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Coalition flays cancellation of Lagos clean-up exercise, clamours adoption of WASH policy

NaijaAgroNet:

The Advocacy and Campaigns Coalition (ACC) has flayed the recent cancellation of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise by the Lagos State Government, calling on the authorities to, as a replacement, urgently adopt the draft state WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) Policy and roll out an effective implementation plan, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The ACC, a platform of Civil Society Networks in Lagos State working with other relevant stakeholders to reduce mortality and morbidity from diarrhea in under-5 children within the framework of the WHO/UNICEF 7-point plan for diarrhea control, expressed dismay over the reason of “present economic realities in the country” given for the cancellation by the Lagos government.

In a statement signed by the ACC coordinator, Ms. Gbemisola Akosa, the group further demands that all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and stakeholders responsible for the review of environmental Laws of Lagos State speed up action on them and ensure the passage of the Laws before the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Additionally, the body demands that regular updates should be given to the general populace with respect to progress on the passage of the harmonised environmental Laws.

The ACC, an initiative of Save the Children, an organisation that promotes the welfare of children, stated: “It is incontestable that improvement in mortality rates from preventable diseases such as typhoid, diarrhea, cholera and malaria, etc., was because of improved standard of environmental sanitation. Thus, we believe that a well-planned, coordinated and implemented environmental sanitation policy for disease prevention and control is what Lagos State needs at this time, given the megacity status of the state.”

Frowning at the abolition of the monthly exercise, the body submits: “With due respect, this apparent attempt to promote economic benefits above clean and healthy environment is capable of undermining people centred governance being promoted by the current administration in the state. The reality is that there cannot be economic viability without a clean and healthy environment which impacts on the productivity of the people.

“We are all the more concerned that the exercise was cancelled without any stop-gap measure in place to preserve the gains of sound environmental sanitation, self-discipline and strict adherence to standard hygiene rules and practices promoted in the last 20 years by the rested environmental sanitation exercise.

“Of utmost concern is the inability of the government to muster enough political will in adopting the Lagos State WASH Policy which has been in the pipeline for several years. These portend grave consequences for public health and sustainable sanitation especially in the face of deteriorating state of public water supply and sanitation services in the state.

“It is acknowledged  that hygiene practices are generally poor in the state due to inadequate access to portable  water (10 per cent or roughly 2.1 million people in Lagos have access to potable water) and sanitation services as well as moral decadence to the environment. This poor state of water and sanitation has contributed significantly to the high prevalence of preventable diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, malaria and typhoid.

“Significantly, Lagos has the second highest prevalence of diarrhea rate in South West Nigeria (7.5 per cent), after Oyo State (9.2 per cent), having an average diarrhea incidence of 13 per cent or 520,000 cases per annum. These diseases also account for the rise in morbidity, mortality and absenteeism in schools and at work.”

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Pastoralists tenure rights key to community resilience - Study

NaijaAgroNet:

A new Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) guide has offered pointers to protect a sustainable mobile lifestyle with special land-use skills, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO, assuring adequate tenure rights to land is an important step in improving food security for millions of people in developing countries, but safeguarding tenure is not so straightforward when it comes to the way land is used by mobile pastoralist communities.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that over 500 million people on the planet rely on livestock herding, often steering their animals around various landscapes to reach water and pasture sources and avoid drought, animal disease and civil conflict.

In order to adequately address the inherently more complex needs of pastoralists, NaijaAgroNet reports that many of whom rely on covering vast territories in opportunistic ways, just as FAO, with the support of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Commission on Environmental Law and the Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, has produced a technical yet accessible guide on how to establish viable tenure arrangements for the often-marginalized people who use around a third of the earth's surface.

The guide, NaijaAgroNet reports, posited that improving governance of pastoral lands is part of a series of publications offering insight on how to implement the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, a landmark initiative whose global endorsement in 2012 was begun and brokered by FAO.

The coordinator of IUCN's Drylands Programme and lead author of the Technical Guide, Mr. Jonathan Davies, noted that the world's pastoralists engage in a wide variety of practices and include a great number of cultures in such diverse settings as Mongolia, Niger, Spain, Kenya, Norway and the United States of America.

Pastoralists, he said, inhabit rangeland areas, many of which are arid or semi-arid, and they employ a highly adaptable livelihood strategy that is poorly understood by outsiders, stressing that their adaptability relies on access rights that often jar with classical notions of property rights.

"Pastoralism is a system of livestock production that takes advantage of both the diversity and the seasonality of natural resources in the rangelands. It is based on large-scale, carefully planned movements of livestock, which demands high levels of coordination between multiple users. This has led to the emergence of customs and institutions that enable decisions to be effectively made and enforced by local communities," he said.

