UN report calls for better access to water for small-scale farmers

Access to water and sanitation is a human right. However, billions of people are still living without safe water and sanitation facilities, with wide disparities between the rich and the poor. This is the message of the UN World Water Development Report, launched on 19 March three days ahead of World Water Day. Some 2.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation facilities.

Aquaculture: Expert advocates for more fishes documentation

The Deputy Provost, Fresh Water Fisheries Technology, Bagu, Bornu state, Dr. Olarenwaju Nurudeen 

The Deputy Provost, Fresh Water Fisheries Technology, Bagu, Bornu state, Dr. Olarenwaju Nurudeen has advocated for biological documentation of more economic fishes from the wild to upscale commercial aquaculture production to meet local consumption and checkmate huge import bill.  

Experts canvas for speedy passage of bill...

* Farmers' group fault implementation process

 

Experts in the agricultural sector have called on the federal government on the need to pass in to law, bills such as seed, fertilizer and warehouse receipt system in Nigeria to help boast and reposition the agricultural industry, so as to return to its pride of place.

PATIENCE IS PAINFUL, BUT STILL BEST BET FOR #CORNPLANT19

With each passing day, the wait to plant corn is a little more painful. As of May 6, corn planting is only 23% complete in the nation’s 18 largest corn-producing states, according to USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service. That’s half the progress of corn planting in any other year, NASS reports.

Illegal seeds: Scientists advise farmers on hybrids

·         NASC may soon begin e- certification

Seeds

Farmers have been admonished by agricultural scientists to ensure the use of only certified hybrid seeds as there are many fake of such in circulation that were imported without National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC)‘s approval just as the body reiterated its readiness to ensure certification through electronic means using digital tracking to reduce adulteration.

The advice to the end users by scientists was given chiefly by the Executive Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Prof. Ibrahim U. Abubakar during the annual cropping scheme for year 2019, held at Samaru, Zaria.

Rainforests the size of England lost in 2018 due to deforestation

The world lost 12 million hectares of tropical forest in 2018, an area the size of England, new data from the University of Maryland reveals. According to the figures, released on April 25 by Global Forest Watch, this is the fourth-highest annual loss since records began in 2001.

Report: 113 million people worldwide face severe food insecurity

Around 113 million people in 53 countries worldwide faced severe food insecurity in 2018, finds a new report released by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), an initiative of food security and development institutions, UN agencies and the EU.

Organic farming can drive transition to sustainable food systems

Organic farming can play an important role in triggering a shift towards more sustainable food systems, according to an article published in the scientific journal “Nature Sustainability”. A team of international experts argues that there is broad consensus that we urgently need to change the way we produce and consume food. Only then will we be able to address global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and water scarcity and make progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Study: Agroecology can help to mitigate climate change

Agroecology, including organic farming, can make an enormous contribution towards keeping global warming below 2°C, according to a new report from the French think tank IDDRI.

Sustainable agriculture needed to stop biodiversity loss, UN report

Nature is declining globally at unprecedented rates due to human activities, a major new UN report has warned. Up to one million plant and animal species are currently facing extinction – and the rate of extinctions is accelerating, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).