Agribusiness: Future Of Food Systems.

  The future of food systems. What does the future hold as regard food, food safety, food systems and food production? How will the narrative change in food systems as regards feeding the projected population increase of 9.8 billion by 2050? how will the food system absorb shock or unforeseen circumstances? how resilient is our food system currently and how are we structuring a more resilience food system?

  Food systems and our way of life. Food is essential for life, a common denominator that cuts across all levels of the society. Food is fuel and it nourishes us, though quality and quantity available is another story.  Some people have limited access to food while others have unlimited access resulting in diverse food related diseases.

 How can we build our food system to withstand  threat of climate change ,environmental degradation as well as curbing food loss or food waste.?     The answer is simple, EDUCATION. The need to educate small holder farmers on the need to adopt climate smart agricultural practices. The  training on how to increase yield by using good seeds coupled with proper planting procedures.

  Introduction  and promotion of value chain concept to farmers, teaching them how to use simple methods to add value to their products thus extending shelf live and curbing waste. A resilience food system will encompass good agricultural practices, proper food handling ,food safety and food preservation.

 The future of food systems is not the purview of farmers alone, government policies favoring agribusiness is another angle and the use of technology to scale up production and distribution is key.

  How to create a resilience food system? create a hub of producers leveraging technology to increase food production and also a marketing hub backed by a sustainable distribution network. The creation of innovative food system models to ensure food supply from farm to fork is safe,traceable ,accessible and available for utilization.

 

Smart Agriculture: Ending poverty with mobile phones.

Phones have been identified as a valuable tool to fight poverty. The use of phones can revolutionize the fight against poverty. Street trading is a common phenomenon in Africa, where various commodities are sold at traffic stops,interjections and street corners. Today,the story is different,as the commodities now include recharge cards. This shows the fast adaptability , and increasing importance of mobile phone technology in Africa. 

 There is the passion for joining the phone revolution and the information age that it brings into the nooks and crannies of the world. Mobile phone technology is not restricted to urban areas any more,but even the rural suburbs are cashing in on the vibe.

Phones in the hands of farmers could actually help to achieve the food security goal as valuable information about smart agriculture can be disseminated easily. 

Echbee vet ventures has a phone-a-farmer initiative ,that continue There is another arm of the outfit that dishes veterinary tips to farmers,see.

The platform works on this model ,see.Currently,the platform is expanding to reach more zones and also talking with foreign partners to promote technology exchange,to promote smart agriculture. Self Help Africa, an international development organisation working in agriculture, has been using this model of information revolution the fight against poverty. In Malawi, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Zambia, Self Help Africa is now partnering with a range of mobile network providers to provide free, on-demand farming information across a range of crops to farmers. 

Farmers dial into the service and, using touch-tone technology, access a voice message about a specific crop or farming practice. Partnering with network providers has an additional advantage because there will be an influx of customers to the platform, agribusiness partnership to promote food security will be developed,training schemes and empowerment programmes will also be developed to further boost productivity.

 A platform for agriculture with various stakeholders will be gigantic porter of buying,selling,training,exporting hub and tech--exchange to ensure our food for all goal with smart agriculture.

BILL GATES , CHICKENS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.

Dr. Batamaka Somé, an anthropologist from Burkina Faso who has worked with Gates foundation, has spent much of his career studying the economic impact of raising chickens in his home country. He explains the importance of chicken to the economy of Burkina Faso in the video. Bill Gates asks" If you were living on $2 a day, what would you do to improve your life? That’s a real question for the nearly 1 billion people living in extreme poverty today. There’s no single right answer, of course, and poverty looks different in different places. But through my work with the foundation, I’ve met many people in poor countries who raise chickens, and I have learned a lot about the ins and outs of owning these birds. (As a city boy from Seattle, I had a lot to learn!) It’s pretty clear to me that just about anyone who’s living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens. In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what I would do—I would raise chickens. Here’s why: 1) They are easy and inexpensive to take care of. Many breeds can eat whatever they find on the ground (although it’s better if you can feed them, because they’ll grow faster). Hens need some kind of shelter where they can nest, and as your flock grows, you might want some wood and wire to make a coop. Finally, chickens need a few vaccines. The one that prevents the deadly Newcastle disease costs less than 20 cents. 2) They’re a good investment. Suppose a new farmer starts with five hens. One of her neighbors owns a rooster to fertilize the hens’ eggs. After three months, she can have a flock of 40 chicks. Eventually, with a sale price of $5 per chicken—which is typical in West Africa—she can earn more than $1,000 a year, versus the extreme-poverty line of about $700 a year. 3)They help keep children healthy. Malnutrition kills more than 3.1 million children a year. Although eating more eggs—which are rich in protein and other nutrients—can help fight malnutrition, many farmers with small flocks find that it’s more economical to let the eggs hatch, sell the chicks, and use the money to buy nutritious food. But if a farmer’s flock is big enough to give her extra eggs, or if she ends up with a few broken ones, she may decide to cook them for her family. 4)They empower women. Because chickens are small and typically stay close to home, many cultures regard them as a woman’s animal, in contrast to larger livestock like goats or cows. Women who sell chickens are likely to reinvest the profits in their families. The Gates foundation is betting on chicken; alongside partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa, we are working to create sustainable market systems for poultry. It’s especially important for these systems to make sure farmers can buy birds that have been properly vaccinated and are well suited to the local growing conditions. Our goal: to eventually help 30 percent of the rural families in sub-Saharan Africa raise improved breeds of vaccinated chickens, up from just 5 percent now. Bill Gates said "When I was growing up, chickens weren’t something you studied, they were something you made silly jokes about". It has been eye-opening for me to learn what a difference they can make in the fight against poverty. It sounds funny, but I mean it when I say that I am excited about chickens.

WATER HYACINTH AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS.

These 17 goals proposed by the UN is to transform the world and everybody has a role to play to ensure the success . The goals cut across board and borders and it spans health,education, environment, industrialization,partnership and peaceful coexistence. The goals really drives home the point that the world is a global village,and together we can accelerate growth,peace and development in various nations and industries. 

 The water hyacinth and the sustainable development goals, the plant is an invasive aquatic plant causing havoc in certain nations,by clogging up the waterways thus killing aquatic life and preventing easy movement on the seas. This plants can actually solve all these goals; Poverty can be eradicated by creating a source of income for those around the creeks and seas that the invasive plants occupy. The hyacinth can be harvested,processed and sold for money.when the rate of harvesting is doubled,there will be more space for aquatic life to flourish.The constant agitation of the water body by harvesters will oxygenate the water,making more oxygen available for fishes and other aquatic life.This harvesting will also save water life another goal. A community cottage industry built around the water hyacinth will not only end poverty because of the sale of various products that are derived from the water hyacinth.These products such as shown below will end poverty. The end to hunger can be achieved by incorporating the plant into animal feed,it has been shown to be suitable for pigs,and in aquaculture. The inclusion in animal feed normally promotes rapid growth and hence more food is produced. The hyacinth are also processed as food in man,there has been studies and trial sessions where the hyacinth has been used for bread and bean cake. The hyacinth are processed dry/fresh depending on the end product. The hyacinth is a goldmine and if properly harnessed more value will be derived. 

The hyacinth can be used to produce paper,this alone prevents deforestation which is one of the element of several climatic changes experienced and also spread of diseases,as man is moving further into forests making us more vulnerable to diseases. 

 The water hyacinth as a game changer in economics can be read here; http://veterinarymedicineechbeebolanle-ojuri.blogspot.com.ng/2016/04/water-hyacinth-our-green-gold.html