Rural Power Fund, Obesity In Rural Areas, and Other Reports

Every week, RuralReporters.com collate reports on development issues in rural Africa and its environs.

This report includes some of our top picks from recent must-read research, interviews, blogs, and in-depth articles, carefully selected to help you keep up with global issues.

Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week:

World Bank Gives Nigeria 30 Years to Repay $350m Rural Power Fund

Nigeria will have about 30 years to repay the World Bank the $350 million it borrowed from it to fund the expansion of access and supply of electricity to rural communities, educational institutions and underserved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country under the Nigerian Electrification Project (NEP).

According to the fact sheet on the loan, the NEP is to be managed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and will leverage private sector investments in solar mini grids and standalone solar systems to provide electricity to about 2.5 million people and 70,000 MSMEs.

Who Will Save Africa’s Rural Farmers When Investment And Climate Change Roll In?

While it needs to be recognized that Africa is a net importer of food — total food imports are set to grow from $35 billion in 2015 to over $110 billion by 2025 — it is important to find ways to address food shortages and development constraints without new levels of environmental stress.

Most workers in the agricultural sector are self-employed or own-account workers and constitute a significant part of the national and local private sectors. Although women make up a little more than half the agricultural workforce, they are more likely to work in agriculture (PDF) than in other sectors. Smallholder agriculture and pastoralism accounts for the livelihoods of two-thirds of economically active African women.

Obesity In Rural Areas Driving Global Pandemic: Study

Obesity has become a global pandemic, driven mainly by urbanisation that brought in significant changes to diet and lifestyle. It was until now believed to ensnare people in the urban areas partly because of access to highly processed foods and beverages — high in salt, saturated fat and sugar — are much greater and easier in cities than in rural areas.

However, a new study that analysed the global trends in body-mass index (BMI) — a measure of underweight and overweight — showed spurt in weight gain in rural areas, and determined it as the main culprit behind the worldwide epidemic. The study used measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults appearing in 2,009 population-based studies from rural and urban areas of 190 countries from 1985 to 2017.

Rise of BMI in rural areas was responsible for over 55 per cent of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017 — and more than 80 per cent in some low- and middle-income regions.

Rural Households Staving Off Food Insecurity with Subsistence Farming – Study

Rural households are increasingly turning to subsistence agriculture and this has led to a decline in food insecurity.

Stats South Africa has found that three-quarters of households resort to growing their own food and it’s not necessarily for trading purposes.

Stats SA said the percentage of households who were vulnerable to hunger reflects the same trend. The General Household Survey found that the percentage of people who experienced hunger decreased from 29,3% in 2002 to 11,3%.

Urban Middle Class May Offer Lifeline to Rural Africa

The rise of an urban middle class across much of Africa is stoking demand for food that could curb hunger and cut poverty in rural outposts, a U.S.-based think tank has said.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said rural communities were in “a state of crisis”, with high poverty rates and poor services driving hunger and malnutrition.

One in five people, or more than 256 million, are hungry in Africa, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

EU to Nigeria: Minimise Rural-urban Development Gaps

The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has called on the Federal Government to minimise the persistent rural-urban development gaps by designing and implementing innovative programs for rural revitalisation.

Montserrat Pantaleoni, First Counsellor, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said to overcome these challenges, the three tiers of government and other stakeholders must come together and initiate workable policies on institutions and investments to transform rural areas into vibrant and healthy places to live, work and raise families.

Emergency in Rural Africa – The Importance of Surgeons

African Countries is famous for its wild and rural environments, which yearly attracts thousands of tourists. The wild beauty of Africa is famous all over the world. But there is another aspect to consider. When an emergency occurs, there are fewer facilities in the nearby or EMS to support. In some cases, there are none of them, and the ones which are present lack of equipments and devices. So it becomes extremely difficult to provide good patients care in serious need.

During the Africa Health Exhibition 2019, Professor Pankaj G. Jani, President of the College of Surgeons, East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) will hold a conference about training surgeons for emergencies in rural Africa, explaining how to provide care in rural parts of Africa, how to deal trauma patients, how to deal with essential surgical operations which are required in rural areas, such as hernias, and other diseases like this, that can be considered common in other parts of the world, but are deadly and must be treated correctly and in time.

Police Reservists Sought to Combat Rural Crime

Farm attacks and murders came under the spotlight earlier this month when South Africa’s top cop, National Commissioner Khehla Sitole, met with a delegation from the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) to seek ways of increasing capacity to effectively combat rural crime.

According to an SA Police Service (SAPS) statement, the organisation’s rural safety strategy “strives to address rural safety as an integrated day-to-day policing approach by creating a safe and secure rural environment”. Reporting on the meeting Maroela Media notes SAPS plans to implement a police reservist recruitment programme this year with the sole objective of putting reservists into rural areas.