Progress in ecological science and increasing pastoral voices in global fora have galvanized increasing attention to ways of life now seen as flexible and resilient rather than obsolete.

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Symposium on sustainable food systems, improved nutrition coming

NaijaAgroNet:

A high-level meeting to examine concrete actions in the United Nations (UN) nutrition decade has been advanced to hold in Rome, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The symposium, NaijaAgroNet gathered is scheduled for December 1 and 2 at the Headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that some of the topics lined up for discussion include "How can we shape food systems so that they deliver foods for a healthy and nutritious diet? How do we ensure poor communities have access to markets that sell nutritious foods at affordable prices? What information should be included on food labels to promote healthier diets?"

These are among the pressing questions for discussion at the upcoming International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition.

The meeting which is jointly-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), NaijaAgroNet reports is expected to build on the successful Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) held in November 2014.

The symposium, NaijaAgroNet further report will be webcast live, will bring together policymakers and parliamentarians, international experts and scientists, chefs and young innovators, to examine concrete ways to change food systems so that they respond to current and future nutrition challenges, including climate change, population growth and economic inequalities.

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Canada responds to Hurricane Matthew, supports Haiti with N12.6bn

NaijaAgroNet:

The Canadian government has drummed support for Haiti in response to the Hurricane Matthew to the tune of $54 million, about N12,628,569,600 billion, repots NaijaAgroNet

The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, made this disclosure recently on her first official visit to Haiti, where she met with Canadian and international humanitarian partners working in the most affected areas and government officials in Port-au-Prince., saying the $54 million in funding is to support various humanitarian and development projects in Haiti.

This funding, she said, includes $2.65 million in additional humanitarian assistance to help meet the immediate needs of those affected by natural disasters and $1.4 million to support the ongoing election in Haiti and ensure citizens are able to participate at polling stations in affected areas, as well as a $50-million call for proposals to strengthen agriculture through long-term development projects.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the damages caused by Hurricane Matthew severely affected Haiti’s local food resources, including fishing and agriculture. Canada has been one of the top donors in responding to the effects of the hurricane. Today’s additional humanitarian assistance funding will help provide emergency food assistance and respond to the agricultural needs of the most vulnerable.

These initiatives are part of Canada’s balanced response to Hurricane Matthew and long-term development needs which are in line with Canada’s long-standing engagement in Haiti.

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Five ways Nigerians eat and enjoy rice

NaijaAgroNet:

Rice is one of the most common food in Nigeria. Every single ethnic group or type has a local dish either made from or eaten with rice, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Generally, this is because rice is commonly inexpensive and easy to make, thus we share five (5) of these local Nigerian meals with rice varieties. For instance, the white rice is classic, but the recipes below also work with brown rice or other varieties of rice.

Tuwo  Shinkafa
A rice meal popular in the Northern regions of Nigeria, Tuwo Shinkafa is a fufu recipe prepared with the soft rice variety. Although usually prepared with short local rice that can be easily mashed to make a mass of Fufu, the meal could also be made with rice flour. It is usually served with Northern Nigerian soups including Miyan Kuka, Miyan Taushe and more. It can also be paired as swallow with other Nigerian soups.

Masa/Sinasir
Another Northern Nigerian rice recipe consumed mostly by the Hausa people, Masa or Sinasir is simply rice pancakes. Prepared with the same soft variety of rice used for Tuwo Shinkafa, the meal is simply made by blend the rice till smooth, adding yeast and onion, sugar and salt after the mix has risen, then frying in oil. It is traditionally made into an oval shape. It is popular and seen at most Suya stands.

Jollof Rice
A popular rice recipe in Nigeria. Jollof rice is very tasty and consumed by all and sundry. It is hard to attend an event or occasion in the country without encountering this meal on the menu as its attractive colour and plush taste makes it the preferred dish. It is usually paired with moi- moi, vegetable salad or fried plantain.

Kunun Gyada
A light porridge from Kunun Gyada is much like pap (Akamu or ogi) except that it is made from raw groundnuts and rice instead. To prepare the meal, simply boilgroundnut milk and add to rice blended with cool water. The technique can also be reversed and the rice poured into the hot groundnut milk.

Rice and stew/sauce
Rice and stew is a very common meal combo in Nigeria. The rice is simply boiled with salt and paired with either tomato stew or any other sauce ranging from Ofada sauce, Ofe Akwu, vegetable sauce and even broths like pepper soup and gravy. From Bukkas to hotel restaurants, rice is served as a combo with different types of local stews, sauce and soups.

