UNICEF assembles key players over sanitation markets in West, Central Africa - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

In an effort to support 250 million people globally to abandon open defecation and 60 million to gain access to at least basic sanitation services by 2021, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is convening industry, financial institutions, governments and development partners from the 13th to 15 November in Abuja to discuss shaping healthy sanitation markets in the West and Central Africa Region.

One of the key approaches in the UNICEF global strategy for water, sanitation and hygiene is to build sustainable markets for goods and services where supply meets demand. “There is a need for governments and development partners to work in partnership with global and local businesses to ensure that appropriate solutions are available and affordable to those who need them,” says UNICEF’s Supply Director, Etleva Kadilli.

This consultation is an important signal that solutions are urgently needed to achieve targets set In the Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, 2.4 billion people worldwide do not use improved sanitation.[1] As a key custodian of SDG 6.2, UNICEF works to achieve equitable access to adequate sanitation and hygiene for all and to end open defecation by 2030.

Open defecation is a life-threatening practice, as contact with human waste can lead to diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio and diarrhea. Inadequate or non-existent sanitation causes tremendous harm. Every day, 700 children under five die from diarrhea-related diseases.

Sanitation in West and Central Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana)

The level of open defecation in West and Central Africa accounts for 14 per cent of the global open defecation rate. In Nigeria alone, 46.5 million people practice open defecation, making it the second highest ranked country in the world. Between 2008 and 2017, the creation of sanitation demand through Community Approaches for Total Sanitation[2] in West and Central Africa has led to an increase of almost 25 million people living in open defecation-free communities.

“Despite this recent success, the current rate of progress is insufficient to eliminate open defecation by 2030,” says Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “While UNICEF will continue to rely on proven strategies, new accelerators are needed to support local markets to deliver sustainable sanitation solutions at scale. Following the rise in demand for toilets, we will work with countries to enhance the engagement of the private sector to provide adequate and affordable sanitation products and services, including in isolated, often underserved rural areas.”

In the first of a series of regional sanitation industry consultations, the event in Abuja will convene product manufacturers, service providers, government officials, financial institutions and development partners to share information, discuss market challenges, communicate perspectives and identify strategic steps to strengthen local markets in West and Central Africa and specifically in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Similar consultations in other regions such as Eastern & Southern Africa, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia and the Pacific are also in the pipeline. UNICEF is a key market influencer for solutions that improve the lives of children and their families. As the world’s leading organization for children and the largest procurement agency in the United Nations, UNICEF has a long history of influencing markets and driving product innovation that has increased children’s access to essential commodities.

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Inclusion of DRC Grand Inga 3 dam sparks energy protest - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Human rights activists from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and civil society organisations including International Rivers and WoMin will picket at the Department of Energy in Pretoria this coming Friday 16 November against the inclusion of the Grand Inga 3 hydroelectric dam in the updated draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

Of concern to South Africans is the impact that Grand Inga will have on local electricity prices. Studies show that, if South Africa goes ahead with procuring this hydro-electric power from the DRC, the cost of electricity will increase by R400 million per annum.

Another concern is the lack of transparency and inadequate involvement of local, already marginalised Congolese communities. It is estimated that over 30 000 people will be displaced if the project goes ahead.

The picketers will hand over a petition signed by over 10,000 community members from Inga in the DRC against the construction of the dam in which South Africa is heavily invested: in 2014, the government under Jacob Zuma signed a treaty in which it pledged to buy 2500MW of Congolese hydropower per year once the dam comes online in 2030.

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Improve nutrition funding in Nigeria says CS-SUNN - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS—SUNN), has urged the three tiers of government in the country to make certain adequate budgetary allocations on nutrition activities, reports NaijaAgroNet.

A communiqué issued at end of a 3-day workshop , the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) called on government to ensure adequate and prompt release of the nutrition budgets in order to facilitate necessary provisions for the treatment of drugs for the handling of malnutrition issues ravaging children under 5 years old.

The workshop with the theme; "the journalists' role in ensuring transparency and accountability in allocation and use of health/ nutrition funds in Nigeria", was aimed at building the capacity of media practitioners in reporting issues of nutrition

Endorsed by Salihu Mohammed Alkali and Priscilla Dennis, chairman and secretary of the Communique Committee, respectively, described as unacceptable, the record of over 2000 of children under 5 dying daily as a result of cases of malnutrition.

