FAO’s Asst Director General and Regional Bukar Tijani By Abdallah el-Kurebe Abidjan, Cote de I’Voire – April 4, 2016: As Fifty-four African ministers of Agriculture and various stakeholders are gathered in Abidjan, capital of Cote de I’Voire, for the 29th Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO’s) Regional Conference for Africa to take stock of the progress made so far in the area of improving the continent’s food and nutrition security. Institutions, regional and civil society organisations, including technical experts would discuss on priority areas and agree on actions to be taken in the next two years at the conference that has a theme:…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Dr. Ouedraogo & Prof. Makinde By Abdallah el-Kurebe A new Head of Office for the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), an agency under the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Dr. Jeremy Tinga Ouedraogo has been appointed. Ouedraogo takes over from Prof. Diran Makinde, the immediate past Director of ABNE since 2009, who will now serve as Senior Advisor to NEPAD’s CEO in Midrand, South Africa. A statement signed and issued by Jean Keberé, Communications Officer for NEPAD Agency ABNE said that instead of Ouagadougou, the new Head of Regional Office would be based in Dakar, where a new…
Cotton By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA) has expressed its support for the environmental release and commercialization of genetically modified Bt Cotton, which is known to be resistant against pests for Nigerian farmers. A position paper signed by the Acting Director General of the Association, Hamma Kwajaffa noted that while the Nigerian textile industry was a strategic non-oil sector and the largest after oil and agriculture, it was also the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Association, the cotton potential in Nigeria was because of the country’s blessed abundant raw materials, specially cotton and polyester…
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation About 100 groups representing some five million Nigerians, comprising farmers, faith-based organisations, civil society groups, students and local community groups, have lodged an opposition to Monsanto’s attempts to introduce genetically modified (GM) cotton and maize into Nigeria’s food and farming systems. In written objections submitted to the biosafety regulators, the groups have cited numerous health and environmental concerns and alleged failure of these crops, especially GM cotton, in Africa. Monsanto Agricultural Nigeria Limited has applied to the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) for the environmental release and placing in the market…
Rice Farm By Abdallah el-Kurebe Chairman of the Bureau De Change Operators Association in Sokoto state, Aliyu Yar Abba has criticised government’s ban on rice importation to Nigeria through land borders, appealing at the same time that the federal government lifts the ban in the meantime. Reacting to the development in Sokoto on Monday, Yar Abba observed that although the policy was a good one, “It is ill-timed. It should have come at a time when the country can proudly boast of producing domestic rice to the level of self-sufficiency.” He suggested that if the ban is sustained, “it…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe Some Facts on Global Water Pollution: > “The current piped sewerage systems do not treat sewage but merely transport it away. They are toxic and extremely polluting for the rivers and lakes where they are dumped,” – CSE > The global population is expected to exceed nine billion people by 2050. Major growth will take place in developing countries, particularly in urban areas that already have inadequate waste-water infrastructure. The financial, environmental and social costs are projected to increase dramatically unless waste-water management receives urgent attention – UNEP > Every day, two million tons of sewage, industrial and…
Some IDPs By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Director General (DG) of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi has called for deployment of more medical doctors and others health personnel to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps to improve their healthcare. A press release signed and issued by the Senior Information Officer of the Agency, Sani Datti on Thursday stated that the DG made the appeal when he led a team of Health Policy Specialists and Clinicians for an on-the-spot Health needs assessment and strategy appraisal at IDPs camps in Maiduguri, Borno State. Sidi explained that the assessment was to…
By Aghan Daniel MESHA Secretary I aghan@meshakenya.org MARCH 22, ACCRA, GHANA – “Are all roads in Ghana this smooth? This good?” asked Maina Waruru, a senior MESHA member from Kenya as we approached the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra last Monday afternoon. As we got off our hostess’ car, one Linda Asante, a very kind member of Science and Technology Communicators Association of Ghana (SaTCOG), received us and led us to the Scoop, the institutions canteen run by Akan, a very talkative woman. For me, I rushed to the washroom to empty my bowels in a nearby modern toilet.…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (UNFAO) will hold its 29th session of the Regional Conference for Africa in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which has a theme: “Transforming African Agri-food Systems for Inclusive Growth and a Shared Prosperity”, is billed to hold at Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire, from 4th to 8th April, 2016. According to a statement by FAO, among those expected to attend the event, which would jointly be hosted by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire and UNFAO are “ministers and other high level delegates from FAO Member States, partners, representatives of Civil Society Organizations in Africa…
Accra (Ghana), March 16, 2016: Experts expressed strong disapproval against centralised wasterwater or excreta management which was the norm the world over, particularly in urban areas of India and other parts of the world. “Centralised wastewater management means excreta is not managed locally but is only transported through pipelines and dumped somewhere else,” said Dr Suresh Rohilla, Director of Centre for Science and Environment’s Water Programme. He was speaking at the Second India Africa Dialogue and Media Briefing Workshop held in Accra, Ghana, which was attended by journalists from around 15 countries of Africa. The workshop, Sewerage to Sanitation, Opportunities…