IFAD COMMENCE PLANS TO IMPROVE BENUE AGRIC VALUE CHAIN

Ms Atsuko Toda

As part of efforts to ensure self sufficiency in food production, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Wednesday said it has commenced the planned implementation for improved value chain project for the Benue State Agricultural Revolution Programme.

Country Programme Manager of the Food and Agricultural Produce Organization, Ms Atsuko Toda, who spoke in Markurdi the State capital, at a meeting with Governor Samuel Ortom, identified key areas of women and youth empowerment programmes in agriculture.

Releasing the state counterpart funding for the project, Toda encouraged large scale farmers to concentrate on agricultural produce that the state has comparative advantage in.

Governor Ortom while responding, said the return of Benue State to agriculture has become imperative as people of the state must earn a living in the face of dwindling income from the national purse.

The state whose slogan is “the food basket of the nation” is a rich agricultural region where crops such as potatoes, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, yams, sesame, rice, and grand nuts are grown.

Organic farming 'benefits biodiversity'

organic field  improve biodiversity

Image captionOrganic farms act as a refuge for wild plants, offsetting the loss of biodiversity on conventional farms, a study suggests.

Fields around organic farms have more types of wild plants, providing benefits for wildlife, say scientists.

The research is likely to fuel the debate over the environmental benefits of organic farming.

Studies suggest that organic farming produces lower yields than conventional methods but harbours more wildlife.

The new study, by researchers at the University of Swansea and institutes in France, looked at fields sowed with winter wheat in the region of Poitou-Charente.

They found that organic farming led to higher weed diversity on surrounding conventionally farmed fields.

"Wild plants are important for birds, bees and other farmland species," said Dr Luca Borger of the department of biosciences at Swansea University.

"Organic farming has advantages in maintaining these, but even a mixture of organic and non-organic farming in an area can help maintain this biodiversity.

"Even only 25% of fields being organically farmed can make a difference."

Food security

Farmland provides essential habitat for many animals but intensification of agriculture has led to a loss of biodiversity.

However, in order to provide the extra food needed by the bigger human population of the future, without destroying forests and wetlands, farming needs to be made more intensive.

Supporters of organic farming say the method could be a potential compromise between meeting food security needs and providing habitat for bees, birds and other wildlife.

The researchers say land-sharing between organic farms and non-organic farms could have benefits for both crop production and biodiversity.

This theory needs to be tested in follow-up studies, they say.

The study is published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B- Biological Sciences.

3M CASSAVA FARMERS TO BENEFIT FROM CAMAP

(CAMAP)  farmers

The Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-Processing Project (CAMAP) is intensifying   efforts to improve the livelihood of about 3.5 million cassava farmers in sub-Saharan Africa through provision of production technologies and other supports that make farming attractive and profitable.

Disclosing this to newsmen in an interview in Abuja, the Nigeria Country Coordinator of CAMAP, Mr Abu Umaru, said the project which targets eight countries has since taken off in Nigeria, Zambia and Uganda and will also be implemented in Angola, Ghana and Liberia, among others.

“CAMAP is a Public-Private Partnership coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and its activities are supported with funding from UK aid from the UK government. In Nigeria, it is being implemented in four states; Osun, Ogun, Kogi and Kwara and now moving to Oyo state,” the Coordinator stated.

According to him, a total of 553 cassava farmers have benefited in the four states, while 322 beneficiaries have already been identified in Oyo state where about 1,000 hectares have been earmarked for cultivation.

“A total of about 3,000 hectares have been cultivated between 2013 and 2015 with average yield of 28 to 30 tons per hectare as against the previous low yield of about 10 tons per hectare.

“We bring the farmers together on the same farm for easy mechanisation and support each farmer in the initial year with four bags of fertilizer per hectare, 50 bundles of cassava stems per hectare and six litres of pre and post emergence herbicides,” he disclosed.

He added that the project acquired mechanised cassava planter, which also applies fertilizer while planting, and mechanised cassava harvester among other equipment to assist the farmers, saying that the mechanised system will attract youths into farming.

