Agriculture with Jimoh

“Stunted children today will lead to stunted economies tomorrow” – Adesina African Union endorses African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative By Jimoh Babatunde The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said that stunted children today will lead to stunted economies tomorrow, adding that the impact of stunting is irreversible but preventable. He spoke yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as African leaders made a landmark commitment to remove nutrition-related barriers that prevent children and societies from realising their full potential. The leaders made the commitments at the launch of African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) − an initiative championed by the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission – in Addis Ababa, where they agreed to jointly overcome malnutrition and elevate nutrition as the driver for economic growth and sustainable development. Adesina said poor nutrition is responsible for stunting children’s ...

Focus is on food security and helping poor farmers by enhancing crop resilience and adapting to climate change FAO and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have agreed to cooperate more closely to support sustainable rice production in developing countries to improve food security and livelihoods while safeguarding natural resources. An agreement signed today seeks to better pool the scientific knowledge and technical know-how of the two organizations so that they can expand and intensify their work globally. The partnership primarily aims to enhance sustainable rice-based farming systems through capacity building activities - including assisting governments draw up and implement national and regional policies and strategies - to the benefit of small-scale farmers, especially women. "The world faces very significant changes over the next few decades to produce the volume and quality of nutritious food to feed a global population heading for 10 billion pe...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it will soon commence the implementation of the $280 million `Enable Youth Programme’, to promote youths’ employment in agriculture in the country. The `Enable Youth Programme’ is designed to contribute to job creation, food security and nutrition, rural income generation and improved livelihoods for youths, in both urban and rural areas. Dr Ibrahim Amadou, the Chief Agricultural Economist, AfDB, Nigeria Country Office, made the remark at a training programme for youth farmers in Abuja on Tuesday. He said the support was the Bank’s 10 years strategy to create jobs for youths in Africa, from 2013 to 2022. Amadou said the programme would be done in collaboration with the Federal Government in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to him, “we are waiting for the government to meet its own obligations before we kick-start the programme. “The targeted beneficiaries wil...

Alhaji Abdulkarim Kaita, the Managing Director of Dangote Tomato Processing Company, Kadawa, Kano State, has commended the Federal Government for banning the importation of tomato paste into the country. The managing director said on Tuesdayin Kano that “I want to use this opportunity to commend the Federal Government for the singular act. “The information reaching us is that government has banned importation of tomato paste and the Central Bank of Nigeria will support tomato growers with loan under the Anchor Borrower programme,” he said. Kaita noted that enforcing total ban on importation of the commodity would enable local tomato processing factories to thrive, in addition to providing job opportunities to the teeming number of unemployed persons in the country. “The importation of tomato paste from China had adversely affected the local tomato processing companies as local product was not being patronized adequately.” According to him, his company plans...

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say they are targeting provision of food and livelihood for 1.8 million persons in two Northern states. Mr Douglas Mercado, the Deputy Country Director of WFP, said this at the National Consolidation Workshop on Cadre Harmonise of Food and Nutrition Insecurity Analysis in 16 states of Northern Nigeria. Mercado said in Abuja on Friday that the move was to assist vulnerable households to recover their livelihoods and achieve food security following the crisis in the area. He said the assistance would come through the distribution of food items and cash transfers of N23, 000 each to the affected persons. “By December last year, we reached one million people in Yobe state through food distribution, cash transfer and supplementary nutrition. “ We plan to scale up to reach 1.8 million people between April and May. We will continue to use the Cadre Harmonise’ to reach th...