Agriculture and Nollywood.

Agriculture is now the bride many suitors are after, basically because of dwindling resources and because of the go back to the farm campaign.  People never thought of agriculture as a profitable business but now various people from all walks of life are venturing into one or more aspects of agriculture. 

 There is the  necessity to go back to the farms to ensure food security and revamp the economy, there is even a national call to spur us all to the "Green Land".

 The government at both the federal and state level are wooing more people into the line of agriculture not only for sustenance, but also as a major growth tool for the economic growth. Agriculture is an all-comers affair now, so come on board. 

If our former president,Olusegun Obasanjo can go and learn the nitty-gritty to be able to set up his farms then 

The value of agriculture has also enchanted some celebrities ,especially from the silver screen(NollyWood) who are diversifying to invest in agriculture and agribusiness ventures. 

The latest entrant is Funke Adesiyan who recently dumped acting for politics and now is back in the spotlight an investor in agriculture. 

 The Ibadan-based actress has shared that her investment in Agriculture has started paying off and that she has been able to save enough money that will sustain her for the rest of her life through farming. The gorgeous actress who lives in a simple comfortable house, explained that her decision to venture into agriculture was a choice she had to make, either to buy a house or buy hectares of land for farming. She chose the latter, and invested in agriculture. 

This is how to start investing in Agriculture. This could be small, medium or large scale depending on your capacity but whatever your level, you can always start small and grow from there. 

Thinking of #agriculture #urban agriculture #agribusiness? See

Cat cuddling and cat-scratch disease.

A new study reveals that , cuddling a cat could give you an infection that could even kill you.The infection linked to cat scratches is aptly termed Cat-scratch disease, which can be fatal in some cases. Cat-scratch disease is an illness that results in intense fever, headaches, pustules and inflamed lymph nodes. The infection can progress drastically in rare instances leading to complications of the brain or heart and even result in death. "Cat-scratch disease, causes a significant number of annual infections, some of which can lead to encephalitis as well as endocarditis. Humans can risk contracting the disease just by kissing or cuddling cats, or by being scratched or bitten by them. The illness is caused by a bacteria called Bartonella henselae, which is transmitted to cats by fleas. According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noted kittens and stray cats were especially susceptible to carrying the harmful bacteria. The report showed that each year, about 12,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with cat-scratch disease and 500 require hospitalization. Cat-scratch is preventable if hygiene plays a part in animal handling,interactions and proper pet care. Cat owners should take the following precautions; 1) wash their hands after petting their cats. 2 ) clean bites and scratches with soap and water . 3)prevent contact of your cats with strays. 4) regular flea control. When bitten or scratched by your cat, wash area with soap and water and visit your doctor immediately.

Five-star pig pens: In China, a novel strategy in the war against superbugs.

Shen Jian-Ping's antibiotic-free pig farm outside of Shanghai, biosecurity is something of an obsession. Vehicles entering the property are disinfected with a chlorine tire bath and alcohol spray, animals drink sterilized water and the closest visitors will get to seeing a live hog is via a TV in the visitors' center. The wiry 46-year-old has spent $700,000 (4.7 million yuan) giving roomier, better-ventilated digs to his swine, with three full-time veterinarians to help keep the 465-sow herd healthy. "It's like the piglets are now living in a villa that's clean and comfortable," Shen said as he sipped green tea on the patio outside his office. "And it smells much better." Antibiotics have been routinely fed to livestock to prevent disease and spur growth in dozens of industrialized countries for decades. But in China, pig feed typically contains multiple types of bacteria-killing drugs that are used in far greater volumes, said Ying Guang-Guo, professor of environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the southern city of Guangzhou. Chinese pigs consume about 19,600 metric tons of antibiotics annually through their feed, scientists estimated in a 2013 study. The average growing pig in China excretes 175 milligrams of antibiotics per day in its urine and feces, according to Ying's research. He extrapolated that across the nation's entire pig population to estimate that 2,460 tons of drugs are released annually. Those chemicals may then leach into water wells and streams, or contaminate manure used to fertilize vegetable fields. Traces have even been found in Shanghai drinking water and school kids. Pig farmers are largely unaware of the drug's importance or the need to restrict it, Shen said. "Most of them only wish to grow pigs faster," he said. That rankled with Shen, who traveled to Belgium and the Netherlands in 2011 to study how farmers there were raising hogs without antibiotics so he could try to replicate their methods back home. His initial attempt failed. Sixty percent, or more than 1,000, of his swine died in the first winter. "We didn't know how complicated it would be," said Shen, who said he obtained a distance-learning degree in poultry production from China Agricultural University. Marc Huon, a pig-management specialist in Belgium, was hired to redesign Shen's pigsty. The first priority, Huon said, was to give more space and better ventilation and to remove stress on the animals caused by temperature fluctuations. He also recommended a higher-protein diet based on a broader range of nutrients and the addition of supplements, including prebiotics to promote helpful intestinal bacteria. Water piped into the temperature-controlled barn has been filtered and purified with charcoal, and heated and irradiated to remove pathogens. "The water our pigs drink is better than the tap water in Shanghai-much better," Shen said. These days, mortality is 5-to-6 percent-much less than the 15 percent to 16 percent average on neighboring piggeries, he said. It takes Shen's pigs about eight months to reach the 250-300 pound (115-to-135 kilogram) target weight for slaughter. That's four to five weeks longer than pigs fed antibiotics and other growth promoters, according to Huon. The Belgian's nutrition plan emphasizes meat quality over weight gain. "It's just a copy and paste of what we are doing here,'' Huon said over the telephone from Belgium.more

South Africa Unveils Test-tube Buffalo, Plans IVF Rhino.