“In 2014, a ton of cassava was bought from the farmers at ₦16, 000, while in 2015, it was sold at ₦13,000 and the farmers made reasonable profits. We arrange transportation for them through partnership with transport owners among others,” he noted.

One of the beneficiaries from Osun state, Chief Solomon Oyerinde, told Daily Trust in an interview that the project has greatly assisted them and provided solution to cassava glut as farmers participating in the project sell all their produce to the processors for industrial use.

Organic tomatoes accumulate more vitamin C, sugars than conventionally grown fruit

Tomatoes grown on organic farms accumulate higher concentrations of sugars, vitamin C and compounds associated with oxidative stress compared to those grown on conventional farms, new research suggests.

Tomatoes grown on organic farms accumulate higher concentrations of sugars, vitamin C and compounds associated with oxidative stress compared to those grown on conventional farms, according to new research.

Tomatoes grown on organic farms accumulate higher concentrations of sugars, vitamin C and compounds associated with oxidative stress compared to those grown on conventional farms, according to research published February 20 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Maria Raquel Alcantara Miranda and colleagues from the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil.

In their study, the researchers compared the weights and biochemical properties of tomatoes from organic and conventional farms. They found that tomatoes grown on organic farms were approximately 40% smaller than those grown by conventional techniques, and they also accumulated more compounds linked to stress resistance.

According to the authors, organic farming exposes plants to greater stress than conventional farming. They suggest that this increased stress may be the reason organic tomatoes had higher levels sugars, vitamin C and pigment molecules like lycopene, an anti-oxidant compound -- all of which are associated with the biological response to stress. Based on these observations, the authors suggest that growing strategies for fruits and vegetables should aim to balance plant stress with efforts to maximize yield and fruit size, rather than trying to eliminate stress to increase yields.

Highly contagious honey bee virus transmitted by mites

Researchers have discovered a parasitic mite has caused the deformed wing virus to proliferate in honey bee colonies.

Researchers report that the parasitic 'Varroa' mite has caused the deformed wing virus to proliferate in honey bee colonies. This association is now thought to contribute to the world-wide spread and probable death of millions of honey bee colonies. The current monetary value of honey bees as commercial pollinators in the United States alone is estimated at about $15-$20 billion annually.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have discovered a parasitic mite has caused the deformed wing virus to proliferate in honey bee colonies.

This association is now thought to contribute to the world-wide spread and probable death of millions of honey bee colonies. The current monetary value of honey bees as commercial pollinators in the United States alone is estimated at about $15-$20 billion annually.

The research conducted in Hawaii by researchers from the University of Sheffield, the Marine Biological Association, the Food and Environment Research Agency and the University of Hawaii, and reported in the journalScience, showed how the Varroa mite caused deformed wing virus (DWV) -- a known viral pathogen -- to increase its frequency among honey bee colonies from 10 per cent to 100 per cent.

This change was accompanied by a million-fold increase in the number of virus particles infecting each honey bee and a massive reduction in viral strain diversity leading to the emergence of a single virulent DWV strain.

Dr Stephen Martin, of the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences said: "Just 2,000 mites can cause a colony containing 30,000 bees to die. The mite is the biggest problem worldwide for bee keepers; it's responsible for millions of colonies being killed.

"Understanding the changing viral landscape that honey bees and other pollinators face will help beekeepers and conservationists worldwide protect these important insects. We have discovered what happens at the start of an infection. The goal is to understand how the infection comes about so that we can control it.

"Deformed Wing Virus is naturally transmitted in bees through feeding or sex but the mites change the disease so it becomes more deadly, shortening the bees' lives."

As the mite and new virulent strain of the virus becomes established across the Hawaiian Islands the new emerging viral landscape will mirror that found across the rest of the world where the Varroa mite is now established.

This ability of a mite to permanently alter the honey bee viral landscape may by a key factor in the recent colony collapse disorder (CCD) and over-wintering colony losses (OCL) as the virulent pathogen strain remains even after the mites are removed.

