ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - As the environmental activists seek for investment in green energy, the Federal Government of Nigeria has already announced that it will consolidate and allocate coal sites across the country to “serious minded players in the power sector” in a drive to meet the country's increasing energy deficit.The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, disclosed this during a visit to the Abuja Steel Mills Limited, Minna, North Central Nigeria.According to Fayemi, the ministry is considering the power sector as its priority area that needs coal to address electricity deficit in the country.“We are not saying that we will not give coal to others that need coals for the production of steel or relevant manufacturing works, but right now power sector needs coal,” he said.He said that the management of Abuja Steel Mill had requested for coal for the production of steel, adding that the ministry would support local steel manufacturers that could solve steel deficit.“Our work as a ministry is to facilitate companies that have taken it upon themselves to manufacture steel locally, rather than importing substandard steel with our hard earned Forex.”He expressed appreciation to the management of the company for employing 450 Nigerians and providing healthcare facilities, adding that the company should train its local engineers to perform or take over its expatriate tasks. He also urged the company to continue to maintain its standard of production to gain adequate market and bridge steel importation gap.Dr Fayemi said the ministry would encourage the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing to link the company to construction giants in the country to patronise their products. He promised to liaise with Nigerian Customs Service on scrap metals being exported on a daily basis, as scarcity of the material had hiked prices of steel produced locally.However, he promised to solve some of the requests presented by the company, adding that it should also fulfill the ministry’s requirements to move the country forward.Using coal to boost steel productionMr Richpal Singh, Executive Director and Advisor of the company, urged the minister to make coal sites available to the company to boost steel production. Singh said availability of coal would enable the company to produce 6.8 million tonnes required for local consumption.He said the scrap metals being sold at the rate of N50,000 per tonne now sold at N250,000, as the materials were being exported due to high exchange rate.He said one of the company’s challenges was scarcity of scrap metals being used for the production of steel, as Nigerians were now making brisk business with some Chinese firms to package and export them.The company produces 150,000 tonnes yearly and is currently the highest steel producer in the country. All the local steel companies in Nigeria are producing 2.5 million tonnes annually and Nigeria requires 6.8 tonnes of steel every year. The company is an Indian organisation with other seven subsidiaries in steel, chemical and energy production.Coal and Nigeria's NDCsIn October 2015, it would be recalled that Nigeria…

KIRINYAGA, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The agriculture sector suffers some of the worst impacts of climate change. That is a statement you hear all the time, and that Africa – being a developing region – is quite vulnerable. In fact, the Food and Agricultre Organisation reports that droughts and floods are the biggest natural disasters that Africa faces, resulting in trillions of shillings in loss and damage. Between 2003 and 2013 for instance, droughts affected 27 countries in Sub- Saharan Africa, destabilising the lives of nearly 150 million people. These droughts cost the region an estimated 23.6 billion dollars, which translates to about 2.2 trillion shillings. This is according to a report on the impact of natural disasters on global economies, which reveals that the agriculture sector is the most impacted.But what you don’t hear often is that although the sector is the most vulnerable, the agriculture sector is a key contributor to climate change, accounting for 17% of total emissions directly through agricultural activities and an additional 14% through land use changes.“Climate change is going to reduce crop production by up to 40% if global warming continues. But you see the agriculture sector is plagues with inefficiencies that lead to ecological degradation,” says Dr. Richard Munang, the head of the climate change unit at the United Nations Environment Programme. When the Paris Agreement was adopted in November 2015, it gave countries the option to decide the steps they would take to reduce their carbon footprint. Most countries, including Kenya, provided a plan that put agriculture in the centre of emission reduction, through adoption of eco-friendly farming methods. While there have been several campaigns calling for farmers to adopt climate smart agriculture, some farmers are going a step further and seeking access to the carbon market.“Our environment is destroyed. The soil is not fertile anymore. So we as the farmers in this village of Togonye have decided to fix that by growing more trees,” Albert Mureithi says. Togonye in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, is one of the catchment areas for the Mwea rice farms. But years of environmental degradation have destroyed the catchment, and eucalyptus trees have replaced most indigenous trees. The trees were cut down for fuel and also make room for agricultural land. The farmers have now come together to start a project they call Kirinyaga Carbons, through which they will rehabilitate their environment to improve their yields and earn carbon credits.