Rescuing Food to Feed Portland’s Hungry Families

Urban Gleaners Director, Diana Foss discusses the organizations many programs to rescue and redistribute fresh, nutritious food throughout the Portland area.

Urban Gleaners is a food-rescue charity that has been operating in Portland, Oregon since 2006. The organization picks up food from restaurants and grocery stores and redistributes it to agencies that are helping to feed hungry families all over the city. Urban Gleaners also runs a number of programs that address hunger in schools, operate free farmers markets, provide emergency food relief, and operate a mobile market.

Food Tank had the opportunity to speak with Diana Foss, Director of Urban Gleaners.

Food Tank (FT): How do you contribute to creating a better food system?

Diana Foss (DF): Urban Gleaners rescues wholesome food that would otherwise be thrown away and redistributes it to hungry children and their families. We collect food from restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers, farms, and farmers markets and deliver it, free of charge, to pantries at more than 20 schools and housing complexes in Multnomah County. 

FT: What is a project, program, or result you are most proud of? Please explain.

DF: We are most proud of our Food to Schools program, which gets nutritious, fresh food including dairy, organic produce, and whole-grain bread directly into the hands of children who need it most.

FT:  What are your goals for 2015 and beyond?

DF: This year we are planning to buy a new van, which we will convert into a Mobile Market. This will allow us to take our wholesome, fresh food, free of charge, to families who are unable to travel to our school-based pantries.

FT: In one sentence, what is the most important thing eaters and consumers can do today to support a more sustainable food system?

DF: Eaters and consumers can shop for food that is grown with care for both the people who work the land and the land itself, and use it wisely so it is not wasted.

FT: How can individuals become more involved in your organization?

DF: We couldn’t do our work without our committed volunteers. Volunteers pick up donations, sort food in our warehouse, and repack prepared foods into smaller containers.

U.S Pledges More Support For Nigeria’s Agric. Development

maize farm

Mr Kurt Seifarth, Regional Agricultural Counselor in Nigeria for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, on Thursday restated his government’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in the development of her agriculture sector.

Seifarth disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the sidelines of a one-day interactive conference with Nigeria’s retail food business operators.

The U.S. official said that his government had concluded arrangement to assist more Nigerian farmers in “priority areas” so far identified by Nigerian government.

“From my experience around the world, all countries are developing their agricultural resources based on their priorities.

“And Nigeria is amongst those countries that have the possibility of being a very strong agricultural products producer.

“We are, therefore, ready to provide the needed technical assistance to Nigerian farmers in the priority areas the government has identified,’’ he said.

Seifarth said that it was imperative for his government to support the farmers in overcoming their current challenges.

He also said that it was imperative for Nigeria to sustain her food safety laws, overall framework for producing fruits, as well as develop her poultry farming system.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is the U.S. Federal Executive Department responsible for developing and executing the government’s policy on farming, agriculture, forestry and food.

It was set up to meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to assure food safety and protect natural resources.

The Department is to foster rural communities and end hunger in the United States and internationally.

Niger Assembly Seeks Action Against Cattle Rustling

Hon Ahmed Marafa,

The speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Hon Ahmed Marafa, has urged the security agents in the state to step up their strategy to curb criminal activities especially cattle rustling in the state.

Hon Marafa who was represented by the deputy speaker, Mohammed Husseini at the resumption of plenary after over a month recess yesterday stated that the House was ready to collaborate with other arms   of government and agencies for the progress of the state.

He stated that the clash between farmers and the herdsmen must also be checked, adding that the   security agents in the state must devise a strategy for a renewed operation so that the state could   remain peaceful as it was known for, over the years.

He said the expectation of the people about the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the state was high and that as lawmakers, they could not let the people down in delivering to them the   desired services.

He also commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives during this year’s pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and the people and government of Niger State over the death of the state accountant general, Shehu Kontagora.

Agric Institute Sets To Equip Students With Agribusiness Skills

Akperan Orshi

The Rector, Akperan Orshi College of Agruculture, Yandev, Dr Samuel Ahemen, said the school has introduced additional courses in management to equip students with agribusiness skills

 Ahemen told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Yandev, Gboko, Benue that the school has expanded its curriculum to accommodate managerial courses to equip students to adopt agriculture as a business

 He said the new courses were designed to broaden the scope of students by equipping them with necessary skills to produce, organize and market their products for profit.

 The rector explained that in the past graduates were trained to specialise in their different areas of fields while the business aspect of the training was excluded.

 According to him, the decision to include managerial courses was to enable the schools’ graduates approach farming as business and not as vocation.

