Oyo State Government is currently using the Rural Community Development Centre (RCDC) in Awe, Afijio Local Government Area as its satellite site for youth-in-agribusiness related activities. The state government is partnering with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) to make the project a big success. The development centre is however located about 56 kilometres from Ibadan, the state capital. RCDC will be used for agribusiness incubation, an agribusiness park, the establishment of pilot learning enterprises, and a training centre. The centre, a farm training institute owned by the state government, will enable IYA to expand its…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
The devastating socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing more millions of people into food insecurity in low- and middle-income countries. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has this Monday, announced a massive rise in the number of hungry people it plans to assist around the world. This UN agency is, however, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. Its Executive Director, David Beasley, says “the frontline in the battle against the coronavirus is shifting from the rich…
A high-level, virtual, Global Summit on COVID-19 and the World of Work, is currently being organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The summit, according to ILO’s Senior Technical Adviser on the Future of Work, Susan Hayter, will be looking at the impact of COVID-19, the world of work response and how to build a better future of work. Regional events are billed to take place on July 1-2, followed by three days of global discussions, from July 7-9. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was already a lot of discussion about the implications of technology for the future of work. ‘’The…
Director of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Conditions of Work and Equality Department, Manuela Tomei, says the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic has sparked off another crisis within its crisis. “We know that many millions of migrant workers, who were under lockdown in their countries of work, have lost their jobs and are now expected to return home to countries that are already grappling with weak economies and rising unemployment. Cooperation and planning are key to avert a worse crisis.” It is estimated there are 164 million migrant workers worldwide, nearly half of them women, comprising 4.7 per cent of the global…
As highlighted recently by the collapse of prices due to oversupply and weak demand resulting from COVID-19, the importance of oil as a source of energy is receding. A new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says the demand for raw materials used to manufacture rechargeable batteries is growing rapidly. The report, Commodities at a glance: Special issue on strategic battery raw materials, documents the growing importance of electric mobility and the main materials used to make rechargeable car batteries. Ongoing efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions are expected to spur further investment in green energy…
The death toll of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria has shot up from 558 to 565, with a tally of 24,567 confirmed positive cases. After a record 779 cases on Saturday, the country on Sunday recorded 490 new cases. While the rampaging virus is not showing any sign of slowing down in the country, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to a Federal High Court in Abuja. SERAP is praying the court to order the defendants to “publicly identify and name Nigerians who have so far benefited from…
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, one of the big oil and gas states in the Niger Delta, has expressed serious concern about the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the state. The governor says community transmission of the rampaging virus has reached an alarming and frightening proportion. Governor Okowa’s concern for his state is coming as Nigeria posted another record of the surging virus on Saturday, with 779 new positive cases. This is the highest number ever announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) within a 24 hour-cycle. The first record was set on May 30 with 673…
The rampaging COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the impact of existing conflicts and increasing the risk of mass violence in Nigeria and 19 other countries. This is the verdict of a new data gathered by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights. Their Peoples Under Threat index this year underscores how, while some threatened minority and indigenous communities are systematically more exposed to the illness, others are scapegoated in conspiracy theories regarding the origin of the pandemic, yet others face difficulties accessing healthcare services due to their remote locations or systemic discrimination. MRG is, however, a leading international human rights organisation working…
With a project launched by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Fatimata Walet Mohamed, 25, has become a topographer. The goal is the construction of an elementary school in the refugee camp at Mbera, in the south-eastern corner of Mauritania that, since 2012, has been home to more than 50,000 refugees fleeing the civil strife in Mali, 60 kilometres away. She has every reason to be proud – nine months ago she knew nothing about topography or the strange and powerful gauge that has become her indispensable…
Business is booming for Cambodian online startup Grocerdel, which delivers fresh farm produce and locally made products in the capital Phnom Penh. Since COVID-19 struck, it has seen orders skyrocket by over 180% as people have resorted to shopping online and limited their movements to contain the spread of the virus. Grocerdel’s sales have shot up nearly 165%, forcing the startup to increase its staff by 50% to cope with the spike in demand, while taking measures to protect its employees and consumers alike. Chief Executive Officer of Grocerdel, Priyanka Chetry, says “we’ve provided staff with sanitizers and masks, made arrangements…
