Agricultural News

Use of Quality Seed Among Farmers in UWR is very Low – SARI
Vibe Ghana
Dr. Saaka Buah, an Agronomist at the Wa Station of the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) has observed that the use of new improved quality seed among farmers in the Upper West Region is very low. Dr. Buah who is also the Coordinator of the Research Extension Farmer Linkage Committee (RELC) for the Region said the reason for the low patronage of new improved quality seed among these farmers was that they considered it an expensive venture to go in for. This, according to the Agronomist, was a misconception because it constituted less than five per cent of the total cost of production. Dr. Buah made the observation while delivering a presentation on the importance of improved seeds and sources of seeds in Ghana during a two-day training workshop for Seed Growers in the Upper West Region held at Wa on Wednesday. [more]

Ghana: Supply of Subsidized Fertilizer Delays ... Ashanti Farmers Worried Over Development
AllAfrica.com
The delay of the government in announcing this year's fertilizer subsidy program could have adverse effects on Ghana's food stocks, an investigation by The Chronicle indicates. Food stocks in the middle-belt zone, particularly, in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, could suffer serious setbacks, following the delay in the implementation of the annual fertilizer subvention program that offers the opportunity for farmers to access fertilizer at cheaper cost to apply on their crops. Cereal crops and legumes planted across the middle belt have currently reached mature stages, and may require the application of fertilizers such as NPK15-15-15 and Ammonia, but reports indicate that many farmers in areas such as Ejura, Atebubu, Amanten, and other surrounding communities are in a limbo, as they anxiously await the government's announcement. [more]

Yam Farmers to Benefit from $12million AGRA Facility
GhanaWeb
Some 50,000 Ghanaian Yam Farmers have been selected alongside 150,000 others from Nigeria to benefit from a US$12 million facility under a special project by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to improve yields and income for the yam farmers. The project, launch April 2, 2012, formed part of AGRA’s newly launched Farmer Organizations Support Centre (FOSCA) initiative, designed to identify and support small-holder farmers in four Africa countries to have access to funding, adopt best practices, improve their productivity, have access to market and meet market demands. [more]

Ghanaian Farmers, Others to Benefit from $7m Bill Gates-funded Commercial Products Project
Ghana Business News
Farmers in Ghana and five other African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania will benefit from the second phase of the Commercial Products (COMPRO-II) project, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) announced in a statement April 30, 2012. The COMPRO-II project is a $7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to institutionalize quality assurance mechanisms and facilitate the rapid dissemination of top quality agricultural commercial products to increase yields and improve the food security of smallholder farmers in the region. [more]

Hershey Announces GPS Project to map Cocoa Farms in Ghana
GhanaWeb
The Hershey Company, a chocolate manufacturing company, on Wednesday announced an innovative program to use GPS mapping to provide precise measurements of farm acreage as part of the ‘Hershey Learn to Grow’ Farm Program in Ghana. GPS mapping will help farmers better plan and manage their cocoa farms and increase yields and farmer incomes; Hershey said in statement made available to the Ghana News Agency. The program will help Ghanaian cocoa farmers better understand and utilize modern farm stewardship techniques to determine the precise size of their farms using GPS technology and a process of mapping and data collection called “GeoT”. Besides this, it will enable farmers understand the actual size of their farms which makes it easier for farmers to make the best use of the latest practices in planting, pruning and fertilizer techniques for maximum yield and sustainability. [more]

FAO Tells Ghana, Other African Oil Producers to Invest in Agric
Ghana Business News
Ghana, and other oil –producing African nations have been advised to use revenues from the ‘black gold’ to support their agric sectors. The FAO’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, who gave the advise at its Regional Conference for Africa in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo said African oil-producing nations have a great opportunity to promote the continent’s social and economic development and lift it out of its continuing food insecurity situation.  [more]

