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Tag: Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

  • 50m face food insecurity in West Africa, FAO warns

    50m face food insecurity in West Africa, FAO warns

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) brought the reality of climate change nearer home, saying that the number of people facing food insecurity in West Africa had risen to 50 million.

    At the LCBGF panel discussion, FAO Country Representative, Kofi Dominic, said the figure indicated a sharp increase of 35 million in just five years.

    The envoy, therefore, called for an urgent intervention to prevent  deterioration of the region’s food crisis.

    “In 2020, there were 15 million people in food insecurity across West Africa. Today, that number has surged to 50 million despite all efforts in agriculture, livestock, and food distribution,” Dominic said.

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    He attributed the crisis to three major factors: conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, which had severely disrupted food production and supply chains across the region.

    “Last year alone, 15 countries in West and Central Africa experienced devastating floods, affecting nearly seven million people.

    “In Nigeria, floods destroyed 850,000 metric tons of food — enough to feed eight million people for six months,” the envoy said.

  • A wake-up call

    A wake-up call

    •Governments have responsibility to provide silos and address other factors militating against food security

    A country already posting an unflattering statistics of hunger globally yet enjoys an equally unenviable reputation of post-harvest losses along its food supply chain, again, globally. A familiar Nigerian paradox of unparalleled hunger in the midst of plenty, the situation would best sum up to Nigeria’s reality in the eyes of Ibrahim Ishaka, a chieftain of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the side-lines of an FAO-organised training in Yola penultimate Saturday that Nigeria loses around 50% of its agricultural products along the food supply chain. Explaining that food waste posed significant challenges to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, impacting food security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability, the challenges, he said “include technological barriers, inefficient harvesting techniques, pest infestations, and lack of access to modern farming tools, all of which contribute to losses during harvest, largely influenced by consumer behaviour”.

    He also listed inadequate storage facilities, poor handling practices and poor transportation infrastructure as additional factors contributing to post-harvest losses.

    “These factors result in significant losses, especially for perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables”, he said.

    Like every aspect of the Nigerian nightmare, the issue isn’t that the problems or the factors underlying them are unknown; rather, it is what has now become the legendary inability or unwillingness by governments at all levels, to confront them headlong and systematically.

    The truth is that none of the factors identified by the FAO chief could be said to be anything that our policy makers or even the ordinary Nigerians are not already aware of. Whether it is the matter of farmers being literally abandoned to the drudgery of traditional farming practices that take so much effort but in the end yields pretty little returns, or the daily nightmares they face while attempting to move their harvests from the farm gates to the markets in the absence of a functional, integrated transportation infrastructure, these factors have always been there.

    So is the dearth of basic knowledge and technologies, those simple tools and skills which practitioners in other climes have long taken for granted but which could have helped mitigate the perennial losses, and the lack of access to herbicides and other agro-chemicals; so over-dissected have the issues been with their solution in plain sight that the only missing link is the absence of the political will to do something about them. 

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    What the FAO chief has done in the circumstance is offer a reminder of how bad things have remained. Indeed, nothing in what he said suggested a reinventing of the wheels. Rather, it is more about ensuring that the right policies, programmes and infrastructure are in place to service the needs of our farming population, and to encourage the processing of agricultural products to optimise their values.

    Yet, given the dire food supply situation facing the country, the least the governments at all levels can do at this moment is to treat the intervention as something of a wake-up call.

    The state governments might want to consider, urgently, the strengthening of their extension services to ensure that the farmers are not only availed modern management skills to address the problem, but also the enabling infrastructure of storage and transportation to preserve the harvests. Of course, the Federal Government has a bigger role to play in all of these. For, while it may have done fairly well to assist the states in the procurement of agricultural machinery, inputs and in the provision of storage facilities, it still has a long way to go in the area of infrastructure, particularly transportation, in nurturing the right environment for start-ups and other players in the value chain, and in such other range of incentives to boost private sector participation in the value chain.

    As for our legion of agricultural institutes and universities, now is the time for them to step out of their comfort zones, to seek practical ways of collaborating with the relevant stakeholders to address those fundamental problems plaguing the agricultural sector. Surely, the current time demands no less.

  • FAO chief hails over 100 countries for combating illegal fishing

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director, José Graziano da Silva, has praised over 100 countries that are combating illegal fishing.

