Farmer’s Weekly – 09 August 2019

World News WeeklyneWsWrap

Family farmers neededto enhance

agri sustainability- FAO

Snail farms in Thailand

cashinon beautycraze

InBrief

ABOVE:

Familyfarmers

acrosstheworld

canplaya vital

rolein introducing

productionsystems

thatgrowhealthy

andnutritiousfood

whilesafeguarding

naturalresources,

accordingto

theFoodand

Agriculture

Organizationofthe

UnitedNations.

AdobeStock

Enabling public policies and
legal frameworks for family
farmers would allow them to
adapt and flourish in today’s
changing environment, and
maximise their contribution
to sustainable development.
This was according to the
director general of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), José
Graziano da Silva, speaking at
the High-Level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development in New
York during the launch of the
UN Decade of Family Farming.
It was estimated that more than
90% of all farms globally were
family farms, producing about
80% of all food in value terms.
There was, however, no one-
size-fits-all approach, as family
farmers were a highly diverse
group, Graziano da Silva said.
He stressed that family farms
could also play a vital role in
increasing the production and
consumption of healthy and
diversified fresh food, thus
improving people’s diets.
The world could no longer
rely on the agricultural

innovationmodelthatresulted

fromtheGreenRevolution

ofthe1960s,hesaid.

“High-inputandresource-

intensivefarmingsystems

haveincreasedfood

productionata highcostto

theenvironment,generating

deforestation,waterscarcity,

soildepletion,andhighlevels

ofgreenhousegasemissions.”

GrazianodaSilvacalledfor

a transformationtoproduction

systemsthatproduced

healthyandnutritiousfood

whilesafeguardingnatural

resources.–Staffreporter

Globaldemandforsnailsecretion
foruseincosmeticshasresulted
intheestablishmentofsnail
farmsinThailandwherethe
molluscsare‘milked’fortheir
slime,knownasmucin.
Asmucinhasbecome
worthmorethangold,the
globalindustryhasboomed
andis nowestimatedtobe
worthUS$314million(about
R4,4billion). For the past
three years, Thai farmers
and other locals have been
farming the snails they once
desperately tried to get rid of.
As much as 600ℓ of mucin per
month is now being produced

on 85 snailfarmsinNakhon

Nayokprovince,twohourseastof

Bangkok,wherethegiantAfrican

snailspecies(Achatinaachatina) is

beingbredforslimeproduction.

Oneofthemucinproducers,

PhatinisiriThangkeaw,a teacher,

saidshestartedherbusinessby

buyingsnailsfromnearbyrice

farmerswhoweretryingtoget

ridofthemolluscsdestroying

theirnewlyplantedcrops.

Shepaidthesefarmers

aboutUS$1(R14)fora

kilogramofsnails,andnow

hadmorethan 1 000 that she

milked for their mucin and

then sold. – Staff reporter

Lesotho

A US$250 million (about

R3,5 billion) freshwater salmon

fish farm is being established

in the highland Butha-Buthe

region in Lesotho. The

project is a partnership

between the Lesotho National

Development Corporation and

the Pure Salmon company,

based in Singapore.

The farm is expected to be fully

operational by 2023, and have an

annual production capacity of

20 000t, creating about 250 full-

time jobs and generating annual

revenues that could contribute

8%tothecountry’sGDP.

Unitedstates

US media have reported that

Chinese government officials

recently met with state and

privately owned soya bean

buyers to discuss plans to

increase purchases of supplies

from the US, which could

include waiving retaliatory

tariffs on US imports.

This could indicate that

China is prepared to make

some goodwill gestures to

ensure progress in the trade

talks, which have yielded few

results since US and Chinese

leadersmetinOsakainJune.

nigeria

Plant-parasitic nematodes are a

major threat to many important

crops in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Currently, we’re experiencing

the first discovery of potato

cyst nematode in sub-Saharan

Africa, specifically in Kenya,

which has high potential to

become a major issue across the

region,” said Danny Coyne, a

nematologist at the International

Institute of Tropical Agriculture

in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Croplossesfromnematode

infestationsgloballycould

beashighasUS$157billion

(R2,2trillion) a year.

• Staff reporter

9 August 2019 farmer’sweekly 19