Food Crisis/Security

US Improving Global Food Security
Western Farm Press
The U.S. government has made major strides toward putting agricultural development back at the top of its foreign assistance agenda, reversing a three-decade long downward trend in U.S. global food security activities, says a new report issued by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The 2012 Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Agricultural Development (PDF) is the second in a series of annual reports tracking changes to the U.S. government's global agricultural development policy. The non-partisan assessment, issued by the Council's Global Agricultural Development Initiative, examines how these changes have contributed to U.S. leadership in improving global food security. The Initiative is cochaired by Catherine Bertini, former executive director, UN World Food Program, and Dan Glickman, former secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture. [more]

Four African Leaders to Join Food Security Talks at G8 Summit
CNN
President Barack Obama has invited four African leaders to join food security talks at the annual G8 summit this month. Presidents Yayi Boni of Benin, John Mills of Ghana and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia will attend the summit at the presidential retreat in Camp David. They will join Obama and other leaders of G8 member nations for a session on food security in Africa, the White House said in a statement. G8 -- or Group of Eight -- comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. [more]

Food Security Ghana ­ More Issues Ghanaians Should Ask About
GhanaWeb
In the previous issue Food Security Ghana (FSG) highlighted the fact that food security is not only a global issue of concern, but indeed an issue that should be high on the agenda when Ghanaians go to the polls in 2012. In the previous article we touched on the following issues that need clarification by the government of the day:
Food Security v Food Self-sufficiency ­ Government statements and actions leaves an impression that there is not a clear distinction between food security and food self-sufficiency, and that this distorts policies and actions.
Tariffs and Duties ­ Whereas many countries apply duties and tariffs to support consumers, the structure in Ghana seems to be totally insensitive to supply and demand issues.
Food Statistics ­ In the absence of correct statistical information, government policies and thus resource allocation may be directed in the wrong direction. In the latest IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) report on Global Food Policy it states that decisions based on flawed data can damage economies, harm people’s well-being, and lead to significant financial losses, so policymakers and voters need realistic and accurate baseline data. [more]

Reports

Valuation of ecosystem services for assessment of cost of deforestation, and analysis of its drivers with implications for sustainable forest management in Ghana
Dissertationes Forestales 142. School of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science and Forestry, University of Eastern Finland
The aim of this thesis was to estimate the cost of deforestation and to identify its drivers in the high forest zone of Ghana. The purpose was also to raise awareness about the severity of deforestation and to offer suggestions for its control with a view to contributing to climate change mitigation. To compute the cost of deforestation, the values of four ecosystems’ services were estimated, employing opportunity and replacement cost techniques. The costs of wildfires resulting from loss of food and tree crops of communities were also estimated and deforestation-related behavior modeled using questionnaire surveys. Total Economic Values Framework, von Thunen and Chayanov models formed the theoretical basis of this work. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multinomial and ordinal logistic regression techniques. [more]

Agricultural News

WFP Presents Equipment to Ghanaian Smallholder Farmers
Ghana Business News
The World Food Program (WFP) has presented equipment and materials to 10 farmer groups under its Purchase for Progress (P4P) Initiative to help improve rice production in Northern Ghana. The equipment include: 10 rice reapers, 10 rice threshers and 524 tarpaulins. Thirty per cent of the cost of the equipment was borne by the beneficiary farmers whilst the WFP provided the remaining 70 per cent. The facility would help increase rice production and make the use of sickles and threshing of paddy with sticks, a thing of the past.

Weak Support for Farm Research Stifling Africa’s Growth, Development Targets
Africa Science News Service
Weak government support and lack of private capital is stifling farm research innovations that are vital for Africa, leading agricultural experts meeting in Accra, Ghana have warned Thursday. “Africa’s crop production is lagging behind the rest of the world, and the gap is widening,’ said Monty Jones, World Food Prize Laureate and Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). ‘At the same time, we’re seeing a steep decline in global agricultural exports and steep increase in African food imports. It’s a crime that the world’s poorest continent is spending billions of dollars on food imports.” Today, about one third of the world’s one billion malnourished people live in sub-Saharan Africa, said Jones. Hosted by FARA, the Second Ministerial Dialogue on Increasing Agricultural Productivity in Africa brings together African ministers of agriculture, science and technology as well as agricultural experts from all over Africa to discuss the status of continent-wide efforts to transform African agriculture and increase farm productivity and how to mobilize the resources needed to support research, extension and education institutions related to agriculture.