Africa’s agric market to hit $1trn in 15 years

The Africa’s Agricultural market will be worth $1trillion (about N200 trillion) in the next 15 years going by latest estimation.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), who announced this, Wednesday in Dakar, Senegal, said that he continent must urgently take advantage of this prospect by rapidly investing in the development of its agro-industry sector.

“A bold plan to transform agriculture will boost local food production, reduce food import bills, conserve foreign exchange, increase domestic savings and assure strong macroeconomic and fiscal stability,” the AfDB President emphasized.

He however noted that  this can only happen if agriculture is treated as real business venture attracting investments from the private sector across the entire agricultural value chains, including modern seed and fertiliser (organic and inorganic) companies, agricultural mechanization, irrigation and water management, warehousing, commodity exchanges, food manufacturing and processing, logistics, cold storage and transport.

Adesina was speaking at the opening of a three-day high-level conference on “Feeding Africa, An Action Plan for African Agricultural Transformation” at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre in Diamniadio, near Dakar in Senegal.

He cited the remarkable progress made by Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia in the global horticulture industry as a clear indication that well-designed policies, financing and infrastructure support can propel Africa to the top of the global food value chains.

The AfDB President also recounted how he leveraged Nigeria’s agro-food sector when he served as agriculture minister by working closely with the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank to encourage Bank lending to the sector.

“We need to look critically at how to accelerate commercial financing for agriculture. Banks do not lend to the agriculture sector and less than 3 percent of total bank lending in Africa goes to a sector that accounts for about 70 percent of all employment and over 40 percent of the GDP. Lack of access to affordable finance leads to underinvestment in agricultural technologies, growth of agro-allied industries and investments in infrastructure,” he said.

“By fixing agricultural value chains and de-risking the financial value chains, Africa can leverage billions of dollars in financing from its domestic financial markets into agricultural value chains.”

He also spoke on how the “New Deal on Energy for Africa,” part of the five-point development agenda he unveiled in September, would help transform the agricultural sector and make it attractive for young people and women.

President Adesina announced that the AfDB will work with other partners to establish a $300-million facility for Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa – which will be used to deploy risk sharing instruments for leveraging $3 billion in commercial financing and financing from microfinance institutions to women and women-owned businesses.

He said that by providing greater attention to labour-saving technologies, especially food processing technologies, to enable women to invest their time in more productive income-earning opportunities.

In closing, Adesina emphasized that Africa’s agricultural transformation should, in a decade, result in the elimination of extreme poverty in Africa, end hunger and malnutrition in Africa, turn Africa into a net food exporter, and move Africa to the top of the global value chains.

For his part, Senegal’s President Macky Sall commended Adesina for his five bold initiatives for Africa’s development in agriculture, energy, integration, industrialization, and for improved quality of life for the people of Africa, saying the entire continent should support these brilliant initiatives which are in sync with the continent’s development vision.

“Agriculture is life,” President Sall said, noting the diverse background of the conference participants was a guarantee that it would produce exceptional results.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon, called for a new agricultural revolution in Africa, noting that we cannot continue to use hoes, machetes and poor seeds in our farms and expect a good harvest.

He suggested the construction of feeder roads, creation of agricultural cooperatives and agro-industrial parks to help boost the agricultural sector.

Ponyo Mapon also supported the AfDB President’s call to leverage the entire agricultural value chain through to the market level, wondering, “Why should we produce cocoa and import chocolates?”

Can organic food feed the world? New study sheds light on debate over organic vs. conventional agriculture

Can organic agriculture feed the world? Although organic techniques may not be able to do the job alone, they do have an important role to play in feeding a growing global population while minimizing environmental damage, according to researchers. 

A new study concludes that crop yields from organic farming are generally lower than from conventional agriculture. That is particularly true for cereals, which are staples of the human diet -- yet the yield gap is much less significant for certain crops, and under certain growing conditions, according to the researchers.

Can organic agriculture feed the world? Although organic techniques may not be able to do the job alone, they do have an important role to play in feeding a growing global population while minimizing environmental damage, according to researchers at McGill University and the University of Minnesota.

A new study published in Nature concludes that crop yields from organic farming are generally lower than from conventional agriculture. That is particularly true for cereals, which are staples of the human diet -- yet the yield gap is much less significant for certain crops, and under certain growing conditions, according to the researchers.

