Current Date:

Friday, 23 February 2018
 

Khartoum Hosts FAO Regional Conference for Africa Continent

The Goals of the Conference
1 – Adoption of Overall to End Poverty by improving nutrition and promotion of sustainable agriculture
2 - To seek programs to achieve the eradication of poverty through packages of providing decent work and appropriate education for African youth
3. Creating of employment opportunities in agriculture and the rural sector in Africa
4. Providing forum for consultation on the different issues and challenges of the region
5 - Find a common ground for consultation on global policies and legislation
6 - Review the programs and plans for FAO in the region and its impact on countries
7 - stand on the performance of FAO in the region
8 - Build a system of resistance to agricultural problems and counter changes
9 - reach the mechanisms of water management and harvesting
10. Development of programs to ensure the sustainability of marine and river resources
11. Address deficiencies in the uses and applications of food safety systems in the continent
12. Encourage partnership for production and consumption and support storage mechanisms and transport of agricultural products within the continent
13. Support training programs of using clean energy in agricultural processing

Expected outcomes of the Conference

1. Addressing the agricultural and rural needs of the continent
2. Partnerships to support youth employment in the rural and agricultural sector
3. Intensify programs to combat climate change in the continent
4 - Emphasizing the prioritization of the programs of FAO in the region according to the priorities and needs of its countries
5. Support the development of the mechanism of the regional solidarity fund
6.  Achieving innovative mechanisms to address food crises in the African continent
7. To adapt FAO's plans to meet the needs of countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, taking into account the different capacities of these countries.
8. To establish partnerships with regional and international parties
9 - reach formulas to attract the private sector to create jobs for young people
10 - Use of innovation mechanisms to provide attractive conditions to keep agricultural employment
11. Support economic partnerships among the countries of the region
12. Localization of regional and bilateral programs on the conservation of forest cover and fishery resources
13. Prepare plans and programs to sustain and combat desertification and drought
14. Treatment of agricultural plant diseases and reducing the effects of climate change on agriculture and agricultural communities and emphasizing the elements of sustainability.



Efforts of Agriculture Ministry

Agriculture Minister: Success of Agriculture is the Success of the Sudanese Economy

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Ijaimi said that the agriculture success is the success of the Sudanese economy, indicating that the agriculture leads the development, saying that all the plan of his ministry considered that the agriculture is the main supporter of the economy, indicating that poverty in Sudan is not poverty of resources, but capabilities one, revealing training of 45 person in agricultural mechanization, pointing out that his ministry will focus its efforts on young people training in the coming period with the support of the African Development Bank, where 2000 ones were trained at  cost of $ 32 million, indicating that the export of the previous season amounted to $ 850 million, and expected to reach billion dollar in this season, stating that they intend to stop collections of agricultural crops, indicating that the collections is one of obstacles hindering the development of trade.


  State Minister of Agriculture: We Work in Agriculture for Industry

State Minister of Agriculture stated that farmer in Sudan was changed and has become listen to solutions, adding that 21 thousand societies were formed, saying that the most thing facing them in agriculture is the agricultural guidelines, so 500 guides were distributed in the states, adding that they work in agriculture for industry, besides to operate all the stalled projects, explaining that there are 42 million acres in the rain sector and 2 million acres in the irrigated one, where they focus on cash crops
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Agriculture in Sudan – Available Potential and Promising Land for Investment

Agricultural sector in Sudan represents one of the pillars of the economy, where it contributes by 48% of the gross demostic product, and provides job opportunities for 80% of the Sudanese, but it represents less than 20% of the country export.

Environmental and Productive Diversity

Sudan enjoys environmental diversity; while the agricultural production types are differ due to the types of the soil.

Weak Exploitation

The area suitable for agriculture in Sudan is amounted to 105 million hectare, according to FAO, but the planted ones not exceed 6.78% of these lands.