Australia - Ghana Strengthen Ties, Develop Agriculture
Ghana
A special envoy from Australia, Ms Joana Hewitt, is in Ghana at the instance of their Prime Minister to strengthen ties between the two countries and to help develop Ghana’s agriculture. The Australian government is partnering with Ghana through an aid program to provide a range of training opportunities and targeted technical assistance with the focus on building an effective capacity in agriculture, mining, governance and public service. It is also working directly with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA) to strengthen the capacity of farmer-based organizations through enhanced and efficient extensive services, building on Australia’s agricultural research partnership with West and Central Africa Council for Agriculture Research and Development for which Ghana is a key participant.

Pesticide Misuse a Major Threat to Farmers' Health and Food
AllAfrica.com
The misuse of pesticides, some of them banned, in northern Ghana is affecting the health of farmers, sometimes with fatal consequences, and contaminating crops, a new survey has revealed. Christian Aid partner Northern Presbyterian Agricultural Services found that more than a quarter of the farmers interviewed had suffered from directly inhaling pesticides. Many had also spilt the chemicals on their skin. Pesticides are often kept near food stores - a practice believed to have caused the deaths of 15 farmers in late 2010 through seepage. In addition, farmers regularly put the wrong pesticides on crops, use stocks that are past their expiry date, and spray too close to harvest time. The survey, Ghana's Pesticide Crisis, The Need for Further Government Action, says seven banned or restricted pesticides appear to still be in use in Ghana, with the government failing to act, despite the fact that: 'numerous academic studies show alarming levels of poisoning" among farmers and the public. It calls for better training and routine health checks for farmers, as well as monitoring of the chemicals used, and routine testing of the food produced.

Agricultural News

New Project to Invest US $12 Million to Boost Yam Productivity
AllAfrica.com
In one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken on behalf of an orphan crop like yam, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and a host of partners announced today a landmark new initiative to dramatically boost yam productivity and double the incomes of three million yam farmers in West Africa. The Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) project, which is supported by a US$12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be led by IITA in collaboration with the governments of Ghana and Nigeria, the UK's Natural Resources Institute (NRI), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The YIIFSWA project will focus on increasing yields through better seed tuber supply and improving markets for this underground, edible tuber--some of which are as small as a fist, others as tall as a man. Yams were first domesticated by African farmers 7,000 years ago. Today, 48.1 million tons of yams are produced annually across 4.4 million hectares of land in West Africa's "Yam Belt"--which extends from Cote D'Ivoire to Nigeria, representing over 90 percent of the global production.

Agric Ssector to Get Boost from $3bn Chinese Loan
GhanaWeb
A deputy minister at the finance ministry, Fiifi Kwettey has told Citi Business News government will this year roll out a more pragmatic approach to boost the agriculture sector’s input in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite the potential to be the highest contributor to the country’s GDP, the agricultural sector has over the years been the least contributor to the growth of the economy. According to revised estimates released from the Ghana Statistical Service on Wednesday, the agriculture sector contributed the least to the growth of the economy last year.

Register with COCOBOD
GhanaWeb
EXPORTERS of shea-nut have been told to register with the Ghana Cocoa Board and obtain a license for their business. Anthony Fofie, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board who gave the advice at the launch of the 2012 Northern Ghana Investment Conference and the Northern Business Excellent Awards in Accra Wednesday, noted that the shea sector contributed significantly to poverty reduction and had prospects of yielding higher profits. “Ghana’s shea is highly valued by the international buyers on account of its high oil content and it would therefore be appropriate that all shea-nut exporters duly register their businesses to facilitate their smooth operation,” he stated.

Food Crisis/Security

Should Food Security be an Issue in the 2012 Elections?
Peace FM Online
Ghana has been hailed as a “beacon of hope” on the African continent due to its record of political stability and progress in development areas. In about seven months from now the country will once again go to the polls to judge the governance of the current NDC led regime, and the question is what this judgment by the people should be based on. In a recent article the author stated that, “regrettably in Ghana, campaign stump speeches both in the past and even in recent times have been high on form and very low on substance.” According to the author Issues, ideas, policy alternatives on health, education, shelter, food security, national security, energy, mass transit etc. feed political discussions in countries that are development oriented. Food security has been high on the global agenda since 2008 and the world, including Ghana, reeled under high and volatile food prices caused by the 2008 – 09 food crisis, a crisis that was followed by the 2011 – 12 food crisis. These crises drove millions more people into poverty and thus placing them at risk of malnutrition and starvation.

