FAO boss in northeast Nigeria, calls for increase assistance

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) José Graziano da Silva, has visited the hunger-threatened northeastern Nigeria, and called for urgent increase in humanitarian assistance, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Da Silva also said that restoring agriculture-based livelihoods is key to recovery and peace efforts in Lake Chad Basin region.

"If we miss the coming planting season, there will be no substantial harvests until 2018. Failure to restore food production now will lead to the worsening of widespread and severe hunger and prolonged dependency on external assistance further into the future," Graziano da Silva said. 

He insisted that the time for all to act is now, stressing that insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin - which incorporates parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and northeastern Nigeria - has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in Africa.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the conflict has forced an estimated 1.9 million people to abandon their homes and their predominantly agricultural livelihoods, in northeastern Nigeria alone.

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UTME: JAMB calms 150 angry candidates

ITRealms:

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Wednesday confirmed the registration of 871,576 candidates so far for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), reports ITRealms.

The Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said this  in an interview with journalists on Wednesday evening after inspecting some registration centres in Abuja, where he also also ruled out extension of the registration process, despite the challenges faced by candidates nationwide.

He also promised to comply if invited and summoned by the House of Representatives, to clarify what has been responsible for the challenges of registration being experienced by candidates. 

"If I am invited, who am I not to answer them? I will honour their invitation because they are our employers" he said.

Before his intervention, Oloyede had earlier threatened to revoke the license of Digital Bridge Institute, a parastatal under the National Communications Commission (NCC), for not complying with JAMB registration rules.

According to him, the DBI was on wireless system which made registration to be very slow.

He said the centre was supposed to register 100 candidates at a time but could only take 20, while other centres visited were not having any problem registering  candidates.

To appease the over 150 angry candidates clustering the centre gate, Oloyede quickly arranged for them, especially the males, to be moved to other centres where there were less pressure.

However, the management of DBI attributed the delay to poor net work, saying that the router could only take 20 candidates at a time

According to him, the target of the organisation was to register 1.4 million candidates for the UTME in 2017.

Oloyede added that no candidate would be left out of the registration process despite having a week before the end of the exercise.

He said, “About 871, 576 candidates have been registered as at today (Wednesday evening). We are going to 1, 467, 000 candidates. What remains is 595,647 and we still have a whole week.

“No candidate will be left unattended to at the closing of this exercise. You do not want me to extend just for the sake of extension because I monitor on my screen. That is why there is a difference between the closing date for registration and the closing date for sale. By the time we sell, we will know how many that have bought but have not registered.”

The JAMB Registrar also said arrangements would be made for physically challenged candidates to write the examination.

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Sustainable seed businesses to transform cassava production in Nigeria

NaijaAgroNet:

Stakeholders have said that businesses selling improved varieties and high quality cassava stems for cultivation could help African farmers significantly raise their productivity, especially in Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered will mean more Naira from the same land, inputs and effort.

Stakeholders at the end of a national conference on cassava seed system organized by the project, “Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System” (BASICS) that was held at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (www.CassavaMatters.org), Ibadan last week Thursday.

“The benefits of this raised productivity will be enjoyed by all the stakeholders across the value chain in a sustainable way,” part of the resolution stated.

The meeting, which reflected on the experiences of BASICS in 2016 and refined the project plan for 2017 and beyond, brought together national and international researchers, academics, policymakers, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and farmers to a roundtable.

Making the case for urgent need for all the stakeholders to work towards a sustainable seed system in Nigeria, Hemant Nitturkar, Project Director for BASICS, reminded the participants that Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world with a production of about 54 million tons, but its yield per hectare of cassava roots is about 8 tons, less than half of the realizable yields of more than 20 tons per hectare. Researchers say one of the factors responsible for the low yield of cassava is the low adoption of clean and healthy seeds of improved varieties of cassava by farmers.

“We have to start with the right planting material and nurture it with good agronomy and weed management practices. Each of these three components has the potential to raise the productivity of cassava by 30 percent. If we do not improve our practices in seed, weed and agronomy, we are incurring a lost opportunity of about 200 billion Naira annually from each of the three issues,” he explained.