Farmers in Tanzania are still using traditional farming practices. It has become a major concern to the government. Since traditional farming practices are not profitable, they remain poor, and the growth of the country’s agriculture sector remains slow. Already, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of Tanzania Prime Minister, Ms Dorothy Mwaluko, has identified the scaling up of innovative technologies from research to farmers as a major challenge to the growth of the agriculture sector in the country. Mwaluko said this while speaking to a delegation from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Alliance of Bioversity and…
A study has shown that a worker in the banana regions of Magdalena, Urabá and Guajira in Colombia is earning a living wage of $488, around N175,680 according to the current exchange rate. The study was led by Dr Lykke Andersen using the widely accepted Anker methodology, on behalf of the Global Living Wage Coalition, of which Fairtrade International is a founding member. The results show that, on average, unionised workers on Fairtrade certified plantations in Colombia are already earning this amount and often more. Considering that the wages of banana workers differ according to task and skill, the study found…
A surprising study by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has found that middlemen are playing an important part in the Ugandan coffee value chain. But in many countries in Africa, middlemen are often perceived as the “bad guys” out to exploit and defraud farmers. The IITA study, however, recommends the exploration of opportunities to include middlemen as active contributors in building a strong Ugandan coffee value chain. In Uganda, coffee farmers can choose between formal markets, which are producer organizations like cooperatives or farmer groups, or informal markets, which include independent intermediaries, commonly known as middlemen. If a…
The dual shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and low prices of commodities, especially oil are casting a dark shadow on Africa’s share of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The declining trend of FDI to the continent is set to exacerbate significantly this 2020. FDI flows to the continent are forecast to contract between 25% and 40% based on gross domestic product (GDP) growth projections as well as a range of investment-specific factors, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020. UNCTAD’s Director of Investment and Enterprise, James Zhan, says “although all industries are set to…
As the coronavirus pandemic amplifies existing challenges, international production, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020, is set for significant transformation in the decade ahead. UNCTAD has monitored and reported on foreign direct investment (FDI) and the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) during the last 30 years in which international production has experienced significant fluctuations. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, despite a brief recovery, flows of cross-border investment in physical productive assets stopped expanding, alongside sluggish growth in trade and a slowdown of global value chains (GVCs). Existing…
Smallholder farmers in Nigeria will soon hive a sigh of relieve as the Federal Government is making efforts to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not sweep them out of the farm. Abuja is unveiling a support fund that will help them to protect jobs in the sector to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the food supply chain. The government says it is providing zero-interest input financing options to two million smallholder farmers in the country under its new Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP). Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, announced in Abuja that…
A seeming desperate move by President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the leadership crisis of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday with a military regime-like decree has hit the rocks. Members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, who the Buhari proposal flushed out of the office at a questionable National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting summoned by the Victor Giadom faction of the troubled APC have threatened to drag President Buhari to court. If the aggrieved APC chieftains challenged their sack in court, it will mean that President Buhari’s appeal to the warring factions has gone…
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that continued political antagonism in the All Progressives Congress (APC) could lead to the destruction of the party. He has accordingly appealed to the warring factions of the ruling party to withdraw all pending litigations against one another, and settle for internal conciliation. President Buhari’s appeal is coming as the National Executive Committee of the party flushed out the feuding members of the National Working Committee (NWC) from the national secretariat of the APC. NEC at its Thursday meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, backed the dissolution of the NWC, and appointed Governor Mai Mala…
Some Igbo political warlords in the All Progressives Congress (APC) are threatening to sink the ruling party if their principals are not fairly treated in the fractured party. The development will further worsen the leadership crisis rocking President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling party. The Igbo APC chieftains are locked in a bitter war. Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who is leading the political attack dogs of Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, has taken on Joe Igbokwe of the Tinubu camp. Igbokwe is the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Drainage and Water Resources. Eze is accusing him of unleashing venoms against the…
The Uzbek Parliament is currently scaling-up its involvement in the area of human rights. Two years ago, the lawmakers developed a mechanism for parliamentary oversight on the protection of human rights and the implementation of the United Nations recommendations. Interestingly, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has welcomed the latest actions by the Uzbek Parliament to implement international human rights standards at the national level. Following an IPU recommendation, Uzbek legislators recently participated in a video meeting involving multiple international and Uzbek organisations to review the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty adopted by the…
