Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture

Photo: Panellists speaking during the First All Africa Post-Harvest Congress held in Nairobi, Kenya from March 28 to 31, 2017. Photo taken on March 30 by Justus Wanzala.

Combating Aflatoxins to Curb Africa’s Post-Harvest Losses

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Forty percent of the food produced in Africa is lost, largely due to poor product handling, storage and processing practices, with aflatoxins often responsible for much of this loss in the post-harvest phase.

Aflatoxins are poisonous and cancer-causing chemical produced by certain moulds (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus) which grow in soil, decaying vegetation, hay and grains.

At the 1st All Africa Post-Harvest Congress held in Nairobi from March 28 -31 to tackle the problem of post-harvest food losses in Africa, ‘aflatoxin management, food safety and nutrition’ was one of the issues on the agenda, with experts calling for improved post-harvest handling of food.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 April 2017

Photo: Dr Richard Munang, Africa Climate Change and Development Policy expert with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Credit: Ngala Killian Chimtom

‘Innovative Volunteerism’ Key to Africa’s Development Blueprint

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Africa’s present is defined by its vast but unexploited potential but the picture could be changed by leveraging catalytic sectors in which the continent holds comparative advantage, through dedicating available resources.

Dr Richard Munang, Africa Climate Change and Development Policy expert with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) believes that these resources – both physical (technological, institutional, financial and demographical, the dividend to be derived from having most of its population under the age of 25) and non-physical (including intellectual, partnerships, policies and networks) – could be utilised for a comparative advantage with a global competitive edge through what he calls “innovative volunteerism”.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; OPINION; 22 March 2017

The Poor are Keen to Make Progress Despite Famine

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Once again the media is presenting us with the images of the mother of all famines – stretching from the Yemen to Somalia, to Sudan and South Sudan, to the Central African Republic, to northern Nigeria.

It’s a bad famine but there have been bad famines in the not so distant past – the great Ethiopian one in 1985, which triggered the rock star, Bob Geldorf, to organise a massive world-wide popular response. (I remember running with tens of thousands of other campaigners in London’s Hyde Park.) Before that, in 1974 at the World Food Conference, there was a real feeling that the world was running out of food and dramatic new policies must be put in place by the richer countries.

: Jonathan Power; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 21 March 2017

Photo: In Jordan Syrian refugees residing in host communities outside their tents in Mafraq governorate. Families must get by with the little water and electricity that is available to them. © Alessandra Blasi/UNDP.

Amid Plenty, Billions Still Face Food Insecurity

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – As wealth and well-being continue their inexorable course towards increasing concentration in the hands of fewer and fewer, an estimated 795 million people still suffer from hunger, and global food security is threatened by climate change and mounting pressure on natural resources.

With the world’s population expected to rise to almost 10 billion people by 2050, global demand for agricultural products will increase by 50 percent over present levels, posing a serious question mark over the capacity of the world's agriculture and food systems to sustainably meet the needs of this mushrooming global population.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 25 February 2017

Photo: Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie. Credit: Desmond L. Brown | IDN-INPS

Caribbean Countries Strive For Energy Security

By Desmond L. Brown

NASSAU, The Bahamas (ACP | IDN) – Caribbean countries have found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Already grappling with a myriad of challenges, including crime and weak economies, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states from Jamaica in the north to Guyana in the south are also now faced with extremely high energy costs.

Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, said his country and its neighbours must move with haste to transition to sustainable energy sources, something he believes would also help shore up their ailing economies and also address the crime scourge.

: Desmond L. Brown; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 27 January 2017

Photo: Women barbecuing fish. Credit: Ngala Killian Chimtom | IDN-INPS

Chinese Fishers Going Off With Cameroon's Catch

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

LIMBE, Cameroon (ACP-IDN) – Henry Maloke is disentangling a couple of black catfish from his fishing net at the wharf in Limbe, a seaside locality in Cameroon’s South West Region. It is a day’s catch after spending close to 24 hours at sea.

Back when the ocean was healthy and teeming with life, the 64-year old fisherman could return home after just a few hours with a full net. The situation has changed.

“Chinese fishermen are going away with everything, leaving our waters empty,” complains Maloke. “It’s a catastrophe,” he adds, casting an uncertain glance out to the ocean’s limits.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 December 2016

Photo: Dr. Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C. (Mexico) Dr. Yury Darman, Director of WWF-Russia Amur Branch (Russia) and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder and Director of Navdanya (India)

UN Honours Three Activists for Biodiversity Protection

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - The United Nations has honoured activists for their relentless commitment to biodiversity protection: India's Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder and Director of Navdanya, Mexico's Dr. Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C., and Russia's Dr. Yury Darman, Director of WWF-Russia Amur Branch.

They received the prestigious MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity at an Award Ceremony on December 2, 2016 in Cancún, Mexico, in conjunction with the high-level segment of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 15 December 2016

Photo: FAO DG José Graziano da Silva presenting Lesotho King designation as Special Ambassador. ©FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto.

Lesotho King Appointed UN Special Ambassador for Nutrition

By Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) - King Letsie III of Lesotho has been appointed as Special Ambassador of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for Nutrition. The Organization’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, made the announcement at the high-level International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition December 1-2, 21016.

The Symposium was held to explore country-level challenges and successes in the nutritional reshaping of food production, processing, marketing and retail systems. Malnutrition – including obesity and micronutrient deficiencies – blights the lives of billions of individuals and can trap generations in a vicious cycle of poverty.

: Ronald Joshua; UN INSIDER; 03 December 2016

Photo: Farming in arid zones in Morocco's Province of Settat. Credit: Fabiola Ortiz | IDN-INPS.

Agriculture Should Be at the Heart of the Climate Agenda

By Fabíola Ortiz

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The African continent is responsible for emitting only four percent of greenhouse gas emissions, yet six of the ten countries most threatened by the climate change effects of such emissions are in Africa.

With the continent currently receiving just five percent of funds to combat or cope with climate change, and a very small proportion of these being allocated in the agricultural sector, experts at the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech have warned that agricultural yields in Africa could fall 20 percent by 2050 if agriculture does not adapt to climate change.

There is a strong need to increase the continent’s resilience to the impacts of climate change, Mohammed Badraoui, head of Morocco's National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), told IDN.

: Fabiola Ortiz; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 21 November 2016

Photo: Vicente Paolo Yu (left), Deputy Executive Director of the South Centre, and Maria Helena Semedo (right), FAO Deputy Director-General for Natural Resources, during the ceremony of signature of the Memorandum of Understanding. Credit: FAO | South Centre

FAO Joins the South Centre to Boost South-South Cooperation

By Bernhard Schell

MARRAKECH (IDN) - The South Centre and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN have decided to join together to foster South-South Cooperation with the aim to improve food security, boost rural development, and address climate change in the Global South.

The five-year cooperation agreement – in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) – builds on years of collaboration between the two organizations. It was signed on November 11 on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) taking place in Marrakech; Morocco from November 7 to 18, 2016.