*Contributed by Nkem Ndem, PR Associate at Jumia Travel
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All-time low produce affects livestock says experts

NaijaAgroNet:

Agriculturists have said that the increasing all-time low food production in the war-torn Syria has affected livestock, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Experts from both World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) made this known in a latest joint report, saying that livestock producers are equally feeling the effects of the crisis.

“With the upkeep of their animals becoming ever more difficult and costly, many herding families have been forced to sell or slaughter their sheep, goats and poultry,” they said.

Equally, they said that ongoing fighting and widespread insecurity continues to limit access to grazing land and water sources, while animal feed has become unaffordable for many pastoralists.

This, they stressed as particularly true in areas with large numbers of internally displaced people who brought their livestock with them when fleeing their homes. The country's veterinary service, meanwhile, is rapidly running out of animal vaccines and routine drugs, making it harder for herders to keep their animals healthy and productive.

“As a result, Syria - once an exporter in livestock - has seen its herds and flock shrink significantly since the beginning of the crisis. Today, there are 30 percent fewer cattle, 40 percent fewer sheep and goats, and a staggering 60 percent less poultry − traditionally the most affordable source of animal protein in the country,” they said.

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FAO, WFP lament Syria food production at all-time low

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have raised alarm over the all-time low of food production in the war-torn Syria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The duo in a joint press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet at the weekend, both FAO and WFP, said the food production in Syria has hit a record low as widespread insecurity and unfavourable weather conditions in parts of the country continued to hamper access to land, farming supplies and markets.

These, NaijaAgroNet gathered, have made it ever more difficult for farmers to maintain their livelihoods and feed the war-torn country.

According to the latest Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) showed that after five years of conflict, many farmers have lost the ability to cope.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that rising prices and scarcity of essential inputs such as fertilizers and seeds mean they will have no other option than to abandon food production if they do not receive immediate support.

In addition, this, they said, will likely have grave consequences not only for the food security of farming households but also on food availability in the country, and may ultimately lead to further displacements.

Further, NaijaAgroNet reports that cereals top the list at an all-time low production in Syria, even as the area planted with cereals in the 2015-16 cropping season is the smallest ever, according to the report, based on field visits and surveys across the country.

Part of the reports read “Farmers planted an estimated 900,000 hectares of wheat in the last year, compared to 1.5 million hectares planted before the crisis. Production, meanwhile, shows an even more drastic decline, from an average 3.4 million tonnes of wheat harvested before the war to 1.5 million tonnes this year - a decrease of 55 percent.”

The FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, because the ongoing crisis and associated sanctions have disrupted trade and markets, access to quality seeds, fertilizers, machinery and fuel needed to operate pumps and tractors is limited.

“Those inputs that are available on local markets are frequently overpriced and of dubious quality,” he observed.

Stressing that poor rainfall and the destruction of valuable irrigation infrastructure has made matters worse for growers trying to continue to produce food under adverse circumstances. In some instances, this has led farmers to switch from cultivating valuable and nutritious crops to hardier but less nutritious ones.

He pointed out that at the same time, the assessment showed vast differences among the governorates in terms of access to land and agricultural inputs − a sign of possible opportunities to intensify support to producers in areas that are relatively accessible.

"Today, we see almost 80 per cent of households across Syria struggling with a lack of food or money to buy food - and the situation is only going to become worse if we fail to support farmers so they can maintain their lands and livelihoods. Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for rural households before the crisis and it is still producing to a certain extent, but it is stretched to the maximum and farmers have largely exhausted their capacity to cope," he declared.

For Muhannad Hadi, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe, the food security situation of millions of people inside Syria continues to deteriorate with more than seven million people classified as food insecure across the country having exhausted their life savings and no longer able to put food on the table for their families.

"WFP and FAO are working together to invest in more livelihood projects in agriculture as the most effective way to address food insecurity in the long term," he said.

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Agriculture contributes 20% greenhouse gas emissions

NaijaAgroNet:

Agriculture has been identified to contribute to close to 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Disclosing this, FAO said, it has become a fundamental part of the solution to boost resilience and combat climate change impacts, especially in developing countries where agriculture is often the backbone of the economy.

Boosting agriculture, FAO said, could reduce malnutrition and poverty, create economic opportunities, and generate faster, fairer growth especially for young people.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva pointed out that sustainable agriculture also improves the management of natural resources such as water; conserves biodiversity and ecosystem services; and increases carbon sequestration while easing the pressures that drive deforestation.

