Nelson Mandela fighter against apartheid

With deep respect for his life long fight against apartheid and for human rights, ICCO has learned about Nelson Mandela's death, the first black president in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela's death means the departure of a grand person. Madiba (a clan name for the Mandela’s) as he was respectfully called, has been an example and inspiration for all of us. He was imprisoned for 27 years thereby sacrificing a great part of his life for a more peaceful and just society.
Today South Africans reflect, mourn and celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela, reports Gerrit de Vries, regional manager of the ICCO  office in Pretoria. “We hope that his legacy of peace, reconciliation and unity in South Africa remains alive.”
Symbol of righteous fight
During all his life, including his 27 years on Robben Island and in the prisons of Pollsmoor and Victor Verster, Mandela was the inspirer and symbol for the righteous fight against apartheid of millions of suppressed South Africans.
Madiba became the first President of the new democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and peaceful South Africa. He taught us important values such as humility and the strength of reconciliation and forgiveness. Through his teachings of peace amongst all persons, he gained Apartheid - a totalitarian ideology - that resulted in a violent, artificial segregation of people based on their skin color and origin. At the time of his release, Marinus Verweij, chairman of the executive Board of ICCO worked in Zimbabwe. “I experienced apartheid and the end of this regime from close by.  I have deep respect for the fact that Mandela, after all he had endured, has never become bitter.” (Photo: www.sabc.co.za)
Without truth no justice
After his release in 1990, 'Madiba' preached truth, forgiveness and reconciliation and guided the torn country to national unity and racial equality. Though the Peace and Reconciliation process, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu did not solve all the problems, this unique approach has inspired many. Without truth there can't be any justice.

In 1990, Mandela visited the European Parliament. Church and NGO representatives, including ICCO, were also present.  He expressed his gratitude for the support he had received at the time of his release and the end of apartheid. In 1998, Mandela held a speech during the Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare. He said:  ‘To us in South and Southern Africa, and indeed the entire continent, the WCC (World Council of Churches) has always been known as a champion of the oppressed and the exploited.’

ICCO recruited observers
ICCO supported various organizations and persons that fought against apartheid. An important partner was South African Church Council (SACC). In 1994, the first democratic elections were held in South Africa. ICCO recruited more than twenty Dutch observers for this unique landmark in South Africas history. This action was in accordance with Ecumenical Monitoring Programme South Africa (EMPSA), a program from the World Council of Churches and SACC. One of the observers was an ICCO employee.

The work of ICCO today
Apartheid was abolished nearly 20 years ago. Today, ICCO still works in South Africa. Gerrit de Vries, regional manager of the ICCO office in Pretoria says that the country still bears the marks of the apartheid regime. “The gap between black and white is still unacceptably large. An important point on ICCO's agenda is the right to land. We support black people, whose land was expropriated during apartheid, to get their land back. ICCO also contributes to sustainable agriculture development and product marketing. Moreover there is the HIV-AIDS program as the AIDS epidemic strikes South Africa in particular.”

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Agric sector attracted $8bn private sector investment in 2 years - Minister

• Monday, 09 December 2013 00:00
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The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that agriculture attracted private sector investment valued at eight billion dollars in the past two years.

Adesina said this in an a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the huge investment was realised because of the positive impact of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda on agri-business in the country.

“In the last two years, we have been able to attract eight billion dollars of private investment commitment in to agriculture sector in Nigeria and four billion dollars is being implemented as we speak.

“ Dangote  has put nine billion dollars into a petrochemical plant and a fertiliser manufacturing plant; Indorama put 1.3 million dollars into fertiliser manufacturing.Indorama is an Indonesian company.

“Notore  has invested 1.5 billion dollars to expand its fertiliser manufacturing plant in Nigeria.

“Why are they doing that? It is because they see that the direction we are going with agriculture as a business is working.”

The minister said Syngenta, the world’s leading seeds production company, had established a company in Nigeria and hired 14 Nigerians as staff.

He quoted Michel Demare, the Global Chairman of Syngenta AG, a specialized chemicals company which markets seeds and pesticides, as saying: “the direction Nigeria is going makes me feel that the demand for seeds is going to rise in the country.”

Adesina added that the best performing stocks in the Nigerian market today were agriculture-related stocks, which he said, “perform better than banks.”

The minister pointed out that through the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, banks had begun to offer loans to farmers, seed companies, and agro-businesses “like never before.”

He said the banks were currently adapting their profit-driven business to accommodate the agriculture sector owing to the massive potentials inherent in the sector.

“Last year, the banks lent to those agro-dealers, 3.5 billion naira, first time ever.

“Tthis year, the banks lent 20 billion naira to those agro-dealers.“

The minister said banks’ readiness to extend the loans offered to farmers and agro-dealers testified to the significant progress that had been made in the sector.

He commended the Central Bank Governor, Malam Lamido Sanusi for his contribution to the growing confidence of the banks in the agriculture sector.

