AUC seeks cooperation among standard organisations in Africa


By Jimoh Babatunde
THE Head, Trade Division of the African Union Commission, AUC, Mr. Nadir Merah, has disclosed that cooperation among standard organisations in Africa can boost sustainable agriculture and food security in the continent.
Mr. Merah, who represented the Chairperson of the Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma , at the just concluded 52nd African Organisation for Standardisation’s, ARSO’s meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said Africa was close to realising the lofty dream given the rate of collaboration and cooperation among the ARSO members.
“We see a clear role that standards can play in boosting intra-African trade, promoting sustainable agriculture and food security in Africa. By working together on standards, we will promote continental trade integration and facilitate access to African markets.
“I would like to recall the historic 2012 Summit Decision on Boosting Intra African Trade. Our leaders, determined to trade Africa out of poverty and to chart a new forward for our future, adopted an Action Plan on Areas that must be addressed if Africa is to trade more with itself. The Summit also agreed to establish a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by an indicative date of 2017,” Mr. Merah said.
He decried that Intra-African trade currently at about five per cent drains the continent’s little external reserves to compound the poverty and dependence levels. With the AU Ministerial policy, however, intra-African trade will hit 10 per cent by 2017 and reach 20 per cent by 2020. In particular, Africa is targeting her abundant foods and ensures that the continent feeds itself which has been difficult simply on account of ensuring quality standards.
Dr. Joseph Odumodu, President of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) and also the Director General, standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said that the organization would ensure that there are value addition to most of the commodities the continent trade on.
According to him, the predicament of the region over the years has been the export of raw materials and poor quality food products which have indeed made Africa lieing prostrate in international trade. Odumodu emphasized that the AU Ministerial Council, declaration of 2017 as Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) as a programme was feasible. He explained that ARSO was working round the clock to ensure that standards plays a role in bring the programme to reality.
Odumodu, the Chief of the umbrella body of African countries standards bodies, ARSO has declared that for the continent to meet the ever rising demand for food products, it must pay serious and urgent attention to adopting the effective use of standards to improve its agricultural sector.
“We see a clear role that standards can play in boosting intra-African trade, promoting sustainable agriculture and food security in Africa. By working together on standards, we will promote continental trade integration and facilitate access to African markets, she said.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/auc-seeks-cooperation-among-standard-organisations-in-africa/#sthash.yUiThRxk.dpuf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit...
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultura...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more