46
V. . . . . . . lIOfrGAy. MARCH 5. 2012
Agric
Fin an ci a IVanguard BRIEFS Kogt to establisb farm settJe..
meots in 21 I..Gs Kogt State's Deputy Governor; CbJef \btoi Awonl)'l. has disclosed that the stale Is taIl-
mg st~ 10 establish 1arm settlements m tts 2 1 kJcaI gOYem-
..-. He made the disclosure m
lokoja wbJle rec~ving the countIy Director of the Abicrut DevdopIuent.Bank WOB), Dr Dave Osmane. He noted lbat the state was blessed ..nth vast agricultural land and local and foregn im-eston to rome and take advantage of the natural re-
"'"""'. Aworu}, satd Utat tbe farm
settlements lx.'Catne necessary to booIt food production and create employment 10f the teemmg YOUUII. He sa.td that the proJect, when operntwool, would also serve &I a SOU~ of raw matenals for agm-allicd LOduslnes 10 Utestate 8.ml Ute oeighbourmg commuruties. Accordwy to him, local government COWJcils in the state will be l!'IlCOUfiIged to develop crops such as cassano cocoa. nee and sorghum, which researchers had
By JIMOH BABATUN DE willi agency reports
A S food enslS unfolds m J-\west Ainca's Sahel regton, some of the world's leading experts: in agricultun! markets lay the tune IS npe to conlJ'Oot the ~substanual mefficiencies~ in trade policy, transportation, information services, credit. crop storage! and other market challenges that leave Afncans particularly vulnerable to food -re.latl!d proble!ms - We can't conlrollhe! weaUter or international commodiltes speculators, but there! are many Ulings we can do to unprove market condJltons m Afnca that wt.U increase food availability and belp stabilize food prices across the conllnent. - latd Anne Mbaabu,
Africa's food crisis: Experts advocate linking fanners to markets daectorof the Market Access Program at the Alliance for a Green Revolullon tn Alnca tAGRA}, wluch has mvested US$JO million over the hut four years to tmprove market opportunities for Africa's smallholder fanners. AGRA and the Nairobi basl!d International Uvestock ResNKh Insl1tute (IUU) have Just released a book that fea tures a range of studies that coUecuvely make II compelLing argument for embracing agnculture-onented market unprovements as crucut1 to not only avotdtng future food en· ses but also for establlshlng a firm foundallon for rural de-
said would grow wel1m different parts: 0( the stale.
FG to establish staple crops processing zones - Millister THE Federal GovernlDent's plans to establish stap1e crop processiny zones m the sa: geo--polilical woes of Ule country, saf5 Dr Akinwwuni Adesina. the MInister or Agnculture and Rwa1
[)evdopmcnl. AdesiQa disclosed this d wmg an interactive sessioQ w tlb tlK' Commissioners for Agncu1ture lrom the 36 stales aOO ~ Secretary for
Agricullwe. He added that the project would comaleuce before the eod of this fI!aL Adesina said that the Protect
a'
was alm~ reducing the high 1~'eI post· harvest losses .00 a:1d value to local content in foods. among other
--
Hesaidlhatgcwemmenl had evolved variuus policies ranging bom &as. broatr.s on importation of agncultwaJ processing eqtnpmenl aIXIlCa holiday for food processors, for easy iroplemenlat ton of the proiect.. H e added that Ule ministry bad entrrod into agreement with various ministnes to support the pn¥d with I.nbastructure
sue ll
as
power,
road. wat.,. and cargo airports.
velopmenl and economtc growth.
