Angola: FAO Recognises Country's Family Agriculture Potential

Luanda — The director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO), José Grasiano da Silva, said Wednesday in Luanda that Angola has a strong potential for the development of family agriculture, being well placed at the Portuguese Speaking Community (CPLP) level.

José Grasiano da Silva was speaking to the press at the end of an audience with the Angolan minister of Agriculture, Afonso Pedro Canga.

The official said that a study conducted by FAO in the CPLP places Angola above Brazil, with a considerable advantage, in terms of family farm production.

The FAO director stated that the said study shows that Angola currently occupies in the family agriculture a population of 13,2 million people, while Brazil involves 12 million persons. "Therefore, Angola has one million people more involved in family agriculture as compared with Brazil," he stressed.

According to the source, Brazil was successful in promoting family agriculture, whereas Angola has a very big potential that boosts the development of the sector.

For this reason, he added, the two countries are interested to cooperate in experimental research, under United Nations mediation.

"FAO will mediate in the relation with the Brazilian Agro-farming Research Firm (Embrapa), with a view to accelerating the process of recovery of Angola's experimental research area in order to improve the country's performance in this matter," he stated.

As to the audience with the Angolan minister of Agriculture, José Grasiano da Silva said the meeting served to tackle matters concerning projects involving FAO and Angolan Government, based on a growing cooperation.

"The new areas that we today considered priority were within the assistance we are providing for family agriculture and trade. Making peasants more and more engaged and present in the market and stimulating them into increasing productivity so that the surplus can supply the local markets," he stated.

He added that the audience also served for the parties to review the south-south cooperation with other countries, with stress to the role of cooperation with Brazil's Imbrapa, in the recovery of Angola's experimental research capacity.

He recalled that in the past, that is before the war, Angola had an agro-farming and veterinary research system that equaled that of South Africa, and in some cases even taking the lead.

However, the specialist warned that the process of promotion of an experimental research system takes time and requires investment, but is also a opportunity to absorb the Angolan youths training in universities, both locally and abroad, to work in their own country and help strengthen the family agriculture.

In his turn, the minister of Agriculture Afonso Pedro Canga praised the relations of friendship and cooperation with Brazil as, he added, it permits the transfer of technology, expertise and dialogue, in addition to technical assistance.

The official also highlighted Brazil's experience in terms of agro-farming, admitting it to the right partner.

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Zimbabwe: E-Vouchers Boost Access to Agricultural Inputs

Goromonzi — Johnson Mhaka, 50, an agro-dealer based in Goromonzi, about 40km southeast of the capital Harare, is enjoying robust 2012-13 sales thanks to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) innovative electronic voucher system, which is helping communal farmers access agricultural inputs.

Mhaka, who used to stock mostly groceries at his rural store, has become an authorized dealer in maize seed, fertilizers, agro-chemicals and farming tools such as wheelbarrows, ploughs and hoes.

"In the past two years, when farmers from this area started using vouchers to buy farming inputs, I have been recording relatively high sales and have made it a point to adequately stock my shop at the beginning of the farming season," Mhaka told IRIN.

Food security

"Even though I have always sold agricultural inputs, particularly maize seed and fertilizer, before registering as an agro-dealer with the FAO, the stocks were small because not many farmers came to buy," he said.

The farmers were deterred by the inputs' high prices, as Mhaka bought his wares from Harare and then added his own mark-up.

But the initiative makes inputs and tools more accessible to cash-strapped small-scale farmers. In the "market-based input assistance initiative", farmers are each given US$128 in e-vouchers, with beneficiaries additionally contributing $32.

The system is designed to improve food security among vulnerable households through crop and livestock production, said the FAO in a statement. It also aims "to resuscitate the fragile rural agricultural input supply chain through re-engagement of markets, provision of subsidized inputs... [and] farmers' timely access to inputs".

"Through the voucher system, many more farmers are coming to buy from here," Mhaka said. His client-base has increased from about 90 people - buying mainly 50kg bags of fertilizer and maize seed - to more than 300 this year.

The initiative receives financial and technical support from the UK's Department for International Development (DfID), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the European Union and Zimbabwe's agriculture ministry, which also provides extension and training services.

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Investments key for long-term resilience, rebuilding agriculture in Haiti – UN agency

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has stressed that investments are crucial to help rehabilitate Haiti’s agricultural sector in the wake of various natural disasters this year that caused colossal damage to the farming and fishing industries.

“If we don’t invest today, we will pay the price tomorrow,” said Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Haitian President Michel Martelly at FAO Headquarters in Rome yesterday, Mr. Graziano da Silva pledged to support Haiti through interventions that address the country’s immediate crisis situations as well as the root causes of its food insecurity and poverty.