 ” In line with the vision of the new administration both at the federal and state levels, which aims at making agriculture a business, the school has introduced additional courses in management to equip students with managerial skills.

 “It is hoped that these students will be able to manage agriculture as a business when they graduate from here instead of looking for white collar jobs.”

 Ahemen, also a graduate of the school, regretted declining staff productivity and blamed it on non staff recruitment over 16 years.

 He, however, commended the incumbent administration for demonstrating tremendous interest in the well being of the institution.

 “When the governor paid us a visit and saw the condition of the laboratories, he was so disappointed that he refused to go round, but promised to construct laboratories and equip them.”

 The rector explained that the former administration under Gov. Gabriel Suswam, had awarded contract for the upgrade of the laboratory but had not executed it.

 “The contractor came and removed the roofing of the building and did not return to carry out work and the rains destroy the facilities in the building,” he said.

 The rector told NAN that unless the old contract is terminated, nothing can be done on the project.

 He explained that as soon as the legal works for the termination of the contract was completed, work on the laboratory would commence.

 On internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the rector, who did not disclose figures, said it was low but added that the school was not a profit making institution.

 He explained that so much of the schools’ revenue was lost to theft from neighbouring communities since the school was not fenced.

 “Most of our palm kernels were harvested by thieves since the place is still open and we have very few security guards.

 “They also steal our eggs in the same way and it has become very difficult to secure these products due to inadequacy of security personnel and lack of a perimeter wall around the school,” he said.

 He, however, said the college has commenced the fencing of the school to prevent intruders into the schools’ premises.

Harvesting the Research: Common, Easily Enhanced Species Are Most Important to Crop Pollinatio

Surprising findings indicate that some wild pollinators might be much more important to farmers than others

Food Tank interviewed David Kleijn, lead author of a paper on crop pollination services by wild species. Enhancing the ecosystem service of pollination will be key to the ecological intensification of agriculture.

The overall message: The authors found that the economic benefit of crop pollination services is provided mostly by common species. They therefore conclude that a focus on the economic value of pollinator services is an insufficient argument for preserving rare and threatened species of pollinators.

The research: Using data from 90 studies that spanned 1,394 crop fields, the authors tested three hypotheses:

1. The majority of pollination services are provided by a small number of wild species.
2. These species are relatively common, while rare and threatened species do not contribute much to the ecosystem service of pollination.
3. These common species can be easily enhanced by simple farm management practices.

The findings of the paper confirmed all three hypotheses. Only 2 percent of the 735 wild bee species observed in the datasets provided over 80 percent of pollination services.

Food Tank (FT): What are two key points of your paper, in laymens’ terms?

David Kleijn (DK): The first key point is that wild pollinators are just as important as honeybees for crop pollination. We can use the importance of wild pollinators to interest farmers in implementing new conservation measures. We are already seeing examples of this in the United States and in the Netherlands, where fruit farmers are establishing wild pollinator habitat next to fruit crops, often without government subsidies.

The second key point of the paper is that only a small number of common wild bee species visit crop flowers. These species can be enhanced relatively easily to contribute to crop pollination. Most other bee species do not occur on cropland and/or do not forage on crop flowers; the preservation of these species, many of which are threatened in their existence, requires traditional conservation practices such as protected areas and reserves. We therefore concluded that a sole focus on ecosystem services might occur at the expense of these threatened species that don’t contribute much to crop pollination. We need both.

FT: Why is your review relevant to the transition to sustainable agriculture?

DK: Our review shows which species contribute to crop pollination and which species do not. This has two advantageous. First, it will help better target measures that intend to preserve pollination services. We can make recommendations on which plant species will enhance floral resources for wild pollinators outside of the crop flowering period, and we can tell farmers where to plant them. This will make preservation efforts much more effective.

Second, it will show which wild bee species might benefit from the planting of insect-pollinated crops; farmers can have positive side effects on pollinators through their crop choices. Indeed, other studies have already found that bee species using floral resources from crops have more positive population trends than bee species that use wild plant species.

FT: In the paper, you contend rare and threatened species contribute very little to plant pollination. Could this be because their populations are already quite diminished? Might they not contribute in valuable (and perhaps unforeseen) ways if their populations were to be replenished?

DK: The rarity of threatened bee species is part of the reason why they contribute little, but certainly not the whole story. Some species that fly on crops used to be quite common and used to contribute substantially to crop pollination. Their decline is mostly related to land use change and a shift in the types of crops that are grown. 

