Page 42, THIS DAY, Vol 15, No. 5427
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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Holland Envoy: Nigerian Business Environment Not Risky eLherlands Africa Business Council (NABC) has stated that the business and political environment in Nigeria is not fraught with risks as it is often speculated in international community. Managing Director, NABC, Mr. Bob Van Der Bijl who made the staLement in Lagos said the opportuniLies inherenL in Nigeria by far OULweigh the challenges which foreign investors have to face when they operate in the country. Bijl who led a delegation of investors of agribusiness investors from the Netilerlands to Nigeria said having come to terms with the reality on ground in Nigeria, there is no doubt that
N
partnership between the participants and the Nigerian private sector. many investors in ihe delegaHe said that both the tion would take the next step . Nigerian Embassy in the and channel investments into Hague as well as the the fertile agric secLor of the Netherlands Embassy in economy. Abuja and Lagos have "I am very proud of this played a very important suptrade mission since we are porting role. focusing on one of tile most "On the basis of a very promising sectors in Africa well received Nigerian delein general and in Nigeria in gation with many State particular agribusiness," he Governors in June 2009, the said. Dutch government has According to him , the strongly supported our Netilerlands is the world's efforts to get a mission from second largest exporter of the the Netherlands taking off agriCUltural products and is towards Nigeria. ill particuat tile forefront of innovalar, I want to mention the tions in the agribusiness secMinistry of Agriculture and tor. Food Security, that has "I expect that this mission . financed tl,e preparation of will lead to new business this mission.
By Crusoe Osagie
I
He added that on amacrolevel, it is the sincere hope of the delegation that the mission will contribute to a different perception of Nigeria in the Netherlands creating a lot more attention for the opportunities in Nigeria . Managing Director, Fidelity BanK and Chairman Nigeria Netherlands Business Council, Mr. Reginald Jhediahi said that the business council is giving opportunity for Dutch business communities in the Netherlands to understand various opportunities in Nigeria and also exposing the Nigerian business community to the opportunities in the Netherlands in both small and large businesses. He said that tile Dutch
businesses in Nigelia were
We want to also in future
people who are looking to seU farm equipment in Nigeria and looking into investing in the agricultural sector of tlle Nigerian economy. "We have spent a lot of time trying to expose them to the opportunity and how things are done in Nigeria in terms of the quality of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. We have already arranged for a practical workshop to be hosted by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to make them know the plans and policies of the Ministry," he said. ' With this they can be able to make up their mind as to which area of agriculture tiley want to get involved in.
organise similar trade mission to the other sectors of the economy SO that at the end of the day we would be giving the Dutch business community the opportunity in the Netherlands to understand the various opportunities in Nigeria Some of the Netherlands companies in the trade mission to Nigeria include illterfood BV a dairy company with over 40 years experience in the global market; Gea Grasso InLemational established in 1858 and dealing with food processing; Fast Forward Freight service providers and Duyvis Wiener, a machine building company among many others.
How Global Livestock Business.Can Survive, by FAD
U
rgenr investments, major agricultural research
efforts and robust gover-
nance are required to ensure that the world's live-
stock seclor responds to a growing demand for animal products and at the same lime contribuLes to poverty reduction, food security, environmenlal sustainability and human health . Food and Agriculture
Organisation
(FAO) has said . In the new edition of its nagship publication the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), the organisation said that livestock is essential to tile livelihoods of around one billion poor people. "Livestock provides income, high-qualiLY food. fuel, draught power, building material and fertilizer. thus con-
of almost one biUion people. Globally, livestock contribuLes 15 percent oftota! food energy and 25 percent of dietary protein. PnxIucts from livestock provide essenliru micronutrients that are not easily
obtained from otiler planL food products. Rising incomes, population growth and urbanization are the driving forces behind a growing demand for meat products in developing countries-and they will continue to
be important. To meet rising demand, global annual meaL production is expected to
expand from 228 currently to 463 million tonnes by 2050 witil the cattle population estimated to grow from IS bi llion to 2.6 billioq and that of goats and sheep from 1.7 billion to 2.7 billion , according to FAO estimmes.
nutrition . For many smallscale fanners, livestock ruso
Strong demand for animal food products offers significanL opportunities for livestock
provides an important safety
to contribute to economic
Lributing to food security and
nct in times of need", the agency said ..
FAO stressed the need for substantial investments and stronger institutions at global, regional , national and local levels, to ensure that continued
growth of the livestock sector contributes to livelihoods, meets growing consumer demand and mitigates environmental and health concerns. "The rapid transition of the
livestock secLor has been taking place in an institutional void ," said FAG DirectorGeneral Jacques Diouf in the
foreword of the report. He said, "The issue of governance is central. Identifying and
defining the appropriate ro le of government , in its broadest sense, is the cornerstone on which future development of the livestock sec tor must build."
Efforts are needed to ensure thaL this rapidly growing secLor contributes fully to food security and poverty reduction , moving towards a 'more responsible Livestock sector' .
