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FAO wants inclusion of women traders in AfCFTA

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for the inclusion of women traders in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Mr Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, FAO, made the call in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.

Haile-Gabriel said women were crucial to Africa’s agricultural development as they had continued to play crucial role in agriculture in the region.

He stated that women had contributed significantly to food production, processing and marketing, food security and nutrition, natural resources management and conservation of biodiversity even in the face of climate change.

He stressed that in recognition of women’s roles, the 2022 International Women’s Day theme would focus on the importance of gender equality for sustainability.

He added that women in Africa had operated agric-food value chains and were producers, traders and agriculture entrepreneurs who should benefit greatly from the new opportunities presented by the AfCFTA.

Haile-Gabriel stated also that some of the benefits women could reap by trading under the AfCFTA included moving up the value chain and leveraging on networks of women’s associations.

Others include upgrading their businesses, tapping into new markets and exploiting investment opportunities, he added.

The FAO official stated that 85 per cent of economic activities in the informal sector in Africa were currently carried out by women who accounted for nearly 90 per cent of the labour force.

“At least 30 per cent to 40 per cent of total intra-regional trade in the region is composed of informal cross-border trade.

“The overwhelming majority of about 60 per cent to 70 per cent is accounted for by women who are owners of mainly micro, small and medium enterprises,’’ he stated.

He noted that FAO had championed gender equality and women’s empowerment for a sustainable tomorrow, stressing that FAO would work with all partners to ensure the ambition was embodied in the rollout of the AfCFTA.

Haile-Gabriel assured that the gender team at FAO’s Regional Office for Africa was undertaking studies, collaborations and field activities to understand and share the gender dimension of Africa’s trade environment.

These, he stated, would to support gender integration in the rollout of the AfCFTA.

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Global food prices rose ‘sharply’ in 2021 – FAO

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Thursday said that the UN’s benchmark food and commodity prices index rose sharply on average through 2021, compared with the previous year.

The agency’s Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices, averaged 125.7 points – a 28.1 per cent increase over 2020.

FAO Senior Economist Abdolreza Abbassian explained that, normally, high prices were expected to ease as production increases to match demand.

This time, however, the consistently high cost of inputs, the ongoing global pandemic and ever more volatile climatic conditions “leave little room for optimism about a return to more stable market conditions even in 2022.”

At the end of the year, world food prices fell slightly, as international prices for vegetable oils and sugar fell significantly, the data shows.

The Food Price Index averaged 133.7 points, a 0.9 per cent decline from November, but was still up 23.1 per cent from the same month the year before. Only dairy posted a rise that month.

The Cereal Price Index also decreased 0.6 per cent; for the full year, however, it reached its highest annual level since 2012, rising 27.2 per cent.

Biggest gainers were maize, up 44.1 per cent, and wheat, gaining 31.3 per cent. One of the world’s other key staple foods, rice, lost four per cent.

The Vegetable Oil Price Index declined 3.3 per cent in December, due to lower global import demand, that may be linked to concerns over the impact of rising COVID-19 cases, which have led to delays in the supply chain.

For the year as a whole, the Oil Index reached an all-time high, increasing 65.8 per cent compared with 2020.

Another key staple, sugar, dropped by 3.1 per cent last month from November, reaching a five-month low.

FAO analysts said this shows concerns over the impact of the Omicron variant on global demand as well as a weaker Brazilian Real, combined with lower ethanol prices.

For the year as a whole, the Sugar Price Index rose 29.8 per cent, reaching its highest level since 2016.

The Meat Price Index was “broadly stable” in December, but rose 12.7 per cent through the year as a whole.

Dairy was the only category where prices increased in the last month of the year, rising 1.8 per cent on November, mostly because of lower milk production in Western Europe and Oceania.

Cheese prices declined marginally last month, but for the year overall, the Dairy Price Index averaged 16.9 per cent higher than 2020.