BASICS is commercially piloting two distinct pathways of seed delivery. In one, called Village Seed Entrepreneur (VSE) model, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Benue and with National Roots Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), in Abia, Imo, Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, the project is helping develop a network of 130 community based seed enterprises. These VSEs will source certified stems of improved varieties of cassava from NRCRI and IITA to multiply and sell to the farmers in their vicinity. This way, the farmers will not have to go far to source quality stems for planting. In the second pilot called Processor Led Model (PLM), in partnership with Context Global Development, the project is working with large processors of cassava who will then make available quality stems to their outgrowers with a buy back arrangement for the roots produced.

Slow and low multiplication ratio has been a key constraint in cassava seed system. The project is piloting a new technology called Semi-Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH) for vastly rapid seed multiplication. Once this technology from Argentina is adapted and perfected in Nigeria by the Project, it is expected to have a significant impact on the ability of early generation seed businesses to quickly bring suitable varieties within reach of farmers. The project is also working with National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) and Fera of UK to improve the quality certification system in Nigeria.

Lawrence Kent, a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said the aim of the Project is to build an economically sustainable seed system that is profitable both to the sellers of quality stems and to the farmers who purchase and plant those stems. He encouraged all to create reusable bridges to continuously link technology developers with farmers through business oriented approaches, like the one being implemented under BASICS.

Graham Thiele, Director for the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas led by the International Potato Center (CIP); Alfred Dixon, IITA Director for Development and Delivery, and Project Leader for the Cassava Weed Management Project; Amin Babandi, Director of Agriculture, FMARD, represented by Segun Ayeni, Deputy Director, Roots and Tuber crops, FMARD; Folusho Olaniyan OON, CEO, Contact Consulting Nigeria and Program Director, AgraInnovate West Africa; Emmanuel Okogbenin, Director of Technical Operations, AATF and Robert Asiedu, Director R4D, IITA-West, all shared perspectives and added their voice for all stakeholders to jointly build a strong and sustainable seed system for cassava in Nigeria and wished all the stakeholders well.

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Make rice value chain sustainable – IRRI, FOA

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have called for making of rice value chains sustainable, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In a joint press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet gathered that in many countries around the world rice is a staple crop for food security and consumption trends are growing.

“At the same time rice production is vulnerable to the increasing impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events such as droughts and floods,” the press statement read.

NaijaAgroNet reports that both FAO and IRRI are actively promoting more sustainable rice practices throughout the value chain - production, marketing and consumption - to optimize its nutritional properties and as a means of improving livelihoods and tackling poverty, particularly in rural areas.  

FAO has developed the Regional Rice Initiative for Asia and Pacific which promotes enhanced crop resilience while increasing efficiency and farmers' income. In Africa and in Latin America the UN agency is engaged in scientific and technical cooperation including the sharing of technologies and best practices to increase production and productivity, including reduction of post-harvest losses and improved grain quality.

IRRI is engaged in strengthening capacities of all rice sector actors through its capacity development activities, including IRRI Education and the Sustainable Rice Platform.

The Sustainable Rice Platform is a global alliance to promote resource efficiency and sustainability in trade flows, production and consumption operations, and supply chains in the global rice sector. The Sustainable Rice Platform recently established the world's first standard for sustainable rice. Through the Sustainable Rice Platform, IRRI aims to use environmental and socio-economic benchmarks to maintain yields for rice smallholders, reduce the environmental footprint of rice cultivation and meet consumer needs for food safety and quality.

NaijaAgroNet noted that at the same time, IRRI Education works to build capacity through-out IRRI's extensive partnership network.

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Pix: Rice varities courtesy IRRI

Merck partners ASPIRE

NaijaAgroNet:

Leading science and technology company Merck, through its ‘Merck More than a Mother’ initiative is partnering with Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) to conduct a panel to address challenges and solutions to improve access to regulated fertility care in Africa and Asia, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The high level panel discussion, NaijaAgroNet gathered, would include policy makers and international fertility experts deliberating at the 7^th annual Congress of ASPIRE in Malaysia with focus on exploring opportunities to collaborate with Asian Fertility Societies in order to build cost effective and safe fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries.