    This followed  their adoption of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

    The PSMA, an international treaty brokered by FAO, took effect from  2016. At the moment, more than 100 countries have either adhered to it or are preparing to do so.

    ‘’Today, I see a room filled with many more delegates than two years ago,” Graziano da Silva said in an address to the Second Meeting of the Parties to the PSMA in Chile.

    The PSMA requires foreign vessels to be inspected at any port of call.  It strengthens rules requiring countries to control their fishing fleets and raises the cost of IUU fishing by making it harder for wrongly-caught fish to be sold.

    IUU fishing is estimated at 26 million tonnes yearly or about one-fifth of the global catch, and undermines efforts to ensure sustainable fisheries through effective fish stock management measures around the world. At the moment, one-third of the world’s fish stocks is being caught at biologically unsustainable levels – up threefold from the mid-1970s.

    “One of the main conditions of the PSMA to achieve good results is to have a large number of countries preventing vessels from landing their illegal catch.” Graziano da Silva said, adding: “Otherwise, if a vessel cannot disembark in one country, it will do so in a neighbouring country.”

    Graziano da Silva noted the support of the countries helping to develop global capacity to implement the PSMA. He thanked Norway for helping developing countries participate in the meeting.

    FAO has devoted substantial resources to boost  the success of the treaty as part of its mission to stamp out IUU fishing.

    At the meeting parties were also expected to discuss how a broad monitoring and review of the PSMA’s implementation, mandated for 2020, will take shape.

    Read Also: Illegal fishing: ‘West Africa loses $10billion $23.5b yearly’

    The parties’ work is critical to the common quest to safeguard global marine resources and achieve sustainable development. IUU fishing also puts millions of livelihoods at risk and distorts markets for an important global industry as and source of nutrition.

    “This is an important meeting for food security at the global level,” said Jose Ramon Valente, Chile’s Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism.

    “From now until 2050, the world’s population will need more protein, without saturated fats, and that’s what ocean products offer,” he added.

  • FAO seeks $940m to tackle global hunger

    As global hunger numbers continues to rise driven by the proliferation of conflicts and climate-related shocks, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is seeking $940 million to invest in programmes and projects to save the lives and livelihoods of some of the world’s most food-insecure populations.

    The organisation said in a statement that it is   hoping to reach over 32 million people who rely on agriculture for their survival and livelihoods through a range of interventions aimed at boosting local food production and enhancing nutrition while strengthening the communities’ resilience to crises.

    FAO said it would address the root causes of increased food insecurity and malnutrition, through provision of agricultural inputs such as seeds, tools, fertiliser and other inputs for crop farming, livestock restocking, providing animal feed and veterinary care as well as training in farming best practices, new approaches to food production, and livelihood diversification strategies.

    Other activities include humanitarian assistance with resilience longer-term projects to boost productivity of smallholder farmers and cash assistance for  poor families.

    The Director, FAO’s Emergency and Resilience Division, Dominique Burgeon, said:  “Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the majority of crisis affected populations. Therefore, it is crucial to invest in agriculture and food systems support from the onset of a crisis to save lives and enable families trapped by fighting or living in remote areas to rapidly resume local food production and earn an income.  With resource partners’ support, we hope to help restore livelihoods of millions of people, reduce their dependence on external food aid and build their resilience to withstand shocks.” FAO’s emergency response this year will focus on assisting highly food-insecure communities in more than 30 countries.

    Meanwhile, global food prices began the year on a buoyant note, as the FAO Food Price Index averaged 164.8 points lastmonth, up by 1.8 percent from the previous month.A sharp rebound in dairy price quotations and firmer prices of palm and soy oils drove the increase, the United Nations agency said.

    The Food Price Index, an indicator of the monthly changes in international prices of a basket of food commodities, was still 2.2 percent below its January 2018 level.The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 168.1 points in January, up marginally from December. Prices of the major grains were generally firm amid tightening export supplies and robust world demand.The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose by 4.3 percent from the previous month, led by palm oil values responding to a seasonal production decline in the major producing countries. International soy oil prices also rose on the back of robust import demand for South American supplies.The FAO Dairy Price Index rose 7.2 percent from December, reversing seven months of falling prices. Limited export supplies – due to strong internal demand – form Europe were the primary factor behind this, along with anticipated seasonal tightening of export availability from Oceania in the coming months.

     

  • FAO raises alarm over looming food shortage in Nigeria

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation ( FAO) has raised an alarm and serious warning over impending danger of food shortage in the country.