FAO and the Haitian Government are currently seeking $74 million over the next 12 months to help long-term resilience in the country. The funds would be used to rehabilitate irrigation schemes and rural access roads; restore local seed production; provide seeds, fertilizer and agricultural tools to small farmers; support inland fisheries; and vaccinate livestock, among other activities.

The funds would also go towards helping farmers plant crops for the next planting season which starts in December.

Mr. Graziano da Silva said the objective is “to make Haitians, especially farmers, more resilient to climate and other challenges.”

Last month, Hurricane Sandy caused significant damage to Haiti’s crops, land, livestock, fisheries and rural infrastructures. It killed 60 people and flooded, destroyed or damaged some 18,000 homes, as well as hospitals, schools and public buildings.

It was the third disaster to hit Haiti in the space of a few months. Between May and June, a severe drought struck at the beginning of the critical spring cropping season, and in August, Tropical Storm Isaac battered the country, displacing thousands of people. Together, the three disasters left two million Haitians at risk of food insecurity and resulted in losses of $254 million to the agricultural sector.

“If we don’t intervene quickly, over 60 per cent of the population deriving their livelihood from agriculture will be put at risk,” said FAO Assistant Director-General for Technical Cooperation Laurent Thomas.

Out of the $74 million sought, FAO has so far secured $2.7 million, with indications of a further $5 million-$6 million from different donors. The agency will also implement short- and medium-term projects in response to the current crisis, ranging from immediate relief activities to interventions that have a longer-term economic and environmental impact.

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Malaysia conference pinpoints need to address gender gap in agriculture

Women take a break from working on a paddy field on Kathmandu's outskirts. An FAO report says gender equality creates better yields. Photograph: Narendra Shrestha/EPA

Productivity losses due to the agriculture "gender gap" are straining global economies, a conference has heard. This was the consensus of gender scientists and agricultural researchers at a workshop in Malaysia that aimed to develop an agenda for gender transformative research for the agricultural sector.

The conference, held in Penang this month, was convened by the CGIAR Consortium. According to Paula Kantor, a senior gender scientist at the Malaysia-based WorldFish Centre, gender disparities persist in "access to resources, markets and technologies, even after decades of research and interventions on gender".

"Women play a significant role in development," Kantor said. "[But] their abilities to contribute to rural development and family wellbeing are limited by inequalities in choices of occupations, wages and incentives; responsibility for care work; and access to, and control over, productive resources."

A report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has revealed that farm yields increase by up to 30% if women are given the same access to productive resources, markets and technologies as men. "This could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5-4%, which could in turn reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17%," said Kantor.

Gareth Johnstone, Cambodia country manager for CGIAR's research programme on aquatic agricultural systems, emphasised that most development policies were addressed with only men in mind. Johnstone said creating situations in which both men and women are engaged in decision-making is one very "basic method" of applying the gender transformative approach to policy. "Such basic actions will promote female empowerment and increase mutual respect between men and women," he said.

Johnstone believes this will not only lead to improvements in farm yields, but will also bring positive benefits for family and community welfare, nutrition and child wellbeing. "Seeing real people making changes inspires others to believe it is OK to do the same," said Kantor.

Johnstone suggested that educating the public would require detailed documentation and the rigorous study of local and regional societal norms. "Unlike structured organisations, such a change would require a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down approach … [based on] ineffective, insufficiently studied governmental intervention and policies," he said. "There must be a vision shared with people on the importance of gender balance in society, and [the development of] a basic understanding of female empowerment."

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FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the Uni : Putting Swaziland's smallholders first

You cannot tackle rural poverty, if you don't put the smallholder farmers first11 September 2012, Mbabane, Rome - Rural farmers in Swaziland are starting to reap the fruits of a comprehensive effort by the government and FAO with support of the EU to reverse the country's declining agricultural productivity.

Consecutive years of drought, a crushing aids pandemic, decades of economic slowdown and more recent soaring prices of food and agricultural inputs: it has become increasingly hard to make a living for Swaziland's cash-strapped rural population, highly dependent on subsistence farming.

According to FAO's most recent hunger figures, almost 20 percent of the country's one million people is undernourished.

Since 2009, the EU has been supporting a wide-ranging initiative of the government and FAO to raise nutrition levels of the rural population and stimulate their economic growth potential, known as the Swaziland Agricultural Development Project (SADP), a 5-years programme funded with over €14 million of EU and almost €350 000 by FAO.

