Eco-farming: Asian farmers are growing rice and rearing fish in the same fields to increase their income and reduce weeds, while Ghanaians are using crop residues as compost to boost yields.

Such eco-farming techniques could deliver nutritious, environmentally friendly food for a growing world, increase farmers’ earnings and make farms more resilient to climate change, according to campaigners.

“Agriculture is in transition,” the regional programme leader for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the Middle East and North Africa,Pasquale Steduto, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Climate change is adding new uncertainty as well as increasing uncertainty. By introducing agroecology principles, you can reduce the risks of exposure to climate change.”

Global food production is currently based on extensive use of costly chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which damage the environment and human health, experts said at a three-day agroecology conference, which began Tuesday.

Yet less than 30 countries globally, and only two in Africa – Ivory Coast and Mauritius – have laws and policies that support eco-farming, the FAO said.

We have three big challenges to manage – climate change, food security, and the connection between agriculture, forestry, economy and employment,” a French parliamentarian and former agriculture minister, Stephane Le Foll said.

The solution, he said, was ecological agriculture, which replaces chemical fertilisers with natural methods, such as planting trees amid crops and rotating foods grown to improve soils and deter pests.

1.3 Million People In Borno May Face Food Crisis — FAO

Food Crisis: The food and Agriculture Organisation FAO of the United Nations, in its food nutrition insecurity situation analysis report has indicated that Borno state has the highest number of people currently facing food crisis.

The report said if urgent steps were not taken by relevant authorities the number of people facing food crisis in Borno state may increase to 1.3million people while those in an emergency situation would increase to 203,022 just as the general figure for Nigeria may increase to 5.2million people during the lean period of June-August 2018.

This figures obtained from its Cadre Harmonise Report for March 2018 was conducted in 16 states of the federation by the World Food Program (WFP), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United State Aid for International Development (USAID).

The report conducted in 17 states of Bauchi, Benue,Borno, Plateau, Jigawa, Adamawa, Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Taraba, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger Gombe and the FCT indicated that it was unable to gather data in all the states due to lack of funds and the inability to reach some areas in the Northeast as a result of insecurity.

Speaking during the presentation of the report in Abuja recently, the FAO country representative Sufyan Koroma, in his remarks stressed the need for the Federal and state government to take ownership of the Cadre Harmonise process as their are indications that the international donors may be withdrawing their financial support by 2019.

He also noted that to improve data availability for CH analysis funds must be made available for the conduct of emergency food and nutrition security assessment especially at local government and state level.

Koroma also called the expansion of the CH coverage to all the states of the Federation for the global view of food and nutrition insecurity situation in the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Bukar Hassan stressed the need to continually understand the prevalence of food insecurity in the country adding that the information generated from the CH analysis id important for decision making regarding various government interventions and programs.

Stressing that the initiative would promote good governance and accountability, he further assured that government would continue to improve on nutrition, household food security and livelihood to promote economic development in the country.