    The organisation, in a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja attributed the likely famine to army worm pest invasion on maize and other crops.

    According to the FAO National Communications Officer, David Karl, the pest crop destruction has extended to other crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, vegetables, thus could pose threat to the Federal Government food sufficiency drive.

    Read Also:Nigeria to face pressure in livestock production – FAO

    However, he noted that FAO in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) organised 3-day training for over 100 farmers in the country in order to curtail and manage the noxious pest and its effect on crops.

    He said the training was carried out in Kaduna state with participants drawn from other parts of the region while similar training was held for farmers in the North central (Abuja) and southwest (Akure) regions among others.

    It reads in part: “As the rainy season dawn in all parts of the country, planting of maize has begun in earnest, especially in the Northern part of the country where majority of the produce is cultivated. However, the presence of the invasive trans-boundary pest the Fall Army-worm (FAW) noticed for the first time in Nigeria in 2016 continues to be a great threat to the nation’s food security.

    “The looming danger of the possibility of the pest extending its host range to other important crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, vegetables is very high and therefore calls for urgent attention.”

    According to the statement, the training of trainers programme was put together such that the trained farmers are expected to further take down the training to farmers in their respective communities.

    “As part of the immediate intervention to prevent farmers from sustaining drastic yield losses during this 2018 cropping season, and to restore productive capacity, FAO has provided to farmers, early maturing maize seed variety, herbicides, fertilizer, PPE materials, knapsack sprayer and Goldmax Total Crop Solution

    “Furthermore, as part of FAO’s effort, 120 extension workers and 50 researchers from the project target states (Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Abia, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and FCT) were trained on FAW biology, identification, damage symptoms, integrated pest management techniques, which includes, cultural practices, biological and chemical control, other topics covered include pesticide and pesticide risk reduction. Good Agricultural Practice (GAP).”

    The FAO Country Representative Suffyan Koroma described the inputs given to the farmers as short term measures to enable them meet up with the 2018 planting season.

    “FAO has also initiated the process of establishing a National Task Force to advice Government of Nigeria on FAW infestation. Engage partners, communicate with relevant stakeholders on the menace of the pest and promote cooperation, coordination, consistency and synergies across the country on its infestation and intervention. Membership of the Task Force will include amongst others, Research Institutions, private sector, relevant MDAs, NGOs, and Development Partners etc.”

    Koroma restated FAO’s commitment not to relent in the fight against army worm to achieve the aim of achieving zero hunger and improving the livelihood of local farmers.

     

  • 15 FAO Country Representatives meet over malnutrition, hunger

    15 FAO Country Representatives meet over malnutrition, hunger

    Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Representatives from the 15 Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) nations converged at a regional meeting in Accra to deliberate on new approaches to reducing hunger and malnutrition in Nigeria and other member countries.

    FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Bukar Tijani, at the closing of a two-day West African Multidisciplinary Team meeting, said partnership is vital but collaborating with strong and committed partners would help realize the vision.

    “Cooperation with strong partners is what can make us move forward and achieve tangible results,” Tijani said.

    In a statement issued, Monday in Abuja by FAO National Communication Officer, David Tsokar, aside from the 15 representatives in ECOWAS countries, other partners such as resilience focal points, technical experts, UN agencies as well as farmers’ organizations discussed emerging challenges the region faced to achieve sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition.

    “I note with satisfaction that three pillars come out as key recommendations: policy support to countries; value chain development and production to enhance rural employment; and capacity development for farmers, in particular through the Farmer Field School platform”, Tijani added.

    Director in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development at the ECOWAS Commission, Alain Sy Traoré, in his remarks, said the dialogue on best approaches in agriculture confirmed “the need to strengthen cooperation with FAO and develop together top priorities in the near future”.

    According to him, FAO provides technical assistance to the ECOWAS and its 15 member states in the region, enabling the implementation and assessment of the first generation of the ECOWAS regional Agriculture Policy (ECOWAP) as well as Regional Agricultural Investment Plans (RAIPs) and National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIPs).

    The two-day deliberations, led by Serge Nakouzi, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Africa, came out with recommendations that will shape joint actions in the short, medium and long term. “Substantive contributions will feed pertinent development and partnership initiatives in order to advance FAO work in West Africa, both at the national and regional levels”, he noted.

