UN, Japan, Belgium, EU, CERF raise $4.9m for Northeast farmers return to land

The United Nations agency known as Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has drummed fiscal support worth $4.9m, about N1,569,225,000 billion for its programme in northeast Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as FAO informed NaijaAgroNet that the fund so far was contributed from its internal special emergency fund alongside the Japan, Belgium, the European Commission (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Fund (CERF).


The agency also said its currently targeting an additional 85,000 people with horticulture packages to prepare for the upcoming irrigated season.


FAO's Emergency and Response Manager in Nigeria, Mr. Tim Vaessen, lamented that by growing their own healthy and nutritious food would reduce need for future external food assistance.


“Families who have access to land and are ready to farm can harvest in six to eight weeks," Vaessen said.


FAO's activities in Nigeria, he said, remained constrained by a serious lack of funding, but pointed out that till-date, FAO has received just $ 4.9 million, of which almost 20 per cent came from FAO's own Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities.


Whereas, FAO's programme in northeast Nigeria is also funded by Japan, Belgium, the European Commission (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Fund (CERF).

Ugo Nwocha/GEE

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Open data critical to Africa’s agricultural revolution – Chinje

Open data has been described as critical to solution of the African continent, especially in the agriculture sector, says the chief executive officer of the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) Mr. Eric Chinje, reports NaijaAgroNet.

“Programme on open data is critical to solution of the continent challenges,” he declared.


He made this assertion while addressing participants at the weeklong open data training for members of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Journalists Network ongoing in Hilton Hotels Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.


He urged African media practitioners to discharge themselves of the maxim of being ‘watchdog’ or ‘forth estate of the realm’ when they cannot use their tools to enthrone good governance and leadership on the continent for the common good.


According to him, any supposed dog watching over certain part of the society on behalf of the people or less privilege must be able to stand up to be counted at all times through holding of those in leadership or authorities adequately responsible for the path or direction the society goes to.


“The purpose of the media is helping Africa to address the change we all wanted,” Chinje enthused.


He further urged media practitioners to live above board by ensuring that they bridge the gap through reportage that are evidence-based that will not be disputed by anybody because such a report has sufficient data to show or vindicate itself.


Chinje was optimistic that Africa and media practitioners precisely have a brighter future by offering adequate coverage on what unites the continent like agriculture than what divides Africa.


He, therefore, urged for practitioners to live up to their primary responsibilities in order to build a legacy worthy of emulation in no distance future.


NaijaAgroNet recalls that the Open Data training is organized in line with the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) -led partnership as part of the Global Open Data for Impact and Capacity Development on Agriculture and Nutrition (GODIVAN) scheme; a Department for International Development (DFID) project, implemented under a joint venture of international partners with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency as facilitated by Local Development Research Institute (LDRI).


Remmy Nweke in Nairobi, Kenya/ED, Ops

 

 
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Pix: Research Analyst, Gro Intelligence Kenya, Antal Neville, Executive Assistant at Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) Ms Wangui Muriu, chief executive officer, African Media Initiative (AMI) Mr. Eric Chinje, Project coordinator-Global Open Data for Impact and Capacity Development in Agriculture & Nutrition (GODIVAN ) at Centre for Technical Agriculture (CTA-EU) , Ms Isaura Lopes Ramos, Executive Director, LDRI, Mr. Muchiri Nyaggah and LDRI director, Mr. Stephen Nyumba at the open data training for CAADP journalists in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Experience Sharing on ICT4Ag

28 June until 1 July 2016. Wageningen, the Netherlands.This CTA workshop was to help document the experiences across the seven activities for cross-border and cross-sectoral learning and exchange across ACP countries.

Five grants were awarded following a call in 2015 and the activities have been implemented between August 2015 and October 2015 in Antigua, Belize, Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, and Sudan.