Participants also decried the daily 145 maternal death as a result of malnutrition, recognising nutrition as multi sectoral issue admonishing all hands on deck to be able to tackle the menace.

Participants noted that preventing malnutrition is better and more cost effective than curing the problem, regretting that any malnourished child will be resistant to immunisation.

They further urged media to promptly and adequately report malnutrition cases in order to effectively tackle the problem.

The workshop was organised by CS-- SUNN in collaboration with Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems, PINNS.

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Dialogue, knowledge exchange scopes to zero hunger - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Food security experts have identified forging ahead strategies and partnerships with different organizations will ensure that food systems are visible, and recognized, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Leading this call at the weekend is Christiana Louwa Saiti from El Molo People in Kenya, while speaking at the wake of High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems held to explore how to build on traditional knowledge to achieve Zero Hunger in Italy.

"What it is important about this seminar is not only indigenous peoples themselves coming together, but that we are forging ahead strategies and partnerships with different organizations to ensure that our food systems are visible, recognized and respected," said Christiana.

Indigenous food systems are dynamic and their very persistence highlights their value as a source of insights for broader global challenges, said Helena Semedo, FAO's Deputy Director General.

She urged seminar participants to think of "how can we embrace key features of indigenous food systems that depend on both cultivated crops and wild plants, synergies with the natural environment and biodiversity, close adaptation to local conditions, a high level of diversification, a light carbon footprint, fewer ‘negative externalities' and reduced use of external inputs while being closely tied to socio-cultural and spiritual activities?"

Along with opening and closing ceremonies led by Abuela Amalia, a traditional healer of the Nahuatl People in Mexico, and Taita Morales, the seminar addressed topics ranging from how indigenous food systems can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Zero Hunger Challenge. Sessions were also dedicated to case studies related to communities in upland Vietnam, northern Finland, the Solomon Islands and Cameroon's forests.

"I learnt all that I know about handcrafts and the use of medicinal plants from my grandparents. Today the mission of the youth is to take care and save the natural resources and the sacred elements of their communities and cultures", said Abuela Amalia, calling attention to the challenges, noting that migration and the loss of natural resources pose challenges for the transmission of traditional knowledge to indigenous youth.

Diversified practices linking pastoralism, nomadic gathering and agroforestry from Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan and Mali were also presented.

"I think the biggest challenge now is to take what we have learnt and discussed here to the local levels, and be able to engage with communities in preserving and valuing our indigenous food systems," Hayu Patria from the Dayak people in Indonesia.

Along with spurring greater and broader commitment to strengthen the understanding, promotion and preservation of indigenous food systems, the goal of the seminar is to upscale the current indigenous peoples task force into a FAO Technical Network with bolstered links to research institutions, universities, indigenous organizations and other United Nations agencies so as to coordinate activities, and to foster an informal action network to serve as a platform for countries to highlight and support the role that indigenous peoples and their food systems can play in ensuring food security and nutrition.

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Pix: Christiana Louwa Saiti from El Molo People in Kenya

IFAD donates to Anambra farmers after flood disaster - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Some farmers affected by the recent flood disaster in Anambra State have been compensated with the relief materials worth N50 million by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), reports NaijaAgroNet.

The IFAD-assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) has donated relief materials and farm inputs worth over N50 million to farmers affected by the recent flood disaster in Anambra State.

Some of the items presented to the farmers at Umueri General Hospital which serves as a holding centre in the state included bags of rice and garri, cartons of noodles, vegetable oil and soaps.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mechanisation, Processing and Export, Mr Afam Mbanefo said that the gesture was to help ameliorate their sufferings.

“The items are to ensure that you have food to go back home with and while the inputs are to ensure that you have something to go back to farm with,” he explained.

The commissioner further disclosed that the state government already had a rice nursery farm in Umueri for dry season farming which commences immediately the flood recedes.

Mbanefo said that the State government was partnering with other agricultural intervention programmes, agencies and stakeholders to further give succour to farmers in the state.

The State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP, Mr Nnamdi Agwuncha said 200 rice farmers and 50 cassava farmers will be supported with inputs to enable them to get back early to farms to continue business.

