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.

Soy protein early in life may help prevent bone loss in adulthood.

New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that giving children a diet high in soy protein isolate can protect against serious bone loss during adulthood and help ensure overall better bone quality. Move over milk, soy protein early in life might be what's needed for strong, healthy bones in adulthood. New research, published online in The FASEB Journal, reports that early dietary nutrition heavy in soy protein isolate can protect against serious bone loss during adulthood. This also is the first time that scientists have used an animal model to show concrete evidence of a protective effect of an early-life soy protein isolate diet on adult bone loss. To make their discovery, Chen and colleagues used a very young female rat model. One group of rats was fed a soy protein isolate diet for 30 days (from postnatal day 24 to 55), and then was switched to a regular standard rodent diet until 6 months of age. The rats were altered to mimic postmenopausal bone loss in women to determine the amount of bone loss. The second group of rats was fed a regular standard rodent diet throughout life. This group was also altered to mimic postmenopausal bone loss and analyzed to determine bone loss. The researchers found that the first group of rats s compared to the second group of rats. continue

Obasanjo leads LAPO deliberation on food security.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is expected to lead discussions on ‘Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria’ at this year’s 23rd Annual LAPO Development Forum scheduled to hold in Abuja this week. The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, is expected to be Special Guest of Honour at the event scheduled to hold on October 18, 2016. A professor of Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition and pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Elizade University, Ondo State, Valentine Aletor, will present a paper on ‘Agriculture, Women Empowerment and Food Security’ while Director-General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Nteranya Sanginga, will speak on ‘Enhancing Youth Employment Through Agricultural Development’ at the LAPO Forum. continue

WORLD FOOD DAY 2016 MESSAGE!!!

WORLD FOOD DAY 2016 MESSAGE FROM THE HON. MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT – CHIEF AUDU OGBE No farmers,no nation.!!! Great farmers, great nation.!!! The hon minister, chief Audu Ogbe commended the Nigerian farmers; As the World Food Day is marked globally today, let me appreciate Nigerian farmers, big and small, who are the real heroes of this day. I also thank all Nigerians for their remarkable response to the call to return to the farms. Let me say that any success that we achieve today will be more due to them than to us. Climate is indeed changing and so must our Agricultural practices. We have initiated policies to respond to the changing climate by embracing climate-smart agriculture.Climate change adaptation for environmental sustainability and increased food production is a also key component of the Agricultural Promotion Policy – the Green Alternative. In response to the global call for reduction in Green House gas emission, President Muhammadu Buhari has, in September this year, signed the Paris Agreement which aims at minimizing global warming to the barest minimum degree.In addition, Nigeria has also aligned itself to the Adaptation of Agriculture in Africa – the AAA Initiative designed to tackle the impact of change in climate on food security in Africa. continue

Maggot dispenser for your chicken and smart agriculture.

. The rising cost of poultry feed has led to innovative ideas to maintain production and sustain the birds. Maggots are used as meal worms for poultry,these small white crawling worms feed on waste to provide protein for the birds. These maggots are made of 65% protein and 25% fat compared to soy protein that has only 35% protein,not only are the maggots more nutritious but are extremely cheap and are produced fast. The maggots are made from waste,which could be chicken waste, meat waste, and any other waste products. They can also be bred from dead chicken,left-over beef or mutton,these are usually dumped in a container with drilled holes. The flies enter the bucket through the holes to feed on waste to lay eggs and the (larvae)maggots crawls out the container and are either fed to the birds directly or further processed by mixing with feed and serving the birds. The maggots can also be harvested , dried and packaged for sale or stored up for distribution. A kg of fly eggs will give about 190kg of dried larvae in 3 days. The use of maggot as feed for poultry has the advantage that its a means of managing waste,odor control and preventing climate-changing emissions. Agriculture has been identified as the major contributor to climate change inform of carbon print and emissions. The race to provide more food for the ever growing population has put pressure on agriculture,but the changes in climatic conditions has turned the beam on innovations,smart farming to ensure food security and also eco- friendly solutions. The theme of the world food day 2016 "the climate is changing,food and agriculture must too" explains it all!!.

How veterinarians prevent dairy disease that could impact health of man.

Veterinarians treat chicken to prevent foodborne illness.

. Preventing diseases is a lot cheaper and has less impact on health status of man than treating ,especially in birds. The video shows the visit of vets to a poultry farm to assess the birds to observe the response to vaccination and certify the birds are free from salmonella bacteria,which causes illness in man.