Agricultural Issues
FAO Paints Gloomy Picture of Ghana's Crops Production
Ghana Business News
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has painted a gloomy picture about the prospects of Ghana’s crops in the coming years. Erratic seasonal rains, dry conditions and flooding which Ghana experienced in recent times have contributed to this development. The FAO says “Overall crop prospects are unfavorable, in spite of continued government assistance, in the form of subsidized fertilizers and increased technical support for large-scale farming.” It noted that poor precipitations have also hindered normal planting and the germination of maize in western areas of the northern region. [more]
In African Agriculture, Information Is Power
National Geographic
Standing in the heart of his pineapple farm in the Central Region of Ghana, Ali Morrison, gripping two mobile phones, tells the story of his most recent sale. Traders came to him offering just .20 Ghana cedis for each pineapple. That’s about 13 US cents. This time around he and his business partner, Isaac Assan, had their mobiles on hand and did a quick SMS price request to Esoko. He sent in the word “pineapple”. He received a list of prices covering the major markets in Ghana. In the past farmers like Ali and Isaac have had no choice but to blindly accept the prices offered by traders. But the recent and sudden ability to refer to current prices across the country disrupts that whole dynamic. It gives farmers confidence that they didn’t have before, and it takes away the opportunity for traders to lie about prices in faraway markets. Knowing the trader would resell in the capital city’s market for .80 cedis each, Ali wouldn’t budge until he got .40 cedis. He doubled his profits that week, making 400 Ghana cedis instead of 200. That’s US$165 more. And just for the price of a text message. [more]
Government Pledges to Improve Upon Cocoa Yield
Modern Ghana
The 2011 Cocoa Farmers Forum opened in Accra yesterday with a pledge by the government to continue to implement policies that would improve crop yield such as the supply of free improved seedlings to replace old low-yielding trees. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, who made the promise when he opened the forum, noted that since the Ghanaian economy had become the fastest growing in the world partly as a result of the boom in the cocoa industry, there was the need to continuously invest in the sector. The two-day forum, on the theme: “Cocoa farmers: Contributing towards policy formulation and implementation”, is to begin the process of involving cocoa farmers in the development of policies that impact on their production processes, as well as work out solutions to problems that confront them. [more]
Organic Fertilizer Is Suitable For Soils in the North
Ghana News Agency
On-farm trials on the use of organic fertilizer have shown that best results come from the use of a combination of biochar and organic manure. The trials, being carried out on the Gbiligu Ecological Farms near Walewale, involve the use of organic fertilizer made from kitchen waste and chicken droppings. This is produced by decentralized composting and biochar that can be produced by burning plant material under low oxygen similar to the production of charcoal. Different plots of groundnuts and sorghum are being used with different combination of organic fertilizer, biochar on its own, organic fertilizer alone and a combination of the two. The plot under the combination of organic fertilizer and biochar had taller and deeper green color broad leaves of both crops. [more]
Local Government / Decentralization
Ghana: Deepening Decentralization for Rural Development
AllAfrica.com
Ghana's struggle with development is not so much about the lack of good road networks, quality health facilities, first class schools and rich human resource in Accra, Kumasi and a few urban areas; it is really about the extent to which rural communities have been left decades behind in respect of all development benchmarks. Unlike the urban areas, rural communities lack basic necessities of life such as health facilities, potable water, schools, electricity, good shelter and jobs. [more]
In Other News
Role of Agricultural Extension and Education on Rural Women’s Trends toward Micro-Credits Programs
If extension is assumed as an educational process with the aim of conveying useful information for rural producers and changing their insight, knowledge, attitude and skills in order to access a better life for their family and society, and if we assign villagers as the target group of the agricultural extension activities; undoubtedly, education and extension would not be neglected at basic fields. However, extension about values and functions has been faced with some critics; although these critics sometimes relate the management of extensional organizations directly to the intended goals at development, and also practice strategies while carrying out extension services. [more]
Analysis of the Socio-Economic and Cultural Implications of Environmental Degradation in Northern Ghana Using Qualitative Approach
Qualitative approach which adopts community participation and local ecological knowledge in environmental assessment and natural resource management (Hudson, 1991) is based on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration (UNCED, 1992) that stipulates grassroots participation on issues of environmental management and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification that put emphasis on active participation of local people on matters concerning the environment (UNCCD, 1994). [more]
Nearly 1 billion people around the world currently suffer from hunger and inadequate nutrition. Another billion are overweight or obese. Technological advances in agriculture have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of hunger, poverty and hopelessness, but such progress has not been uniform. In addition to these perennial challenges, new issues face the food system as well, including climate change, dietary transition, natural resource degradation, water scarcity, ethical and environmental ramifications of genetically modified organisms and globalization. [more]
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