Sudan is the Solution for Food Problem

The demands for food in the past was limited worldwide, so the agricultural investment  had no priority in comparison with trade and services investments, but now the world facing food gap, and as Sudan enjoys huge agricultural areas, the government has started supporting and facilitating the foreign investments in agriculture, while the whole world, especially the Arabic countries “Gulf state” are looking to Sudan as solution for the said crisis where there are being great turn out to Sudan for the agricultural investment.       

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Contribution of Livestock to Food Security:  FAO Representative Dr. Babagana Ahmadu

The  Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries on the occasion of the National Livestock Conference  organized a Seminar on Contribution of Livestock to Food Security which was addressed among many other key personalities and experts ,the FAO Sudan Representative Dr. Babagana Ahmadu. Hereunder is the text of his address, which reflects the organization views on the issue.
On behalf of the Director General of FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva and myself, I would like to thank you for inviting FAO to this important seminar on livestock contribution to food security and also to make these brief opening remarks
The global mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is “A world free from hunger and malnutrition where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner”.
On January 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Goals and 169 targets came officially into force. The SDGs build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end poverty and hunger.
Goal 2 of the SDGs seeks to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition and to achieve sustainable food production by 2030. It is premised on the idea that everyone should have access to sufficient nutritious food, which will require widespread promotion of sustainable agriculture, a doubling of agricultural productivity, increased investments, and properly functioning food markets”.
According to the UN, one in eight people in the world live in extreme poverty; 795 million people in the world are undernourished.
The livestock sector can play a key role in ending hunger, contributing at different levels and from different angles. At the household economy the most obvious contribution is through the direct consumption of animal source foods (ASF) and the generation of income; at the rural economic contribution is related to the generation of employment opportunities in livestock and food chains upstream and downstream. Regarding the national economy, contributions of an enhanced livestock sector include reducing ASF prices, generating taxes, and earning of foreign exchange; and at the global economy providing the world with adequate and reliable supplies ASF.
Hundreds of millions of people rely on livestock as a means of a secure livelihood, partly because of animals’ ability to adapt to extreme conditions and withstand climate shocks. Within the past 30 years, consumption of meat, milk and eggs in low- and middle-income countries has more than tripled. According to latest FAO projections, global meat demand will increase by a further 200 percent by 2050.
For example, small ruminants (2.1 billion head worldwide) are the primary livestock resource of 300 million poor rural families throughout the globe. For livestock keeping households, sheep and goats are: a source of regular income; a means to capitalize savings; and a safety net during times of hardship. Selling animals or their products provides the necessary resources to access food, as well as educational and social services. Food products derived from sheep and goats are an essential part of the diet for many people around the world and contribute to overcoming malnutrition. Sheep and goat milk and meat are of high nutritional value and provide high-quality protein, vitamins and minerals critical for cognitive development and physical strength.
In order to ensure food security through livestock, we must also immunize animals against high impact transboundary animal diseases such as peste des petits ruminants and foot-and-mouth disease. FAO together with the OIE, AU-IBAR and regional and national organizations and partners is committed to tackling these diseases and others. 
However, the increase in demand for livestock products will add pressure to the ecosystems. Livestock producers will experience greater competition for capital, labor, land, water and energy and productivity is consequently expected to increase but at a diminishing growth rate.
The FAO Director-General commenting on livestock’s carbon footprint, during the 10th Global Forum for Food and agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin indicated that “a low-carbon livestock sector is possible to achieve.” FAO estimates that methane emissions can quickly be cut by 20 to 30 percent across all production systems through the adoption of established husbandry practices such as regenerative grazing, forage selection and better recycling of nutrients and energy from livestock waste. Examples of unlocking the potential for low-carbon livestock include stakeholder investment in the sector, support for necessary research and the accelerated adoption of advanced practices.
In order to achieve FAO’s vision of sustainable livestock production, investment in the sector, the creation of incentives for good husbandry practices and legislation against harmful husbandry practices are needed. These objectives can be accomplished through joint actions taking social, economic, health and environmental dimensions into consideration. It’s also important to provide the appropriate skills, knowledge and technologies to ensure the rural poor benefit from projected growth.