FAO

FAO warns 12m people face hunger due to insecurity, Covid-19

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in October 2021 food security and nutrition analysis conducted in 20 states says about 12 million people in Nigeria are faced with hunger due to Insecurity and Covid-19.

Mr David Tsokar, the communication officer of FAO, said  on Friday in Abuja that about 19 percent of affected households are in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States because of the ongoing conflict in the northeast and the lingering economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

” The October 2021 food security and nutrition analysis – known as the Cadre Harmonise conducted in 20 states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has revealed that approximately12.1 million people are expected to be in food insecurity crisis or worse through December this year.

“The analysis involved 154 ,008 ,198 people, out of whom 12, 135, 318 in the participating 20 states plus the FCT are currently experiencing Crisis and Emergency phases of food insecurity.’’

The report’s provisional results was released in Abuja  that the number of people in critical or worse phases of food insecurity may increase to about 16.9 million unless efforts are made to scale up and sustain humanitarian support and other government interventions for livelihood recovery and resilience.

Crisis level was described as a stage at which, even with humanitarian aid, at least one out of five households in the target area was characterized with considerable food consumption deficits and acute malnutrition at high or higher rates than the normal.

It also stands for a situation in which households are marginally able to meet their minimum food needs by depleting assets related to livelihoods, leading to deficits in food consumption.

The states analysed in the current Cadre Harmonise round include Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The analysis estimates that in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, which are the most affected by the prolonged armed conflict, 2.4 million people are currently in the Crisis phase or worse and need urgent assistance.

These include an estimated 228 707 people in the Emergence phase wherein, even with humanitarian aid, at least one out of five households is either facing extreme food deficits, resulting in a very high acute malnutrition or excessive mortality, or an extreme loss of assets relating to livelihoods, causing deficits in food consumption in the short term.

This number was projected to increase to 3.5 million at the peak of the 2022 lean season between June and August, with the number of people anticipated to be in the Emergency phase’ doubling to 459,847.

Another 13, 551 people are anticipated to experience catastrophe-like conditions in some of the most inaccessible localities, if access to life-saving and livelihood support interventions are not sufficiently scaled up.

According to the statement insecurity  in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states and banditry in some north-west states and the north-central states  is the main driver of the prevailing food insecurity.

“And high inflation rates have resulted in soaring food commodity prices, partly attributable to the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic downturn.”

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Desert locust invasion can disrupt food security- FAO

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that the desert locust which is the world’s largest mitigatory crop pest is capable of leading millions of people into food insecurity if left unchecked.

It said the menace of diseases and pests in West Africa is clearly evident in the considerable annual losses of up to 25 per cent of animal production and as high as 40 per cent of plant production.

FAO Representative in Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Fred Kafeero, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja.

He was speaking at the opening session of the capacity building workshop for competent authorities at National level on the best practices for the anticipation and control of desert locust invasion in West Africa and the Sahel Sub-Region.

Kafeero, who was represented by the Assistant FAO Representative programme, Abubakar Suleiman, said the FAO would ensure implementation of anticipatory and early actions, provide technical assistance to countries and strengthen regional coordination to check the menace of the pest.

According to him, FAO places importance on supporting government efforts at enhancing disaster risk reduction and resilience building in line with its country programing network.

He said FAO would fight against locusts by encouraging ”no regrets” investments to strengthen countries’ preparedness and anticipatory action to safeguard the livelihood of their people.

“This will contribute to saving the livelihoods of the affected populations and increasing their resilience to the desert locust invasion.

“It is in view of implementation of this anticipatory and early actions that a technical cooperation project titled “Capacity building of ECOWAS in prevention, surveillance and control of the desert locust.

“As well that the analysis of its impact on Food security and nutrition in the Sahel during the COVID-19 pandemic’ has been developed to be implemented with the support of FAO in collaboration with the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development, ECOWAS Commission.