    The FAO sub-regional multidisciplinary team meeting for West Africa is an annual event to deliberate on the salient issues facing the Member States of the sub-region in their quest to develop and sustainably manage their respective agriculture and rural sectors with the aim of embedding food and nutrition security for all in their respective nations.

    Among concrete actions towards strengthening regional initiatives on ending hunger and malnutrition in West Africa are a review of the Right to Food situation in West Africa; an analysis of the hunger and malnutrition trends over the last 20 years; the formulation of a strategic framework and road map for achieving zero hunger and malnutrition in West Africa by 2025; and a strengthened institutional capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF).

  • Price of rice to fall despite World food prices increase

    Price of rice to fall despite World food prices increase

    World food prices rose slightly in September from the month before, buoyed by higher valuations in the vegetable oil and dairy sectors, the UN agency said on Thursday.

    The price index released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 178.4 points in September, up 0.8 percent from August.

    Prices on international markets were 4.3 percent higher than their values last September.

    FAO raised its forecast for global cereals output in the 2017-18 season to 2.612 billion tonnes, slightly above last year’s record harvest.

    The agency also raised its forecast for global wheat production to 750.1 million tonnes.

    NAN

  • UN launches $9 million food security project

    UN launches $9 million food security project

    The United Nations ( UN ) on Tuesday launched a nine million-dollar food security project in Kaduna State to improve the livelihood of farmers in the state.

    Briefing newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, said that the project known as “Food Africa’’ was to ensure improved nutrition and food sufficiency in the country.

    Kallon said the project was an innovative approach aimed at revamping the food sector to create new jobs for young people, increase farmers’ revenue, improve productivity, enhance nutrition and reduce food loss through the adoption of more sustainable production practices.

    He said that the project would be implemented in partnership with various UN agencies, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals Fund ( UN SDG-F ) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation ( FAO ).

    He said that the other facilitators of the project included the Sahara Group, the International Labour Organisation ( ILO ), the Roca Brothers and the Kaduna State government, among others.

    According to him, Nigeria is currently facing food insufficiency due to factors such as reliance on rain-fed agriculture, increase in food prices and climate change.

    Kallon said that the private sector was the engine room for actualising the SDGs, adding that collaborations between the government, private sector and UN agencies would facilitate efforts to achieve the targets of the project.

    “A growing population comes with a growing demand for food. To feed this expanded population nutritiously and sustainably, much more efforts and innovation are needed to make substantial improvements to the food system,’’ he said.

    Also speaking, Ms Paloma Duran, the Director of UN-SDGF, said that the project would target, train and involve no fewer than 4,000 farmers in Kaduna State.

    Duran noted that the project commenced with the training of 50 farmers, including young women and men in agriculture, using a train-the-trainer approach.

    “Some of the priorities of this project are food security and nutrition as well as inclusive economic growth; and it will last for three years,’’ she said.

    Mr Suffyan Koroma, the FAO Country Representative, said that the project would target food preservation techniques, especially in the tomato value chain.

    He said that the project would help to promote sustainability and replicable integrated solutions to agro-food value chain development, youth employment and poverty alleviation issues.

    Dr Abdukadir Kassim, the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, commended the UN agencies for choosing the Kaduna as the pilot state for the project.

    He said that the training of the 50 farmers was apt, adding that the state government was interested in improving the livelihood of its citizens to ensure increased food production.

    He said that the state government’s agricultural schemes had impacted significantly on about 70 per cent of its farming population because of the fact that there was no better security than food security.

    Kassim said that the state government would support agencies and partners whose target was to promote the agricultural potential of the state.

    “The training of the farmers in Kaduna has confirmed the fact that the UN is supporting agricultural programmes in the country.

    “Any programme aimed at improving the livelihood of the people will be welcomed by the government,’’ he added.

    Mr Tonye Cole, the Executive Director of the Sahara Group, said that the project would be replicated in other states of the country and across Africa to achieve food security.

    Food Africa project focuses on identifying and testing a replicable model in Kaduna State, with a view to scaling up the programme in other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    NAN

  • Borno farmers hopeful of bumper harvest

    Borno farmers hopeful of bumper harvest

    Some farmers in Borno have expressed optimism of recording bumper harvests in the 2017 cropping season.

    They also commended the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for supporting displaced farmers to return to their farms.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that thousands of displaced farmers supported by FAO cultivated their farmlands in Maiduguri and other liberated communities.