“Every rice or cassava farmer will be supported with farm inputs for one hectare. “Rice seeds, cassava stems and fertiliser inputs would be provided for a total of 250 hectares of rice and cassava farms.

“The inputs will be provided as soon as the farmers are ready to go back to farm,” Aguncha assured while stressing the need for them to ensure their farms to mitigate loss during disasters.

In his remarks, the traditional ruler of Umueri, Igwe Ben Emeka appealed to the Federal Government to establish damns that would collect the flood water when they overflow their banks.

Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Theresa Obi, the chairman, Nnaemeka Cooperative Society, Umuoba-Anam commended the IFAD-VCDP and the state government for coming to their aid.

“If you come to our farms, you will pity us; but I thank God that they have fulfilled their promise.

“This gesture has rekindled our hope,” Obi said while appealing to other affluent individuals to come to their aid.

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‘Strengthen indigenous food systems key to achieving zero-hunger world’ - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Indigenous Food systems and indigenous traditional knowledge have survived hundreds and sometimes thousands of years, therefore they may have some of the answers we are looking for, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to him, FAO considers indigenous and tribal peoples as fundamental actors in the fight against poverty, hunger and all other forms of malnutrition, as well as in the promotion of sustainable agriculture practices.

Graziano da Silva also said in a keynote speech wrapping up High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems held to explore how to build on traditional knowledge to achieve Zero Hunger. Failing to grasp and support indigenous food systems risks losing ancestral knowledge and centuries of know-how.

"The loss of biodiversity, is also the loss of our identity of our foods and medicines, said Taita Ignacio Morales, a traditional healer from the Muiska-Piuret people of Colombia.

Seventy panelists coming from indigenous communities and organizations; universities; research centers and more than 180 attendees and 49 countries, exchanged their expertise and knowledge on indigenous food systems. By combining presentations on traditional knowledge and expertise from scientific knowledge, the seminar allowed to increase the understanding and contributions that indigenous food systems have been making to the world.

Participants reviewed some of the analytical and field studies done over the past year by a task force set up by FAO and Bioversity International, the Center for International Forestry Research, France's Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and the Indigenous Partnership for Food Security and Sovereignty, as well as several local indigenous organizations, on how indigenous communities around the world generate food while managing the territory and the environment in a sustainable way.

"In the path to achieve the Zero Hunger Goal we need more efficient food production methods. We need to cease environmentally unsound practices. We need to innovate on and open to all manner of food systems" highlighted Patrick Rata, New Zealand Ambassador.

Co-organized by FAO, UNESCO, UNPFII, FILAC and DOCIP, the expert seminar was an opportunity to exchange knowledge, understandings and concepts, which will be articulated in a future publication. The expert seminar and the publication are key contributions to the global debate on sustainability and climate resilience in the context of the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition.

Indigenous peoples number more than 370 million people speaking more than 4,000 languages in 90 countries and occupying around 22 percent of the earth's surface while acting as custodians of 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity. Yet while representing around 5 percent of the world's population, they make up 15 percent of the world's poor.

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

Waste not, want not: Improving diets by reducing food loss and waste

NaijaAgroNet:

A new policy brief has called for action to reduce the loss and waste of high-nutrient foods, reports NaijaAgroNet.

With one in five deaths associated with poor-quality diets, a policy brief launched today urges policymakers to prioritize the reduction of food loss and waste as a way of improving people's access to nutritious and healthy food.

The brief, Preventing nutrient loss and waste across the food system: Policy actions for high-quality diets, points out that poor-quality diets are now a greater public health threat than malaria, tuberculosis or measles. Meanwhile, approximately one third of all the food produced for human consumption never reaches the consumer's plate or bowl.

The brief was prepared by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

It notes how foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, dairy products, meats and seafood are rich in nutrients, but are also highly perishable and therefore susceptible to losses throughout the food system. The numbers are staggering: each year more than half of all the fruits and vegetables produced globally are lost or wasted. A vital source of protein, around 25 percent of all the meat produced - equivalent to 75 million cows - is not consumed.

