FAO develops FAMEWS mobile application to track armyworms

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has developed a mobile application called FAMEWS that would allows farmers to detect, monitor and track the spread of the Fall Army worm directly in their fields.
This is even as it also called for more funding adding that the body has contributed $10 million from it own budget aside the $13 million raised.
The Organisation in a statement by it Nigeria national communication officer, Mr David Karls Tsokar, recently, said FAMEWS is already being used in Madagascar, South Africa and Zambia, before it is deployed to the rest of the cleverage the by the end of February 2018.
According to him the FAO Director General, Graziano da Silva, revealed that the programme endorsed by the African Union, will leverage much-needed funding.
“Africa is particularly affected and vulnerable to climate change, which is contributing to increasing outbreaks of pests and diseases, with Fall Armyworm, which was first reported on the continent in 2016 and has now spread rapidly to almost all Sub-Saharan countries – being a case in point. Fall Armyworm, whose moths can fly up to 100 km per night, primarily affects maize, but also rice and sorghum as well as cotton and some vegetables.
“FAO has been on the front line in responding to the Fall Armyworm threat and recently launched a step-by-step guide for farmers on how to deal with this transboundary pest,” the statement reads.
On hunger, he opined that the achieving Zero Hunger remains FAO’s highest priority, one that it shares with African leaders who through the Malabo Declaration have committed to eradicating chronic undernourishment in the continent by 2025, adding that in sub-Saharan Africa almost one person in four currently suffers from undernourishment.
In his address, FAO helmsman underscored that in line with Sustainable Development Goal 2, achieving Zero Hunger needs to go together with  ending all forms of malnutrition, a consequence of which is the current global overweight and obesity epidemic.
“The situation is also worrisome here in Africa,” Graziano da Silva said, citing a World Health Organization estimate that obesity-related diseases may become the biggest killer in Africa by 2030.
“Rapid urbanization and consumption of highly processed foods are the major drivers behind the increase in overweight and obesity. Yet many people in Africa are unaware that certain foods are unhealthy, or that being overweight presents a health risk, the statement reads.
He urged for the need to “act on two fronts” focusing on both the production and consumption of healthy food, and called for ensuring more responsible advertising and information campaigns on food products. “People must be aware about the pros and cons of what they are eating, and also be encouraged to eat healthy food.”
=He said agriculture will continue to generate employment in the continent over the coming decades, but opportunities should be explored beyond agriculture throughout the food chain in order to create enough jobs for young people, especially those in rural areas.
“Countries need to promote a rural and structural transformation that fosters synergies between farm and non-farm activities and that reinforces” the linkages between rural areas and cities, he added. This includes processing, packaging, transportation, distribution, marketing and service provision, especially financial and business services.
Estimates suggest that up to 12 million new jobs will have to be created every year to absorb new labour market entrants over the next 20 years. Today some 54 percent of Africa’s working force relies on the sector for its livelihoods, income and employment, especially in family farming.
With more people moving to cities,demand on urban food markets will grow, which in turn can generate job opportunities in all agriculture-related activities. But FAO believes that more must be done to create non-agricultural employment in rural areas, including agro-tourism and other services.
IITA offers solution to weeds as stakeholders raise concerns
A team of researchers working at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture-managed Cassava Weed Management Project (IITA-CWMP) have stated that the problem of weeds especially in cassava farming will soon be a thing of the past as it rolls out findings from its 5-year research work.
The challenge of weeds on Nigeria’s agricultural productivity was brought to the fore at the meeting of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum (NZHF) held in Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria.
The Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, according to a statement said with cassava featuring as one of the top priority crops in most states of Nigeria, the IITA-CWMP would provide innovations to help the government tackle the menace of weed.
“We want to see increases in yield in Nigeria, and our innovation in cassava weed management will help states with cassava as a priority crop to tackle weeds a major constraint to cassava transformation,” he explained.
Last year, Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, in listing the challenges facing agricultural development, noted that weeds were the most notorious constraint limiting agriculture development. Worse still, the adulteration of herbicides is undermining efforts by resource-poor farmers to raise their productivity.
Expressing concerns over the issue, stakeholders callef on the federal government to step up the regulation on use and distribution of herbicides and input market.
They express worry that the uncontrolled influx of adulterated herbicides in the Nigerian market was jeopardizing the gains made so far in transforming agriculture and efforts to attain zero hunger.
The goal to attain zero hunger is a commitment the country made since the declaration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015.
Taking the SDGs forward, former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has initiated and is leading efforts to help the country achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) with the creation of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum initiative.
Chief Obasanjo, with the support of IITA, the World Food Program (WFP), and the African Development Bank (AfDB), has created a forum comprising six pilot states that are desiring to hit the zero hunger target by 2025.
The Deputy Director General, Partnership for Delivery, Dr Kenton Dashiell, said IITA’s participation in NHZF would help Nigeria to tap the institute’s capacity in science and innovation to address hunger in the country.
Dr Alfred Dixon, Project Leader, IITA-CWMP noted that once the problem of weeds is addressed, farmers would have a boom in harvest.
The meeting in Ebonyi, which attracted about 500 persons from both the public and private sectors, was the second after the initial one in Benue state.

Leave a Reply