The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FAO

  • FG, FAO provide N109million to develop National Irrigation Policy

    The federal govern-ment in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) have provided N109million to develop and finalise a National Irrigation Policy document for the country.

    The FAO country representative to Nigeria, Dr. Louise Setshwaelo, disclosed this in Abuja at the Inception and sensitisation workshop on Development of a National Irrigation Policy and Strategy,.

    She said her organisation gave a grant of $317,000, while the federal government provided a counterpart fund of 50.2million to finalise the 2006 draft of the National Irrigation and Drainage Policy and Strategy (NIPD).

    She noted that the absence of an officially approved irrigation policy and strategy has been responsible for the bottleneck that limits progress and efficiency in irrigation development and expansion in the country.

    Lamenting that irrigation in Nigeria has developed at a slower pace, she pointed out that Nigeria has 200,000 hectares developed under formal irrigation, compared to  India that has a policy to develop 700,000 hectares of farmland under irrigation.

    She said: “What is important now is the need to update the irrigation policy and the need to update the irrigation policy and the strategy necessary to guide develops in the sub-sector.

  • FAO wants more budgetary allocations to agric

    The Food and Agriculture (FAO) representative in Nigeria, Ms. Louise Sethswaelo, has urged African Heads of State and Governments to increase their budgetary allocations to agriculture to achieve set goals. She made the call in an interview in Abuja.

    According to her, this has become necessary in view of the declaration of the year as the ‘Year of Agriculture‘ by the Heads of State and Governments at a summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January.

    “It is for the governments to increase their budgets on agriculture to have a facilitative role in promoting agriculture in the agriculture transformation in the African region. The private sector will then come in; but when they see us just talking, there is no demonstration in terms of providing resources, in terms of making sure that all the instruments that need to be put in place are there, then it just becomes talk with no action and very little result on the ground, “ Sethswaelo said.

    She commended African leaders for demonstrating the political will by the various declarations on agriculture, thereby increasing the sector’s visibility. She however, regretted that African leaders failed to backed the declarations with resources to facilitate agricultural development on the continent.

    “We have had so many summits by the African Heads of States and Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). I think that what we need more is to make sure we implement the programmes because the declarations have been made. Whether I should call it the political will, maybe it is, but it needs to be backed up by resources to facilitate agricultural development in the African region. This is something that is still lagging behind,” she argued.

    Continuing, Sethswaelo said: “That is why for so many years after signing the CAADP and approving it, we are still lagging behind in terms of implementing the CAADP programme that was developed then and approved by the Heads of States and Governments.”

  • FAO food price index records highest value in 2013 – Report

    FAO food price index records highest value in 2013 – Report

    The Food and Agriculture Organisations’ (FAO) Food Price Index recorded the highest annual value in 2013 compared to 2012 and 2011, the UN agency said in a statement.

    The FAO’s Food and Price Index report is a trade-weighted index that measures the prices of five major food commodities — cereals, dairy products, meat, sugar, and vegetable oils — on international markets.

    In the statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, the FAO said that the index, which averaged 206.7 points in December, remained unchanged from the previous month.

    It noted a sharp increase in dairy prices and high meat values balancing out a steep decline in sugar quotations and lower cereal and oil prices.

    “For 2013 as a whole, the index averaged 209.9 points, down 1.6 per cent from 2012, and well below 2011’s peak of 230.1, but still the third highest annual value on record.

    “Large supplies pushed down international prices of cereals (with the exception of rice), oils and sugar. However, dairy values peaked in 2013, and meat also hit a record.”

    The report quoted FAO’s economist, Abdolreza Abbassian, who said that:”Last month, the FAO Food Price Index remained elevated as demand for certain high-protein foods continued to drive up prices.

    For cereal, the report said that the Price Index averaged 191.5 points in December, down 2.8 points from November, and the lowest monthly value since August 2010.

    “Large global supplies, following record harvests in 2013, continued to exert downward pressure on international prices of wheat and maize in particular.

    “By contrast, rice prices were up slightly in December.

    “For all of 2013, the Cereal Price Index averaged 219.2 points, down as much as 17 points, or 7.2 percent, from 2012.”

    However, the report said that dairy and meat prices recorded a high hit in December and the whole of 2013.

    “The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 264.6 points in December, a rise of 13.2 points over November.

    “Demand for milk powder, especially from China, remains strong, and processors in the southern hemisphere are focusing on this product rather than on butter and cheese.

    “During 2013, the dairy index averaged 243 points – its highest annual value since its inception.

    “The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 188.1 points in December, just slightly above its November level.

    “Prices for poultry were stable, while those for sheep meat moved lower. Still, in 2013, the index remained historically high, well above pre-2011 levels.”

  • Can Nigeria still meet the MDGs targets?