Panel member and FAO Director-General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, said: "To tackle all forms of malnutrition and promote healthy diets, we need to put in place food systems that increase the availability, affordability and consumption of fresh, nutrient-rich food for everyone. Taking specific actions to reduce the losses and waste of fresh and nutritious food is a fundamental part of this effort."

Action across the entire food system

The brief proposes a series of policy actions across the entire food system, including: educating stakeholders; focusing on perishable foods; improving public and private infrastructure; encouraging innovation; and closing the data and knowledge gaps on food losses and waste.

Panel member and President of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Prof. Srinath K. Reddy, welcomed the brief, saying: "The Global Panel's policy actions show how reducing food loss and waste could play a key role in improving the poor and inadequate diets that affect 3 billion people globally, and which are often responsible for persistent undernutrition, and also the rise of overweight and obesity and the associated increase in non-communicable diseases".

FAO data indicates that in low-income countries food is mostly lost during harvesting, storage, processing and transportation, while in high-income countries the problem is one of waste at retail and consumer levels.

Together, they have a direct impact on the number of calories and nutrients that are actually available for consumption. The loss and waste of micronutrients is of particular concern given the direct impact on wellbeing, learning capacity and productivity.

Globally, agriculture produces 22 percent more vitamin A than we require. However, after loss and waste, the amount available for human consumption is 11 percent less than required. Reducing the loss and waste of nutritious foods could therefore yield substantial health benefits.

It would also deliver economic returns, as the value of food lost or wasted annually at the global level is estimated at $ 1 trillion. Eating more of the food already produced would also avoid the waste of the water, land and energy that went into its production.

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Nigerians urged to prioritise first 1000 days of child life - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Nigerians have been urged to prioritize the first 1000 days of life of a child, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The participants made this call at the three-day Media Training at Consort Luxury Suites, Abuja, on the theme, “The Journalists’ Role in Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Allocation and Use of Health and Nutrition Funds in Nigeria.”

The event organized by the Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) under the Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems (PINNS) project, saw to building of capacity of media practitioners to develop stories and programmes focusing on transparency and accountability in allocation and use of health cum nutrition funds in focal states and the country at large.

The training was also organized to engender passion and commitment to reporting health and nutrition issues through site visited to Kwali Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre for firsthand experience of the challenges in the sector among other important issues.

Rising from the workshop, participants in a communique made available to NaijaAgroNet noted the importance of Nigerians prioritizing the first 1000 (one thousand) days of life of a child, saying it’s very crucial to the survival and ability of such child to live beyond five years.

For this, participants urged most Nigerian mothers at the Public Health Care (PHC) centres, have been found not practicing Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF), at least in the first 1000 days of a child.

They also urged Nigerian media to sensitize women more on the need to exclusively breastfeed their children in the first six months of life, without addition of water.

“Media should also sensitize women to continue to breastfeed their children for two years in addition to adequate complementary feeding,” the communique stated, just as they called on husband to get involved on how their children are handled especially in matters regarding Exclusive Breast Feeding for the first 1000 days of infants.

NaijaAgroNet  recalls that breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants and lowers baby's risk of having asthma or allergies, just as experts have often said that babies breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months, without any formula, have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and bouts of diarrhea.

Also, they lamented that government across the state, should make adequate budgetary allocation, approval, timely release and cash backing in support of nutrition interventions.

“Where budgets are allocated and released, they focus more on the curative measures than preventive measures,” part of the communique read.

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Communiqué: 2,000 children, 145 women die daily due to malnutrition - NaijaAgroNet

Communiqué issued at the end of a 3-day Media Training/Field visit at Consort Luxury Suites, Abuja from October 29th to November 1st, 2018.

Theme: The Journalists’ Role in Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Allocation and Use of Health/Nutrition Funds in Nigeria. 

The Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) under the Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems (PINNS) project, organized the training to build capacity of media practitioners to develop stories and programmes focusing on transparency and accountability in allocation and use of health/nutrition funds in focal states and the country at large. The training was also organized to engender passion and commitment to reporting health and nutrition issues through site visit to Kwali Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre for firsthand experience of the challenges in the sector among other important issues.

