Agricultural News
UNDP-Ghana Pledges Support Towards Poverty Alleviation
Myjoyonline.com
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has pledged continued support towards the government’s efforts at alleviating poverty in the country. The UN Development Assistance Framework action plan 2012 – 2016, launched earlier in the year, would invest $470m in resource contribution towards Ghana’s development agenda for the next 5 years. Speaking at the maiden UNDP media day in Accra, Thursday, the Country Director, Mr. Kamil Kamaluddeen said the global body remains a development partner of choice, and will continue to be active in the areas of Democratic Governance, Sustainable Development and support interventions that promote inclusive growth. “As Ghana builds its own development solutions, UNDP provides ideas for strategic development projects and capacity building in support of continued efforts to eradicate pockets of extreme poverty, improve gender equality, reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, promote and protect human rights and enhance environmental management,” he said. [more]
Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pays First Claims to Farmers
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
One hundred and thirty-six farmers in the Northern Region have become the first beneficiaries of claims under the Drought Index Insurance Product under the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool. The claim is a historic milestone in Ghana because it is the first time that the agricultural sector has received compensation for losses due to a shortfall of rain. The program was developed through a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the German International Cooperation, National Insurance Commission, the Ghana Insurers Association, with support from Swiss Re, a reputable international reinsurance company. It aims at protecting farmers, agro-processors, rural and financial institutions, input dealers among others, in the event of crop failure due to extreme weather conditions like droughts. The Drought Index Insurance Product was offered in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to maize farmers with cover running from May to September 2012. [more]
MOFA Initiative for Progression of Farmers
Ghana
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is implementing some initiatives that will facilitate the progression of smallholder farmers from the subsistence level to commercialized operations. Under the initiative the farmers will be provided with inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds, equipment such as tractors and irrigation facilities at subsidized rates. These interventions, according to the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, is to help improve productivity, and provide access to markets for the farmers to make life more meaningful for them. This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the minister at a national conference on agriculture in Tamale, held on the theme ‘Market-driven agriculture for accelerated rural economic development”. It was organized by the African Connections Ghana limited, a development consulting firm, in collaboration with the MoFA, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). The “Focus on Agriculture” conference is the third in a series the firm has been organizing in the country since2009. According to the minister, the MoFA is also supporting improvement in the investment climate in the country for agri-business to improve smallholders’ access to credit. The ministry is also collaborating with development partners and institutions to incorporate smallholder farmers into value chains to promote agriculture and rural development. [more]
President Mahama Pledges More Investment in Agriculture
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama said government would continue to make huge investments in agriculture as that sector was the economic backbone of the country’s economy. He said apart from meeting the country’s food requirement, it was the best means of resolving unemployment and raising incomes in the rural areas. President Mahama said this in an address read on his behalf by Mr Dan Abodakpi, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, at the 11th Annual Deza (Oil Palm Festival) of the people of Dzodze Traditional Area in the Ketu North District at the weekend. The festival, instituted to revive the oil palm industry in the area, was celebrated on the theme: “Deza, a Tool for Peace, Tolerance and Unity Towards Development”. [more]
Food Crisis/Security
Food Crisis Looms
GhanaWeb
Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that depends largely on food imports, appears to be on the verge of a serious food crisis as unprecedented hot and dry summer conditions have led to reduced maize and wheat yields in the United States, Russia and Eastern Europe. Food-price hikes have been witnessed across the globe. Indeed, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) announced last week that food prices rose slightly in September, approaching levels reached during the global food crisis in 2008. The World Bank has also said that its Food Price Index soared by 10 percent in July compared to a month earlier. Over the same period, prices of maize increased by almost 25 percent and wheat prices surged by around 30 percent. “The recent spikes in international food and grain prices could have negative implications for sub-Saharan Africa,” the World Bank warned. Whilst it is still unclear what the implications of these spikes could be for the region, the high proportion of expenditures on food, high rates of malnutrition and the recurrent crisis and insecurity -- particularly in the Sahel region -- are enough reason for increased concern and monitoring, the bank said. [more]
Reports
Characterizing the nature of vulnerability to climate variability: empirical evidence from two regions of Ghana
Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy Working Paper No. 105
This paper builds on an initial national and regional level vulnerability assessment by developing and applying a livelihood vulnerability index at the community and household scales to explore the nature of climate vulnerability. It provides innovative methodological steps in relation to livelihood assessment to identify the vulnerability of households and communities to drought. This will help to improve drought vulnerability assessments in Ghana and more widely as it shows extra information can be obtained from local level vulnerability assessment that may be lacking in national and regional level analysis. The research employs quantitative and qualitative data collected through participatory methods, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey with 270 households across 6 communities in two regions in Ghana. Results show that within the same agroecological zone, households and communities experience different degrees of climate vulnerability. These differences can be largely explained by socioeconomic characteristics such as wealth and gender, as well as access to capital assets. Results identify vulnerable households within resilient communities as well as more resilient households within vulnerable communities. These outliers are studied in detail. It is found that outlier households in vulnerable communities have an array of alternative livelihood options and tend to be socially well-connected, enabling them to take advantage of opportunities associated with environmental and economic changes. To sustain and enhance the livelihoods of vulnerable households and communities, policymakers need to identify and facilitate appropriate interventions that foster asset building, improve institutional capacity as well as build social capital. [more]
Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction through Growth
Millennium Challenge Corporation. Principles into Practice
Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are widely recognized as key dimensions of human progress. Most development institutions and partner governments acknowledge this in laws, policies, institutional structures, and programming. When the Millennium Challenge Corporation developed its Gender Policy in 2006, its mandate was to address gender equality in the context of MCC’s focused mission: poverty reduction through economic growth. Rather than adopting a rights-based perspective on gender equality, MCC’s Gender Policy recognizes women as economic actors, and that gender inequality can be a significant constraint to economic growth and poverty reduction. The connection between poverty and gender inequality has been on the agenda of development practitioners, policy makers and researchers for over 30 years. Much progress has been made in the social sectors, such as health and education. Recently, gender equality has been directly linked to economic growth in the “smart economics” advocated by the World Bank. Research on the productivity impacts of inequalities in access to assets and in wages and employment empirically demonstrate these linkages. [more]
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The articles included in this news digest have been generated from online news sources and the daily graphic newspaper published within last week. For more information on any of these articles, please contact Adwoa Kwarteng at A.Kwarteng@cgiar.org
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