Japan firms ready for agriculture technology transfer for VN

Speaking at a forum organized by the HCMC Hi-tech Agricultural Park last week, representatives of 12 Japanese firms said that they are seeking to transfer advanced farming and processing technologies to Vietnamese partners. They will also cooperate with local firms in exporting products to Japan.

While many Japanese firms have invested in manufacturing and services in Vietnam, cooperation in agriculture and technology transfer between both sides has yet to match its potential.

Tu Minh Thien, deputy head of the park’s authority, said technology transfer in the agricultural sector is still modest. Vietnam’s agriculture has yet to attract many foreign investors despite its huge potential.

The application of information and communications technology (ICT) in the agricultural sector remains meager, making it hard for the sector to improve productivity and boost export. Therefore, cooperation with Japanese firms will help Vietnam cope with these problems, Thien said.

Nguyen Tri Dung, general director of Minh Tran joint venture, which helps promotes technology transfer between Vietnam and Japan, said now is the right time for Vietnam to apply advanced technologies to raise productivity and improve product quality.

At the forum, Japan’s Syudensya Co. announced a US$1-million technology transfer to the Hi-tech Agricultural Park to make micro-organic fertilizer from agricultural byproducts.

Taken from VietnamNet

Food import bill ‘still high’

WHEN it comes to food, there should be no politics involved and Government should make every effort to reduce the food import bill which is still in the billions. This is according to Dhano Sookhoo, president of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago. Sookhoo told the Express yesterday that not enough was being done to encourage local farmers to sell their crops. In March 2014, the Food Production Ministry disclosed that the $4 billion a year food import bill, had been reduced by two per cent over a three year period, and that there had been a decline in the agriculture sector over the past 20 years. The ministry said that between 2010 and 2013, the agriculture sector has seen growth. Sookhoo said several local crops had potential to be exported such as hot pepper which was re-exported to Miami two weeks ago after a period of six years. Sookhoo said: “We need to put better policies in place that will enhance production. In the last three years you would know that there was a serious decline in food production in this country. We are nowhere near with tapping into becoming a food secure nation." She said: "There are thousands of acres of arable agriculture land that we need to get into production. The agricultural sector has no being in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago, it is the business of every one.” Sookhoo said: “As a farmer you can't be farming today and tomorrow somebody comes and remove you because they want to do some industrial programme or housing as the case may be , we need to ensure that those lands we put in agriculture stays in agriculture."

To read more, Trinidad Express Newspaper

Expert: Invest more in research to up agriculture

Dr Joseph Shivel, an economist and president of Galilee International Management Institute said while Kenya has seen tremendous growth in information, communications and technology (ICT), agriculture still lags behind. 

“Statistics show Kenya’s net exports in the past 10 years being negligible. Agriculture practised in the country is mostly subsistence and not mechanised. It is impossible for a country to develop when it is a net importer,” said Dr Shivel. 

Dr Shivel was the keynote speaker during the launch of Global Leadership Roundtable, a leadership and networking forum aimed at linking local professionals with counterparts in Israel. 

He gave example of Israel which has realised development despite being located in the middle of a desert and without mineral wealth and crude oil. “The fact that Israel does not have fertile land has made it invest heavily in education and research. Today, the country is a top exporter of skilled manpower. Its investment in research is paying off with export of agricultural produce,” said Dr Shivel.

Read more at: Standard Digital

Jamaica to export hot pepper, dasheen to Trinidad

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaica will soon be exporting hot pepper and dasheen to Trinidad and Tobago.

State Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Labour and Social Security Luther Buchanan says an agreement was reached at the Caribbean Community (Caricom) level for the export of the crops to the twin-island republic.

Addressing the St Ann Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show at the Noranda Bauxite Club in Discovery Bay, St Ann on Saturday, Buchanan said the agreement will be "a win-win" for both countries, particularly the Jamaican farmers.

He said the move is in keeping with efforts by the Government to increase exports to Caricom markets.

The state minister, in the meantime, commended the farmers of St. Ann for playing a major role in helping Jamaica to achieve its food security targets.

He said that the parish produced approximately 55,348 tonnes of domestic crops last year despite being adversely affected by one of the worst droughts that the country has ever experienced.

