Agricultural Issues
Stakeholders Call On Government to Come Out With Shea Nut Policy
Ghana News Agency
Operators in the shea nut industry have appealed to the government to come out with a shea nut policy to address problems facing the industry. The stakeholders, comprising Civil Society Organizations and shea pickers and producers from the three northern regions, made the call at a Shea Multi-stakeholders Forum held in Bolgatanga. They are of the view that although there is a policy on shea nut, it is embedded under the Cocoa Board policy which does not give much attention to addressing issues affecting the shea nut industry. The program, which was on the theme “Sustaining the Shea Industry-the need for a clear policy,” culminated in the formation of a Shea Network Ghana. It aims to build Civil Society Organizations and farmer groups to advocate for greater investment in shea pickers and producers. [more]
Wa Municipality Scale Up Efforts to Achieve Food Security
Ghana News Agency
In a desire to achieve sustainable food security, 1,406 farmers including 329 women in the Wa Municipality have cultivated 1,892 acres of maize this year through the block farming initiative. The total cost of credit commitment in respect of ploughing, fertilizer and seed input to enable the Municipality to realize its agricultural sector objectives amounted to 221,701 Ghana cedis. Mr. Yakubu Duogu, Wa Municipal Chief Executive, made this known in his report on the activities of the Assembly at the two-day Second Ordinary Meeting which ended on Thursday. He said under the fertilizer subsidy policy, 78,835 bags of compound fertilizer, 33,670 bags of sulphate of ammonia and 1,100 bags of urea were received and sold at the approved subsidized prizes to farmers. [more]
Aiding the Poor Cocoa Farmer
Modern Ghana
From infrastructure to institutions and capacity building, it is cocoa that has made it possible for this society to stand on its own. Like many things great, the introduction of cocoa to this society was without fanfare. When Tetteh Quarshie, then a young man, was sent by the then Basel Missionary in the Cold Coast to Fernando Po, now modern day Equatorial Guinea, he was fascinated by the crop that was making waves in the farming community, and brought some pods home and started cultivating the crop on the slopes of the Akwapim Hills at Mampong. [more]
World Food Prize Recognizes Leadership in Agriculture
Commodities Now Online
As the World Food Prize ceremony approaches, Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet team emphasizes the critical role that policymakers must play in combating hunger and poverty. Policymakers around the world need to step up their critical efforts to combat hunger, malnutrition, and poverty by providing greater support for agriculture, according to researchers with Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet project. As the awarding of the annual World Food Prize approaches, the project acknowledges the important contribution that the Prize makes in recognizing policymakers and leaders who have invested in their countries' agricultural futures. This year's award is being given to two former heads of state to highlight the importance of transformational leadership in effecting positive change and improving people's lives. [more]
PFAG Presents Inputs into 2012 Budget Statement
Ghana News Agency
The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has presented to government a report cataloguing problems of small-scale farmers, and recommendations as part of its inputs into the 2012 national budget statement. The report dubbed “Input into the 2012 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Ghana,” was the outcome of a two-day training workshop it held for its focal persons across the country on the National Budget Process, as well as a training program for farmer representatives in eight districts of the Volta Region this year. Madam Victoria Adongo, Programme Manager of PFAG presented the report to officials of the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning and the Food and Agriculture in Accra. [more]
Marketing and Market Queens: A Case of Tomato Farmers in the Upper East Region of Ghana
Structural reforms have been experienced in many African countries following the economic crisis in the 1980s. Subsequently, the implementation of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) affected various sectors of agriculture. A key area in Ghana is the “tomato sector” in the Upper East Region where the influences of trade policies on marketing continue to be a challenge to small scale tomato farmers. The tomato sector in the region has often been perceived as a potential area for employment and income generation. [more]
Smallholder Transformation: NGO Participation in Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
With smallholder farmers identified as the core of several recent development programs, coupled with the very important role agriculture can play in the eradication of extreme poverty, hunger and food insecurity in the world. The aim of this paper is to identify conditions necessary for smallholder farmers to capitalize on new business opportunities emerging from the reorganization of supply chains around the world. A comparative case study approach provides views on the most favorable conditions. [more]
Perceived Impact of Cocoa Innovations on the Livelihoods of Cocoa Farmers in Ghana: The Sustainable Livelihood Framework (Sl) Approach
The Cocoa High Technology Program (CHTP) was introduced by the Government of Ghana in 2003 with the aim of improving the fertility of the soil thereby increasing the yields and incomes of cocoa farmers. A correlational survey design was used in the Eastern Region of Ghana to examine the perceived impact of the CHTP on the livelihoods of cocoa farmers who adopted the technology using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SL) Approach. The level of impact of the program on farmers’ livelihoods as a ‘whole’ though higher, was below the expectations of cocoa farmers. The study further revealed that farmers’ yields were significantly improved by the CHTP with mean increase of 72% (from 2.85bags/acre to 4.9 bags/acre), three years after the implementation of the CHTP. The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that (1) fertilizer application; (2) harvesting, fermentation and drying technologies; and (3) fungicide application were the best predictors of impact on livelihoods of cocoa farmers. [more]
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