“There are several components of the project and also the climate smart agriculture. For instance there is integrated pest management, soil fertility management, water management and crop rotation,” says Edward Ngare, the designer of the Kirinyaga Carbons project.The farmers in Togonya grow mostly coffee and horticultural produce and rely heavily on irrigation - drawing their water from River Kiie. But the degradation around the catchment area and the current drought has made irrigation extremely difficult. Water levels have run dangerously low, leading to frequent conflicts among the communities that depend on that water. The river empties into River…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Eleven Kenyans who say they have been unceremoniously sacked by their boss at the Kenya-based UN Habitat have appealed to the visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to intervene and reinstate them. The workers appealed to Guterres who is in the country and met with President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday to rescue them from losing their jobs and pointed fingers at their boss Dr Joan Clos for their woes. James Ohayo, the President of the UN-Habitat staff union noted that for many members of staff at the Nairobi Duty Station, integrity, professionalism, respect for diversity, accountability and transparency are clichés that ring hollow. "When some of those who lead us routinely get away with glaring acts of impunity, blatant disregard for laid down rules and regulations, open violation of staff rights and privileges, reckless abuse of authority, and endemic corruption, nepotism, racism, and cronyism, our belief in the cherished core values ofour organization is severely tested," Ohayo said. He said that this is happening at a time the Habitat III process, in which member states have invested huge resources and efforts to position and revamp the organisation in readiness for the New Urban Agenda. "These initiatives may not yield much result as long as the current executive director who is feared and hated in equal measure remains. The implementation of the New urban Agenda will be shackled unless the current a top official shown the way out of this vital organization," Ohayo said. This comes at a time when the 2017 UN Global Staff survey released yesterday has ranked UN Habitat, a UN organization based in Kenya as the worst managed among its all organisations. The survey ranks the best "UN departments and missions in which to work, which have the best leadership and in which do staff feel the most or least empowered. Several such questions are answered in the report of the Global Staff Satisfaction Survey 2017, in which 4,000 of staff took part last week, representing ten per cent of the UN staff. According to the survey findings, UN-Habitat polled among the worst and by most unethical. "The agency performed well above expectations and enjoyed donor confidence and support until 2011 when it's financial and human resources began a precipitous plunge that up till date has greatly negatively impacting its normative and operational work. The bottom line is that the executive director simply failed to mobilize resources," the report says. The report faults the Executive Director Dr Joan Clos for on numerous occasions admitting that he is unable to raise funds (a core requirement for success of a UN agency) but refusing to admit that he has failed to lead the organization. "Compared with seven years ago, the organization can today be described as a pale shadow of its former self as it continues to suffer from among others: huge donor confidence crisis, loss of staff, more than 50 per cent of UN Habitat staff has been lost, corrosive demotivation due to poor…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Plans to host the first ever Africa-wide Postharvest Congress to be held at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi on 28th to 31st March 2017are at an advanced stage with over 600 delegates signed up already. The Congress to advocate for increased investments in postharvest management programs across Africa will be officially opened by the Deputy President, Hon. William Ruto.Diverse stakeholders in the food supply chain are expected in Nairobi for the Congresswhose theme is “Reducing Food Losses and Waste: Sustainable Solutions for Africa. The Congress,seeks to contribute to the global agenda of reducing postharvest food loss and waste and seeks to define actionable solutions to reverse the current trend where an estimated 30 per cent or 1.3 billion metric tons of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted along the supply chains. These losses resultin at least 15% lost income for over 470 million actors across the agriculture value chain. The Congress will provide an opportunity to respond to the calls for action outlinedin United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Malabo Declaration which have set a target of halving postharvest losses by 2030 and 2025 respectively. “We are honored to host this inaugural Congress, the first of its kind to be held in Africa. The Congress will provide a platform for delegates to learn, share information and build strategic partnerships with the overall objective of identifying effective interventions to reduce food loss waste on the continent,” says University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor, Prof. Peter Mbithi. “This historic gathering is very timely because like many other countries in Africa, Kenya continues to experience huge food loss and waste as a result of poor post-harvest management practices.” He adds: “To reduce food waste and loss in Africa there is need for concerted efforts from all stakeholders in the food supply chain and this Congress provides a great convergence point for players in the industry including leading global champions in the food supply chain including farmers, innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, development agencies, civil society and policymakers.” The Congress is being hosted by the University of Nairobi in partnership with a consortium of Kenyan universities, Research and Development Organizations, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in conjunction with the World Food Preservation Center (WFPC). The lead strategicpartner in this great initiative is the Rockefeller Foundation. The initiative is also supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Union Commission, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), East African Grain Council (EAGC), East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID),Postharvest Education Foundation, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Horticulture Innovation Lab (USAID), Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) among others. A key highlight of the Congress will be the inaugural “All-Africa Postharvest Technology Challenge 2017” which aims at identifying top ten scalable innovations and technologies in the continent. The competition seeks to identify technologies and innovations that can address the challenges faced by farmers and other value…