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Highlights

The Global Forum on Food Security and  Nutrition (FSN) team has announced the closing of the online discussion of Zero Draft of the Agenda for Action for Addressing Food Insecurity in Protracted Crises (CFS-A4A), as well as the e-consultation on ‘Social farming/care farming: an innovative approach for promoting women’s economic empowerment, decent rural employment and social inclusion. What works in developing countries?’.

Regarding the online discussion, the Technical Support Team/CFS Secretariat will finalise the First Draft over the next couple of days. After the translation the First Draft it will be circulated to CFS stakeholders in mid-June as the basis for negotiation at the end of July 2014. The expectation is that an endorsed CFS-A4A will be submitted to CFS 41 in October 2014 for consideration and endorsement. 

Unveiling the Top 12 Bloggers of the YoBloCo Awards!

The jury has made its decision and the winners of the YoBloCo Awards have been selected. We are excited to unveil the Top 12 Bloggers of the Awards! The actual 9 Winners will be announced at the Prize Giving Ceremony of the competition, which will take place during CTA’s 2014 International Conference “Fin4Ag” www.fin4ag.org, in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 - 18 July 2014.  All the 12 best participants will be invited to take part in the conference. 

Ten months ago inspired by the belief that there was a gap in the agriculture industry as the youth were not being reached, Joseph Macharia began Mkulima Young, a Facebook page dedicated to educating the youth on all things agriculture. “Having worked in the agricultural industry as an extension officer for over ten years I realised there were few youth engaged in agriculture yet many opportunities exist in agribusiness where youth can generate income, create employment and contribute to the country’s growth.

“Fertilizers can contribute a lot to human health”, Esin Mete, President of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA), tells Farming First. Drawing attention the role of correct fertilizer use in improving nutrition is one of Mete’s priorities as IFA president.

Naturally, it all starts with the plants, as Mete explains: “When we are planting the seeds we have to make sure all the nutrients and micronutrients are available to the plant. So what we are doing, in fact, by fertilization is feeding the plant instead of the humans.”

Young peoples’ affinity with ICTs and their ability to innovate is the key to moving mAgriculture forward and attracting the youth to the agricultural sector in ACP countries.mAgriculture, the use of mobile platforms and applications by agricultural smallholders, has been welcomed in developing countries since its introduction more than a decade ago. As the coverage of mobile networks increases in ACP countries, the discussion on introducing mobile applications in the agricultural sector has moved from ‘whether’ to ‘how’.    

Mobile finance and value-added information services are an obvious and promising example of the many new mAgriculture initiatives. Indeed, mobile money has great transformative potential and could change entire economies in the ACP region if introduced broadly across sectors such as agriculture, commerce and health care.   
The youth will play a major role in the further growth of mAgriculture as young people have a natural affinity with ICTs. Indeed, to a certain extent mAgriculture is banking on the youth to move it forward. But keeping young people, the next generation of farmers, involved in agriculture is an intricate problem and involves more than merely replacing old farmers with new. It is about rejuvenating smallholder agriculture as a whole, and accepting the youth as today’s partners and tomorrow’s development architects. Providing training and farm inputs is not enough to attract these young people to a career in agriculture. Rather, they should be supported with easy access to information and markets through the use of mobile technology.

The Sudan-Sahelian region has a renewable annual supply of water which could cope with the needs of food and nutrition security, taking into account the population growth rate (FAO/AQUASTAT).

After the 2009 meeting in Ouagadougou, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) established objectives for West Africa in terms of food production, on the basis of the FAO/AQUASTAT data.

The UN Forum on Forests Secretariat is holding a series of activities at UNHQ in New York to celebrate the International Day of Forests, featuring film-screenings, an exhibit of award-winning photographs and children’s art and a special event on 21 March which will be live webcast on http://webtv.un.org/.


1. The Special Event on the International Day of Forests | 21 March, 10am to 1pm, ECOSOC Chamber, UNHQ