"We have to transform agriculture to make it more productive and more resilient at the same time. This transformation will help to address, at the same time, the triple threat of hunger, poverty and climate change," he said. 

Countries, NaijaAgroNet gathered, are recognizing this potential with unprecedented commitments, hence, FAO harped on scaling up international flows of climate finance and unlocking additional investment in adaptation in agricultural sectors is needed to give traction to the action.

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Fight against malaria: FG partners Dangote Foundation

NaijaAgroNet:

The Federal Government and Dangote Foundation have joined forces against the fight on malaria in the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The partnership on malaria, NaijaAgroNet gathered would pave the way to explore resources from private investors towards eradicating malaria in the country.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, while inaugurating the private sector initiative tagged: “Engaging the private sector to eliminate malaria in Nigeria”, in Lagos said that the present administration was determined to work with private sector not only in malaria control but also in the other health challenges in Nigeria.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that malaria has been described as one of the major causes of death of women and children in the country, which accounts for 60 per cent of out-patients visits and 30 per cent of hospital admissions in Nigeria. Just as an estimated $1.1 Billion US Dollar is lost annually in the country, due to malaria treatment cost. It is the major cause of absenteeism in the work place.

“Working with you today to launch this important document is a welcome development, it is important that we embark on this initiative, it would increase efficiency and ensure that we deliver” Adewole said.

He expressed worry that despite the large volume of mosquito nets distributed in the country; the prevalence of malaria is still high which clearly indicated that most of those who received the nets declined to use it.

Speaking on local production of mosquito nets, Adewole urged private investors to consider the possibilities of producing mosquito nets in the country. 

“We cannot afford to be importing net, this net can be produced in Nigeria and the market is huge. We need about 30 million nets every year in Nigeria. A net has a life span of about 3years and if you compute on the bases of 1 net for two people Nigerian would need 90 million nets over 3 years so every year we need to replace 30 million nets, so there is a huge market apart from opportunities for export,” Minister said.

In his remarks, the Chairman Dangote Foundation who is also the Malaria Ambassador in Nigeria, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said that Private sector had an important role to play in mobilizing resources towards Malaria Elimination Programme in Nigeria.

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Aisha Buhari leads walk on malnutrition @IDP camps

NaijaAgroNet:

Nigeria's First Lady, Aisha Buhari has led many Nigerians to a walk to draw attention to the increasing rate of malnutrition in Internally Displaced Persons camps in the North East, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The event, NaijaAgroNet gathered was attended by some victims from selected IDPs camps in Abuja, with the theme: "Charity Walk Against Malnutrition: Serve a meal to save a soul", was jointly organised by Victims of Violence Charity Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation; World Medical Relief, Detroit, USA; Society of Petroleum Engineers and supported by SUNTrust Bank.

Apart from Aisha Buhari, other personalities who participated in the walk include the Managing Director of SUNTrust Bank, Muhammad Jibrin; wife of Governor of Zamfara State, Hajia Asmau Abdullaziz Yari; chairman/CEO of Victims of Violence Charity Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, Sulaiman Gumi; West Africa Coordinator, World Medical Relief, Detroit, USA, Dr. Isa Abubakar Saddiq and FCT section chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Salau Tahir. 

The First Lady who was represented by wife of Nasarawa State governor, Hajia Miriam Al-Makura, said the walk would have a great impact on the fight against malnutrition in the country, particularly in the North East.

She said, "This is an awareness walk; for people who don’t know, when they see us walking, they will ask what is happening. And people will tell them this is an awareness walk for people with malnutrition in the IDP camps. I think it  will go a long way in uplifting the life of people living in the IDP camps.

"The First Lady has asked me to represent her in this very laudable project. Like you know she (Aisha Buhari) has a passion for women, children and the youths of this country and her program “Future Assured”, has done a lot in collaboration with other organisations to uplift the living standard of people living in the IDP camps in Maiduguri, Yola and other places. 

"That is why she has asked me personally to be here to represent her and she has asked me to call on well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the people living in the IDP camps. That is why we have an organization like this, the Federal Government cannot do it alone. We need people and philanthropists to come out and assist in whichever way they can."

The wife of Governor of Zamfara State, Hajia Asmau Abdullaziz Yari, said anything that has to do with malnutrition campaign for children and the less-privileged would be interesting to wives of Governors.

"Wives of Governors will play a passionate role in that and I think we are all aware of what the First Lady Hajia Aisha Buhari has done about malnutrition and we have all keyed into this programme. As wives of governors, this is something like creating awareness for Nigerians to see where the problem is, how to tackle it and how to go about it. So, really this is charity walk and it is really worth coming out, it is really worth doing. I am proud of the organisers of this walk", she stressed.