Dioufsaid. ll1e Ii vest"'Ck sector is one of the fast.:S1 growing parts of
the agricultural economy, the FAO report said. Livestock conLributes 40 percent of the global va lue or agricultural production and supportS the
livelihoods and food security
growLh and poverty reduction. But many smallholders are facing several challenges in remaining competitive with larger, more intensive production systems. The report warns that "a widening gulf is emerg-
ing between those who ean take advantage of growing demand for livestock products and those who cannot."
L-R Executive Chairman Lagos Illternal Revenue Services AIr TtllIde Fowler, Gliest.SpeakerjPresidelll In stitute of Directors Nigeria Mr Chike Nwanze, Clrief Host and Managing Director/CEO, Lagos State Signage alld Advertisement Age"cy Mr Makanjuola Alabi. at tire Febrllary2010 rOD Nigeria Members Evening Roulld Table Talk with Lagos State agencies ill Lagos ... weekend PHOTO: Olumide Hammed
African Nations Battle Deadly Banana Diseases
A
new front in the war
against deadly banana
diseases opens thl s month, with seven African countries uniting to
launch a spatial surveillance programme. Nigeria 's
Jpternational
FAO recommended thaL smallholders should be supported in taking advantage of the opportunities provided by
InsLitute for Tropical • Agriculture (UTA), is to lead the programme, which will focus on limiting the spread of
. an expanding livestock sector and in managing the ri sks . associated with increasing competition .
(BBTD) and banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW)
banana bunchy top disease [ITA said in a statement.
These diseases threaten the li veWloods and food security of over 70 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. No banana varieties are known to resist BBID or BXW, and there is a danger tllat all familiar banana types wiIJ be wiped ou t if urgent action is not taken , according to the UTA. Policymakers and
researchers from Burundi, Lhe Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia met in Kigali , Rwanda, last
Food Crisis LooIr1..S
M
ore than a month after
the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
and the international humanitarian organization CARE have issued a joint alert over a nation-
al food crisis. "This is a hidden but pervasive crisis that has already touched all comers of tlle country." said Dick Trenchard, Assessments Coordinator for
FAG in HaiLi . "Runtl areas experiencing the highest levels of displacement from Port-au-Prince anfl ~u[TPtlndi"g, . ~. '!IY tI)~
most affecteo, particularly the
Artibonite in the west and Grand'Anse in the south."
Rapid assessments undertaken by FAO and its partners in tile Agriculture Cluster have shown that "host families" caring for displaced people are spending their meagre savings to feed new arrivals and consuming food stocks. In many cases these poor people are resorting to eating tlle seeds they have stored for tl,e next planting season and eating or selling their livestock, in particular goats. "We are seeing clear signs tl13t people are already resorti ng to worrying and unsustainable
-
month (25-29 January), to be trained in disease surveillance
Geographi~
countries
Systems (GIS) to develop a visual record of disease distribution. A second workshop in
he added. '''There is another aspect (0 this viciolls ¡c~::. Due
have
all
either
reported the presence of BBID or are at high risk of contracting- it from a neighbour. . liThe aim of the training
was to link research and government staff within and between countries," said Fen
Beed, UTA plant pathologist for East and Southern Africa. Under ' the programme, researchers
1fl
coping strntegies to try and help the estimated 500 000 people who migrated to rural areas and otller smaller urban centres afLer the earthquake," said Trenchard in FAO report. 'The main planting season, which accounts for over I'IJ percent of annual .production, will start in less than a fortnight," said Jean-Dominique Bodard, CARE's Emergency Food Security Specialist. "If the host families have no means to buy seeds or other ways to obtain quality seeds, this will be a disaster for them,"
Geographic Positioning . Systems (G.PS) and
and control methods. These
will
use
Haiti
to lack of cash, many host farmers will not be able to hire day labourers for the planting. "As a result, tile labourers will not earn money to feed their families and the planting will not be carried out to the extent it could be if the workforce were available," Bodard said. ~l the rural sector, fanners lack cash to buy seeds for the upcoming planting season and food prices have already risen 10 percent companed to before the quake - ' an indicator for
Information
June will hone surveillance
skills. IlTA began a two-year study last October to examine, among other things. why
BBID has spread so rapidly in the past two decades. Lava Kumar, an [ITA virologist, said the sLudy's researchers are taking a vari ety of approaches to tackling the virus and its carrier. "[This work] is expected to provide a reprieve in the medium term and sustainable solutions in the long term," he
said. Murimi Kinyua, principal
pathologist and crop protection coordinaLor for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. said scientists from his institution and the University of Nairobi are also conducting research in west-
ern Kenya , where a banana wilt disease outbreak was first reported in 2006. "We are
screening the
germplasm from the already
worse things to come. One immediate solution might be cash-for-work progmmmes in
affected plants to ascertain its res istance and the extent of the disease distribution," Kinyua
the agricultuntl sector.
told SciDev.Net.