“The project is to provide technical assistance and build and strengthen the locust surveillance and control capacity of targeted countries including Cameroon, Gambia and Nigeria in the area of preparedness and anticipatory actions to prevent the desert locust invasion,” he said.

In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, said the need for Nigeria and its neighbours within the African continent to join efforts toward the survey and management of such pests was imperative. Abubakar, who was represented by the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr Olaniran Alabi, said the training would go a long way in strengthening the capacity of field staff in responding to invasion by any transboundary pests

FAO

FAO provides Nigeria with $350,000 irrigation fund  

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Nigeria has received a $350,000 assistance from Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to promote irrigation schemes.  

The assistance is provided on the platform of FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).  

The Country Representative of FAO, Mr. Fred Kafeero, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.  

He said the gesture aimed to strengthen sustainable and inclusive food and agriculture systems in the country.  

He said as a specialised agency of the United Nations, FAO had the mandate to ensure food security and nutrition in all its member countries across the world through sustainable management of natural resources including water.  

Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface.  

Kafeero said the FAO remained committed to supporting the country’s economic diversification agenda and promotion of decent employment for youth and women in the agricultural value chain.  

He said by championing the implementation of Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), the UN underscore the the importance of water availability and access in ensuring food security and nutrition among other benefits.  

The FAO country director, however, expressed hope that through the implementation of the TCP, Nigeria would be able to strengthen its agriculture and food systems by making them sustainable and inclusive while at the same time ensuring improved health and livelihoods.  

He commended the ministry for leading in the formulation and implementation of the Water Resources Policy and championing irrigated agriculture for food security adding that this contributes significantly to the socio-economic development in the country.  

He said,”We believe this will bring more youths, smallholder farmers and other vulnerable groups to engage in the production of high value crops through the utilisation of cheaper and simpler food production technologies all year round.”  

However, responding to the gesture, Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu, commended the organisation adding that the  

cooperation was key to achieving its ministerial mandate of completing all priority ongoing irrigation and dam projects.  

FAO

120,000 households benefit from FAO’s livelihood support in Borno

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Borno Government has said that about 120,000 households affected by insurgency, benefitted from a three-year livelihood support by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), funded by the European Union (EU).
The state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, made this known on Tuesday in Maiduguri while speaking at the occasion to celebrate the programme, titled “Restoring and promoting sustainable agriculture-based livelihoods for food security, employment, and nutrition improvement in Borno state”, organized by the FAO.
Kadafur said the programme has enhanced food security for benefitting households in the 13 Local Government Area.
He expressed the state government’s appreciation to EU, FAO and other implementing partners like UN Women and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for sustaining support to agriculture in the state and assured them of sustainable government collaboration.
In a speech, the Borno Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Bukar Talba, also lauded the intervention which he said impacted positively on beneficiaries who are mostly Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and host communities.
In his remarks, the Country Representative of FAO in Nigeria, Mr Red Kafeero, said the project to enhance food security and strengthen resilience among conflict-affect households in Borno started in 2018 and is funded by EU through the European Trust Fund (EU-TF) for Africa and implemented by FAO, UN Women and the WFP.
“After three years of successful implementation, we thought it is now time that we reflect on the journey so far by looking at the achievements we have managed to record on the ground and the challenges we met along the way.
“This way, we may come up with a successful plan for sustaining the results for bigger impact and reach.
“This project has managed to transform the lives of people in thousands of households in the state through crop production, livestock restocking, agri-business development, safe access to fuel and energy, irrigation, among others.
“With relative stability, many people are now settling down again in their homelands. Someone who was not able to afford a meal while in the camps for the internally displaced people (IDPs), is now able to grow enough food for his family and sell the surplus to get money for catering for other family’s necessities,” Kafeero said.
In her remarks, the UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Comfort Lamptey, lauded the Borno government for leading and guiding them to ensure that the impact of the project was maximized for the benefit of communities in all the targeted LGAs.
“Permit me to take this opportunity to also thank our funding partner the European Union for their solid support to recovery and resilience of conflict affected population in Borno State, and strong leadership and commitment to women empowerment within this framework.
“Since 2018 when UN Women established a sub-office in Borno State, we have been working with all key stakeholders to design and implement interventions that focuses on protection and empowerment of women and girls and building their resilience through livelihood opportunities, capacity building in leadership and participation in decision making structures.
“As part of a broader package of UN initiatives to support the Borno state Government in its efforts to implement recovery programmes to build resilience of conflict-affected populations, the EUTF project has by all accounts succeed in doing so.
“This is evident from testimonies of beneficiaries, and from highlights shared by both FAO and WFP. Working closely with FAO, WFP and our implementing partners, UN Women has for example through the EUTF project worked to ensure that over 1,000 women smallholder farmers have gained knowledge in cooperative management, entrepreneurship, and financial management and are expanding their agric-based businesses,” Lamptey said.
She explained that the women were now established into 40 women only cooperative groups and have been supported to gain financial inclusion through linkage to financial institutions.

