Agricultural News
New Guaranteed Minimum Prices For Staples
Ghana
Local farmers will earn higher prices for maize and rice but lower price for soya beans in the 2013 farming season. According to the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) 100 kilogrammes of maize would sell at GH¢60 at the farm gates from the prevailing GH¢45, while 85 kg of paddy rice would also sell at GH¢85 from GH¢40. In the case of soya beans, 100 kg would sell at GH¢60 down from the GH¢70 at the farm gates. National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) told journalists in Accra yesterday that the company had gone through series of consultations with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and other stakeholders in the sector to arrive at the fixed prices. [more]
Governments Urged to Fulfill 10% Agric Financing
Ghana
Africa governments have been urged to fulfill their pledge of allocating 10 per cent of their national budget to finance agriculture. African governments in 2012 at a conference in Maputo, pledged to allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budget to finance agriculture to boost the growth of the sector. Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Millison Narh, who gave the advice at the 18th African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) General Assembly meeting in Accra, said the move would help to spur the growth of agriculture. The four-day conference which opens in Accra today on theme ‘Enhancing the Agriculture Value chain through innovation’ and being hosted by the Bank of Ghana (BOG), would discuss challenges facing small scale agriculture and measures to attract funding to the sector. [more]
Lack of Agric Cooperatives Killing Smallholder Farmers
BusinessGhana
For nearly a decade of commercial citrus farming at Odumafo in the Eastern Region, 56 years old Kojo Marfo says, his highest sale of orange fruits after a good harvest was GH¢900.00 for a planting season. "That year was a happy time for my family and I because we've never had that much money. God blessed us that year when some market women from Burkina Faso came and bought our oranges at 50 pesewa more for a sack full," Marfo says with a smile. After fixing the price of a bag of oranges for Marfo, the market women also load the bags with the fruits themselves without any scale of measurement and to their satisfaction level. This is the "pittance reward" many smallholder farmers like Marfo are getting out of their sweat to feed our population. The reason is mainly because smallholders act alone in the production and marketing of their produce all the time. Marfo's story goes to confirm that though many years of research and experience had shown that small farmers acting alone did not benefit from higher food prices and income, many African countries including Ghana, are still not taking advantage of agricultural cooperatives and or associations. [more]
Food Crisis/Security
Ghana's Food Security as a Result of Good Policies
Ghana News Agency
Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture, says the prudent agricultural policies pursued by the government have spared Ghana the scourge of food insecurity. Speaking at the 32nd World Food Day which also marked 67th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at Gomoa Bewadze near Winneba in the Gomoa West District on Tuesday, Mr. Ahwoi pointed out that 2012 Report on the state of food insecurity in the world estimated at about 870 million people representing 12.5 per cent of the world population under-nourished from 2010 to 2012 out of which 234 million were from sub-Saharan Africa. He noted that the rapid growth in the agricultural sector held the key to reduction of hunger and malnourishment in developing countries including Ghana. [more]
Reports
Climate Change and Agricultural Policy Processes in Malawi
Future Agricultures – Working Paper
This paper explores climate change – agriculture debates in Malawi in view of the increasing interest and funding pledges for the agricultural sector in a changing climate. While there is increasing evidence of how climate change may affect Malawian agricultural systems, and a growing body of literature on possible response strategies, less is known about how priorities are made, by whom and with what outcomes. This matters because climate-related funding can be a major factor for how the agricultural sector develops, in Malawi as in other countries across Africa. This paper is the first of its kind to analyse policy discussions on climate change and agriculture in the country. The primary focus is the national level, but some of the implications of national debates at sub-national levels, and the questions they raise, are also discussed. [more]
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