Chief Social Officer, Merck Healthcare, Rasha Kelej, said that after the success of the collaboration between ‘Merck More than a Mother’ and Indian and Indonesian fertility experts to provide practical embryology training, Merck will connect Africa with Asia to provide more opportunities for building capacity and interventions to empower infertile women and couples.

“Through ‘Merck More than a Mother’ we empower an under-privileged segment of women. Women who couldn’t bear children and for this they are discriminated and mistreated by their husbands, families and communities. In some cultures, childless women still suffer discrimination, stigma and ostracism. This is unacceptable and has to change through our campaign,” Kelej said.

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Rice institute, FAO join forces to sustain global rice production

NaijaAgroNet:

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have agreed to cooperate more closely to support sustainable rice production in developing countries to improve food security and livelihoods while safeguarding natural resources, reports NaijaAgroNet.

An agreement signed recently in Rome, NaijaAgroNet gathered, seeks to better pool the scientific knowledge and technical know-how of the two organizations so that they can expand and intensify their work globally.

The partnership primarily aims to enhance sustainable rice-based farming systems through capacity building activities - including assisting governments draw up and implement national and regional policies and strategies - to the benefit of small-scale farmers, especially women.

"The world faces very significant changes over the next few decades to produce the volume and quality of nutritious food to feed a global population heading for 10 billion people," said IRRI Director-General Matthew K. Morell. 

"Addressing these issues relies on global partnerships, and today, IRRI is delighted to be reaffirming through this Memorandum of Agreement our commitment to work with FAO to enhance sustainable rice-based production and food systems through awareness raising, capacity development, knowledge exchange, and evidence-based analyses for policy support."

For the FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo, with over three billion people across the globe eating rice every day, rice is critical to global food security.

"Ensuring sustainable rice production is a key contribution to the global goal of ending hunger. By teaming up with IRRI, already a long-standing partner, we will be able to scale up, complement and amplify our work towards reaching this goal," Semedo said.

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David Beasley is new head of WFP

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva have announced the appointment of David Beasley of the United States as the new Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), report NaijaAgroNet.

Beasley with this appointment succeeds Ertharin Cousin, also of the United States. Just as NaijaAgroNet reports that the Executive Board of World Food Programme, has confirmed its concurrence with the appointment.

The Secretary-General and Director-General express their deep appreciation to Ertharin Cousin for her leadership of WFP over the last five years.  She has led the Programme during an unprecedented time of multiple humanitarian crises, leveraging partnerships and innovative tools to reach those furthest behind. Both wish her every success in her continuing endeavors.

NaijaAgroNet reports that David Beasley brings to the position extensive experience with key governmental and business leaders and stakeholders around the world, with very strong resource mobilisation skills. He was elected at the age of 21 to the South Carolina House of Representatives (1979-1992) and Governor of South Carolina (1995-1999), as one of the youngest in the State's history. During his term, he led delegations on economic development and trade missions to countries throughout Asia, Europe and Africa, tripling foreign investment and creating jobs. He received a Profile in Courage Award in 2003 from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

A 1999 Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Partner in the law firm, Beasley, Ervin and Warr, he served as Senior Adviser to companies such as Merrill Lynch and General Motors. Since leaving office, he has travelled to more than seventy-five countries and war-stricken regions such as Kosovo, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, South Sudan and the Middle East leading peace-building missions and development efforts through working with foreign leaders. He is also involved in numerous civic and charitable projects, including humanitarian efforts in Asia, Africa, North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.

Born in 1957, he attended Clemson University and holds a J.D from the University of South Carolina and a BA Law Degree from the University of South Carolina School Of Law.

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Protecting palm trees from Red Palm Weevil

NaijaAgroNet:

The Red Palm Weevil is has been described as one of the world’s major invasive pest species and is the single most destructive pest of palm trees, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), over the last three decades the beetle has spread rapidly through the Middle East and North Africa, affecting almost all countries in the region.