FAO

FAO moves to transform agri-food system

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) says it will transform agric-food system in line with the 2030 agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

QU Dongyu, the FAO Director-General, said this in a statement issued to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that FAO had entered a new era with new structure and dynamics, stressing that there was need to change the agri-food systems urgently and holistically.

He said that the transformation required a systemic approach and collective action by producers, distributors and consumers, together with governments, private sector, academia and civil society.

He said that the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit would address all these through the FAO.

“We are going to achieve this together with all our partners, through the new FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031.

He said, “The action of each and every one of us has an impact on the future of our planet through our agri-food systems.

“The summit is timely. After decades of decline, the number of hungry people has been growing for the past five years, now amounting to as many as 811 million people.”

The director-general also identified obesity and other non-communicable diseases were ever-growing global problems associated with insufficiently diversified healthy diets and consumption patterns.

He said that many of the current agric-food practices were putting a heavy toll on the planet, stating that the agri-food systems were not functioning properly.

He said that as the leading international organisation in the field, FAO had been advocating for and supporting agri-food systems transformation.

“The agri-food system covers the journey of food from tillage to table – from when it is planted, grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, distributed, traded, bought, prepared, eaten and disposed of, “he said.

He added that it encompassed non-food products such as forestry, animal rearing, use of feedstock, biomass to produce biofuels and fibers.

Dongyu noted that FAO had been at the forefront of supporting the preparation for the important global summit, adding that it was in line with its mandate.

He assured that FAO would be taking the lead to implement follow-up actions after the summit.

FAO

FAO reports fall in global food prices

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  The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has reported prices of global food prices have fallen for the first time in June in 12 months.

FAO’s Food Price Index averaged 124.6 points in June 2021, down 2.5 percent from May, but still 33.9 percent higher than its level in the same period last year.

The decline in June marked the first drop in the Index following twelve consecutive monthly increases.

The Index tracks changes in the international prices of the most globally traded food commodities.

The drop in June reflected declines in the prices of vegetable oils, cereals and, though more moderately, dairy products, which more than offset generally higher meat and sugar quotations.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index fell by 9.8 percent in the month, marking a four-month low.

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FAO supports 65,800 Nigerian households with farm inputs

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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is to support 65,800 households in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states with agricultural inputs for 2021 rainy season intervention.

The FAO Country Representative in Nigeria and to ECOWAS, Mr Fred Kafeero, made this known on Monday in Maiduguri in his speech at the launching of 2021 Rainy Season Intervention in North East.

Kafeero who was represented by Head of FAO North East sub-office, Alhassan Cisse, said 40,000 households to benefit from the support are from Borno State.

“This year, with the support of our generous donors, we are reaching 65,800 households in the three states, 40,000 of whom are in Borno state.

“These farmers will receive wet blended fertilizer and a variety of seeds of crops including vegetables, cereals, and pulses to enable them to engage in agricultural production.