Although it was challenging to get such a complex project off the ground, Amadou Traoré, the EU's chargé d'affaires a.i. in Swaziland feels that things are moving in the right direction. "European taxpayers are willing to show their generosity," he says, "but especially now, when Europe itself experiences financial and economic difficulties, they want to see results." 

Louise McDonald, country program manager for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for Swaziland, says that SADP's achievements have strengthened collaboration between IFAD and FAO in assisting the government and smallholder farmers. "Together, we will work on bridging SADP's activities with a US$ 47 million program to be co-financed by IFAD", she says.

Smallholders

Fundamentally, SADP is all about smallholders, says Nehru Essomba, the project's Chief Technical Advisor: "You cannot tackle rural poverty, if you don't put the smallholder farmers first."

Connecting farmers to the market is a major challenge, Essomba says. So close to South Africa with its big scale producers, the environment is extremely competitive. SADP is setting up a €1 million Marketing Investing Fund, particularly to promote niche crops that offer small farmers a comparative advantage on the market place.

Equally important is to improve the environment in which the agricultural sector operates, both institutionally and physically. While major infrastructural rehabilitation works are being prepared, policies relating to research and extension are being updated and large scale capacity building of farmers, organisations and extension workers is underway.

At the same time, SADP helps spreading good agricultural practices, important for farmers to increase their productivity, while preserving the environment and lessen the pressure on Swaziland's limited natural resources. So far, more than 2 000 farmers have been trained in a wide range of practices, including conservation agriculture and agro-forestry.

Holding on

"Food security will come in two ways: by growing your own food and by growing to sell at the market," says Dr. Robert Thwala, Principal Secretary of Swaziland's Ministry of Agriculture, explaining SADP's focus on improving crop and livestock production and on agro-business development.

In Swaziland, where HIV prevalence is the highest in the world, the most vulnerable among the rural poor are the elderly and the youth, who have lost either parents or children, as the generation in between was decimated by the aids pandemic.

A total of 340 vegetable gardens have been established for vulnerable families to grow vegetables and herbs for household consumption, or in case of excess production, for sales to community members. Over 2000 people have directly benefited from the gardens, while also receiving nutritional education, through demonstrations in food preparation and processing. 

To support the younger generation, SADP is helping youth groups set up small agricultural businesses. Sixty groups, comprising around 2 500 youngsters, are engaged in poultry farming, pig production or vegetable and field crop production. They get the equipment, tools, inputs, medicines and training to make their business run.

The Mhawu Youth Club from the Ngudzine area in southern Swaziland is raising chickens. Sixteen year old member Nomcebo Simelane finds a lot of encouragement at her club: "Your peers tell you that when you want to make your dreams come true, you should just hold on."

Moreover, the poultry business offers her a way to do just that. She hopes that she will make enough money out of it to go to university and become a nurse.

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Embracing agriculture’s ‘new normal’

Despite drought and high prices, food scarcity is not yet likely

As the worst drought in a half century persists in the U.S. Midwest crop region, prices for crops soar. Corn has increased nearly 50 per cent in just six weeks, the price for soybeans for August delivery rose steeply, and wheat prices reached the highest level since the spring of 2008.

Not surprisingly, consumers are concerned about food prices, and many dread looming hikes in coming months that will especially penalize the poor. Looking at the overall commodity landscape, however, there’s no call for panic, at least not yet.

Since 2008, when food scarcity in many regions around the world prompted riots and demonstrations, people have become sensitive to sudden increases in commodity prices.

Despite this, the proverbial “new normal,” which suggests more market volatility and abrupt market swings, is still not engrained in our collective thought processes. Beyond the distressing headlines and alarmist sound bites lies reassuring factors that we need to keep in mind.

First, the FAO (the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization) recently mentioned in its latest assessment that the overall supply and demand situation in 2012-13 remains adequate.

Its 2012 food price index is actually down compared to the same time in 2011. The FAO also made the point that an abundant supply of rice, a key strategic food staple for almost half the world’s population, will assure food security for the most populous regions. Enough wheat and other grains remain available for export as well.

Second, world agriculture is more productive than ever, thanks to improving technology and genetic know-how. World cereal production is expected to hit another new record this year of 2.4 billion tonnes, which is approximately 2 per cent higher than last year’s record high.

Many farmers have access to more arable land as they are using better fertilizers to increase yields.

One factor that played a significant role in the 2008 riots was the cost of energy, a significant input cost driver for food processors, packaging and distribution. The price of a barrel this year is nowhere near 2008 record levels, and the Bank of Canada predicts a lower price for oil in weeks to come. For this year, energy costs are a non-factor. Even though the drought may be driving prices upward, lower gas prices are in contrast affecting prices downward to a greater degree.

