Fin iIIn c ialvanguaro
Vanguard. MONDAY. MAY 28. 2012 - 43
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----------------~--------------------BRIEFS African nations urged to use agriculture to increase food securit y, fight poverty are a recurrent situation m the region, she added . The comrrussloner mfonned the meeting that the AUe, NEPAD Agency and the World Economic Forum would soon launch the Grow Afnca Partnership platform. WIth the goal. of "accelerallng inv@stments for sustainable growth in Africa agriculture_" Also, the Director of Programmes at the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency , Mrs Estherine
STORI ES 8\ J IMOH BABATUND !
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he ConmiS5ioner for Rued ~conom) and Agriculture a' tbe African UnIon Cumm LsSlon, Mrs Tumu§um~ R loda Peace. has appealed toAfncan nabons to use agriCUilw e to comool food
InsecLlcil l'. Itremplo}menl and populiluon .ncrease m the conllneo ' ~;I e made the appeal a the 8t h Com}Hehen .ive Africa Agricultl.re Development
Fotabong, who represented Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, the agency's chief executive officer, Said Afnca would need to match Asia's agricultural productivity if It hopes to address lhe problems ptlsed by rapid urbanisation, unemployment and massive populabon growth. AccordlOg to her. Africa's agncultural production doubled U\ the last SO years while Asia's output tripled dunng the same penod. But
with the nght policies and support for the agnculture sector, the Asian success story could be replJcated m Africa, she said Development partners, m an address delivered by USAlD ' s Jeft Hill, commended Nncall COUlltnes and regional economic communilies lor raISing lheu agnculture and food secunty agendas through the CAAOP process
Programme s Partnership Platfann in Na.trobl recently The Comme Sloner, who was among the mam speakers at
the conleu nee, praised countnes thaI bave mcreased their !lmding ')1 agnculture In line WIth the goal of CAADP initiative
She urg~ ttern to ensure Implementation of their agnculturaJ ihvestment plans
and to meet their lunding conuruUDe!'lts Nollng that Uus year's meetng was taking place when tte Hom of Alnea and the Sahel regions are e..Ipenencim r drought and food inseCtlrily, Rhoda Peao ' satd 70 percent of the popula ion in the H orn lack food s~curity . Food insecunty and malnutntion
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'"'r he NEP.\D Agency and ~ the Food and Agriculture Organuallon have begun Implementation 01 a JOtht project lumed at boos ting lisbenes development lh Alnca and improving the standard of liVing of hshers on the contment The NEPAD Agency and FAO partnership 15 a colla boratIVe undertaklng with the objective of ~upporting regional efforts to attalh the Mi ll ennium Development Goals (MDGs) . Its expected long..term tropact is a significantly enhanced contnbullon of fisheries and aquaculture to poverty alleviabon. food secunty and economic growth through Improved and fUstainable mandgement of the fishery and aquaculture secton: nus partnership will focus on the environmental sustainabllity 01 ecosystems 10 both martne and inland hshe nes and aquaculture . Thts :tpproach. appropnately dubbed the Ecosystem Approaches 10 Fishenes and Aqut cu1lure IEAFIEAA). also has a second focus area. . tha t of C l matI!!: C hange Adaphon
(CCA) . Other elements of the NFFP will deal with sustamable development of aquaculture businesses, post. harvest value chain and Disaster RIsk Management (DRM)
"1lle implementabon of lhls programme has been long awaited, and now it's Utne to deliver for the benefit of the Afncan people contlnentWIde." Dr. Sloans Chunab.to, NEPAD Agency's Fisheries AdVisor, said at the Ihaugurabon of the project The NEPAD Agency Is grateful to FAO and the Swedish International Developmen t Cooperation (SLOA) for harmonizing theu fishenes development efforts LO Afnca, through NPCA's FlShenes Programme NFFP C o-ordinator, Ms Gunilla GreJ.g, expressed the hope that the programme would make a Significant c ontribution to NEPAD ' s fishenes agenda and further promote long.term NPCA· FAO co· operatton. for the benebl of the many people dependtng on hshe nes and ;,quacultufP m Ainl;"a
IITA gets $7m approval for commercial products project he International Instttute of Tropical Agtlcuiture (IITA) bas recelved approval of about USS7m from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundabon for the Impiemenlalion oflhe second phase of the Commercial Products (COMPRO· II) proJect, says IITA Director General Nteranya Sangmga Tagged as ' Institutionalization of quality assurance mechanISm and dusemmation of top quality commercull products to lncrease crop yields and Improve food security of smallholder farmers m sub· Saharan Africa,' the COMPRO·II project aims to inslliultonalize quality assurance mechanISms and facilitate the rapid dlSseminalton of top quality commerCial producls to lhCfease yields and improve the food security 01 smallholder farmers tn the region "The plan IS to raISe awareness among over two rrullion smalUlolder farmers
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Fish farmer seeks tax incentives on agric products A fish farmet Mr_Godwm .l-\.Emakeneml. has calJed on government to make every aspect of agri c ultural production tax free as a way 01 boosling food production and employment to fast track nabona] deve.1opment Emakenemi who IS the Managmg Dlfector/CEO of Dlckem Fanus satd m Lagos that the major challenge facing flsh farmers in the country is power supply He satd "We need regular supply of electricity to produce our leed and aerate the juveniles So. we spend a lot of money on diesel wruch is over 30 percent 01 totaJ production cost" Emakenetru mamtamed that If there was regular power supply hsh farmers would employ more people He noted that the Boko Haram atlacu was another major challf'.nge farmers were fa cmg as tIus has led to an mcrease ill the cost of soya bea n cake whic h comes from th~ no rth ern p a rt of th e COWltry