“It has also reached some European countries, including the United Kingdom, and parts of Central America and the Caribbean,” FAO lamented.

The weevil , NaijaAgroNet reports, threatens date- and coconut-producing palms, as well as ornamental palms. Millions of dollars are lost annually, which has caused significant socio-economic impacts on the date palm production sector and the livelihoods of farmers in affected areas.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that containing the pest’s spread is the focus of a Scientific Consultation and High-Level Meeting to be held on 29-31 March at FAO’s Rome headquarters.

The event is hosted by FAO in collaboration with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).

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Grass Cutting scam: I've no power to give contracts – SGF

NaijaAgroNet:

 ​The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal has said he does not award contracts as every contract must go through official process, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Lawal made this known while reacting to media reports Friday that he has been invited by the Senate to explain how fake firms got N1.3 billion contracts for grass cutting in the north east of the country as part of the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

Director of Press at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Bolaji Adebiyi, in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, noted that the headlines of the news reports were in variance with the body of the story.

Warning that the general public should not be misled into the believe that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has the authority or power to award contracts, stressing that this indeed, is not the case.  

“As with all awards of contract in government, the PINE projects under investigation, went through what is referred to as due process in public expenditure,” Adebiyi said.

The alleged contracts scam, he also said, were awarded only after the requisite clearances were obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).  

“It is expected that these clearances are obtained only when all conditions precedent to the awards of contracts are met.  Apart from the BPP huddle, the Tenders Board of the procuring agencies, in this instance, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has to approve of the contracts before they are awarded.  At no time were these processes compromised in the award of contracts by PINE.  It must be emphasized also, that the SGF is not even a member of the Tenders Board,” he said.

Adebiyi maintained that the SGF despite his position in government cannot award contracts, explaining that he is not even a member of the Tenders Board.

“All contracts must, indeed, pass the acid test of obtaining clearance from the Bureau of Public Procurement and the scrutiny of the Tenders Board,” he insisted.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that PINE contracts were usually awarded following strict compliance with public expenditure and procurement processes.  

Just as Adebiyi declared that all PINE projects were properly and satisfactorily executed, while the beneficiaries have continued to express their appreciation to the Federal Government for PINE intervention, which in several instance, has accelerated the return of normalcy to hitherto ravaged communities.

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Pix: SGF Babachir David Lawal

Amid Chinese outbreak: FAO, WHO say surveillance, laboratory testing, clean markets to contain changing H7N9 virus

NaijaAgroNet:

International organisations are rallying round China in reinforcing control amid outbreak of avian influenza, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Experts also said that a resurgent outbreak of a new strain of avian influenza that could be lethal 

for humans underscores the need for robust and rapid detection and response systems at animal source.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that this could reduce the risk associated with virus spread and impacts on public health, according to Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Equally, NaijaAgroNet reports that human cases of the H7N9 virus, first detected in China four years ago, have suddenly increased since December 2016 and it is estimated, that as of early March 2017, there have been more reported human cases of influenza A (H7N9) than those caused by other types of avian influenza viruses (H5N1, H5N6, etc.) combined.

As during previous waves, most of the patients infected reported a history of visiting live bird markets or coming into contact with infected birds. Since 2013, China has invested heavily in surveillance of live bird markets and poultry farms. However the surveillance of this virus has proven particularly challenging as until recently it has shown no or few signs of disease in chickens.

"Considering the potential for mutation of avian influenza virus, constant surveillance by national Veterinary Services of the different strains circulating in animals in their country is essential to protect both animal and human health", explains  Matthew Stone, Deputy Director General of the OIE.

"To protect human health and people's livelihoods, it is essential to tackle the disease at its source in poultry: efforts need to target eliminating H7N9 from affected farms and markets," said Vincent Martin, FAO's Representative in China.

"Targeted surveillance to detect the disease and clean infected farms and live bird markets, intervening at critical points along the poultry value chain - from farm to table - is required. There should be incentives for everybody involved in poultry production and marketing to enforce disease control."

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