MALNUTRITION: EGYPT: Desertification threat to local food production

CAIRO, 11 July 2011 (IRIN)

 Photo: Amr Emam/IRIN
Water shortages sparked off protests in Minya Governorate last year, as farmers demanded water for their crops. (file photo)

 Only about 3 percent of Egypt’s land area is cultivated but desertification, and construction work fuelled by economic activity and a rapidly growing population, are eating into this resource, posing a significant threat to domestic food production, according to experts.
“Desertification is the real danger everybody should pay attention to,” Abdel Rahman Attia, a professor of agriculture at Cairo University, told IRIN. “This problem is manifesting itself in a huge food gap [which] will widen even more in the future as we lose more agricultural land to desertification.”
Egypt loses an estimated 11,736 hectares of agricultural land every year, making the nation’s 3.1 million hectares of agricultural land prone "to total destruction in the foreseeable future", he said.
The country imports more than 60 percent of its food, and about 768,903 hectares of agricultural land in the north Delta region has been lost to rising ground water, poor drainage practices and encroaching sand dunes over the decades, he added.
Rising sea levels also pose a threat to agricultural land, causing intrusion of seawater into groundwater, and reducing agricultural productivity.
Thousands of acres of agricultural land have also been lost to construction. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 165,000 cases of building on agricultural land were recorded between February and June 2011.
“This is disastrous,” said Salah Youssef, head of agricultural services at the ministry.
Ismail Abdel Galil, the former chairman of Egypt’s Desert Research Centre, said studies showed that just over a hectare of fertile land in the Nile Valley is lost every hour because of construction on agricultural land.
In a paper he warned that this trend would continue as long as there was a “business as usual” attitude.

UN convention
Egypt signed the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994, subsequently banning the use of top soil as a raw material for red bricks, taking measures to restrict urban development on arable land, and regulating irrigation systems.
But despite this, the combination of dwindling farmland and a rapidly increasing population - expected to reach 123 million in 2029, from 85 million at present - will make it harder for Egypt to meet its food needs, Attia said.
Increasing desertification has also affected water availability. Egypt’s 55.5 billion cubic metre share of Nile water is already insufficient to satisfy the country’s growing needs, according to Egyptian officials.
For example, to irrigate all its 3.1 million hectares of agricultural land, Egypt needs 10-15 billion cubic metres more Nile water, said Maghawri Shehata, a leading water expert.
“Water has already stopped reaching some fields in the northern and middle parts of the Nile Delta. This makes our country lose even more land to desertification.”
Agriculture is responsible for 85 percent of water consumption in Egypt, according to the country’s state of the environment report. Egypt’s water problems are expected to get worse as upstream countries like Ethiopia and Uganda, which also have rapidly growing populations, push for a greater share of the water to satisfy their own needs.
In 2010, six upstream Nile countries met in Uganda and signed a new water-sharing agreement. Egypt and Sudan did not sign, and have called instead for fresh talks involving all riparian states.

Climate change
Environmentalists warn that climate change will further complicate the situation.
“It is difficult to assess the full destruction [that] climate changes cause to agriculture in this country,” said Emad Farid, a leading environmentalist. “Increased temperatures and the severity of heat and cold waves cause rainfall fluctuations. These fluctuations lead to desertification at the end of the day…
“Some action must be taken to compensate for the loss of agricultural space by reclaiming the desert hinterland of villages in the Delta and the other areas. We should not stand passively by and watch our agricultural land destroyed acre by acre.”
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93193

POVERTY: CONGO-SOUTH AFRICA: Land deals raise food security hopes

BRAZZAVILLE, 8 June 2011 (IRIN)

 Photo: Laudes Mbon/IRIN : Hardly hi-tech... but the hope is investors will improve farming methods by introducing mechanisation