News Articles from the Daily Graphic Newspaper

Government Pays GH₵1.25b compensation to Bui Farmers
The Government of Ghana has paid GH₵1,255,630 to 580 farmers in the Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region. The monies were paid as compensation to farmers who were affected by the construction of the Bui Dam. The affected farmers are from Bator, Brewohodi, Dokakyina, Resettlement Site, Bui Community, Akanyakrom, Agbegyekrom and the Jama Resettlement Site.
The payments were made through the Land Valuation Division (LVD) of the Lands Commission. Compensation ranged from GH₵25 to GH₵73,000. Mr. Juankim Besew the compensation process began in 2010 with the cataloging of economic trees and crops. It also included inventory, verification of farmlands and settlement disputes.
Some farmers who were compensated expressed their disappointment with the government about the amounts they were paid. They claimed the money given them were far less than the value of cashew crops that had been destroyed to make way for the construction of the  dam five years ago. They complained that the value of each cashew tree was not disclosed to them during the evaluation, nor had they been involved in the inventory of the trees.
Daily Graphic, Monday, April 9, 2012. No. 18811, page 1.

Forum Held for Cocoa Farmers in Kwaebibirim
The Eastern Regional Secretariat of  the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) held a rally at Akyem Apinamang in the Kwaebibirim district to educate farmers on the best farming practices to improve production. Mr. Francis Antwi Adjei, the Regional Manager of CSSVD, encouraged farmers to cut down affected trees since there was no known cure. He stated that applying fertilizer to affected trees in the hopes of attaining a higher yield was a fruitless action. Yields from affected trees would continue to dwindle until the tree finally dies in three to five years. Mr. Adjei also stated that there was the risk of infecting other trees on the farm as well as those on another person’s farm.
The Regional Manager promised farmers they would receive compensation for affected trees that were cut down and be given free hybrid cocoa seedlings that would start bearing fruits within two to three years of planting.  He appealed to farmers to report cases of swollen shoot disease to the regional office as soon as they detect it.
Daily Graphic, Tuesday, April 10, 2012. No. 18812, page 23.

MDGs to remove 3 million from Extreme Poverty
If the current progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are maintained, this would mean lifting more than three million people from the brackets of extreme poverty by 2015. According to the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), there are 6,951,670 people currently with that bracket and this represents 28.5% of Ghana’s population of 24,391,823.
The poverty brackets includes individuals who earn between GH₵288.47, being the lower poverty line, and GH₵370.89 being the upper poverty line, per adult per year. The Country Director of the United Nations Development Program, Mr. Kamil S. Kamaludeen said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic at a Millennium Development Goals summit held in Kumasi. He presented a paper on Ghana’s performance towards achieving the global timelines for eliminating poverty and stated that Ghana’s progress towards achieving the MDGs were positive compared to other developing African countries.
The Country Director said that the percentage of those within the poverty brackets had been consistently reducing from a 52% high in 1990 to its current rate of 28.5%. This provided evidence that Ghana was in a position to attain goal one of the MDGs – Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. He however stated that in spite of Ghana’s progress, the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions were in danger of not meeting the goal by 2015.
Daily Graphic, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. No. 18813, page 33.

If you need additional information of this article, please contact Adwoa Kwarteng with the citation of the requested paper.

Reports

Determinants of aggregate agricultural productivity among food crop farmers in Rivers State, Nigeria
J. Vocational Education & Technology (2009) Vol. 6 Nos. 1 & 2
In this study, determinants of aggregate agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers in Rivers State were examined. Cross- sectional data generated from 288 food crop farmers randomly selected from 5 out of the 23 Local Government Areas were used. Multiple regression analysis was used in analyzing the data. Results of the analysis showed that farm land, labor input, planting materials, age of the farmers, farming experience and level of education are the main significant determinants of aggregate agricultural productivity in Rivers State. It is therefore recommended that appropriate policies and programs be put in place to make more lands available to the food crop farmers. Credit facilities should also be extended to them to enable them purchase improved planting materials and hire more farm hands. For effectiveness, such credit facilities should be based on the level of farming experience of the recipient.