According to her, although Zamfara State "is a very conservative state", she would convene a women's forum and other stakeholders that would show them the extent of malnutrition, adding "but not necessary a walk."        

Gumi recalled that before he went to Bama it was between five to six children dying of malnutrition almost everyday, adding that after about two months with intervention from VoVCF and other INGOs, "we stopped seeing death rates and people started recovering."

He said, "The malnutrition is there but it only gets exposed when diseases like cholera and diarrhoea comes into play and start claiming children. At that time, dysentery and was claiming the children but after sometime, it got better. The beauty of what we are trying to advocate for is that we have the local ingredient that was used to solve the issue of malnutrition. 

"We have sava meal which is produced locally, we have been giving the IDPs, we keep it as part of the drugs in all our mobile clinics, we give the child what to eat so the drugs can work and that work wonders. The next step is to teach the IDPs what to use to make the sava meal. It is very easy, you can source it from local ingredients: sorghum, soya beans and groundnut which is readily available instead of feeding the children with rice and spaghetti being donated to them to help the children grow better and survive any kind of disease."

Also speaking, Saddiq suggested the use of local nutrition to check malnutrition in the IDPs camps.

"We can replicate the effects like soya beans. It is not expensive; we have given the formula to victims of violence and they are handling it. When victims of violence went to Bama, the death rate was 40 children per day. But within two to three weeks when they started using local diet as food nutrition, the death rate reduced to zero per cent."

The Vice chairman of Majiji IDPs camp in Abuja, Bello Mohammaed, said VoVCF have been providing all the medical facilities, food items and schools for the camp.

He said, "We have people from Adamawa, Yobe and Borno stated in our camp, I am from Borno state. We are very much eager to go, we are not comfortable, its only NGOs that help us, government does not even recognise us as a camp.

"We are about 250 in Karon Majiji IDPs camp along Airport Road. Apart from malnutrition, we still have issues of food security, beddings, clothing and toiletries. We have about two critical cases of malnutrition but they were able to rescue them. We did not witness food diversion in our camp but there are others who have been complaining of this but things are In order now."

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FOA calls for scaling up climate change action

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for the scaling up climate change action rooted in agriculture and food security, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva made this call to delegates at the United Nations Climate Change conference (COP22) in Morocco.

Speaking at the high-level action day on agriculture and food security, Graziano da Silva noted that climate change impacts on agriculture - including crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, land and water - are already undermining global efforts to assure food security and nutrition.

With over 90 percent of countries referring to the important role of agriculture in their national plans to adapt to and mitigate climate change, Graziano da Silva stressed that

"it is time to invest in sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture as a fundamental part of the climate solution," he said. 

Last year's conference in Paris led to the world's first legally binding global climate deal. The current summit in Marrakech, Morocco is geared to implementation of the pledges all signatory countries made. Echoing the prevalent spirit at the COP, the Paris Agreement is irreversible and inaction would be a disaster for the world.

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

Niger Delta Environment: A 3-point agenda for President Buhari...

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300m children exposed to toxic air says UNICEF

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that an estimated 300 million children globally are exposed to toxic air through living in areas with outdoor air contaminated in excess of six times over international pollution guidelines, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was contained in the latest UNICEF report tagged ‘Clear the air for children’  which also indicated  could cause serious health damage, including harming their developing brains.

UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake told NaijaAgroNet that pollutants do not only harm children’s developing lungs  as they could actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains, thus, their futures.

“Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year – and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day,” he added. “No society can afford to ignore air pollution,” he said.

NaijaAgroNet reports that these findings came a week ahead of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco, where UNICEF is calling on world leaders to take urgent action to cut air pollution in their countries.

Further, NaijaAgroNet reports that using satellite imagery, the report further shows that around two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution, caused by factors such as vehicle emissions, heavy use of fossil fuels, dust and burning of waste, exceeds minimum air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

South Asia has the largest number of children living in these areas, at 620 million, with Africa following with 520 million children, and the East Asia and Pacific region with 450 million children living in areas that exceed guideline limits.

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Agro experts to seek adoptive solution for Africa @COP22

NaijaAgroNet:

A set of high-level experts in African agriculture and climate change issues would be converging at the city of Marrakech, Morroco to proffer solution as part of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Discussions, NaijaAgroNet gathered will centre on how to implement an ambitious new initiative launched by the Moroccan government that seeks to mobilise some $30 billion for Africa to transform and adapt its agriculture to a changing climate.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that the event would showcase the most promising climate adaptation strategies for the continent, which could deliver food security to the 230 million people still suffering from chronic hunger in the region.