The study, which represents a comprehensive analysis of the current scientific literature on organic-to-conventional yield comparisons, aims to shed light on the often heated debate over organic versus conventional farming. Some people point to conventional agriculture as a big environmental threat that undercuts biodiversity and water resources, while releasing greenhouse gases. Others argue that large-scale organic farming would take up more land and make food unaffordable for most of the world's poor and hungry.

"To achieve sustainable food security we will likely need many different techniques -- including organic, conventional, and possible 'hybrid' systems -- to produce more food at affordable prices, ensure livelihoods to farmers, and reduce the environmental costs of agriculture," the researchers conclude.

Overall, organic yields are 25% lower than conventional, the study finds. The difference varies widely across crop types and species, however. Yields of legumes and perennials (such as soybeans and fruits), for example, are much closer to those of conventional crops, according to the study, conducted by doctoral student Verena Seufert and Geography professor Navin Ramankutty of McGill and Prof. Jonathan Foley of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.

What's more, when best management practices are used for organic crops, overall yields are just 13% lower than conventional levels. "These results suggest that today's organic systems may nearly rival conventional yields in some cases -- with particular crop types, growing conditions and management practices -- but often they do not," the researchers write. Improvements in organic management techniques, or adoption of organic agriculture under environmental conditions where it performs best, may help close the yield gap, they indicate.

"Our study indicates that organically fertilized systems might require higher nitrogen inputs to achieve high yields as organic nitrogen is less readily available to crops. In some cases, organic farmers may therefore benefit by making limited use of chemical fertilizers instead of relying only on manure to supply nitrogen to their crops," Seufert says. "At the same time, conventional agriculture can learn from successful organic systems and implement practices that have shown environmental benefits, such as increased crop diversity and use of crop residues."

Yields are only part of a set of economic, social and environmental factors that should be considered when gauging the benefits of different farming systems, the researchers note. "Maybe people are asking the wrong question," Prof Ramankutty says. "Instead of asking if food is organically grown, maybe we should be asking if it's sustainably grown."

The results point to a need to get beyond the black-and-white, ideological debates that often pit advocates of organic and local foods against proponents of conventional agriculture, Prof. Foley adds. "By combining organic and conventional practices in a way that maximizes food production and social good while minimizing adverse environmental impact, we can create a truly sustainable food system."

NIGERIA TO PARTNER BRAZIL ON DEVELOPING AGRIC RESEARCH

water farm land 

The Federal Government has said that it would partner Brazil to develop agricultural research in order to boost food production and productivity in the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, who disclosed this recently in Abuja at a meeting with Brazil’s Trade Mission led by Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Joao Lima, said the ministry was also interested in learning from the school feeding programme of Brazil with about 40 million children daily to fortify a similar scheme in Nigeria.

Echono stated that the ministry was fascinated by the achievements of Brazil in rice production and productivity.

He said that rice was a staple crop in Nigeria with efforts been put in place to achieve self sufficiency in its production.

Nigeria, the permanent secretary said, would borrow ideas from Brazil to achieve that feat.

Other areas where both countries are expected to collaborate include cooperatives, rice milling equipment and agribusiness, among others.

The Executive Secretary of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, ARCN, Prof. Yusuf Abubakar, said there were 11 colleges of agriculture and 15 research institutes with a workforce of 10, 000 staff under the council.

He said the council has 1,800 scientists identifying capacity building as one of the major challenges facing the council.

Threat posed by 'pollen thief' bees uncovered

This is a pollen thief bee in action.

A new study has uncovered the secrets of 'pollen thief' bees -- which take pollen from flowers but fail to act as effective pollinators -- and the threat they pose to certain plant species.

A new University of Stirling study has uncovered the secrets of 'pollen thief' bees -- which take pollen from flowers but fail to act as effective pollinators -- and the threat they pose to certain plant species.

Flowers often need pollinators, such as bees, to collect and transport pollen to fertilise other flowers and trigger fruit and seed production. In order to attract pollinators, flowers offer resources such as nectar, oils, and pollen in return.