 By handing over 80,000 hectares of untilled land to a few dozen South African farmers, authorities in the Republic of Congo are confident they will greatly improve domestic agricultural expertise and reduce the country's chronic dependence on food imports.
"In terms of nutrition, we are in a constant state of need," said Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Rigobert Maboundou. "This is why we are giving over these lands, to employ local labour and benefit from the South African expertise." He said it was essential to surrender the farmland to those who could invest in it.
"Congo has been waiting for an investment initiative like this, the creation of thousands of jobs. More than anything else, the country is expecting abundant food since the South African farmers will produce crops and raise livestock," said Minister of Land Affairs and Public Domain Pierre Mabiala.
The 40 farmers are leasing government-owned land for 30 years, with the provision to extend it for two terms. The farmlands include 63,000ha in Niari and 17,000ha in Bouenza, in the southwest.
There are 10 to 12 million hectares of land with agricultural potential in Congo, according to government data, but only 2 percent is farmed, mostly with rudimentary tools. "It's difficult to achieve food self-sufficiency like this," said Maboundou.
Wynand du Toit, vice-president of the Association of South African farmers who signed the deal, dismissed suggestions that it was really a covert land grab, with production aimed at the export market. "Our understanding with the government is that we are here to help the country's food production - we plan to set up an agricultural college and train local farmers," he said.
Our priority is to help produce enough to feed the country - we are not looking at exports for at least two or three years
"Our priority is to help produce enough to feed the country - we are not looking at exports for at least two or three years and then only if we produce a surplus which we cannot sell to the domestic market," he said. "If we do end up producing more than we can sell here then we might consider selling to neighbouring Gabon and the Central African Republic."
Du Toit said since not all of the land was arable, the farmers would receive about 1,000ha apiece. South African ambassador to the Congo, Genge Manelisi, said they would focus on raising livestock as well as rice and vegetables.
Congolese officials said the policy of granting land to investors was aimed not just at combating the food crisis, but also diversifying a national economy that was too dependent on oil, which contributes more than 80 percent of the state budget.

Concerns
Land concession agreements have proliferated across Africa and elsewhere, leading to concerns that the promised benefits for locals - especially jobs - are never realized, while potential environmental and political damages are undersold. A 2011 World Bank report studied the increasing number of land deals from the past two years and concluded that "the risks are often large".
"Case studies demonstrate that even some of the profitable projects do not generate satisfactory local benefits, while, of course, none of the unprofitable or non-cooperational ones do."
Du Toit said the farmers viewed the acquisition as a business venture, and a way of diversifying investments. "When Pick 'n Pay [a South African retailer] opens a shop in Nigeria, no one raises an eyebrow, why so many questions about us?" He said the South African farmers were borrowing "millions of dollars" from international banks to fund the project. "We are making a big investment - we are taking in big pieces of machinery," he said.
The farmers hope to begin growing maize in January 2012. Although there are no official production estimates, they plan to produce 30,000MT between June and July 2012, and grow staples such as rice, cassava and vegetables.

Food imports
The country relies heavily on imported food to feed its population. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that Congo spent 130 billion CFA (US$260 million) every year bringing in foodstuffs. In its 2010 report, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) described food insecurity in Congo as "serious", with 11.8 percent of children underweight, and about one in five Congolese undernourished.
However, at the beginning of the 1990s, 40 percent of Congolese were undernourished, it said.
The government announced plans to become food self-sufficient by the year 2000 in the 1980s, remembered Joseph Moutanda Kassao, president of a cooperative of 320 growers based in Brazzaville. "We did not get any of the results we hoped for," he said.
The government announced in 2010 that it would invest 40 billion CFA ($80 million) a year for four years in the agricultural sector.
Congo has also been testing a policy of creating farming villages north of Brazzaville, with the input of Israeli technicians. Opened in October 2010, the "experimental" farming village of Nkouo, which is 83km from the capital and cost 13 billion CFA ($26 million), is able to produce two million kilogrammes of manioc.
Critics of the new land concession say bringing in foreign farmers is not the way to address food insecurity in the country. "We don't actually need operators or farmers from elsewhere to nourish us. We have a clear problem: our authorities do not assist our own farmers as they should," complained Dieudonné Mingui, head of the NGO Initiatives for Development and Progress. "Farmers right here don't lack initiative, they lack the means to develop large projects," he said.
Despite these sentiments, the project has not encountered resistance from local growers, who say they want to benefit from the experience of the South Africans.
"South Africa is the continent's economic powerhouse. Its agriculture is strong, and powerful," said Kassao. "If the South African farmers are really coming to produce and sell all the produce on the local market, it's a good thing. But if they're coming for their own interests, it will be a shame."
"I think the project is just getting started," said Kassao. "Let's wait and see."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92934