The high-level experts, NaijaAgroNet gathered would include representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Morocco and Senegal, members of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mohamed Badraoui, Deputy Director General, INRA-Morocco, Richard Mrabet, Member of the Scientific Committee of the AAA initiative (INRA), Mohamed Ait Kadi, President, General Council of Agricultural Development (CGDA) , Olga Speckhardt, Head of Global Insurance Solutions, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Bruce Campbell, Director, CCAFS, and Sonja Vermeulen, Head of Research, CCAFS among others.

NaijaAgroNet recollects that some 100 per cent of African countries have included agriculture in their climate action plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), highlighting the grave risk that climate change poses both to food security and economic growth on the continent. Yet African nations remain underequipped to act on these pledges.

Key policy recommendations from each session will be captured and developed into a framework for implementation for the Moroccan Adaptation of African Agriculture initiative.

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Taking concrete actions on malnutrition in Africa

Features@NaijaAgroNet:

As African continent expressed determination to tackle malnutrition with zero hunger initiatives, it must be seen to be in deed and in words by following through all implementation programmes capable of making this dream a reality, writes REMMY NWEKE.

Introduction:
How to drum relevant supports required for the under-five children and their mothers to eventually tackle the hunger surrounding the subject of malnutrition in children cannot be over-emphasised, especially if the Zero Hunger for the continent of Africa will be achieved, then, there is need for the 54 member nation of African Union to take required actionable steps towards making this possible.

This also formed the focus of the recent study by the joint efforts of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and Pardee Center for International Futures in Pretoria, South Africa, outlined some conditions that must be met in order for Africa to realise this goal. 

According to the Senior Advisor on Programme Development to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NEPAD, Mr. Martin Bwalya, which noted that support for under-5 children and mothers as one of the dynamics of achieving zero hunger on the continent by 2025. He stressed at the formal launch of the Zero Hunger Report 2025 that, the demand side on agriculture produce is increasing access, including incomes, consumer subsidies, prices, school feeding programmes, are some of the support to under-5 children and mothers, as well as pregnant women. This, he said will not happen without the supply side which is productivity and production by way of expansion of cropland, yield increase, livestock heads and reduction of post-harvest losses.

Increase in cropland:
Bwalya pointed out that overall, the food availability needs to be increased by 437 million metric tonnes by 2025 or 47 per cent of current demand. 

“To do this requires cropland to increase by 1.5 per cent; crop yields need to increase by 3.2 per cent, and livestock head size needs to increase by 5.8 per cent year,” he said.

Insisting that in order for Africa to attain its goal by 2025, a wide range of actions by different actors to bring about the necessary substantial change in the dynamics of demand and supply is requisite, just as any efforts to eliminate hunger will have to factor in robust risk assessments, including climate change.

Corroborating Bwalya, the Regional Director for World Food Programme in Johannesburg, Chris Nikoi, emphasized that “If we continue on the current trajectory, we will not be able to achieve the Malabo Declaration target of ending hunger by 2025 and eliminating child stunting. Conditions for success include political will, as well as addressing the challenges of the impact of climate change and weather shocks.”

Zero Hunger in Africa by 2025 is possible:
The determination by NEPAD on the possibility of having zero hunger in the next nine years in the continent, re-echoed when the at Pretoria launch, when the chief executive of NEPAD, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, took the stage, indicating that on the premise of the goals set in the 2014 Malabo Declaration through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), would end hunger in Africa by 2025.

He noted that nearly one in five people is hungry, even as hunger has decreased steadily since the mid-1990’s, due to population growth, but has actually increased in absolute numbers. In addition, Mayaki said, net food imports since the early 1990s have grown to about 14 per cent of the total demand, maintaining that one of the goals set in the 2014 Malabo Declaration through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), is ending hunger in Africa by 2025.

He emphasised that success in Africa will therefore be through regional integration, be it in ending hunger, agriculture or infrastructure, highlighting the major levers in policies, investments, technologies as well as human and institutional capacities necessary to sustain desired levels of supply and demand-access to food.

Improving capacity to intervention implementations:
“We cannot continue doing business as we are doing it today, since growth in Africa has not been inclusive enough. We need improved capacity to implement various interventions to do things differently if we are to deliver on Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025,” Dr. Mayaki underscored.

Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), noted that hunger affects women and children disproportionately, while women are the backbone of agriculture in Africa.