However some bees act as thieves by taking the pollen -- a vital protein source for young bees -- without providing pollination services.

Even plants which have adapted to the threat they pose can suffer from extremely high levels of pollen theft, according to the study.

Dr Mario Vallejo-Marin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Stirling and senior author of the study, said: "It's a co-evolutionary arms race between plants and bees. Some plants have fortified structures called anthers, where pollen is locked up behind a thick wall. The only way to open these 'pollen vaults' is through small pores at the tips.

"However some species of bees, such as bumblebees, have adapted to produce high-frequency vibrations to counteract this and get at the pollen, a process known as buzz-pollination.

"Looking at a buzz-pollinated plant called buffalo-bur, we found that more than 80 percent of bees visiting its flowers collected pollen but failed to contact the female floral parts, therefore contributing little, if anything, to seed production."

Although nectar theft among bees is well-known, little research has been carried out into the prevalence of pollen theft, or the factors which determine whether a bee will become an effective pollinator or a pollen thief.

The study showed that showed that bees which act as pollen thieves are smaller, stay longer at each flower and visit few flowers in each run. Legitimate pollinators tend to be larger, buzzing bees which visit many flowers in many plants and are likely to help plants spread their pollen more widely.

Lislie Solis-Montero, a former PhD Research Student at the University of Stirling, said: "The bee's size is the key determinant of whether it will be a pollen thief. The flowers of buffalo-bur work as a 'lock-and-key' mechanism to ensure that the bee collects and deposits pollen with the right body parts. Bees which are too small fail to contact the female organs, while still taking away pollen grains to feed their larvae."

The study was carried out in Mexico, where the introduced European honey bee was found to be a particularly common pollen thief, which could have important repercussions for buzz-pollinated plants in areas where honeybees compete with native bees.

Dr Vallejo-Marin said: "If honey bees are displacing native pollinators, the reproduction of this and other species of buzz-pollinated plants may be compromised.

"The decline of natural populations of bees around the world, combined with the expansion of non-native pollinators, could have important repercussions for the evolutionary future of specialised, buzz-pollinated plants."

Global organic agriculture market hits $75 billion in 15 years

The global organic agricultural market is steadily growing, hitting $75 billion in the last 15 years, according to the International Federal of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).

Mr Markus Arbenz, the Executive Director of IFOAM

Mr Markus Arbenz, the Executive Director of the movements, based in Bonn, Germany, said this in an interview with the Renaissance in Lagos.

“The global organic market has $72 billion in global consumption; most of it is actually in North America and Europe.

“But more and more actually, the Asian markets are also discovering, Latin America markets are discovering and slowly also African markets.

“Particularly, urban markets are discovering the potentials of organic foods.

“The development is quite impressive. If I say $72 billion right now in the market, in year 2000, it was only $15 billion.

So, you see, from $15 billion to $72 billion, it is a huge edge which you can make in only 15 years.’’

Markus, who is in Nigeria for the third African Organic Agriculture Conference holding in Lagos, also spoke about the geographical spread of organic farming around the world.

“There are about two million certified organic farmers.

“Organic farming is a production system but it is also a certification standard, so you can certify to that and then internationally trade it.

“The biggest country in terms of farming is India; the second biggest is Uganda and the third – Tanzania and Ethiopia.

“And I can tell you that 80 per cent of organic farmers live in Latin America, Africa and Asia.’’

The executive director explained what organic agriculture entails.

“Organic agriculture is based on four principles. It’s on the principle of ecology, health, fairness and care.

“It is actually a system that performs on two levels. On the first level, we have production itself.

“This is, in most cases, the food but it can also be textile, in case of cotton for example, but it also can be for body care products.

“This is directly beneficial for the market or beneficial for the family itself for consumption.’’

He further said that there are 37 million hectares of organically certified agriculture land globally.

“There is another 30 million hectares of white collection areas, in which you can also harvest and yield organic products for the global organic markets.

“Such is a market growth in two digits, more than 10 per cent growth every year at the moment being the record of 30 per cent growth of organic market,’’ Markus said.