The Chairman of the Technical Committee on Yam Export, Prof. Simon Irtwang has said that yam exporters were finalising processes to export another consignment of yam in the first quarter to United Kingdom and United States of America. Irtwang told news men in Lagos on Tuesday that the committee was going round major yam markets, especially in the South-West to inspect the quality of yams there. “Not all species of yam are good for export. So, yam farmers and traders need to know the species that are good for export. They also need to know how to select, store and preserve…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Thousands of smallholder farmers across Latin America are set to benefit from smart phones, a technology that will help them deal better with the effects of climate change. A three-year agreement will see farmers receive vital information such as weather forecasts and early warnings via their smart phones, as well as online training and equipment to help improve water usage. “There are 70 countries in the world today that have no access to weather information,” said José Graziano da Silva, director general of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). He was speaking after signing the agreement on Monday…
HarvestPlus says it is targeting 1.2 million households with vitamin A cassava and maize in Nigeria in 2018, with increased delivery activities in expansion states. Its Country Manager, Dr Paul Ilona who disclosed this to news men in an interview on Monday in Ibadan, said that the expansion states would include those in the Northeast, Northwest and North central. He added that HarvestPlus planned to deliver three million bundles of vitamin A cassava, 2,000 metric tonnes of vitamin A maize and bring over 50,000ha of land under cultivation to bio-fortified seeds. “This delivery target is in addition to the awareness…
The Programme Director of Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS), Mr Akin Jimoh has disclosed that Lagos accounts for 24 percent of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Nigeria. Jimoh who made the revelation when he visited the Lagos Operations of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Iganmu, Lagos on Thursday, called for collaboration with the media for improved maternal and child health to reduce the high burden of maternal deaths in Nigeria. According to him, “It is regrettable that a large proportion of women still lose their lives to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. In Lagos State alone, statistics show that 555 women out…
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have disclosed that food insecurity or lack of access to enough food has continued to worsen in 16 countries torn by conflict, highlighting further that is was of “extremely critical importance for humanitarian support of the affected countries. The agencies listed the countries monitored to include Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. The others are Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. The countries are classified as most affected by acute hunger. Conflict…
Following a rigorous selection process, Dr Denis Chopera, Programme Executive Manager of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), based in Durban, South Africa, has been selected as an Aspen New Voices Fellow. The Aspen Institute announced the 2018 class of this ground-breaking programme on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2018. It is designed to ensure experts from the developing world have a voice in the global development discussion. “I am so excited to join fellow global development experts from the developing world,” said Chopera. “What a great opportunity to contribute to dialogue on development issues affecting the African continent!”…
The CRU (www.CRUgroup.com) is bringing Phosphates 2018 (http://APO.af/ESWVFf), the global phosphates industry’s most important conference, to the Mövenpick Mansour Eddahbi Hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco on 12-14 March 2018. The event is organised in participation with International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) and will be hosted by OCP, Morocco’s national phosphate company (www.OCPgroup.ma). Now in its 11th year, the event attracts over 500 commercial and operational decision-makers from across the phosphates and fertilizer supply chain to explore the supply and demand dynamics and the latest mining and production technologies. Morocco is a hub for investment and innovation in phosphate mining and processing.…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21) has called on policy makers, donors and the international community to support all efforts that would bring about cassava transformation in Africa. Made ahead of the international conference on cassava, the call is coming at a time when cassava is becoming central to food security of over 600 million people in the developing world and has become the fourth most important crop after maize, wheat and rice. Presenting the upcoming conference on cassava to donors and the international community in Cotonou on Thursday, the Director of GCP21, Dr…
Over 690,000 families totaling up to four million people living in six low-income countries stand to benefit from a new climate insurance programme launched by VisionFund International, World Vision’s microfinance arm and Global Parametrics, a new venture funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and by the InsuResilience Investment Fund, set up by German development bank KfW and managed by Swiss-based impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance. Financing for the initial preparation and assessment required to implement the programme came from the Rockefeller Foundation and FMO, the Dutch development bank. The programme known as the African and Asian…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has flagged off sales of organic fertilizer produced by a local firm, Sokoto-IML Company Ltd. The company was established in 2017 as a joint-venture entity between the Sokoto state government and IML Industries Ltd. Speaking at the flag-off ceremony, Tambuwal said the event is a clear testimony of his administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance the economic well-being of the people of the state. He said apart from the fertilizer company, other policies have been implemented in order to put the state economy in the right direction. “The micro and macroeconomic policies of both…