Revitalization of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes for Poverty Alleviation and Household Food Security in South Africa: A Review
African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 7(13), pp. 1956-1969, 5 April, 2012
There seems to be a general consensus that improving agriculture and enhancing agricultural productivity through irrigation will remain a key strategy for rural poverty alleviation in most of the low income countries, where the majority of the rural poor depend directly or indirectly on agriculture. Nevertheless, Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) in South Africa have performed poorly and have not delivered on their development objectives of improving rural livelihoods through sustainable crop production for food security and poverty alleviation. For a long time, dilapidated irrigation infrastructure was viewed as the single major cause of the poor performance and the government invested huge sums of money towards repairing infrastructure. Consequently, research and expenditure tended to focus on irrigation infrastructure, but often this proved fruitless because the human capital was not developed to effectively utilize and maintain the infrastructure. Recent research, however, has identified weak institutional and organizational arrangements and poor technical skills of farmers as probably the major factors leading to underperformance of most SIS. It is therefore recommended that crop production approaches including farmer training be considered alongside all other issues during revitalization of SIS to improve on performance.

The Heterogeneous Impact of Agro-Input Subsidies on Maize Production: A Field Experiment in Mozambique
University of Wisconsin Madison, Paris School of Economics.         
We evaluate the impact of an agro-input subsidy randomly assigned among Mozambican farmers in the Manica province. The subsidy covers 73% of the cost of a fertilizer and improved-seed package for a half hectare of maize production. We find that receiving a voucher significantly increased the use of inputs in maize production by 37% of the subsidized fertilizer and 62% of the subsidized improved seeds, revealing substantial leakages. The average impact on maize production is not very robust when keeping the whole sample. The combination of a late distribution of vouchers and a late drought significantly reduced the benefits of the program. The impact was stronger and most significant among small farmers (cultivating less than five hectares of maize), for whom receiving the voucher generated an average increase in maize production of a value almost that is almost equal to the market price of the package. However, conditional on using the entire package for maize, the average increase in the production of small farmers is more than twice the market value of the package. An analysis in the change of the distribution in production reveals important heterogeneity of impact, with the most productive farmers benefiting the most from the subsidy.

Agricultural Issues

Attracting Africa Youths to Agriculture: The Way Forward
The President of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Dr. Namaga Ngongi, was at the recently held international conference on “Young People, Farming & Food: the future of the Agrifood sector in Africa,” in Accra, Ghana. In his paper on the role of Young People in Africa’s Agriculture revolution, Dr. Ngongi spoke extensively on measures that will make agriculture attractive to the youths.

Commodities Exchange to the Rescue
PeaceFMonline.com
Farmers in the country, especially smallholder farmers, can heave a sigh of relief at last as key stakeholders in the commodities sector are ensuring that the Ghana Commodities Exchange (GCX) is established and becomes operational by the close of this year. “This will enable the Ghanaian farmer to obtain fair and predictable pricing for their produce,” said United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ruby Sandhu-Rojon.

Government Asked to Privatize Extension Services
PeaceFMonline.com
Statistics on the country's farmer/extension officer ratio show that 1,300 farmers are assigned to one extension officer, a situation that makes most farmers not to gain access to the services because extension officers are also under-resourced in terms of logistics to enable them to visit the farms.

"Technology Should Seek Tradition" - Emeritus Prof. Benneh’s Latest Book              
Ghanaweb
Modern technology application to agriculture and land use in Africa, should not ignore traditional farming systems and techniques, Emeritus Professor George Benneh’s latest book has expounded. The 267-page book launched in Accra, is titled: “Technology Should Seek Tradition: Studies on Traditional Land tenure and Small Holder Farming Systems in Ghana”.

