11 Jul
Africa, Agriculture, News

African media urged to leverage WBG’s 9,000 open data to boost good governance

Africa media practitioners have been urged to leverage on the World Bank’s estimated 9,000 open data on agriculture, so as to give drive to good governance, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Making this call recently at a 3-day workshop on reporting agriculture hosted by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) in conjunction with the World Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the Lead Operations Officer, World Bank Institute’s Global Media Development programme, Mr. Craig Hammer advised participants to explore the power of open data to improve the state of content on agriculture and other sectors of the economy.

He disclosed that World Bank Group, for instance, has over 9,000 development indicators opened including data on health, nutrition, population, gender, poverty and equity, jobs, climate change to name a few.

“There are microdata on 650,000 variables from 1,200 surveys in addition to over 150,000 analyses, reports,” he said.

According to him by leveraging open data, media practitioners on the continent will spur good governance because open data has evidence to drive its story or information.

Hammer, whose presentation was on ‘Data-Driven Journalism Media,’ defined data as information that has been translated into a form that is more convenient to analyze, pointing out that nowadays, the world thrives on three distinct avenues, more so for media practitioners, comprising having access to information and open data, finding agriculture data with today’s relevance.

Showcasing where media fits in open data usage in what he described as information circle, Hammer described media as a watchdog that discloses to the public in real time relevant infomation; microscope which helps to simplify technical governance information thereby promoting accessibility by the public and facilitate engagement.

He also said that by way of media being a megaphone, it helps with the dissemination of now accessible governance information through various channels available to practitioners.

Equally, Hammer said the aforementioned would assist the citizens to understand, discuss and eventually offer feedback for the government to respond adequately.

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24 Jun
Agriculture

The Global Nutrition Report 2016

14 June 2016. The Global Nutrition Report 2016 was launched at venues around the world, with further events to follow.

The only independent and comprehensive annual review of the state of the world’s nutrition, the Global Nutrition Report is a multipartner initiative that holds a mirror up to our successes and failures at meeting intergovernmental nutrition targets. It documents progress on commitments made on the global stage, and it recommends actions to accelerate that progress.

The Global Nutrition Report aims to be a beacon, providing examples of change and identifying opportunities for action. This year’s report focuses on the theme of making—and measuring— SMART commitments to nutrition and identifying what it will take to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

  • Click here to download the report and the executive summary.
  • Click here for additional resources related to the report, including infographics, press information, and toolkits.
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18 Jun
Africa, Agriculture, News

Think Agric: Agrotech on Edge of Second Green Revolution – Weilbach


Agribusiness industry leader at PwC Africa, FransWeilbach, has said that agriculture is currently standing on the edge of a second green revolution with the aid of technology, NaijaAgroNet reports.
Speaking on desperate need for food security, Weilbach said that as the global population is growing rapidly, innovative technology and advancements in productivity are becoming increasingly important as pressure mounts on food systems.
“It is predicted that technological innovation will act as a catalyst in lifting agribusiness to the next level in Africa. The winners will be those agribusinesses that seize the opportunity to create new opportunities through technology – they will be able to reach their strategic goals faster and more efficiently,” he said.
Also commenting, the PwC Director in Kenya, Edward Kerich, said “Kenya relies heavily on the agricultural sector as the mainstay of its economy, with agriculture contributing 29 per cent of GDP. Kenya is SSA’s leading tea exporter and one of the world’s largest black tea producers. A significant development in the agricultural sector is growth in the number of privately owned tea factories outside of those owned by the KTDA and the large multinationals in the country, and the benefits realized is expected to increase as some factories move to cheaper renewable energy such as hydropower production.”
PwC Partner in Nigeria, Rasheed Rahji said “Agriculture contributed 24.18% to real GDP in Nigeria in Q4 2015 and this is mainly due to mechanised farming and to other activities in the agribusiness value chain.”
NaijaAgroNet gathered that human resources (HR) models and processes are beginning to evolve, with more emphasis being placed on technology to improve networks and data.
Though industry analysts observed that majority of agribusinesses view climate change as having significant impact on SSA agriculture in the future – 41.2 per cent indicated that there will be a significant impact in the short term, while 35.3 per cent said there will be an impact over the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, NaijaAgroNet reports that agribusiness leaders are considering investing in renewable energy, the main forms of energy being considered are solar energy and biogas.
Okoli Vincent/GEE

 

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