News
Fall Armyworm Tech Prize: Highest Number of Entries from Africa
Nesta, on behalf of Feed the Future today announced that 228 applications were received, mostly from Africa, for the global Fall Armyworm Tech Prize. The Prize aims to find digital solutions to identify, track and protect crops from the pest, which has devastated agricultural produce across the continent.
Over 80% of the entries came from Africa. The five countries with the highest number of entries were;
Uganda: 52
Nigeria: 25
USA: 23
Ghana 22
Kenya: 21
Bhavik Doshi, Research and Impact Coordinator for Nesta said they were extremely pleased.
“We are thrilled with this result as it’s a tremendous response. We are also pleased that over 80% of the entries came from across Africa. It indicates that the people of Africa want to find solutions to the fall armyworm threat.”
The armyworm flies nearly 1,000 miles in just 30 hours and can easily migrate to neighbouring countries. The female moth can lay up to a total of 1,000 eggs in her lifetime, and in its larvae stage, can cause significant damage to crops if not managed appropriately. It has a taste for maize but also feeds on more than 80 species of plants including rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, vegetable crops and cotton. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 200 million people depend on maize for food security as it is a staple cereal crop grown by farmers.
The Fall Army Worm (FAW) poses a serious threat to Africa’s food security and although there are solutions, the steps to take are different in each region. So far, the infestation, which started in 2016, has resulted in some containment measures being undertaken, but none are long-term or sustainable. Innovation and technology is believed to be crucial to finding solutions that can help mitigate the risk of decreasing food security in Africa. The value of small innovations means that farmers can start tackling the issue before it’s too late.
So far, there has been a substantial amount of information to sift through.
In order to control the spread of the pest, smallholder farmers need improved access to immediate, accurate and actionable information on how to treat and protect their crops.
So far, 51 of the 54 African nations have been affected. Given the rate of outbreak, interventions are needed at a transnational level. Information on how to treat the pest needs to be quickly transmitted to farmers and those who advise them. The problem requires digital tools and approaches that source, analyse and translate data for farmers and relevant stakeholders to make timely and accurate decisions to combat the spread of the armyworm.
Nesta, on behalf of Feed the Future, USAID, Land O’ Lakes International Development (LOL) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) launched the Fall Armyworm Tech Prize looking for tools that can work in different regions across the African continent.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), together with LOL and FFAR have contributed $400,000 in prize awards, and the winners will have a chance to develop their prototypes and see immediate feedback from smallholder farmers.
Feed the Future works hand in hand with partner countries to develop their agriculture sectors and break the cycle of poverty and hunger. In particular, it hopes to increase agricultural activity, boost harvests and incomes for rural smallholder farmers, generate opportunities for economic growth and trade in developing countries.
USAID’s Digital Inclusion team believes that with advances in digital communications, social networks, satellite imagery, electronic data collection and sharing, sensing technologies, crowdsourcing, and the global movement to share open data, more information than ever can be efficiently communicated and made relevant for farmers. While digital tools are not the only solutions to eradicating the worm, technological solutions can help serve as a force multiplier to an already strained advisory service.
The headquarters of Heritage Bank at Victoria Island, Lagos, was besieged on Thursday by members of the labour union, protesting the recent dismissal of 1,000 support workers.
The National President of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, Comrade Anthony Abakpa, led the demonstration, condemning the bank’s management for what he deemed a lack of adherence to due process in the termination of employment contracts.
Speaking during the protest, Comrade Abakpa asserted that the leadership of Heritage Bank failed to follow established protocols before executing the mass layoffs.
He emphasised the union’s commitment to pursuing justice for the affected workers, vowing to escalate their demands until the bank’s management rectifies the situation.
“We will intensify our demands for justice,” declared Comrade Abakpa, urging the bank’s management to take corrective action to address the grievances of the dismissed workers.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, clarified that Nigeria is not utilising its foreign reserves to bolster the naira, despite recent fluctuations in reserve levels.
Speaking from Washington DC, where he is attending the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Spring Meetings, Cardoso highlighted the influx of $600 million into Nigeria’s reserves account within the past two days.
While the naira has experienced a notable appreciation against the dollar in recent weeks, climbing over 40% from approximately N1,900/$ to about N1,000/$1, Nigeria’s foreign reserves have been dwindling. As of April 15, reserves dropped to approximately $32.29 billion, marking the lowest level in over six years.
Cardoso emphasised that the shifts in reserves are typical for any country, where various financial obligations, such as debt repayments, necessitate withdrawals.
He stated, “What you’ve seen with respect to the shift in our reserves is normal in any country’s reserves where, for example, debts are due and certain payments need to be made. They are made because that is also part of keeping your credibility.”
Continuing, Cardoso underscored the dynamic nature of the market, advocating for a system driven by willing buyers, willing sellers, and price discovery.
He emphasised, “The shift in our reserves has really little or nothing to do with defending the naira, and that is certainly not our objective.”
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has made headlines by announcing a further reduction in the price of diesel, dropping it from ₦1200 to ₦1000 naira per litre.
The refinery’s decision comes on the heels of its recent supply at a significantly reduced price of ₦1200 per litre, which was introduced three weeks ago, signifying a remarkable 30 per cent decrease from the previous market price of approximately ₦1600 per litre.
This substantial reduction in diesel prices at Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to reiterate positively throughout various sectors of the economy, potentially serving as a catalyst in alleviating the persistently high inflation rate in the country.
In a statement last week, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual and the owner of the refinery, expressed his optimism regarding the potential impact of the price reduction on inflation in Nigeria.
“I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient, and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through. There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1900,” he remarked.
As anticipation builds around the implications of this move by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, stakeholders and consumers alike remain hopeful for the positive effects it could bring to the Nigerian economy in the coming months.
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