Agricultural Issues
Fievie Rice Project Targets 1500mt of Rice
Modern Ghana
The Fievie Rice Project in the South Tongu District in the Volta Region is set to harvest 1,500 tones of high grade rice by the end of July, this year, for the local market. The farm is also on course to produce some 20,000 tonnes of rice by 2012 for the Ghanaian market. The project, a public private partnership (PPP) supported by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, is a collaboration between the South Tongu District, Global Agri-Development Company (GADCO), an agriculture investment company and the Fievie community. [more]
Government to ensure sustainable economy through Local Economic Development
Ghana News Agency
Government is promoting an initiative called Local Economic Development (LED) to ensure a sustainable national economic growth and development. The 2011-2015 Decentralization Policy, defined LED as, “the process by which local governments, local businesses and other actors join forces and resources to enter into new partnership agreements with each other or other stakeholders to create new jobs and stimulate economic activity in municipalities, towns and villages”. Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the Deputy Minister of Local Government, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a knowledge product advocacy meeting on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Project (SRLP) at Mankessim in the Central Region. [more]
RUWFAG Opposes Industrial Agriculture
Modern Ghana
The Rural Women Farmers Association (RUWFAG) is appealing to the government to discourage the adoption of industrial agriculture, because of its long term negative effects on the quality of human life and the environment. The Lawra District Director of Non-Formal Education and member of the organization, Rebecca Sabri, noted that unfortunately, industrial agriculture was the focus of the government's agricultural policy for addressing food crises in the country and Africa in general. According to her, 'Today, all our food crops are chemically affected and are stored with chemicals which are killing our people daily and causing the cancers and other unknown diseases that are not curable.' [more]
Ghana's Cotton Production Expected To Reach 50000 Tonnes End Of 2011
Ghana Business News
Ghana’s cotton production is to increase from the current 5,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonne by the close this year. This was revealed by the out-gone Country Director of the World Bank – Ishac Diwan, when he interacted with the media in Accra on his final working day. [more]
Food Crisis/Security
Food Security: A Global Task
AG Week
Farmers around the world should continue to get higher commodity prices to increase food production in future years, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in a lecture June 25 in Rome. “While this may be controversial in some quarters, there is a strong case to be made that food prices had to be rebalanced, provided volatility is tackled and the vulnerable protected,” said Annan, a native of Ghana who now chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. He delivered the McDougall Memorial Lecture, “Delivering Global Food and Nutrition Security — The Challenge of Our Time.” [more]
High Food Prices to Persist For 10yrs
Peace FM Online
High food prices may persist for the next 10 years in Ghana and other countries of the world, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said. The report stated that over the next decade, real prices for cereals would be 20 per cent higher, while that of meat would also increase by 30 per cent compared to what was obtained in 2001-2010. [more]
Local Government/Decentralization
Lack of Knowledge on Revised Decentralization Policy Affecting Development
GhanaWeb
The lack of knowledge on the revised decentralization policy is affecting development at the Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs), in the Upper East Region. The President of the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA), Mr Bismark Ayorogo Adongo, made the observation during a policy education seminar, organized by NORPRA and IBIS Ghana, for Assembly and Unit Committee members from the Bolgatanga Municipal and Bongo District Assemblies. [more]