Food Security

Climate Change Threatens Ghana’s Food Security
Ghanaian-Chronicle
An increased body of evidence shows that climatic variability is adversely affecting Ghana’s natural resources such as land, water, forests and vegetation, as well as human capital. Climate change is, therefore, expected to have significant impact on key resource-dependant sectors, such as agriculture and food production, and consequently on food security. Food security is under threat from unpredictable changes in rainfall and more frequent extreme weather.

The European Union Strengthens Food Security and Fights Hunger in the Sahel Region
Modern Ghana
Today, EU Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, proposed an aid package, worth €164.5 million, to increase food security in the Sahel countries. The region is currently affected by a food crisis as 15 million people are at risk of hunger. The European Commission has already mobilised €123.5 million for the early humanitarian response to the crisis.

Fighting Climate Change: WMDA Introduces Organic Farming Methods to Two Communities
Northern Ghana
In the wake of climate change and its associated debilitating effects on conventional agriculture or farming, many experts are encouraging farmers to adapt to organic farming, a practice that emphasizes closed nutrient cycles, biodiversity and effective soil management thereby providing the capacity to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change and land degradation. Organic farming can decrease fossil fuel emissions and, like any well managed agricultural system, sequester carbon in the soil.

Research

Agricultural Progress and Poverty Reduction
Agricultural Progress and Poverty Reduction: Synthesis Report”, OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Papers, No. 49, OECD Publishing
Achieving the Millennium Development Goal to halve global poverty by 2015 looks increasingly likely, although many countries may fall far short of this goal. This study compares socio-economic characteristics of twenty-five countries that have posted exceptional progress in reducing poverty to better understand why some countries are doing better than others.  Three key questions were addressed: 1) Is agriculture more important than other sources of earned income in reducing poverty? 2) Are the countries most successful in reducing poverty similar in other ways? 3) Which government policy actions seem to have contributed most? Both the overall rate and the sectoral composition of economic growth matter for poverty reduction, but remittances and other kinds of financial transfers are also important sources of income for the poor. The case studies on Ghana and Ethiopia were done under contract with the OECD by two teams of colleagues at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Smallholder Shallow Groundwater Irrigation Development in the Upper East Region of Ghana
IWMI Research Report 143
Ghana’s agriculture is predominantly rain-fed. However, the government and donors are now once   again placing increased attention on irrigation as a way to increase output, address food and nutrition security, and alleviate poverty. Within irrigation discussions, groundwater gets relatively little attention, for example, receiving almost no mention in the recent national water and irrigation policies. This is likely, in part, because in most of SSA there is a general view that groundwater yields are simply not sufficient for agricultural development. This view is furthered by evidence that where many boreholes have been drilled, groundwater tables have fallen.

Agricultural Issues

World Cocoa Foundation African Cocoa Initiative Will Benefit 100,000 Cocoa Farm Families
Bradenton Herald
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), the U.S. government's Feed the Future Initiative, and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) officially launched the WCF African Cocoa Initiative (WCF/ACI) today in a ceremony co-hosted with the Ghana Cocoa Board and key African stakeholders, including regional government officials and NGO partners. This Global Development Alliance partnership, supported by Feed the Future through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will improve cocoa farmer incomes, alleviate poverty, strengthen government and regional institutions, and advance food security in the cocoa-producing countries of Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria. Over the five-year term, the program will train 100,000 cocoa farmers and support their improved well-being and livelihoods.

Ghana Cannot Ignore Impact of Climate Change - UNDP
GhanaWeb
Mr. Jeremais Blaser, UNDP Deputy Country Director, has said "The increasing incidents of floods in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Volta regions with its devastating effect on life and property are clear demonstration of the fact that temperatures and rainfall patterns have changed with erratic climate in the country. He said, Ghana cannot ignore the impact of Climate Change any longer and called for a concerted holistic approach to deal with the problem. “As we look at the northern regions we are concerned that the combined impact of the drought and the floods can make the population even more vulnerable and their chances of making progress towards the MDGs even thinner."

