Nigerian Times

13 May 2011 19:57 Africa/Lagos Agricultural experts push for a strong seed sector in West Africa COTONOU, May 13, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Underlining that seed security is a prerequisite for achieving food security, agricultural experts participating in the just-concluded Regional Workshop on Seed Policy in West Africa urged decision-makers to support the sustainable growth and development of the West African seed sector, particularly for food security crops, such as rice, millet, sorghum, cowpeas and maize. The experts recommended the need to formulate, adopt, and implement coherent strategies and policies at regional and national levels for the rapid development of viable seed enterprises which would help increase the steady supply of quality seed to millions of smallholder farmers in West Africa. The workshop was jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in Cotonou, Benin. It was ...

23 Apr 2008 17:24 Africa/Lagos ST. LOUIS, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Many critics point to ethanol as the cause of growing food costs and suggest biofuels standards should be reexamined. What most don't realize is that ethanol is just a fraction of the impact on food costs. More importantly, without ethanol experts at Merrill Lynch predict gas prices would be 15 percent higher. At today's average prices, that would push a gallon of unleaded over the $4 mark! Removing ethanol and replacing it with gas would cost Americans alone more than $70 billion. Pulling back on biofuels would only exacerbate the problem. Corn Is Not The Culprit Actual food inputs, or farm value, account for only 19 cents of every dollar of processed food, less than half what it was 30 years ago. The remaining 81 cents is wrapped up in processing, packaging, transportation, marketing and other costs. (USDA) For example, at today's prices, there's only about 6 cents worth of corn in an 18-ounce box of c...