Almost 40 years after the first human test-tube baby was born, South African scientists have produced something bulkier: the first Cape buffalo brought into the world by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Pumelelo the buffalo bull calf was born on June 28 and was unveiled to the world this week at a game farm north of Johannesburg in South Africa's Limpopo province.The technique holds hope for far bigger and more endangered species such as the northern white rhino - only three of them are left on the planet. "This success is of major importance for the prospective breeding of endangered species, and that is the reason why we are undertaking this work," said Morne de la Rey, a veterinarian and the managing director of Embryo Plus, which specializes in bovine embryo transfers and semen collection, mostly for the cattle industry. Proud parents are biological mother and egg donor "Vasti" and sperm donor "Goliat", which is Afrikaans for Goliath - in his bulky case, no misnomer. The baby bull has a surrogate mother which has taken to him. He could grow to 1,000 kg (2,200 pounds) or more. Cape buffalos are notoriously bad-tempered and dangerous animals and Vasti was sedated when her oocytes, or egg cells, were extracted using a technique similar to that used on human donors. Game farming is big business in South Africa but those involved in the project said the main concern was conservation. "The object is certainly not to reproduce buffalo of superior genetics ... the goal is the conservation of species," said Frans Stapelberg, the owner of the farm where Pumelelo was born. The project will now focus on the northern white rhino and the trio who remain on the planet on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The San Diego Zoo is partnering with that effort.More

Bat Found Outside Irvine Shopping Center Tests Positive For Rabies

Bat Found Outside Irvine Shopping Center Tests Positive For Rabies: Once a person begins showing symptoms of having rabies, the disease is nearly always fatal.https://veterinarymedicineechbeebolanle-ojuri.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/rabies-bat-connection.html

The Future of Food: Shaping the Global Food System to Deliver Improved Nutrition and Health.

The world bears the triple burden of malnutrition: hunger; undernutrition due to insufficient intake of vitamins and minerals; and obesity due to unhealthy diets. Feeding people well is as important as feeding people enough; shaping food systems to deliver safe, nutritious and sustainable food should be a priority. Interventions for better nutrition and health need to change behavior across the production-to-consumption continuum. There is consensus that the food system should be able to feed a growing population and the 795 million people that go hungry every day.But food quality is equally important. Malnutrition and food-borne diseases impose large current and future human, economic, fiscal and social costs on countries. Key among these is child stunting, which reduces cognitive development and a person’s lifetime earnings. Over 165 million children under five are stunted due to chronic malnutrition. Contaminated food impacts one in ten people globally—around 420,000 people die from contaminated food each year. According to estimates, more than two billion people do not get all the vitamins and minerals they need. Meanwhile another two billion people struggle with being overweight or obese—many of them in developing countries. Shaping food systems to deliver improved nutrition and health requires a combination of improved knowledge, sound policies, regulations, and investments across the production- to-consumption continuum. The goal is to stimulate behavioral change in food producers, post-harvest handlers, food processors, food distributors, and consumers. Women will also play a key role because they often link food systems and household nutrition. Interventions must include reducing food loss through improved storage, fortifying foods with nutrients, expanding nutrition education, improving food labeling and modernizing food safety regulations. A paper by the World Bank explains why the global food system needs to prioritize improved nutrition and health and deliver nutritious, safe and sustainable food. see it

Post-Ebola, West Africans flock back to bushmeat.

Post-Ebola, West Africans flock back to bushmeat and scientists are warning about the risk implication. As the deadly outbreak of Ebola has subsided, people in several West African countries are flocking to eat bushmeat again after restrictions were lifted on the consumption of wild animals like hedgehogs and cane rats. But some health experts call it a risky move. Ivory Coast, which neighbors two of the three countries where Ebola killed more than 11,300 people since December 2013, lifted its ban on wild animal meat this month. The meat of squirrel, deer, fruit bats and rats has long been a key source of protein for many in the region, but it is also a potential source of the Ebola virus. Though bushmeat hasn't officially been linked to West Africa's recent Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in history, infections in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected animals, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The Ebola virus is then spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of victims or corpses. From a public health standpoint, this decision is unfortunate at best," said Ben Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. "The only source of Ebola in the world is infected animals, and there's good evidence that some of these animals, like bats, can be infected for a long time." However, not all bushmeat is equal, he said. Bats pass on the virus and travel far. Some types of rodents can get the virus. Primate meat is likely not as much of a danger, given that they succumb to Ebola more quickly than people. "There's a good case for banning the sale of bats as bushmeat. The other sources are a lesser risk," Neuman said. "I don't want to see it all legal, but we don't want to see people go hungry, either." continue