Cross River invests more in rice production

Governor Ben Ayade

*creats employment for 22,000 youths

Amidst great expectations of the people of Cross River, Governor Ben Ayade has launched Cross River State into the current rice revolution as to further reposition the future of the state  and the nation's economy through the diversification from oil and tourism to other sources of revenue generation; especially agriculture and solid minerals. 

Action-Oriented Research for Jamaican Farmers: Interview with the Winners of the BCFN YES Competition

researcher

 

Jamaican researchers Shaneica Lester and Anne-Teresa Birthwright recently won the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition’s YES Competition, which will provide support for their project centered around small farmers’ exploration of various climate-adaptive irrigation strategies. Food Tank had the chance to speak with Lester and Birthwright about the motivations behind their work and the results they hope their project will generate.

Nigeria: CBN, Heritage Bank Fund N2 Billion Aquaculture Projects

Aquaculture Projects

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with Heritage Bank PLC has provided a N2 billion long term facility to aquaculture businesses under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), to Triton Aqua Africa Ltd (TAAL). This is in furtherance of efforts to support the real sector and unlock food potentials.

‘In Cameroon and Brazil they are already adding 20 percent cassava flour to their bread, only Nigerian factor is stopping Nigeria.’

Pastor Segun Adewunmi

Pastor Segun Adewunmi is the president  of National Cassava Association. In this interview on AIT Business Economy, spoke on the various uses of cassava as an industrial and food crop; in terms of food security and as biofortified crop because it is versatile (it can grow in several climatic conditions including areas that experience prolonged dry spells); how commercialization of high value products from it can be done at a small scale, with high quality cassava flour being the main product traded; that cassava has some major industrial products which are also  raw materials in the manufacture of some products; and finally, the possibility of cassava  triggering a revolution with nearly all parts of Nigeria can have industries based on the crop. Excerpts:

Preserving Pollinators in Kenya

Pollinators

Every December to March, Martin Lele gets up before dawn and treks into the Mau Forest of Eastern Kenya. He and other members of the Ogiek tribe, a community indigenous to the forest, are going to harvest honey from log hives they hang in the trees.

Rwanda: New Disease Resistant Cassava Varieties to Be Multiplied

cassava farmer

Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) says that about 20 million cuttings of new cassava varieties are expected to be multiplied on 1000hectares during season 2017A (started in September) and 1000hectares in 2017B (starts in February).

Tanzania: Cashew Farmers Pocket 2.6 Billion

cashew

Cashew nut farmers from five villages in Lindi Region have pocketed 2.6bn/- from Mnolela Primary Society in the region after selling their produce in three auctions this year.

GES fingerlings distributed to FCT farmers die

Mohammadu Buhari

As another GES is about to commence, the Federal Capital Territory( FCT)Fish Farmers Association  has sent a caution to the Government to learn from the past experience where all the fingerlings input distributed to three thousand members during the last administrations was a fraud to the national food security as all of them died on arrival.

Food Sustainability Media Award to Highlight Food System Paradoxes, Propose Solutions

Food System Paradoxes

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation announced in early December the launch of a Food Sustainability Media Award to increase the public’s awareness of food sustainability issues worldwide, find solutions, and encourage action. The award will recognize excellent professional and up-and-coming journalists from around the world who have focused their reporting on topics relating to food security, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition. Applications for the award will open January 9, 2017.

GES: Suppliers demand payment as FG embarks on inputs distribution

Chief Audu Ogbeh

The concluded arrangement of the Federal Government (FG) to finally embark on Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) inputs’ distribution of improved seeds and fertilizers to farmers for the 2016 dry season farming may have been stalled as suppliers have insisted on the settlement of outstanding bills before they would release any products to agro dealers for onward transfer to the rural areas of need, towards achieving the  government’s effort to increase food production.