Last, the slower than expected global economic recovery will also impact food prices over the next few months. Based on recent reports, both emerging markets and industrialized economies are now affected by economic uncertainties. Food distributors and retailers are astute market analysts, as they closely monitor consumers’ capacity to pay for food. Since many food categories have many substitutes, they are likely to charge what consumers are able to afford in any given markets. Again, the situation is very different than in 2008 when the global economy was more robust.

What is driving commodity prices upwards is speculation; too much, that is. Speculation is obviously nothing new to markets. However, excessive speculation in derivative markets has enhanced the rate of price swings in recent years.

Agriculture has recently attracted what many call “price manipulators” — hoarders and influential speculators who are attracted to commodities, as they are believed to move in an opposite direction to equity markets, thereby providing a hedge against inflation. As a result, regular traders are not able to hedge their risk, and farmers are not getting benefits of price rise, while manipulators cash in. Regrettably, therein lays the real story behind current soaring prices.

The “new normal” in agriculture calls for a regulated global framework that would put price manipulators in check. The U.S., the EU and India, for example. are changing regulations, but change is not coming fast enough, and it needs to.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is associate dean, College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph

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New planning in agriculture

A 4-day regional training workshop on drafting effective national agricultural development programmes began at Grand Hyatt Muscat Hotel here yesterday. The workshop deals with the process of preparation of the integrated systems designed for implementation in member states of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Thirty-six officials are taking part in the workshop, which was opened by Dr Hamad bin said al Oufi, Under-Secretary of the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry for Fisheries.

Dr Khalid bin Mansour al Zadjali, Director-General of Planning and Investment Development, said that the workshop aims at enhancing the capacity of FAO representatives and upgrade the level of technicians to support agricultural development through effective strategic planning. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of specialists in agricultural and fish planning by imparting knowledge and the skills needed to implement national programmes.

Al Zadjali pointed out that effective national programmes include several themes, including medium-term joint response between governments and the FAO by optimising the outcome of joint studies. FAO Representative in the Sultanate, El Zein al Muzzammil, said the workshop is one of the methods to identify medium-term response to the needs of member states in pursuit of development objectives.

El Zein pointed out that the devising of the national framework for programming is a shared responsibility between the governments and the FAO with participation of national stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society institutions. The FAO launched early this year a programme to promote knowledge and upgrade skills on results-based programming, management and resource mobilisation at the national level.
Richard Moore, FAO Head of Human Resources Department, said in a speech that partnership with the Sultanate is a good opportunity to achieve important goals and transform knowledge into reality. He stressed that effective national programme provides an opportunity to exchange opinions and improve policies. — ONA

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Emphasis on effective regional programmes in agriculture

MUSCAT — The Regional Training Workshop on preparation of effective regional programmes organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO), kick off tomorrow under the auspices of Dr Hamad bin Said al Aufi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The four-day workshop will be attended by officials and experts working in the food sector from inside and outside the Sultanate. The objective of the workshop is to train the representatives of regional and semi-regional offices affiliated to FAO as well Omani government officials in-charge
of planning in the agriculture and fisheries sector.
The workshop aims at enhancing the capacities of FAO representatives in devising and implementing effective regional programmes and upgrading the standard of agricultural technicians with the goal of boosting agricultural development in the respective countries in co-operation with the relevant governmental entities. — ONA

FAO and Rio+20 High level events to emphasize agriculture, food security

Rome: FAO will be present in force at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro including at a high-level discussion on food security and the environment on 21 June attended by the UN Secretary-General, heads of state and government and senior UN officials. FAO experts and high level officials will also cover all sectors of the Rio debate: food, oceans, energy, jobs, water, cities and disasters. FAO’s message to the Rio process is that without the eradication of hunger there can be no sustainable development. And since food production will have to increase by 60 percent by 2050 to feed a projected 9 billion people, we can expect agriculture to continue to drive sustainable development.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, together with ministers of environment or agriculture, and technical experts from FAO and the other Rome-based agencies will be present at a series of high-level events in Rio.

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Fighting Child Labour in Agriculture - More must be Done

GLOBAL - The internationally agreed target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will be missed if countries don't step up their efforts to combat child labour in agriculture, FAO warned ahead of the World Day against Child Labour.

Worldwide 215 million children are child labourers, of whom around 130 million boys and girls between 5 and 17 work in agriculture, including livestock, fisheries, and forestry. Many of them are engaged in hazardous work. Only one in five child labourers is paid - most are unpaid family workers, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Pervasive poverty is both a main cause and consequence of child labour in rural areas.

Hazardous work often harms a child's health, safety or morals. A child working in fields where pesticides have been applied, staying up all night on a fishing boat, or carrying loads so heavy that they harm the development of the child's body - all these are far too common examples of hazardous work in agriculture.