It was observed that:

1. Malnutrition is a multi-sectorial issue of serious concern that requires a collective response.

2. Nigeria loses over 2000 children under five years of age on daily basis due to malnutrition.

3. Over 145 women of child bearing age die daily due to malnutrition.

4. The first 1000 days of life from the time of conception to a child’s second birth day is not prioritized.

5. Governments have not been making adequate budgetary allocation, approval, timely release and cash backing.

6. Where budgets are allocated and released, they focus more on the curative measures than preventive measures.

7. A malnourished child when immunized does not absorb/utilize the immunization.

8. There is low reportage of nutrition related issues in Nigeria.

9. 53% of deaths from child killer diseases is directly related to malnutrition.

10. Most mothers at the PHC are not practicing Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF).

11. There is lack of male/husband involvement and support towards EBF.

Recommendations:

1. Participants agreed that stakeholders (Government, Media, CSOs, care givers, Donor agencies etc) need to place emphasis on preventive than curative measures.

2. Government and policy makers should be held accountable for their commitments.

3. Journalists should be consistent in their reportage on nutrition.

4. Media practitioners should hold government accountable by getting enough information aimed at addressing nutrition issues.

5. Media should put nutrition at the front burner and influence policy decisions through their reportage for improved nutrition interventions.

6. Participants should advocate for policies to mainstream nutrition into agriculture.

7. Media should sensitize women on the need to exclusively breastfeed their children in the first six (6) months of life, without addition of water.

8. Media should also sensitize women to continue to breastfeed their children for two years in addition to adequate complementary feeding.

9. Media practitioners are encouraged to explore key components of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) so as to bring to the fore requisite solutions to the plights of women, children and other vulnerable groups.

10. Government should scale up and sustain existing interventions on nutrition.

11. Media should intensify campaign towards behavioral change, especially for men to support EBF.


Signed:

Mr. Salihu Mohammed Alkali (chairman, drafting committee)

Priscilla Dennis (Mrs) (secretary, drafting committee)

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WAOM berates Morocco over Africans travel restrictions - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The West African Observatory on Migrations (WAOM), has berated Morocco for joining the European Union (EU) against African migration, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Morocco, NaijaAgroNet gathered is a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

As said by WAOM, the travel restrictions for Malians, Guineans and Congolese wishing to travel to Morocco, is disheartening.

A press statement from International conference on environmental migration in West Africa made available to NaijaAgroNet, said "Far from appearing as an experiment as presented by the Morocco kingdom, this measure is a real step backward as it removes from the citizens of these countries the possibility that they had until then to travel without a visa to Morocco. A few weeks before the international conference to adopt the Global Compact on Migration in Marrakesh, the Moroccan decision shocks deeply because it goes against the will reaffirmed by the African Union to move towards the free movement of Africans on their continent.

"The dream of an African Schengen area, where citizens can travel without any visa or travel authorization requirement, seems to be called into question by the Kingdom of Morocco, which is nevertheless presented as the ” Leader ” for migration by the African Union. After returning to Africa Union, in January 2017, Morocco was given the responsibility by its African peers to propose the broad outlines of a migration policy for the African Union. In the wake of its reconquest of the continent, the Moroccan kingdom had then manifested its candidacy to join the Economic Community of States of West Africa (ECOWAS), which advocates a free movement for the citizens of its community. The glimmers of hope thus sent by Morocco seem to be buried in the face of pressure from the European Union, which is constantly reinforcing the role of the countries of North Africa and the Sahel as gendarmes of its policy against the immigration of Africans.

"This Moroccan decision, contrary to African interests, can only be understood in its perspective of pleasing the European institutions. Indeed, the European Union has just opened a series of negotiations with some African countries to demand that they repatriate their “undocumented” citizens residing in Europe on pain of having their Schengen visa restricted for their nationals wishing to travel legally to European countries. 

Morocco seems miraculously not threatened by this blackmail from the European Union despite recent events that saw Moroccan citizens trying to illegally gain Europe. It seems more than ever necessary for African civil society, as a whole, to raise its voice against the dictates of the European Union, which under the guise of development aid, weaken African integration and prevent Africans from traveling without visa in the same way as the citizens of the European Union. The West African Observatory on Migrations is appealing to all citizens of African countries to advocate on their States not to accept measures that undermine our mobility rights on our African soil and destroy our will to live a real fraternity life as sons and daughters of the same continent.

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