POVERTY: Dependency On Imports Would Entrench Poverty in Africa

Hatab Fadera : 24 March 2011
The President of The Gambia has once again underscored the importance of agriculture in Africa's quest for economic salvation, warning that poverty would become entrenched in the continent if the citizens continue to bank or depend on imports.
His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh made this statement Tuesday afternoon at the Jama Hall of the Kairaba Beach Hotel while launching the US$24 million World Bank funded projects that are designed towards promoting government's job creation agenda and boosting the agriculture sector, the mainstay of the country's economy. The Gambian leader, who doubles as the minister of Agriculture stressed that the continent's salvation from the bondage of poverty is agriculture irrespective of what natural resources it is endowed with. He then reiterated his clarion call for all and sundry to go back to the land.

"Counter-productive"
The president used the opportunity to commend the nation's womenfolk for their high sense of commitment towards national development, as well as their efforts in the poverty alleviation strides. He also condemned the attitude of the men folk in serving as back-sitters in the crusade against poverty eradication.
He said that the "attitude of the men in this country is counter-productive", while also observing that the nation's men folk have "overloaded" the women of The Gambia. He added: "We have one chronic disease in this country, and this disease is inimical to [our] socio-economic development.
There is nowhere in the religious book or in the constitution of The Gambia where it is stated that it is only Gambian women that should take part in agriculture. After all, agriculture used to be a male-dominated area and that is why there was no poverty." He also pointed out that the country cannot expect to eradicate poverty when men are only interested in going to offices, either to work or beg.
President Jammeh further observed that the Community Driven Development Project (CDDP) also a World Bank funded project, is being utilised mostly by the women, and queried the whereabouts of the nation's male folk. "Each time I talk, they say oh, he is castigating the men. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am telling you what you are doing and it is wrong," he stated. He stressed that the government can only create a conducive environment for the citizens to be able to eradicate poverty, but that they [government] will not be able to achieve this when people sit idly by and expect others to feed them, especially the male folk.
The Gambian said that it is unfortunate to note that if the women did not participate in all these projects that are in place, they [projects] are going to fail. He further noted that even the vegetable that is consumed in the country is being imported from Senegal, where it is grown by the men and women of that country. He added: "How do you expect poverty to be eradicated? There are two types of poverty in this country - poverty created by circumstances beyond one's control, and self-inflicted poverty, which is rampant in this country. How do you expect household poverty to be eradicated when the woman cooks, does the laundry, takes care of the children and at the same time goes to the vegetable garden to grow for food and clothing for the family when the men sit around and look for more wives."

Youths must change attitude
The Gambian leader equally challenged the youths of the country to take government's projects seriously, stressing that there is no government on earth that can provide job for every youth. While emphasising that he is not a "politician" but a servant of the people, the president deplored the attitude of the country's young people as very frustrating. "If you go around our markets, we have created the conducive environment by building the modern markets; but guess who you find there; the only Gambians you will find there are women and the rest are foreigners. And everyday, you want to go to Babylon," he lamented.
The Gambian leader opined that the amount of money that is spent to pay "those criminals [middlemen] to put you in [unsafe] boats so that you can be a breakfast for a shark or maybe a lunch for crocodile" could be used to invest in a lucrative venture to earn a living.
He again noted with dismay that they [foreigners] have dominated the country's facilities, such as fisheries facilities, amongst others, when young people of this country are sitting down all day long asking for a conducive environment. President Jammeh echoed the saying that "you can only take the horse to the pond, but you cannot force it to drink," implying that the government can only create the conducive environment by providing facilities, but cannot force the citizenry to make best use of them for their own good.
While calling for attitudinal change on the part of the young people, the Gambian leader observed that 98 per cent of the shops - retail and skill workshops such as carpentry and so on, belong to foreigners. "If you go to the fishing sector, where we spent more than US$28 million , the people you find there are foreigners. And the only Gambians you find there are our sisters and mothers struggling to carry fish to the shore. All what we are interested in is going to Babylon and becoming a semester," he further lamented.
President Jammeh concluded by asserting that attitudes must be changed to achieve the common goals of ending poverty in this country, expressing optimism that such is possible in view of the fact that the country is very small.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103250568.html