Agricultural News
WFP Presents Equipment to Ghanaian Smallholder Farmers
Ghana Business News
The World Food Program (WFP) has presented equipment and materials to 10 farmer groups under its Purchase for Progress (P4P) Initiative to help improve rice production in Northern Ghana. The equipment include: 10 rice reapers, 10 rice threshers and 524 tarpaulins. Thirty per cent of the cost of the equipment was borne by the beneficiary farmers whilst the WFP provided the remaining 70 per cent. The facility would help increase rice production and make the use of sickles and threshing of paddy with sticks, a thing of the past.
Weak Support for Farm Research Stifling Africa’s Growth, Development Targets
Africa Science News Service
Weak government support and lack of private capital is stifling farm research innovations that are vital for Africa, leading agricultural experts meeting in Accra, Ghana have warned Thursday. “Africa’s crop production is lagging behind the rest of the world, and the gap is widening,’ said Monty Jones, World Food Prize Laureate and Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). ‘At the same time, we’re seeing a steep decline in global agricultural exports and steep increase in African food imports. It’s a crime that the world’s poorest continent is spending billions of dollars on food imports.” Today, about one third of the world’s one billion malnourished people live in sub-Saharan Africa, said Jones. Hosted by FARA, the Second Ministerial Dialogue on Increasing Agricultural Productivity in Africa brings together African ministers of agriculture, science and technology as well as agricultural experts from all over Africa to discuss the status of continent-wide efforts to transform African agriculture and increase farm productivity and how to mobilize the resources needed to support research, extension and education institutions related to agriculture.
Australia - Ghana Strengthen Ties, Develop Agriculture
Ghana
A special envoy from Australia, Ms Joana Hewitt, is in Ghana at the instance of their Prime Minister to strengthen ties between the two countries and to help develop Ghana’s agriculture. The Australian government is partnering with Ghana through an aid program to provide a range of training opportunities and targeted technical assistance with the focus on building an effective capacity in agriculture, mining, governance and public service. It is also working directly with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA) to strengthen the capacity of farmer-based organizations through enhanced and efficient extensive services, building on Australia’s agricultural research partnership with West and Central Africa Council for Agriculture Research and Development for which Ghana is a key participant.
Pesticide Misuse a Major Threat to Farmers' Health and Food
AllAfrica.com
The misuse of pesticides, some of them banned, in northern Ghana is affecting the health of farmers, sometimes with fatal consequences, and contaminating crops, a new survey has revealed. Christian Aid partner Northern Presbyterian Agricultural Services found that more than a quarter of the farmers interviewed had suffered from directly inhaling pesticides. Many had also spilt the chemicals on their skin. Pesticides are often kept near food stores - a practice believed to have caused the deaths of 15 farmers in late 2010 through seepage. In addition, farmers regularly put the wrong pesticides on crops, use stocks that are past their expiry date, and spray too close to harvest time. The survey, Ghana's Pesticide Crisis, The Need for Further Government Action, says seven banned or restricted pesticides appear to still be in use in Ghana, with the government failing to act, despite the fact that: 'numerous academic studies show alarming levels of poisoning" among farmers and the public. It calls for better training and routine health checks for farmers, as well as monitoring of the chemicals used, and routine testing of the food produced.