The decline of semi-natural habitat, in both quantity and quality, has resulted in the unintended consequence of loss of pollinator habitat, which has lessened the contribution of these species to crop pollination. Another reason for the limited contribution of threatened species to crop pollination is that they specialize on certain non-crop flowers or habitats that have declined over the years. It is unlikely that these species will become important for crop pollination even if they become more abundant once again.

FT: Despite the lower economic payoff of conservation of rare and threatened species, you do contend that their preservation is still of vital importance. How might this importance be valued if no economic benefit can be quantified? Could rare pollinator species conservation be incorporated into payment for ecosystem services schemes such that this importance is conveyed through public policy?

DK: Yes, I think it is of vital importance that we conserve also the species for which we have no evidence that we benefit economically from their existence. Quantifying the value of nature is quite useful to demonstrate to the general public that we benefit from biodiversity, something most people do not realize. However, it is useless to try to place a price on everything or argue that we should only conserve things if we benefit economically from it. That is not how people think. We conserve many things, like art and old buildings, because it makes us feel good, because we think it is the right thing to do, or just for the fun of it. I think policymakers, conservationists, and scientists should use both arguments for conservation.

The need to conserve biodiversity for the ecosystem services it provides has become the dominant conservation paradigm, especially amongst policymakers. Our paper warns that too much focus on ecosystem services might go at the expense of all the other species that do not contribute much to service provisioning. We need both.

FT: Do your results also have implications for farm management practices? How would you explain the results of your paper to a farmer looking to participate in a transition to sustainable intensification?

DK: Our study shows that it is easy to enhance the common species that provide most of the pollination services to farmers. Other papers have shown that an increase in wild pollinators results in higher yields or higher quality products, and/or can partly replace nutrient inputs. If a farmer wanted to become more sustainable, the first action to take would be to enhance flower abundance in pre-existing semi-natural landscape elements on the farm.

These areas could include roadside ditches, hedges, or leftover areas around barns and sheds. These habitats are usually of limited value to pollinators currently, because they contain few flowers and represent poor nesting habitat. Since these areas are not suitable for crops and require minimal changes in management, this is pretty much a win-win method to farm in a more sustainable way.

AFRICAN FINANCE MINISTERS SEEK MEGA-FINANCING DEALS TO BOOST AGRIC SECTOR

African ministers of finance have stepped up a campaign for additional financing led by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to channel funding required to boost production of rice and commercial farming in Africa in order to enable the continent to become an exporter of food.
The Ministers of Finance and Agriculture from the Republic of Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Madagascar, Niger and Tanzania emphasised the need for the creation of an African agri-based financing facility that would oversee the channeling of adequate finance to the agriculture sector.

While insisting on the viability of commercial agriculture in Africa, the Director of Cabinet Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, Ahoua N’Doli Théophile, said major international firms were willing to set up agri-based business enterprises to process cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire, but required guarantees. “We have understood the need for this financing facility in Côte d’Ivoire in a practical manner.

“We need finance to set up marketing infrastructure and the cost of marketing these products cannot be passed onto other sectors. We have companies that want to process cocoa for both domestic and international markets and have committed to invest in Côte d’Ivoire,” N’Doli Théophile said.

He noted that Côte d’Ivoire is discussing the release of US $800 million with the AfDB to finance capital flows to the cocoa plantations.
The need for a continental risk financing facility to aid agricultural investments in Africa was also proposed by Madagascar’s Minister of Agriculture, Roland Ravatomanga , who said commercial banks often resort to cancellation of loans to the agriculture sector whenever the demand increased.
Proposals to create an agricultural financing risk facility – a form of insurance agency for investors – featured prominently during discussions at the “Feeding Africa Conference,” which opened at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre in the outskirts of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on Wednesday.

Also, these financial connoisseurs expressed concerns on food sufficiency and the agricultural markets; maintaining that the failure to develop efficient marketing systems would affect food demand and supply in national as well as  regional markets.

These concerns, experts say are growing, because most West African countries have set the goal of increasing the production of staple food crops like rice, bananas, onions and cassava, which is adequate to meet national demand and for the export markets, creating fears of a regional commodity excess.
Senegalese Agriculture Minister, Papa Abdoulaye Seck said the concerns of an agricultural commodity excess should not worry African countries so long as opportunities to negotiate for fair trade regulations exist. “The transformation of rice production in West Africa is a challenging issue. We can still determine our relationship with the Asian countries which have been exporting rice to us and redefine trade,” Seck said.

According Seck, statistics show Asian countries could become major importers of rice by 2020, which could benefit the African countries currently investing in rice production. Seck said the AfDB should invest in helping rice farmers reduce post-harvest losses, which, if successfully done, could reduce the import bills by 10 percent.