"Child labour is a human rights abuse and is an obstacle to sustainable development of agriculture and food security," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

"Work that harms children's health and development can have long-lasting effects into adulthood, and child labour has been repeatedly shown to have a negative impact on education. Child labour also strongly undermines efforts to promote decent youth employment, a key element in revitalising agriculture around the world and reducing poverty," he added.

In 2006, governments, workers' and employers' organisations committed to eliminating the worst forms of child labour, including hazardous work, by 2016. In 2010, the international community has adopted the Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016, which highlights the predominance of child labour in agriculture.

According to FAO, action on child labour is often focused on international markets and value-chains for export, such as the cocoa and cotton industry, but the majority of child labourers in agriculture work in small-scale, family based agriculture, including food crop production, fishing, forestry and livestock.

"It is our joint responsibility to support poor rural families so children can go to school instead of working. Every child has the right to education," Mr Graziano da Silva added.

While agriculture remains an under-regulated sector in many countries and the problem of child labour is complex, individual countries are showing promise through strengthened commitment and forward-looking initiatives.

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FAO hands over aquaculture development plan to Ministry of Agriculture

Mr. Musa S. Mbenga, Country Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Friday in Accra presented the Ghana National Aquaculture Development Plan (GNADP) to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The plan would provide a solid foundation necessary of attracting and guiding the needed investment to be able to increase the country’s aquaculture production.

Mr. Mbenga said the GNADP provides a road map where aquaculture will contribute to food and nutritional security, employment generation, increased incomes, economic growth and poverty reduction.

He said it is estimated that, by the close of 2012 more than 50 per cent of world’s food fish supply would originate from aquaculture adding that Ghana’s annual output from aquaculture is estimated at 10,200 tons compared to an output of 1,000 tons in 2005, 3,800 tons in 2007 and 7,100 tons in 2009.

Mr. Mbenga noted that there has been a rise in aquaculture trends in the country which has testified to the fact that the nation has the potential to improve on its current fish farming output to contribute to food security and economic growth.

He stressed that the Fisheries commission in its bid to exploit the country’s full potential for aquaculture, has set a target of achieving 100,000 tons of farmed fish in five years .

Mr. Mbenga said for government to achieve this target, it sought support from FAO to assist in implementing the National Aquaculture Strategic Framework (NASF); adding that the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy II took its inputs for aquaculture development from the NASF.

He added that the assistance to government through the partnership has produced initiatives intended to help achieve the 100,000 tons target for 2016.

Mr. Mbenga noted that the initiatives include the GNADP, Aquaculture Spatial Database Establishment Report, Management Report, Capacity building for the fisheries commission staff in the use of Geographic Information System and Spatial Mapping of Agriculture sites in the ten regions.

Mr. Nii Amasah Namoale, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture thanked the FAO Country Representative and pledge government support in implementing the framework to achieve its intended targets.**

Courtesy ghanaweb

FAO: World Cereal Production Increases in 2012

GLOBAL - The FAO’s first forecast for world cereal production in 2012 points to a one per cent (or 27 million tonnes) increase from 2011 to a new record of 2,371 million tonnes. Increases are expected for coarse grains and rice, while wheat may decrease.

Total cereal utilisation is anticipated to expand by 1.4 per cent in 2012/13, to 2,357 million tonnes, with feed utilisation growing fastest and food consumption keeping pace with population. On the other hand, growth in industrial use of cereals for the production of biofuels is likely to stall after several years of strong gains.

Based on these early prospects for world production and utilization, world end-of-season cereal stocks for crop years closing in 2013 could increase to 524 million tonnes, roughly nine million tonnes, or 1.7 per cent, higher than their opening levels. This is not expected to result in any signifcant variation in the global stocks-to-use ratio, which is estimated to remain stable at roughly 22 per cent.

Among the major cereals, world carryovers are forecast to decline for wheat while increasing for coarse grains and rice. The forecast rise in inventories of coarse grains could still leave its stocks-to-use ratio at a precariously low level of 14.3 per cent, up marginally from 2011/12.

World trade in cereals in 2012/13 is forecast to reach 295.5 million tonnes, slightly higher than in 2011/12. This increase mostly concerns maize, supported by rebounding supplies, more than offsetting an anticipated contraction in wheat, while rice trade is forecast to remain stable.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 224 points in April 2012, down nearly two per cent from March, with all cereals showing weakness, amid favourable supply prospects. In April, wheat prices on average were roughly 21 per cent, maize 15 per cent and rice four per cent lower than the corresponding month last year.

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