Nigeria’s Agric sector, many gains, greater challenges

December 10, 2013 | Filed under: Editorial | Author: Editor

The Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the current administration has made some commendable achievements. At least, there is some improvement in the local production of some crops such as cassava, rice, cashew and so on. Also, livestock and fish are being produced in greater quantities, not only by peasant farmers but professionals and students now take these up as a means of self-employment. Some investors with loose money to invest have also been investing in agribusinesses to increase their income streams due to the lost glory of the capital market and the fact that investment in real estate involves huge funds and long term returns.
This is because Akinwunmi Adesina, the current minister of agriculture has been able to change the perception of agriculture as the work the poor does for survival to a dignified business for the elite. The Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria is the current government’s effort to revamp the agriculture sector, ensure food security, diversify the economy and enhance foreign exchange earnings. Therefore the Federal Ministry of agriculture under the leadership of the minister got state governments and various stakeholders involved in developing the agricultural value chains, launched the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) to ensure provision and availability of improved inputs (seeds and fertilizer), increased productivity and production, as well as the establishment of staple crop processing zones.
It also got international research institutes such as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Lake Chad Research Institute involved in proffering solutions to the need to step up local production. There is greater backward integration by industries that utilise agricultural products as raw materials, some directly producing their raw materials while some support outgrowers’ scheme. During the last two years, the ministry through the minister has also been able to increase the access of farmers as well as other operators along the value chain to financial services and markets.
Though the creation of over 3.5 million jobs within a few years from the agricultural sector which the Federal Government has targeted is not yet fully realized, lots of jobs are truly being created.
But the sector is fraught with so many challenges. Inadequate infrastructure (poor electricity supply and bad roads) makes the cost of production very expensive for farmers and other businesses within the sector. Infrastructure challenge is the father of many of the other problems such as propensity to import, smuggling and so on in the sector. Though Nigerians are beginning to appreciate food produced within the country because they are nutritionally safer, locally produced food generally have a very hard time competing on price with cheap imports. Our infrastructure-challenged producers are competing with producers in countries with very adequate infrastructure support.
The average Nigerian now believes food produced in Nigeria is healthier but often times it is more rational for a consumer to buy the cheap imports if these average Nigerians want their small income to be sufficient to buy food before the next income comes in. The government have often used increased tariffs on imported food to make them more expensive and therefore give the locally produced food a better chance to compete. The funds realised from the tariffs are said to be used in developing local production of food. But increased tariffs usually leads to greater smuggling with neighbouring countries especially Benin Republic being the beneficiary at Nigeria’s expense.
The issue of poor electricity supply and bad roads which is the crux of the problems may have been over-flogged. But the inability of the government to ensure adequate infrastructure provision should continue to be flogged until adequate electricity supply and good roads become a reality. If local foods can be produced at prices competitive with equivalents from other countries, then smuggling will greatly reduce if not completely eliminated. Which sane Nigerian, even the very poor one, for instance, wants to eat chicken preserved with formaldehyde, a chemical used in preserving dead bodies in the morgue if the locally produced chicken can be sold at the same price that the smuggled one is sold? The government cannot claim to have tried enough as long as producers do not have adequate infrastructure support.

Consultant urges poultry farmers to invest more in quail keeping

• Tuesday, 03 December 2013 23:58
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Agricultural consultant, Dr. Mobolade Famodimu, has urged poultry farmers to develop more interest in quail farming.

Famodimu, who gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Ido in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Tuesday, said that quail farming was profitable.
He said the call was imperative in view of the fact the the demand quail eggs and its meat had increased.
``Experience has also shown that cost management of quail farming is less when compared with other poultry.
``Poultry owners who are yet to embrace quail farming should begin to invest in it because it is easier to keep and has little risk.’’
The consultant said that interested members of the public could invest in quail keeping at small-scale for consumption but called on such individuals to seek advice from experienced poultry farmers.
Famodimu further admonished Nigerians to desist from eating imported frozen chicken and turkey smuggled into the country because of the health implication.
He said some of the smuggled items were not suitable for consumption and called on residents to always patronise the local ones.
The consultant commended men of the Nigeria Customs Service for their efforts in combating smuggling of these hazardous meat, urging them to do more to save Nigerians.

three weeks old quail birds ready to be supplied to a customer

MAKE IT BIG IN 2014 FROM QUAIL FARMING

quick money with quail farming

May 30, 2013Uncategorized

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quick money with quail farming
quail farming is now becoming the big money maker with small scale farmers,the fact been that one does not need a large sum of capital to start a quail farm .
Quail farming is an uncommon farming business in Nigeria but with lots of potentials.now,for the few people that have embraced it,they are not only smiling to banks, they are also enjoying both the nutritional and health values derived from consuming it Considering the large number of poultry farmers in in northern nigeria or specifically southwest and south - south specifically Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. To set up a quail farm, one needs to understand the environmental conditions which are needed by the birds
aparts from the weather condition
the farmer may need to understand other things like
floor space.
Investment capital .
and also note that
Quails are comparatively sturdy birds .
It can be marketed at an early age . ( one- five weeks)
Early sexual maturity starts laying eggs in about 5-6 weeks of age.
High rate of egg laying 280 to 295 eggs per year.
Quail meat is tastier than chicken and has less fat content.
It promotes body and brain development in children.
Naturally , the quail eggs are on par with that of children,moreever they contain less cholesterol .
Quail meat and eggs are a nutritious diet for pregnant mothers .
Highly age limit (survival- live) 2.5 To 3 yr.