The granted organisations were:
  • eLEAF Competence Centre, a Netherlands-based high-tech company that uses reliable, quantitative data on water and vegetation coverage to support sustainable water use, increase food production and provide environmental protection systems, will be scaling up its satellite-based information services at the Gezira Irrigation Dam in Sudan to provide targeted delivery of extension services to farmers. Read more.
  • RONGEAD, a France-based international network system made up of NGOs, technical specialists, international institutions and businesses that provides market information services, will use the grant to improve its current initiative and scale it up through market analysis, training and capacity building, provision of information and advice and delivery of a business intelligence service to improve the competitiveness, profitability and ability of smallholder farmers to manage business risks in food chains in West Africa. Learn more.
  • Syecomp Business Services, a private-sector provider of geographic information system (GIS) services based in Ghana, will use its grant to develop a proof of concept and explore business models for the adoption of geospatial technology (GIS/global positioning system applications), dissemination of agro climatic information and mFarm actor-chain interactions in Ghana.Read more.
  • The University of West Indies, a public-sector research institute located in Trinidad and Tobago, will use its grant to extend and scale up an existing suite of web and mobile applications (mFisheries) for small-scale fisheries. It will also explore a novel co-management delivery model for ICTs amongst various agents in the small scale fisheries ecosystem in the Caribbean. Read more.
  • Yam Pukri, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Burkina Faso, will use the grant to improve the monitoring and implementation of agricultural policies using ICTs, thereby empowering smallholder farmers to contribute to the agricultural and rural development policy processes. Read more.
In 2015, CTA followed up with a second activity that targets mobile applications in specific as a result of the ubiquitous nature of the mobile technology in almost every household, particularly in developing regions, such as Africa. Two mobile applications were chosen for this proof-of-concept activity:
  • Farmerline Ltd. Farmerline has a mobile-web based application that communicates timely and relevant agricultural information (such as weather alerts, best farm practices, financial tips, market prices and market access) to farmers. Its challenge lies in ensuring mobile app users are fully capable of using and benefiting from the functions of the app. Read more.
  • Ensibuuko. It is an early start-up technology enterprise that facilitates development solutions geared to increasing access to finance and information services to smallholder farmers. With its core banking and information platform, “Mobile Banking Information Systems” (MOBIS), Ensibuuko seeks to increase access and efficiency to financial services and information to both the rural financial institutions and farmers. Ensibuuko won the first ‘Hackathon’ organised by CTA during the ICT4Ag Conference 2013. Their main goal for the Apps4AgLO was to build capacity of target users to ensure successful adoption and use of MOBIS platform to improve agricultural productivity. Read more.
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The Livestock Development Strategy for Africa

14 June 2016. Kigali. Staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) helped organize a side event during the 7th Africa Agriculture Science Week on ‘How research is contributing to Livestock Development Strategy for Africa (LiDESA)’.

The side event showcased contributions by projects under the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish and their local partners in four East and Southern Africa countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Swaziland) to the LiDESA objectives, which include:
  • Attracting public and private investments along the different livestock values chains
  • Enhancing animal health and increasing the production, productivity and resilience of livestock systems
  • Enhancing innovation, generation and utilization of technologies, capacities and entrepreneurship skills of livestock value chain actors
  • Enhancing access to livestock markets, services and value addition
By 2050, milk consumption is likely to triple in East Africa, while consumption of monogastric foods (pork, poultry meat and eggs) will increase at least four-fold. Replacing Africa’s current 90% of locally produced livestock commodities with imports from outside Africa is unfeasible and unaffordable. Among the challenges facing Africa’s livestock sector are deficiencies of one kind or another in the following areas:
  • livestock breeds, productivity, health systems, disease control
  • land, feed and water resources and measures to reduce environmental harm
  • input supplies and service delivery for animal agriculture
  • livestock value addition
  • livestock market information and market infrastructure
  • competitiveness of African livestock products
  • meeting sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards
  • policy, legislative and institutional frameworks impinging on the livestock sector
  • capacity in livestock research and development
Discussions at this AASW7 side event by these pan-African livestock R&D organizations (AU-IBAR and FARA, ILRI, ICARDA and CIAT) and the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), which implements Rwanda’s national policy on agriculture and animal husbandry to deliver research and extension services, capacity development and partnerships—focused on how the national and international agricultural research systems could collaborate better.