The COVID-19 pandemic represents the greatest threat to humanity since World War II, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) says. Despite the far-reaching impacts of this crisis, many governments have struggled for access for science-based recommendations to support an effective response, and governance challenges have also led to uncoordinated activities in a number of countries. Now, more than ever, science-based recommendations are needed alongside effective collaboration, to ensure that additional outbreaks are contained and the economic impacts are minimized. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all countries in 2015, offer a useful framework for considering these challenges. They can help countries…
A 26-year-old Ethiopian migrant, Ahmed, spent 20 days travelling from Ethiopia to Djibouti on foot, bound for the coastal town of Obock, a common departure point for crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, and then onward to Saudi Arabia. This migratory route last year saw over 138,000 young Ethiopian migrants, according to the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix. But it is not without risk. Ahmed was abandoned by smugglers and was stuck in Obock for a month. “The borders closed shortly after I reached Obock”, he explains, adding, “and the smugglers abandoned me there with no…
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to developing economies in Asia are projected to decline by up to 45% in 2020, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020. The continent is hard-hit by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, The number of announced greenfield investment in the first quarter of 2020 dropped by 37%. The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) fell by 35% in April 2020. UNCTAD’s Director of Investment and Enterprise, James Zhan, says “lockdown measures and factory stoppages impacted supply chain and factories’ production in the region. Falling corporate earnings,…
Residents of Chiquicha, a remote town in Ecuador’s Tungurahua province, are currently seeing prosperity they hardly could have imagined before. Four years ago, they were just gathering the first fruits of an irrigation project launched by the Buen Vivir programme. Ecuador is a middle-income country with an economy highly dependent on oil and export agriculture. Almost one-quarter of the population in Ecuador lives in poverty, most of them in rural areas. The rural poverty rate, at 43 per cent in 2018, is almost triple the urban rate (15.9). The higher poverty rate is attributable to high unemployment and underemployment, low salaries, limited…
The Nigerian government is still pressing ahead with its N13 billion pest control deal across 12 states in the North despite a protest by someone who knows better. Vanguard had reported that former President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir İbrahim, kicked against the disbursement of N13 billion to fight pests in Northern Nigeria. He reportedly faulted the approval of the fund, claiming it was not provided for in the 2020 budget nor was it appropriated for that purpose by the National Assembly. But the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, is claiming that the fund…
Concerns are growing about how digital transformation can be used to create a better future while addressing pressing sustainable development needs. Over the past three decades, digital transformation has altered the world as we know it. No part of life is untouched by digitalisation, which will continue to shape and revolutionise the future. Last week, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi, who chairs the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS), kicked off a new online dialogue series, which calls on 30 international agencies to respond with their vision of how digitalisation can…
The United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says it is working on a series of concrete measures to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the lives of one billion people directly involved in sending and receiving remittances. The UN agency is not doing that alone. Since March, IFAD is leading a global Remittances Community Task Force which comprises 35 international organisations, inter-governmental bodies, industry and private sector groups, and networks of diaspora organizations. The coalition is pressing for the improvement of access to remittance services, especially in poor rural areas. ‘’There should be incentives to develop and…
In West Africa where many cocoa farmers are still earning less than $1.50 a day, Fairtrade International says two million children are in child labour. Child labour, according to the group, is driven by complex inter-related factors of poverty, exploitation and discrimination. Fairtrade believes the best way to eliminate extreme poverty is to pay farmers and workers a fair price for their crops. ‘’We work to achieve decent incomes – for example by setting living income and living wage benchmarks, promoting collective bargaining agreements, and protecting farmers from market fluctuations via the Fairtrade Minimum Price. And the Fairtrade Standards prohibit…
Latin America is expected to receive $82 billion investment flows this year, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020. This will be 50 percent less what the region received in 2019, $164 billion. UNCTAD’s Director of Investment and Enterprise, James Zhan, says “the pandemic compounds both political and social unrest and structural weaknesses, pushing the region’s economies into a deep recession and exacerbating challenges in attracting foreign investment.” He further explains that the shock would have a different impact across sectors, with commodities, tourism and transportation among the most severely hit. The low…
Massive losses in working hours are predicted for the second quarter of 2020 ending this June. It is said to be equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs. Some 1.25 billion workers, representing 38 percent of the workforce is employed in high-risk sectors. Almost all of the world’s workers, some 94 per cent, were living in countries with some type of workplace closure measures in place in May 2020, according to the UN Secretary-General’s Policy Brief on the World of Work and COVID-19. The Brief says small and medium-sized enterprises – the engine of the global economy – are suffering immensely and…
