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.