FAO receives US ratification instrument against rogue fishing



The office of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has received the ratification instrument against rogue fishing from the United States (US), reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, industry watchers say adds momentum to global efforts targeting illegal fishing by adhering to a FAO-brokered international pact.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations agencies in Rome, David Lane, who formally presented FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva with the US' instrument of ratification of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, said, FAO is a strong partner in the promotion of sustainable fisheries, and US looks forward to continuing to collaborate with the organisation and the entire global community in the fight against illegal fishing.

FAO Director-General appreciated US for its partnership on such an important issue, adding that combatting illegal fishing is a crucial goal not only for small island developing states, but also for major countries like the US.

NaijaAgroNet reports that the Agreement comes into force when 25 countries or regional economic blocs have deposited their instrument of adherence with the FAO Director-General. 

To date 22 instruments of adherence have been deposited by 21 countries, and the European Union on behalf of its members. Among the latest are Barbados, Republic of Korea and South Africa.

Graziano da Silva told Ambassador Lane that several other countries have expressed a willingness to become party to the Agreement and that the target of 25 could be reached by July this year.

 +Naija AgroNet
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InfoPoint lunch-time conference – Hunger and Food Security

14 March 2016. Brussels. DevCo External Cooperation InfoPoint. An overview of the situation of food and nutrition security in the world was presented. Special emphasis was given to the current situation of El Niño, current droughts in Africa South of the Sahara, and potential policies that need to be put in place in the future to minimize these and associated risks.
  • Introduction: Jean-Pierre Halkin, Head of Unit - DEVCO C1- Rural development, Food security, Nutrition
  • Presentation: Maximo Torrero, Director, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
Maximo Torero, points out that 31% of the food calories exported from African countries went to other African countries in the mid-2000s—a low proportion, but an improvement on the 14% rate ten years earlier.


Related
12 March 2016. The Economist. Farming in Africa. Miracle grow.
After many wasted years, African agriculture is improving quickly. Here is how to keep that trend going  | From the print edition

SOMETIMES it seems as though Adam’s curse, which promises mankind a harvest of thorns and thistles, applies only to African farmers. The southern part of the continent is in the teeth of a drought, which has been blamed on El Niño.

The weather has been even worse in northern Ethiopia, where crops are shrivelling and cows are dying. But droughts, unlike biblical curses, end eventually. El Niño does not change the fundamental, remarkable fact about farming in sub-Saharan Africa: it is rapidly getting better.


The post-war green revolution that transformed Asia seemed to have bypassed Africa. But between 2000 and 2014 grain production tripled in countries as far-flung as Ethiopia, Mali and Zambia. Rwanda did even better (see article African agriculture. A green evolution). Farming remains precarious in a continent with variable weather and little irrigated land. But when disaster hits, farmers nowadays have a bigger cushion.


Related:
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development.
Nkonya, E., Mirzabeaev, A. and vonBraun, J. Eds. 2016.
Springer Intl. Pub. -Open. 695p.

This book on Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement provides with valuable knowledge and information both at the global, regional, and national levels on the costs of land degradation and benefits of taking action against land degradation.

A key advantage of this book is that it goes beyond the conventional market values of only crop and livestock products lost due to land degradation, but seeks to capture all major terrestrial losses of ecosystem services. Twelve carefully selected national case studies provide rich information about various local contexts of cost of land degradation as evaluated by local communities, drivers of land degradation, and amenable strategies for sustainable land management.

Extracts:


Economics of Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Ethiopia
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Kenya
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Niger
Cost, Drivers and Action Against Land Degradation in Senegal
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Tanzania and Malawi
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Nigeria, Zambia, 3 others selected as AU disease control centers



 


Five countries including Nigeria, Zambia Gabon, Kenya and Egypt, have been selected as sub-regional disease control centres by the Africa Union (AU), reports NaijaAgroNet.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the Director, Social Affairs, African Union Commission (AUC), Mr. Olawale Maiyegun, as saying at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, weekend, that these designated centres represent a cluster of regional collaborating centres for AU on disease related control efforts.

He explained that these countries have a coordinating office within the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia based on laid down criteria which was approved last year, 2015 under the Article 26 of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) statutes.

“We are in Nigeria and our aim is to determine if the National Centres for Disease Control, which serves as centre for disease control in West Africa, meets the criteria that are contained in the statutes. We are not comparing the countries with each other rather we are evaluating and assessing them to ensure they meet every criteria.”

He stressed AU expectation on its mandate through government commitment, human resources, infrastructure and funding.

Maiyegun further commended efforts of the current Nigerian government toward the CDC concept fulfillment.

Isaac Oyimah with agency report/GEE
 

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Anambra rice set for formal launch

NaijaAgroNet:The Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture has unveiled plans to standardize the process for Anambra rice and introduced the Anambra State Rice Brand Seal to the farmers, reports NaijaAgroNet. The Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture...
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PermSecs reiterate commitment to accelerate agriculture in Africa

The second retreat for the Permanent Secretaries ended in the city of Accra, Ghana with reiteration to accelerate agricultural transformation across the continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The retreat, NaijaAgroNet also reports was aimed at accelerating the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) to transform agriculture in Africa, assembled over 100 participants including Permanent Secretaries and CAADP Focal persons of Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, Livestock and Aquaculture and the Regional Economic Communities. 

Declaring open the expert gathering convened by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the NEPAD Agency in Accra, the Ghanaian Minister for Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed-Munira Limuna noted that even though the agricultural sector is faced with numerous challenges such as low uptake of modern technologies, depleting natural resources especially water and climate change negative impacts, solutions that could be adopted to counter them at national level should be sought and implemented.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the retreat provided space for Permanent Secretaries to reflect on several thematic and policy factors, especially on the El Nino and implications on agricultural transformation and food security; Trade and industrialization drive and implications for agriculture; and Land tenure systems and trends and implications for the Malabo commitments.

They also focused on validating the revised Country CAADP Implementation Guidelines.  This includes modalities for monitoring and evaluation, reporting and accountability including operationalisation of the African Union Biennial CAADP Review Cycle.  Country perspectives were also sought on CAADP-Malabo Financing Architecture; technical networks arrangement to mobilise and make accessible expert support arrangements, and; revising the CAADP partnership architecture. 

NEPAD’s Head of Programme Development, Mr. Martin Bwalya told participants that the outcomes of the meeting will clarify the necessary measures needed to achieve the CAADP Malabo Declaration targets for results and impact in agriculture, food security and nutrition.

While the AUC Director for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Dr. Janet Edeme, reiterated one of the critical objectives of meeting as being “The review of progress in implementing CAADP and the guidelines developed to help guide countries in implementation.” 

NaijaAgroNet recalls that permanent secretaries are the primary custodians of government policy and practice.  They are also the overall accounting officers in their government ministries, thus putting their offices and mandates at the centre in driving institutional reforms and overall transformation in national development goals.
  
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