The discussions at the Dakar conference on agricultural transformation reveal that efforts to improve the rapid industrialization of Africa through farming are ongoing. Nevertheless, governments still require funding to link up local and regional markets and create seamless routes for food trade.

EXPORT STAKEHOLDERS MAP OUT WAYS TO MEET INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

stakeholders

Nigeria Exporters have continually endured misfortunes because of dismissal of their items by a few created nations over the globe. This has conveyed to the fore the significance of meeting worldwide models if Nigeria must enhance her fortunes in fare exchange.

The President, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alhaji Remi Bello who uncovered this today amid his introduction at the National Agro-Commodity Export Stakeholders Forum sorted out by LCCI as a team with USAID Nigeria, held at the LCCI Conference and Exhibition Center, Ikeja, Lagos, said Agro-partnered items have endured more misfortunes as an aftereffect of the dismissal.

Talking on the subject: "Difficulties to Meeting Sustainable International Standards", Bello said the discussion got to be vital because of the late European Union (EU) boycott of some of Nigeria's nourishment things which incorporates beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, terminated fish, meat, shelled nut chips amongst others from entering Europe till June 2016, noticing that there is a pressing to formalize procedures of institutionalizing Nigerian trade items to meet the EU set due date.

He said to accomplish this; there is a need to give more credit backing to exporters keeping in mind the end goal to procure the vital offices and hardware to meet global models.

As indicated by the president, figures from the Central Bank Economic Report for the second quarter of 2015 uncovered that "the aggregate non-oil send out income by Nigerian exporters amid the second quarter of 2015 remained at US$631.54 million, showing a decrease of 64.9 and 75.1 percent beneath the levels in the previous quarter and the relating time of 2014, separately".

Bello noticed that the journey for enhancement of the economy can't be achieved without Nigeria's entrance to the universal business sector.

He along these lines approached the legislature to make accessible unique intercession reserves for exporters to help their ability to contend with the worldwide brands and item. The president additionally asked all partners in the agric segment, to give assets and endeavors to seek after the institutionalization of Nigeria items for the worldwide markets over the globe.

Talking with newsmen at the discussion, the administrator of the Export Group, Dr. Obiora Maduthe said the test with Nigeria produce is the issue of low quality, awful compound deposits, planned blending of good and terrible produce which is influencing the picture of the nation, as well as her salary.

Madu clarified that the point of the gathering in this manner is to unite administrative bodies and exporters and help the coordinated effort between government organizations keeping in mind the end goal to guide out arrangements on the most proficient method to determine the issue of dismissal of the nation's items, and in addition sharpening the overall population, partners and legislature of the threat included if moves are not made promptly.

While conveying her keynote address, the head of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Chairperson National Food Safety Management Committee, Mrs. Veronica Ezeh said the huge warning of fare dismissal from the EU throughout the years concerning the fare of rural produce from Nigeria not meeting the global and national standard, has been a test to the organization.

Ezeh noticed that some of these standard not met incorporate; the greatest deposits level for a control substance, high microbial burden, poor great hygienic practice, poor great horticultural practice, poor great assembling practice, deficient capacity and improper utilization of pesticides in our agrarian produce.

She further clarified that the fare dismissal, as an aftereffect of illicit exportation and fashioning of fare archives, is the capacity of the disappointment of administrative systems and the nonattendance of viable guest control that permits all sort of unregistered items to be sent out of the nation.

To meet universal standard along these lines, Ezeh said there is "the requirement for shared endeavors of every administrative authoritie and pertinent partners, to turn out with a system for tending to the difficulties that the nation's horticultural produce is confronting in the worldwide business sector".

"Harmonization of national measures with sign base universal standard is in light of a legitimate concern for all. This won't just empower creating nations react practically to meet the developing fare opportunities, yet will likewise advantage the residential buyers.

"In perspective of the above, there is the requirement for expansion mindfulness about the requirement for makers and exporters to either receive their standard to the universal standard gave by these three sister-setting bodies, The Codex Alimentarius Commission, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) or apply to import nation standard for the fare produce." she said.

She noticed that NAFDAC through a progression of consultative and partners gatherings with the other applicable organizations, has consented to sharpen and prepare agric exporters on the best way to follow the national and worldwide standard keeping in mind the end goal to enhance their competiveness in the worldwide exchange.

Ezeh in this way emphasized the dedication of the office to keep on reinforcing the cooperation and data imparting to the MDS and the overall population, to make certain that farming nourishment fare accommodates with global standard to encourage simple exchange, secure purchasers and the spread of maladies.

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.