“The face of hunger in Africa is that 32 per cent of under-5 children are stunted – the numbers have stagnated instead of going down. If the cognitive capacity of children in Africa is reduced for life, who are the future leaders for the continent? Agriculture needs to be more nutrition sensitive. Hidden hunger challenges are therefore critical and need to be addressed,” Dr. Sibanda said.

Speaking at the same event, Lynette Chen, CEO of the NEPAD Business Foundation also maintained that food security and the trajectory of economic growth need to be balanced with nutrition sensitive agriculture.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that during the launch of the report on ending hunger in Africa, it was recognised that while the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025 might be very ambitious, it is not impossible. Steve Hedden, Research System Developer from Pardee Center maintained that “how we define hunger will dictate how we get there and how we reach our targets.”

UN member states must take concrete action on malnutrition:
In drumming support against malnutrition and hunger globally, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), an agency of the United Nations (UN) called on the government across the world to take concrete actions on malnutrition in all its forms. NaijaAgroNet also gathered that as at the time of going to the press, there are 193 UN member states in five regional groups, namely, the African Group with 54 member states; the Asia-Pacific Group with 53 member states; the Eastern European Group with 23 member states.

Looking at the aforementioned statistics, Africa seems to have a greater hand when it comes to voting in the United Nations, but the question remains whether this strength is being optimised to improve the well-being of the continent let alone ensuring that subject of malnutrition is erased.

It was not surprising that FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva insisted that the United Nations (UN) Decade of Nutrition offers a critical window for advances, pointing 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. He stressed at the just ended United Nations General Assembly which celebrated the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, that “The purpose of the Decade of Action on Nutrition is to continue to draw the world`s attention to the importance of combatting malnutrition.”

Exploring ICN2 for Africa malnourished:
He reminded governments of their commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014 and called on them to transform those commitments into actions through national policies and programmes. He argued that a better governance on nutrition globally, “starts at country level” emphasizing that nowadays, one in three people worldwide is malnourished, 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.

Submission:

With the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) since 2014, African countries dream of making hunger and precisely malnutrition a thing of the past in the next nine years, mostly if requisite councils are taken and adhered to, will be a reality.

Therefore, we urge African countries to beef up their country level engagement both in terms of policies and commitment to continuity of programmes as within this period, most Africa countries will have the cause to have at least two general elections and powers are likely to change hands, but then the fear of continuity in policy and its attendant implementation becomes a nightmare that must be allayed whilst the opportunity still last.

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Water, water everywhere around Lagos, but not a drop to drink

Review@NaijaAgroNet: 

Title: Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative roadmap for public water sector

Publishers: Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth-Nigeria

Date: October 2016

Pages: 56

Reviewer: Chido Onumah

Favour, 15, and her four siblings live with their parents in a two-room apartment in Bariga, a suburb formerly under Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State, but now a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of its own. Like in other places, the taps in the building have gone dry for years, and so is the public tap down the street erected by the government to meet the water needs of the people in the area. So they are forced to buy water from mai ruwa, the ubiquitous water vendors who have become a permanent feature of life serving the needs of the people in virtually every community in the State.

But most of the time the family can’t afford the vendors, so she and her brother, Tomi, 13, would pick up the jerrycans to go search for water for the use of the household before they go to school. To get enough water every morning, they have to do three trips each. And when they return from school, after homework, the other major preoccupation is to go look for water.

Almost on a daily basis, they live with the stress of pounding the streets with adults and early teens like themselves who are routinely roused from sleep before dawn by their parents to go and fetch water, not just for drinking and cooking, but also for other domestic needs for which the commodity is required. This is the depressing spectacle that is common in the coastal city of Lagos, a dreamy landscape of over 21 million residents.

Snuggled in the caressing coolness of the lagoon and the Gulf of Guinea, Lagos is the fabled city of water; water everywhere, yet in a disarming twist of cruel irony, its residents, especially low-income earners that form the bulk of the population, have no access to water. Thank God for mai ruwa. What would have happened without the intervention of this itinerant group of resilient economic hustlers whose main source of water supply are the boreholes and water tankers? Of course, this acute water shortage has severe consequences, including compromised sanitation and the impoverishment of Lagosians.

It is this embarrassing dilemma bedeviling the city that the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria seeks to address in its latest audacious report entitled, Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Efficient Water Sector. A tour de force of no mean reckoning, the 56-page report (including references) is at once an eye-opener—a sobering, reflective and penetrating excursion into the stark profile of public water utility in Africa’s most populous city. Thankfully, while it paints an ugly picture of this sector, this document also offers a ray of hope.

