protect the Congo Basin from large scale deforestation, stop overfishing in West Africa, promote ecological farming in the horn of Africa as well as demand a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in South Africa in order to reverse the impacts of climate change.

With a long history in human rights activism, Njeri will be leading Greenpeace Africa into a new wave of environmental justice for Africans by Africans.

“We will continue to work on our flagship campaigns but more so, we shall be working closely with communities to ensure that our campaigns speak to the local realities on the continent and can effect change in the day to day life of our people” said newly appointed Greenpeace Africa Executive Director Njeri Kabeberi.

“Africa has a major role to play in the global efforts to reverse climate change, protecting its vast natural forest and safeguarding its rich ocean resources is centre to the continent’s contribution in averting the catastrophic effects of climate change. It is important that the continent works together to push for an end to illegal logging, unsustainable fishing and a shift from industrial agriculture to ecological farming to ensure that our biodiversity is protected” added Njeri.

Njeri joins Greenpeace after serving as CEO of the Civil Society Reference Group and as the immediate former Executive Director of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy.  She is also a member of the board of advisors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and chairs the board of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict.

Njeri is passionate about social justice and women’s rights, and in 2010, amongst others, received the ILO Wedge Award.  She also has extensive INGO leadership and management experience and was on the Board of the Kenya Human Rights Commission for many years. 

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