Peasant Farmers Dread Reduction in Fertilizer Subsidies by Government
Myjoyonline.com
The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana is raising red flags over what they say are government’s plans to reduce subsidies on fertilizers for small scale farmers this farming season. They fear if the government goes ahead with the planned subsidy reduction, the country’s efforts at ensuring food security will be rolled back. The president of the association, Mr. Mohammed Adam Nashiru said this at a Policy dialogue on fertilizer subsidy in Accra. He said even with the government subsidy, peasant farmers have often resorted to loans to be able to procure the essential farm input. Mr. Nashiru said any removal whether whole or part of the subsidy will be a retrogressive action especially at a time when fertilizer prizes are increasing on the international market

Ghana to Promote Improved Crop Variety
GhanaWeb
Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Mustapha Ahmed on Tuesday said despite strides that research has made in developing improved variety of crops it is imperative that genetic diversity is maintained for posterity. He said yam, sorghum, millet and cowpea are very important as far as food security is concerned not only in Ghana but in the sub region as a whole. Speaking at a Regional Consultative Workshop on Improving Linkages between Conservation and use of Food Crops in West Africa, he noted that it was for that matter that government attaches great importance to the project.

Food Crisis/Security

FAO Calls for an Additional Fund to Fight Famine
Ghana
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling for at least 69.8 million dollars in additional funding to provide assistance to 790,000 vulnerable farming and herding households. These are people who have been caught in a cycle of recurring food crises in the Sahel region. According to the Agency, several countries in the Sahel region of western Africa need urgent support to prevent a full-blown food and nutrition security crisis and to protect and restore livelihoods of communities dependent on livestock and crops.     “At least 15 million people are estimated to be at risk of food insecurity in the Sahel, in part due to localized, but significant, declines in agro pastoral production. This includes 5.4 million people in the Niger (35 per cent of the population), three million in Mali (20 per cent), around 1.7 million in Burkina Faso (10 per cent), around 3.6 million in Chad (28 percent), 850 000 in Senegal (6 percent), 713 500 in the Gambia (37 per cent) and 700 000 in Mauritania (22 percent).”

Drought Could Become a Catastrophe for 13 Million if Action Not Taken
Some 13 million people are at severe risk from a food crisis, which is set to escalate into a full scale humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa if urgent action is not taken, international humanitarian organization Oxfam warned. Across Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and northern Senegal malnutrition rates hover between 10 and 15 percent, and in some areas, rates have risen beyond the emergency threshold level of 15 percent. Over one million children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

Reports

 Promoting Cassava as an Industrial Crop in Ghana: Effects on Soil Fertility and Farming System Sustainability
Applied and Environmental Soil Science. Research Article Volume 2012, Article ID 940954, 8 pages
Cassava is an important starchy staple crop in Ghana with per capita consumption of 152.9 kg/year. Besides being a staple food crop, cassava can be used as raw material for the production of industrial starch and ethanol. The potential of cassava as an industrial commercial crop has not been exploited to a large extent because of perceptions that cassava depletes soils. Recent finding from field studies in the forest/savannah transitional agroecological zone of Ghana indicates that when integrated in the cropping system as a form of rotation, cassava contributes significantly to maintenance of soil fertility, and thus large scale production of cassava for industrial use can contribute to poverty reduction in an environmentally responsive way. This paper discusses the role of cassava cultivation in soil fertility management and its implication for farming system sustainability and industrialization.

Keynote Paper: Strategic Repositioning of Agrobiodiversity in the Horticulture Sector for Sustainable Development in Africa
Agricultural Innovations for Sustainable Development.
The year 2010 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations to celebrate the diversity of plants and animals. Horticultural biodiversity that used to form an integral part of African diets should have been part of this celebration. However, with the introduction of exotic temperate crops, indigenous green vegetables lost popularity in Africa and started to be regarded as ‘weeds’ and ‘poor man’s food’. With over 50% of the African population living below the poverty line, resulting in malnutrition and poor health, there is a need for a paradigm shift in food production patterns to harness the nutrition and economic potential of indigenous vegetables and fruits.

Thank you

The articles included in this news digest have been generated from online news sources and the daily graphic newspaper published within last week. For more information on any of these articles, please contact Adwoa Kwarteng at A.Kwarteng@cgiar.org

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