The content page has seven sub-headings and kicks off with the executive summary that outlines the aim of the report, which includes charting a pathway out of the Lagos water problem, highlighting the impact and reasons why the current water system is not working, offering blueprints from around the world that would suit the Lagos situation and making concrete proposals that can be exploited in the interim, as well as continuously by the Lagos State government and the Lagos State Water Corporation.

According to the report, Lagos is responsible for more than 60 percent of industrial and commercial activities in Nigeria. The Lagos State Water Supply Master plan estimates daily water demand in the city at 540 million gallons per day (MGD) and production by the Lagos State Water Corporation at 210 MGD. It says, however, that the Corporation’s website lists total production capacity at only 163 MGD. By 2020, water demand is expected to reach 733 GMD.

The report opens a rare insight into the health and economic implications of the Lagos water crisis. It notes that since water and sanitation are crucial factors in public health, the impact of water crisis on public health is grave. “Indeed, it puts the State’s booming population at risk of diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhea and salmonellosis, in addition to escalating cases of typhoid and malaria fever,” the report observes gravely.

Quoting Dr. Jide Idris, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, it recalls that in February 2016, 25 children in Otodo Gbame, in Ikate Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the State died after drinking the community’s pathogen-infected water.

Unfortunately, many houses are currently serviced by boreholes. The dangers of drinking such water, it is says, include long-term exposure to toxins. Also quoting a 2012 report published in Resources and Environment, the report says some borehole water samples examined in Lagos contained high concentration of the heavy metals lead and cadmium at levels above the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum acceptable concentration (MAC). It warns that only adequate water treatment could help control heavy metal exposure.

On the economic consequences of water shortage, the report notes that the high cost of sourcing water has made Lagos residents poorer. It notes, “The average family could use up to seven or eight jerrycans daily, which translates to N10,000 to N17,000 monthly in a nation where the middle class average family income is N75,000-N100,000. This high price threatens the availability of water, which improves the quality of life and makes citizens healthier for economic activities and development.”

Faced with such high human and economic cost as a result of water crisis, it is pertinent to examine how Lagos found itself in this awkward position. For starters, the report observes that the root of Lagos water crisis is not traceable to a single cause, but to a number of causes which includes, first and foremost, the fact that for decades expansion of the public water system has not corresponded with the rapid growth of the metropolis.

Other reasons include ageing and insufficient water infrastructure, decades of policies that did not work, failure to ensure meaningful public participation, poor labour practices, regulatory failures, and, of course, inadequate budget allocation. For example, though the governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, described the State’s 2016 budget as the “people’s budget,” it falls short on water, with only N17.6billion or 2.7 percent for the State’s Water Corporation. In spite of this, the report notes that with the right financial and social policies, Lagos can fund the water structure required to ensure all Lagosians have affordable access to safe water.

If there’s one significant achievement of this report it is the fact that it brings to the fore the problem of access to water as a human rights issue. It clearly underscores this notion through interviews with a cross section of Lagos residents which show that the public desires a system that sustains their right to water and allows the people to participate in making decisions about their water needs.

However, to fulfil the human right to water, the report says governments must ensure water is available, physically accessible, affordable, safe, and acceptable in odour, colour and other qualities. The concept of water privatization being canvassed in some quarters is unanimously rejected by all individuals and groups featured in the interviews.

The report examines public water successes, citing examples and models from around the world which Lagos could draw from if it is committed to re-inventing its public water system. It reminds those who are angling for the privatization of water that the most prominent examples of efficiency are located in the public sector, not the private sector. “For example, public operator Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) increased coverage from 20% to 90% in less than 20 years,” the report says.

Pointing the way forward for Lagos, the report offers Governor Ambode and the State House of Assembly a set of policy guidelines which, if followed with the appropriate political will, could transform the Lagos water system “from a source of disease, conflict and suffering into a model for all the world to emulate.”

Well-researched and brilliantly rendered, ERA/FoEN has through this report once again demonstrated its legendary capacity to intervene and proffer solutions in critical areas of life, especially as it affects the environment. Unlike the Lagos water, the language of this report is accessible, and is made more captivating by graphic illustrations that accentuate as much as the word the quality of the entire package.

This is not a document that should be left to gather dust on the shelves of public libraries (where they exist) or government offices. It is a report that state governors across the country should permanently hold on to if they are serious about solving the water crisis in their states.

Perhaps as a way of driving home the importance of water, it is just as fitting that the authors summoned the immortal words of Leonardo Da Vinci to wrap up this excellent report: “Water is the driving force of all nature.”

Onumah is the Coordinator of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL).

*The title of this review is paraphrased from lines in the poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

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