The state minister said, too, that the parish's farmers also contributed significantly to the country's achievement of over 90 per cent self-sufficiency in Irish potato production in 2014.

To read full article, click here: Jamaica to export hot pepper, dasheen to Trinidad

Taken from Jamaica Observer

FAO/IOE to get rid of sheep and goat plague by 2030

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) Media Advisory is to launch a global PPR control and eradication campaign to get rid of sheep and goat plague, known in French as “peste des petits ruminants” (PPR) by 2030.

A statement issued by the FAO and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said the conference will take place in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire from March 31 to April 2.

Goats and sheep plague in many countries are increasingly threatened by PPR, the statement added.

It said representatives from around 70 countries will be in attendance, and will include Ministers of States, OIE National Delegates; Dr José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the FAO, Dr Bernard Vallat, Director-General of OIE, donor agencies, the scientific community, the private sector and civil societies.

The conference will discuss and endorse the global control and eradication strategy that will launch the global PPR control and eradication campaign, aimed to eliminate the virus by 2030.

To read full article, click here: FAO/IOE to get rid of sheep and goat plague by 2030 

Taken from GhanaWeb

UWI to host International Breadfruit Conference

It was British and French explorers who brought the breadfruit tree from the South Pacific to the Caribbean during the late 18th century. As one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more, four-to-five pound nutritious fruits per season, experts consider it ideal for commercialisation.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) certainly believes so and is hosting, through its Faculty of Food and Agriculture, the International Breadfruit Conference at the St Augustine campus from July 5 to 10.

The 2015 International Breadfruit Conference, “Commercialising breadfruit for food and nutrition security”, aims to realise the potential of breadfruit to contribute to food and nutrition security through promoting entrepreneurial efforts and development of industries. The conference organising committee comprises of members the UWI as well as the Ministry of Food Production, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Ltd, the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), said a media release from the UWI

Conference attendees will be part of an international forum sharing information on entrepreneurial, research and development activities to support increased utilisation of breadfruit and breadnut for food and nutrition security. Entrepreneurs in the food and agriculture sector, including rural communities, will be able to formulate solutions to address the key constraints to commercialising breadfruit and breadnut, the release stated.

Convenors Drs Laura B Roberts-Nkrumah and Majeed Mohammed plan to create opportunities for networking among the public and private sectors, rural communities and research institutions for the future development of these crops for food and nutrition security. They also hope to showcase these activities at a Breadfruit Festival, also scheduled to take place on the campus.

Anyone interested in submitting papers and presentations for consideration on the thematic areas of the conference must submit by the March 31 deadline.

Taken from Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

UAF establishes Farmer Facilitation Centre

The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) has established a "Farmer Facilitation Centre" under which a helpline 080054726 and a website kissandost.pk have been launched in collaboration with National ICT R&D Fund. It was revealed at the conference on site specific and economical crop production technology and its dissemination through ICT held here on Thursday. 

UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan while addressing the participants has said that FFC will provide the guidance to the farming community for best cropping system. He said that mobile phones, TVs, internet and other methods have gained immense importance, influencing the opinions of the people. 

The effective use of these technologies for agriculture purpose can help the country to uplift the agricultural sector. He also said the knowledge is generating with the large pace that must be communicated to the farmers. He said that imbalanced usage of input is costing the country million of the rupees. 

He said that in New Zealand, there are two agricultural universities for the population of four million people. Former Vice Chancellor UAF and Director Centre for Advanced Studies in Food Security and Agriculture Professor Dr Bashir Ahmad said that the world has increased the agricultural productivity manifold. He was of the view that the promotion of ICT in the agriculture sector is the need of the hour to compete with the world. 

He said that the food security is one of the major threats for the world amid climate changes and depleting water resources. Parliamentarian Makhdom Syed Alam said that the country is blessed with tremendous resources and talent. He said that the food security and less water resources are the real challenges. 

"We have to take extra measures to promote the modern technology and make them accessible for the farming community," he added. He said, "There is dire need to tap the potential and to make the efficient usage of the resources. ICT in agriculture will not only curtail the wastage of inputs etc but also fetch the money for the farming community." 

Taken from Business Recorder