Sectarian farm clashes, Mini Grid for Rural Growth 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:

As many as 86 killed in sectarian farm clashes in rural Nigeria

Nigeria’s presidency late Sunday announced a “deeply unfortunate killings across a number of communities” in central Plateau State as one report cited police as saying 86 people were dead in clashes between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers.

President Muhammadu Buhari appealed for calm as the military and police tried to end the bloodshed, and said “no efforts will be spared” to find the attackers and prevent reprisal attacks. Nigeria’s government did not announce a death toll. But the independent Channels Television cited a Plateau State police spokesman, Mathias Tyopev, as saying 86 people had been killed, with at least 50 houses destroyed, in violence that appeared to have started overnight.

Biogas takes rural communities by storm

Rural communities in Mashonaland East are adopting a simple technology to produce clean, alternative and easily accessible renewable energy from biomass.

Under the project, rural communities in Mudzi and Mutoko districts are demonstrating that this technology can produce clean energy from jatropha seed-cake and other available biomass, such as cow dung.

Rise of farmers’ organizations in Africa; shaping policies for agriculture

The past two decades have witnessed the unprecedented development of farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations throughout Africa. Farmers’ organizations are enjoying growing recognition as the representatives of the farming community at the national, regional and international levels.

Today, there are tens of thousands of grass-roots farmers’ organizations across Africa. Most play a dual role: as producers’ groups or cooperatives they provide services to their members and they represent their members’ interests with other stakeholders, such as agricultural policymakers, business partners and development projects. Many grass-roots farmers’ organizations set up local unions and federations that are linked to national umbrella organizations.

The United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming and, more recently, 2019-2028 as the Decade of Family Farming.

Mini-Grids for Rural Growth

While a growing number of governments are adopting mini-grid policies, most are still failing to integrate localized generation and distribution into national electrification planning. In India, for example, a draft mini-grid policy has languished for two years, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, good intentions are often derailed by bureaucracy and lobbying from big power companies. Rural mini-grids are often required to operate without the financial backing that larger utilities regularly receive, despite providing equivalent or better service.

To turn the power on in India, Africa, and beyond, small energy producers need access to capital, and the support of policies that are impartial and fair. But, more than anything, they need the opportunity to put their technologies to work. The world already knows how to power rural communities; it’s up to politicians to flip the switch.

UN agri agency and environment fund benefiting rural areas

A new report has shown how UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) are benefiting millions of rural people in developing countries.

The report, The IFAD-GEF Advantage II: partnering for a sustainable world, is being released Monday at the Sixth GEF Assembly taking place in Da Nang, Viet Nam and shows how by the two organisations working together and balancing higher yields and incomes with healthy ecosystems, rural communities are benefiting.

“This report shows that there is a clear IFAD-GEF Advantage. When we work together with rural communities, natural resources and ecosystems are protected, and people’s lives improve,” said Margarita Astralaga, director of IFAD’s environment, climate, gender and social inclusion division.

 

Busayo Sotunde is a prolific writer with special focus on Business, Entrepreneurship, Reproductive Health and other development issues in Africa. Her articles have been published by different outlets including Investing Port and Ventures-Africa.com. She has a penchant for reading and sustainable development. Follow Busayo on Twitter @BusayomiSotunde
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