    Can Nigeria still meet the MDGs targets?

    SIR: In September 2000, about 189 heads of states and governments gathered to reaffirm their faith in the United Nations and to adopt the UN Millennium Declaration. The eight key Goals and 21 Targets that were set and agreed to be attained on or before 2015 are: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction in child mortality rates, improvement in maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS pandemic, malaria other diseases, environmental sustainability as well as developing a global partnership for development.

    Almost 14 years after, Nigeria’s attainment of the set goals have been rated differently from good to bad and to worse, depending on who saying what. One thing that is glaring however is that life has not been a bed of roses under the harsh economic climate prevailing in the nation.

    At a Water Summit held recently, President Goodluck Jonathan stated that Nigeria needs over N350 billion annually to meet its water and sanitation targets. Vice President, Mohammed Sambo,was also quoted as saying at a Stakeholders’ Meeting in Abuja that “Although Nigeria has made significant strides in reducing maternal mortality from figures that were above 1000/100,000 live births in 1990 to 545/100,000 live births in 2008, attainment of the health MDGs still remain a challenge in Nigeria, as the current annual reduction in under-five mortality of 4% is far below the 13% annual reduction needed to bend the curve to attain Goal 4 by 2015”.

    For the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Nigeria is among the 38 countries that have already met the internationally-set hunger eradication targets ahead of 2015!

    The status of MDGs in Nigeria indicates that the country is unlikely to meet most of the targets because the incidence of poverty is reported to have increased from 54.4 percent in 2004 to 65.1 percent in 2010 while about 10 million children of school going age are out of school.

    Even though successive governments have worked assiduously in ensuring that compulsory Universal Basic Primary Education becomes the right of every Nigerian child, achievements so far recorded in the sector leave much to be desired. The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education has stated that 35 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 160 million population, about 56 million is considered to be illiterate. Other contending educational issues include inadequate funding, examination malpractice, poor performances recorded in public examinations and industrial unrest.

    With about a year to 2015, African countries should rather begin to think beyond the magic year. The post 2015 development agenda should recognize the changed context of the world, the changing geography of poverty and the need not only to improve the content but also put in place an accountability framework.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

  • 20,000 children die of hunger daily – Minister

    The Minister of Environment, Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia, has revealed that about 20,000 children die daily from hunger.

    The minister disclosed this at a workshop to mark World Environmental Day in Abuja.

    The theme of the workshop is: “Think. Eat. Save.”

    The minister decried what she called colossal waste of food by the world which results in hunger.

    She said, “According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, about one – third of global food production is wasted in the farm to work, which is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually.

    “This monumental wastage is happening at a time an estimated 870 million people go to bed hungry worldwide and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.”

    The volume of waste is said to be more than the total net food production in sub Sahara West Africa.

    She added: “one way to narrow the hunger gap and improve the well – being of the most vulnerable is to address the massive loss and waste inherent in today’s food system.

    “I must stress here that the situation in the developing world is pathetic. In developing countries, pests, inadequate storage facilities and inefficient supply chains are major contributors to food loss.”

     

  • Nigerian re-appointed into IFAD’s post

    Nigerian re-appointed into IFAD’s post

    Nigeria’s Kanayo Nwanze was re-appointed on Wednesday to a four-year term as president of the United Nations Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the organisation said.

    Nwanze said in a speech that he would aim to generate “vibrant rural areas” that could ensure “a dynamic flow of economic benefits between rural and urban areas”, IFAD said in a statement.

    The AFP news agency reports that Nwanze was first appointed to the post in 2009.

    IFAD is one of the three UN’s food agencies in Rome along with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

  • FAO food price index drops by three per cent

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index averaged 211 points last month, down three points (1.5 per cent) from October and the lowest since June 2012. Except for dairy, international prices of all the commodity groups included in the Index fell in November, with sugar undergoing the sharpest dip, followed by oils and cereals. The decline puts the November index value nearly three percent below one year ago.

    The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 256 points in November, down four 4 points (1.5 per cent) from October but still 27 points (12 per cent) higher than in November 2011. The decline was driven by a weakening of rice and wheat prices which more than offset the increase in maize quotations. Rice traded lower, mostly on abundant exportable supplies. Wheat values fell especially during the first half of the month as fears of an imminent export restriction by Ukraine receded. By contrast, maize markets received support on concerns over supply prospects and weather conditions in South America.

    The FAO Oils/Fats Price Index averaged 200 points in November, down 6 points (2.9 percent) from October, and the third consecutive month of decline. The main driving factor remains abundant palm oil production, which, combined with weak world import demand, has led to further build-ups in inventories. Better than expected soy yields in the United States and large global availabilities of rape and sunflower-seed oils also weighed on the index, as did lingering concerns over poor economic growth world-wide.