    FAO in collaboration with implementing partners distributed seeds and fertilisers to more than one million farmers this cropping season in the North East.

    A cross section of the farmers told NAN in Borno (Maiduguri) and Jere Local Government Areas that they were happy and were anticipating bumper harvest this season.

    Mr Markus Bitrus, a farmer, said he was anticipating bumper harvest this year in view of the support from FAO and favourable weather condition.

    Bitrus said that he cultivated millet, groundnut, sesame seed and vegetables in his farms at Dubai-Maisumari area of Maiduguri.

    He added that he received seeds and fertiliser from FAO, which enabled him to cultivate his farms without difficulties.

    “I am happy and hope to get bountiful harvest. I returned to the farm after it was abandoned for many years due to the insurgency.

    “My village is deserted and I got bored staying idle. FAO and its partners supported and distributed seeds and fertilisers to us.

    “The gesture was to enable us to feed our families and engage in productive activities,” Bitrus said.

    Ms Alheri Ishiaya, a maize grower, said that she planted maize, millet and vegetables with the support from FAO.

    Alheri, a mother of nine, said she worked on the farm together with her children.

    “I also got the land with the support of a humanitarian organisation. I am happy and doing well,” Alheri said.

    Another farmer, Mrs Hansatu Dodo, said that she cultivated vegetables on her farm, noting that she no longer go to the market to buy vegetables anymore.

    Dodo added that she engaged her children to manage the farm, adding that the plants are doing well and hoping to get high yields at harvest.

    Another farmer, Malam Modu Audu, said that he was preparing to harvest his crops at a farm in Maiduguri in few weeks to come.

    Also, Mr Emmanuel Osomeka, the Country Director, Social Welfare Network, a client of the FAO, said the organisation had supported 5,000 displaced farmers in Gwoza, Maiduguri and Jere Local Government Areas of Borno state.

    Osomeka disclosed that farmers were provided with improved seeds and fertilisers, while extension workers were deployed to assist and train them on fertiliser application as well as modern farming techniques.

    He explained that 65 per cent of the beneficiaries were women, 25 per cent youths and 10 per cent male.

    “We accorded priority to women, youths and the vulnerable. The programme is designed to address food security challenges and provide sustainable means of livelihoods to displaced farmers.

    “This is part of a comprehensive humanitarian effort to encourage displaced families to feed themselves and earn a living through agriculture,” he said.

    According to him, the organisation has adopted effective monitoring and coordination of farm activities during the current cropping season to enable farmers to get higher yields during harvest.

    Osomeka also commended the military for securing farmlands and protecting farmers in liberated communities.

    Statistics from United Nations showed that about 140,000 households, representing more than one million displaced farmers, benefited from the FAO support programmes, he said.

  • Nigeria to start bee export next year

    Nigeria to start bee export next year

    Nigeria will start exporting bees to other countries next year, Dr Bidemi Ojeleye, National President, Federation of Beekeepers Association of Nigeria, has said.

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that a European Union team had visited Nigeria for training and guidelines on the residue monitoring plans for bee export.

    Ojeleye, who is also Director, Centre for Bee Research and Development, Ibadan, spoke with NAN on the sideline of this year’s “Honey Bee Day’’ in Abuja.

    According to him, Nigeria is working towards being listed among the EU bee exporting countries.

    “For a trade in bees within the European Union, the general conditions that apply to ‘other’ live animals apply as the conditions are laid down in the EU Council Directive,’’ he said.

    Ojeleye said that Nigeria was blessed with clean organic honey which was globally ranked amongst the best in the world.

    He said that the Federal Government has made available bee keeping equipment to interested youths at subsidised rates to popularise its production among young people.

    According to him, the Federation of Bee keepers also hosted free training on bee production for interested youths across the country.

    He said in addition to making honey, bees also pollinated all sorts of fruits, wild plants and vegetables.

    “Bee products are used as raw materials for the production of medicine, cosmetics and lost wax casting.

    “Beekeeping generates income without destroying the habitat, while bees do not compete with any other livestock for food,’’ he said.

    Ojeleye said that the Federation coordinates all bees’ activities and organisations in Nigeria and enlightens the public on the benefits of beekeeping.

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees.

    World Honey Bee Day, previously known as Honey Bee Awareness Day, was an initiative of beekeepers in the USA who petitioned the government in 2009 for an official day to honour honey bees and beekeeping.