Agricultural Issues
Research Should Be the Bedrock of Ghana's Agriculture
Ghana News Agency
Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) on Friday re-emphasized the need for the country to make research the bedrock of its agricultural production. He explained that improved knowledge in agricultural practices through discoveries and better information would enhance agricultural productivity to meet the demands of the growing population, industry and the environment. Mr. Ahwoi was speaking at a dinner and launch of the 27th National Farmers Day and Sponsors in Accra. [more]
Stakeholders Must Rethink Agric Funding In Ghana – Agric Minister
Ghana News Agency
Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi Minister for Food and Agriculture on Thursday said agric stakeholders must rethink means of funding agriculture as difficulties of loan recovery from farmers mounted up. “Stakeholders must brainstorm to find sustainable means of funding agriculture,” he said. He made the comment when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee to clarify issues in connections with the Auditor General’s Report for 2007, 2008 and 2009 financial year. The report is interspersed with several comments of loss of resources to the state for lack of financial discipline. [more]
Food Crisis / Security
National Training Workshop on Food Security Opens
Ghana
The Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is organizing a four day workshop for 25 participants in Ghana. The workshop dubbed: "Early warning system on food security in Ghana’’ is to put in place systems capable of providing reliable information for decision makers at both the national and sub-national level for appropriate policy decision on food production. [more]
Local Government / Decentralization
Comment: Is There an Alternative Decentralization Implementation Strategy
Myjoyonline.com
The conceptual confusion surrounding decentralization has been resolved in Ghana by identifying the national level of governance as a level for ministerial restructuring; the regional level as a level of de-concentration; the district level as a level of devolution and the sub-district level comprising the Urban, Zonal, Town and Area Councils and Unit Committees as a level of devolution, with the focus on district-level devolution. Once resolved, it is realized that decentralization involves the transfer of functions (responsibilities), of functionaries (bureaucrats and technocrats with the requisite skills and competences), and of funds (budgetary resources) from the Central Government to the lower levels of government. [more]
In other news
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Agriculture Development
In the rural context, development involves use of physical, financial and human resources for economic growth and social development of the rural economies. The term rural development also represents improvement in quality of life of rural people in villages. As per Chambers “Rural Development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need.” [more]
The Green Rush: The Global Race or Farmland and the Rights of Land Users
This Article explores the global phenomenon of “land-grabbing”: the buying or leasing of large tracts of farmland, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, by governments or private investors. While this phenomenon is not entirely unprecedented, it has been developing at an accelerated pace since the 2007–2008 global food price crisis and has considerable implications for local communities in target countries. Since the governments in many target countries are generally weak and provide menial protection of property rights, many fear the recent wave of large-scale investments in land will lead to further marginalization and poverty in rural areas of the developing world and result in a net transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. [more]