“In a context where the food insecurity is a still big concern, we are convinced that this rainy season intervention will contribute to food availability for the beneficiary households and by extension, their communities,” Kafeero said.

He added that, through the FAO farmer field school approach, the beneficiaries of the intervention would have access to community-based and hands-on extension services which would teach them good agronomic practices to maximize the inputs for optimal yields.

Kafeero said FAO has established over 250 farmer field schools across the three state known as BAY states which has been effective in bridging the gaps created by the disruption of agriculture extension services.

“Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that the food security and livelihood conditions in the BAY states still require sustained humanitarian assistance, especially with the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which reversed recent gains that were achieved.

“The latest CH analysis results projected that over 4 million persons will be in dire need of food assistance in the BAY states between June and August 2021, an increase of about 19 percent from the same period last year.

“In the context of conflict, food production is central to entrenching peace, building resilience, and promoting sustainable development.

“This underscores FAO’s work in the region as we design agriculture-based interventions that seek to build the humanitarian development and peace nexus.

“Therefore, the government, and the development partners must continue to work together to create an atmosphere where smallholder farmers can cultivate their farms for increased food production.

“Such collaboration must prioritize addressing issues including access to farmland, availability of farming inputs, and tailored interventions for women farmers, who are the mainstay of agricultural production in rural areas,” Kafeero said.

He noted that apart from rainy season crop production intervention, FAO agriculture-based livehood programme in north east included dry season agriculture input support, Irrigation support through the construction of boreholes and, distribution of water pumps and drip kits among others.

He commended the support of People and Government of Canada, the European Union Trust Fund for Africa, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden for funding FAO 2021 rainy season intervention.

In his speech read by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Isa Hussaini, Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno lauded FAO for its interventions in some local government areas of the state and urged for expansion of the support to more local government areas.

“I would like to express our profound gratitude for the support the state has received from FAO and hereby launch the distribution of rainy season farming inputs for 2021 as provided by FAO,” Zulum said.

FAO

FAO says plant diseases robs global economy of $220bn

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an agency of the United Nations says plant diseases rob the global economy of more than 220 billion dollars annually.

A study supported by FAO and published on Wednesday,  indicated that 40 per cent of global crop production is currently lost to pests.

The UN agency added that invasive pests cost countries at least 70 billion dollars annually.

The study further said that the invasive pests were one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss.

“Species such as fall armyworm, which feeds on crops that include maize, sorghum, and millet, have already spread due to warmer climate.

“Others, such as desert locusts, which are the world’s most destructive migratory pests, are expected to change their migratory routes and geographical distribution.

“Movements like these threaten food security as a whole, and small holder farmers, as well as people in countries where food security is an issue, are among those especially at risk,” the study said.

Speaking at the launch of the report, FAO, Director-General, Qu Dongyu said preserving plant health was fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Sustaining plant health is an integral part of our work towards more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems,’’ Dongyu said.

The authors of the study found out that climate change was making pests which ravage important agricultural crops even more destructive, heightening threats to global food security and the environment.

The authors outlined several recommendations to mitigate the impact of climate change, starting with stepping up international cooperation, as effective management of plant pests in one country affects success in others.

As half of all emerging plant diseases are spread through travel and trade, improved measures to limit transmission, while adjustments to plant protection policies are also critical.

They also stressed the need for more research, and more investments in strengthening national systems and structures related to plant health.

The scientific review looks at 15 plant pests that have spread or may spread due to climate change.

Risks are increasing, the authors warn, with a single, unusually warm winter capable of providing conditions suitable for insect infestations.

“The review clearly shows that the impact of climate change is one of the greatest challenges the plant health community is facing.”

The study was prepared by Prof. Maria Lodovica at the University of Turin in Italy, along with 10 co-authors from across the globe, under the auspices of the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, which FAO hosts. The report is among the key initiatives of the International Year of Plant Health, which ends in June.

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