A wrap-up session summarized the following key gaps and opportunities.
  1. Partnerships are key to achieve our goals and have impact on the ground. National partners should be involved in strategic aspects of projects and programs right from the inception phase so that they are part and parcel of the strategic agenda rather than looped in only at the implementation phases of the work, as is currently common.
  2. Science alone is not enough to bring about the transformational change we envisage. We need to strengthen country systems, particularly implementation by line ministries.
  3. Livestock research should also address the environmental footprints associated with livestock production, such as greenhouse gas emissions.
  4. Research on regional livestock trade issues, which are often ignored, should be strengthened because these aspects are important in resolving non-tariff barriers that hinder regional and cross-border trade.
The plenary recommended that:
  • LiDESA set up a platform for stakeholders from the 54 member states
  • FARA backstop the platform as a key science partner and work with the platform to make a case for larger investments in the livestock sector
  • FARA strengthen its livestock agenda and raise the visibility of this agenda within FARA-organized events
  • The relevance of livestock research be validated to ensure it is driven by the needs of target communities and their objectives.
View posters from this event:
Background
The Livestock Development Strategy for Africa (LiDESA) has the the goal ‘to transform the African livestock sector for enhanced contribution to socio-economic development and equitable growth’.

Five continental agencies that can help meet the LiDESA objectives are AU-IBAR, which is championing the LiDESA strategy in line with its role to support and coordinate livestock use; the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), which is responsible for coordinating and advocating agricultural research-for-development; and three CGIAR centres—ILRI, which works for better lives through livestock; the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which promotes sustainable livestock development in the dry areas; and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which works to improve tropical forages for better livestock feeding.
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The Vital Role of Adapted and Resilient Pastoral Systems

1 July 2016. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop on Policy Dialogue and Strengthening of the capacity of pastoralists’ networks and organizations reaffirmed the vital role of adapted and resilient pastoral systems in the face of climate change. The three-day gathering workshop was organized by the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (AUC/DREA), through Pastoralism Division, under the theme: “Resilience and adaptation to drought conditions and pastoralists systems in Africa”. It was attended by various experts and actors, namely representatives of the AUC, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), pastoralist organisations, Farmers’ Organizations, National Governments and Civil Society Organizations.

The main objective of the workshop was to understand the mechanism for assessing and predicting risks, monitoring and early warning in pastoralists’ regions. The workshop provided the opportunity for the creation of platform for exchanges, dialogues and cooperation among African pastoralist organizations and networks which would facilitate the management, sharing and dissemination of knowledge and best practices of pastoralism.

Delivering the opening remarks on the behalf of AUC, Dr Ahmed ELMEKASS, underlined the importance of pastoralism despite the vulnerability of pastoralists and hence the need for promotion of sustainable pastoralism to take the place it deserves in the debate on development of natural resource management strategies.
“Some of the critical elements necessary to strengthen the capacity of pastoralists include livestock development, policy and governance, gender balanced development, equitable resource tenure, access to social services in addition to efficient resource use”. Mr. Djibo Bagna, Head of Board of the network of peasant organizations and producers in West Africa (ROPPA) 
After three days of intensive sessions, strong recommendations have been formulated to key targets. The role of the African Union Commission in addressing the plight of pastoralists through the preparation of the Policy Framework for Pastoralism was acknowledged. Also African governments were called on to support the implementation of the Policy Framework by committing adequate resources as well as developing suitable policies and laws to enhance cross border livestock mobility that would go a long way to boost food security and nutrition.

As key messages, the workshop noted the need for concerted actions aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change including technical preventive measures and aspects of socio-economic interventions to ease the vulnerability of populations inhabiting arid and semi-arid zones to ensure resilience and adaptation to drought conditions and pastoral systems in Africa.

Delegates noted pastoralism as a business that is a continuum along the demand and supply value chains that would benefit from investment in public infrastructure and provision of basic services to the pastoral communities. Delegates underscored the need for a robust advocacy campaign with solid and scientific evidence, capacity building, favorable policies, structured investments and technological innovations to make pastoralism an attractive venture for women and youth as well as for financial support through credits. The workshop recognized the sensitive land tenure systems within Member States which affect transformation towards sustainable pastoralism in arid and semi-arid zones.

A key recommendation of the workshop was that AUC, in collaboration with RECs, should provide the needed support to cascade the AUC policy framework on Pastoralism in Africa in the New Generation of Regional Agriculture Investment Plans (RAIPs)/National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) under theComprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

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