المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

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    • ·         What role can schools and universities play in promoting agricultural careers to youth? Please share any relevant programs you are aware of.

      Globally, efforts are being made to induce the interest of young people to agriculture. In Nigeria, states are being supported by the national government to develop programmes that can encourage young people to go back to the farms. Some are providing incentives such as farmplots/lands and other resources, however these programmes are so few; there is also lack of awareness and the target group is not identified at institutional level but aimed at the unemployed youths. The problem with this trend is that farming is still being used as subsistence support structure for poverty reduction. Nigeria’s current agricultural development strategy is agro-based, a sector that completely excludes the participation of women and the youths. Although women make up majority in smallholder farming, value addition is completely handled by men who access markets without the women and youths that contribute heavily in agricultural production.

      Schools and universities can start by developing demonstration farms, most university agriculture departments in Nigeria do not own laboratory farms, they cannot even demonstrate the theory that they preach, do not tap into the creativity of the youths through research and so, end up graduating students who are more eager to be employed outside of the sector than willing to build careers in the agriculture sector. Most young people view agriculture as a subsistence poverty reduction tool because of the way it is practiced in rural areas; the farmer suffers to produce, sells at a loss to the urban marketer, who adds value to it and makes all the cash. This vicious cycle is repeated every year and rural farmer is only able to feed the family.

      ·         What approaches are most successful in promoting the equality of female farmers?

      Enhancing the literacy level of women is one very important strategy that can promote women’s participation in simply agricultural activities like processing and handling, decision making, access to markets and negotiation without fear, access to funding and extension services etc. International development organisations and the UN must force (embargo) countries to domesticate treaties and protocols aimed at empowering women. Countries must be held accountable to develop gender specific interventions that can uplift women to bring about equality.

      ·         What measures can development organizations and governments take to make rural areas more appealing for future farmers?

      When institutions start setting up demonstrations farms and other value chain structures in rural communities, community members will start to see the benefit of agriculture and their world perception of farming as a poverty reduction tool will change. Over 60% of the knowledge and skills that we possess comes through practical learning than reading. Since development organisations may not be able to engage in farming directly, developing partnership with governments and such rural communities will help through provision of capacity development. When women and young people’s capacities are developed at community level, youths do not necessarily have to migrate to seek for jobs in the urban areas. Value chain addition activities a preserve for men engaged in agro –processing, will become available to women and youths living in the rural communities.

      ·         Please share any relevant case studies about empowering women and youth in agriculture to achieve better food security.

      Women and youths in Nigeria are now the majority in aquaculture farming, a trend that has just emerged in the last 5years due a new policy thrust that has led to a massive capacity development in aquaculture. Training programmes were made cheap targeting people in schools, churches, mosques, civil service etc. Fish has become affordable, available and accessible in most communities that do not have rivers or lakes because small water bodies are being used in their cultivation. Lessons learned from this sector can used to improve participation in other agricultural sectors.

      Cordelia Adamu

      Vice President/ Project Manager

      Abuja 1

      Nigeria

       

       

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      • What are the key challenges and bottlenecks hindering a greater contribution of forests, trees on farms and agroforestry systems to food security? These could be as diverse as policy, legal, institutional, practical skills, data etc.

      Trees are life, this is a common saying .If trees are life then; we must begin to view them as such in Africa.

      Policy; we’ve never been short of policies in forestry and agriculture. In short, good policy implementation in agro-forestry produced a lot of the trees my generation has come to enjoy especially the economic trees of the Benue belt in Nigeria. These trees provide enormous wealth for families who have managed them over the years. am  not very sure of the average life span of these trees, but I strongly believe that in years to come if no deliberate action is taken by all  stakeholders to bring back the next generation to the love of growing new trees ,we shall be seeing the last of most of these trees.

      Legal ;if trees are life then legal policy on tree cutting and felling can be used to control the in discriminate felling going on especially in and around the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) of Nigeria. The government itself is the biggest criminal and actor in this activity. The FCT being a virgin land, when it was selected to become the new capital of Nigeria; One would have expected the government to develop deliberate policy to save and sustain these trees most of which provided and are still providing the indigenous people and other inhabitants food and income. The government has been responsible for massive clearing of layouts for construction regarded as development.

      Institutional frame- work can be effective when it is driven by policy that has legal backing. As such each actor in the framework understands his or her duty and is legally bonded to adhere to rules and regulations. If the major actor overlooks an issue and turns around to force others to do what it is suppose to do, then some is wrong. This has been the bane of Nigeria (where it seems that nothing works except for people of like mind).This is where civil society could come to help, but unfortunately ,most of them own these organisations or partner with those who accept the norm, hence they are the ones striving  currently in Nigeria. Any time there is an opportunity, I remember to ask this simple question; why do we have so many development agencies in Nigeria and yet nothing seems to be working. It is time for the International community to re-evaluate itself in Nigeria.

      • What are some concrete examples of innovative approaches, or good practices that increase the contributions of forests and trees to food security and nutrition goals?

      A lot private individuals have taken up planting of economic trees although there is deliberate policy in place where the government is encouraging such. These individuals have observed the massive contributions these trees make to urban food security .year in year, year out famers produce food in rural communities but find it difficult transporting these foods to urban cities.

      • What is needed for food security policies and strategies to recognize the contributions and value that forests and trees bring?

      At individual level, people must accept to go beyond self and embrace tree planting. Through my interaction with people , in trying to encourage tree planting, I have had people tell me that, it will take too long for them to obtain the benefit of a tree they have planted because trees take too long to grow and produce fruits. When are fore parents planted the trees we are enjoying now, they were not selfish in their thinking, this is what the world has become. Selfishness has become a global mentality even with issues of food security.

      Culture; we had myths and belief that prevented people from felling certain trees. Culture and tradition can help in changing people’s perception about the importance of trees especially those contributing to food security. Of common interest is the Shea butter tree in the central belt zone of Nigeria, which is a very good firewood and charcoal producer but its economic value at a global level supersedes these local uses , this is also same for the locust bean tree and many others.

      Policy driven by institutional framework taking into consideration every actor and stakeholder’s actions and benefits can help to revive agro forestry and food security. When a segment of society is left of policy formation, a common practice with our governments, it becomes difficult for communities to act. The top to bottom approach must change especially when dealing with issues relating to nature, the people closest to nature are at the bottom not the top.