Its publication comes as tn ternaltonal atd groups are rustung assistance to Niger and other nations of the African SabeI---a narrow bulloog beJt of arid land south of the Sahara that s tretches across the continent- where a com bination of high food prices and poor weather has left some 14 million people without enough to eaL The food problems In the Sabel are em~gmg Just as Afncan governments and aid groups say they have slabilized a food crisIS in the Hom of Afnca that at its peat 1n Somalia had left 58 perce:nt of children un der the age of nve acutely malnounshed. But while volatility in international com modities markets is being widely cited as a major cause of the food shortages in the Sahel. there is growing evt· dence that at least some of the food pnce fluctuation in Afnca is caused by domestic
gtonal Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System for Eastern and Cenllal Aln · ca (ReSAKSS-ECA) at I.LR.I, and coUeagues at the Associ · ation for Strengthcrung Agn · cultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)-examining food pnce volatility in Eastern Africa suggeslJl domestic factors are playlOg a role lIS wdl The researchers found that over the last few years, even when global prices have receded, domestic pnces in the regton have remillDed tugh. For e:a:ample, whlle global matZe pnces declJ.oed by 12 percent in the last quarter of 2008, In Kenya. Thnzarua. EtbJ0pla, Zambia and Rwanda, they mcreased The study finds food pnce volaUltty 10 these counlnes IS alleas' partly due to bamers and poUoes lmpedmg the now of food among markets LD the region and between the region and global markets -We need to coDStder what can be done Wtlh.in Alnca to red uce our vulnerability to food -re.lated problems, - said lLRl's lnterim Deputy Otrector General for Research SIeve SlaaI. an agricultllI1l1 economist with expertise in smallholder fanning systems.
Fanners will witness bountiful harvest in 2012 - NIMET
fact....
Recent rese&rCb-led by J oseph Karu gill., Coordinator of the Re-
CBARDP coordinator urges Adamawa Govt. to pay counterpart funding ~'I E
Community-Based
~ Agnculture and Rural
Development Programme (CBARDP) has urg ed the Adamawa StateGoyernment to pay up Its counterpllrt contribuhon to factlttate the s mooth implementation of U~ programme..
Albaji M ustala Raji. the State
Programme C oordinator, made the call at the inauguration of the 2012 AgnculturaJ Edllbition In Mubi recently. WIam appealing to Ute slale and local governments to redeem thetr N20 million ltIId N60 million ..."","""". bemg outstanding counterpart funds to consolidate the performance of Ute ProJect.He llsted the partiopating local government coWlOls to
tnc1ude Madagli, Maiha, Oe.msa, Gerl!1, Hong, Mubi South. Jada and 1bngo. I-ludded that the prGJCCl was auned at reduong poverty and unproving the livelihoods of nuaI (amers.
AccordIng to tum, the programme has e:s.ecuted vanous agrlcuJture lind community developmf!:nt projects across the rune participating kx:aI goventmenls in the Ifst fiveyC/US. RaJt added lhat the project had also distributed farming inputs and hand pumps to fa.rtnes and f!:lIlbartr.ed on construction 0154 Ian 01 acass road in VlUlOU!I fannIng commwuties across the state.. TIle coordinator said that the
exhibition was designed to showcase varietJes of agncul-
twaJ produce and eu:bange of kIeos to eocourage agticulturaJ
actiVIty. "This forum will serve as a useful medium lor the 0 change of tedmoloyies to txJt.t agricultural production. .. In a remark, U~ Acting Ad ministralol; Mubt South Local
Coun cil Area , Mr Simon lbmpeyo. pledged tbecouncil's support to the programme to enable more communities to participate in the programme. Some of theitcms on display included cereal crops, livestock.. fisheries and poultIy as well as fanning tools.. Adamawa is one of the IeY'eD northern states participating In tlle tr-Al)..assisted program.me with the states and kIcal gavcrnmenII COOlribUliug counterpartlwxls
ilE Nlgenan Meteoro IogKal Ag.ncy (NIMEI1 has predtcted that fanners would witness bouuWul haIW5l
T
this year.
Dr An t hony Anuforom , NIMET Director-General, made the predictioo during the presentation of 20 12 SMsonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) and 201 1 NigeriaOimateReview. 1-1 e attributed his prediction to the normal filUlfall pattern that Is being e:a:pe.rienced across the country. '"The heavy ratoIalI aIXI Oooding in parts of the country last year, obVIously took toll on lOme economic dcvdopment progr.unmes. -Out this year. W!! are gotng to hilve normal rainJall pattern and this is going to manifest in bountiful agricu.lt ural production. - Anuforom recalled that the agricultural sector ea:perieuced losses in 20 11 due to Ule ea:cessive rainiall. 0120 11.
-we are bappy to report that those Ioues were DllDinUsed in states where government uti· lised predictions by NlMEtw be said_