Agricultural News
Ghana COCOBOD to Supply 20 Million Cocoa Seedlings to Farmers
Ghana
The Ghana COCOBOD is to supply 20 million hybrid cocoa seedlings free of charge to cocoa farmers this year, Reverend Abaka Ewusi, Executive Director, Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) Control Unit (CU) Operations, has disclosed. He said the seedling would be given to farmers whose cocoa farms had been infected by the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) and those whose cocoa farms are more than 30 years, for re-planting. Rev. Ewusi, who was speaking at the Eastern Regional Farmers rally on the CSSVD at Akyem Osenase in the West Akyem Municipality, said 3.5 million of the seedlings would be given to farmers in the region. He advised farmers to register at the District Officers to enable them to be supplied with the seedlings when the program takes off. [more]
Ghana: Participants Blame Low Investment in Agric Sector on Government
AllAfrica.com
Participants at a three-day workshop have expressed disappointment at the very low investment in Ghana's agricultural sector, despite it alone employing 65 percent of the labor force, and generating 32 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the country. They blamed the very low investment in the agric sector to lack of commitment towards the sector by previous and present governments. According them, there was ample evidence that GDP growth originating in agriculture was two to four times more effective in raising the incomes of extremely poor people, than GDP growth originating outside the sector. The three-day workshop was organized by Alliance for Green Africa (AGRA) for civil society organizations (CSOs) in Accra. The workshop was to help promote and develop a shared vision for the future of agriculture in Africa, and for improving the lives and livelihoods of small-holder farmers in the country. [more]
Woyongo Calls for Investment to Boost Agriculture in Upper East Region
GhanaWeb
Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister on Thursday reiterated the need for irrigational facilities to boost agriculture and improve on the livelihoods of the poor in the Region. He said the region was vulnerable to the southern spread of the desert and called for more investment in that direction since over 80 per cent of the population of the region depended on agriculture. Mr. Woyongo made these remarks when an IFAD evaluation team (ET) from Rome, India, Norway ,Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana, led by Mr. Roy Ayariga, National Coordinator of the Northern Regional Growth Program (NRGP) paid a courtesy call on him at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC). [more]
Food Crisis/Security
Northern Ghana to Benefit from USAID
Ghana
Over 367,000 low income families, especially women of reproductive age and children under five years in the Northern Region, are to benefit from a $60 million USAID-supported food security initiative to improve food security and nutrition. The initiative dubbed: ‘Resiliency In Northern Ghana (RING)’, the five-year project, which would span 2012-2016, would help improve their health while positioning them to better cope with natural disasters, such as droughts, floods and unstable food prices. The initiative would be implemented in 12 districts selected by USAID through an assessment process. [more]
Reports
Trade policy reforms in the new agricultural context : Is regional integration a priority for Sub-Saharan African countries agricultural-led industrialization ? Insights from a global computable general equilibrium analysis.
Selected Poster prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) Triennial Conference, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, 18-24 August, 2012.
Global general equilibrium simulations of “regional” (within Sub-Saharan Africa –SSA-) and “multilateral” (Doha and preferential) trade integration are compared to assess policy reform priorities. Their coherence with the objective of agriculture-led industrialization is tested. New results reveal that for SSA regional integration delivers as much as multilateral integration. Multilateral liberalization drives Sub-Saharan African countries further away from agricultural-led industrialization. On the contrary regional integration fosters the production and trade of processed agricultural products. Regional integration has heterogeneous impacts on countries in SSA and gains might be concentrated on a few countries. Accompanying redistributive policies to compensate the loosers might help bring the negotiations further. [more]
Small scale farmers’ access to and participation in markets - The case of the P4P program in western Kenya
Master's Thesis in Human Geography, Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University
The purpose of this thesis is to understand how small scale farmers navigate the market to access and participate in the formal maize market to improve their revenue, utilising the case of the P4P program in Kenya. The empirical material was collected during fieldwork in Kenya. Qualitative methods were found to be the most suitable for this thesis. The methods that was utilised were a case study strategy, semi structured interviews, focus groups, observations and analysis of secondary sources. In this study different approaches about farmers’ organisations (FO) and small scale farmers’ access to and participation in markets have been utilised to create an analytical context. [more]
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