Here are the current developments on Agriculture in Africa
Agricultural Issues
US Government to Launch $22m Agriculture Financing Programme
The US government is set to launch a $22 million financing programme to unlock investment for agriculture in northern Ghana. According to a press invitation, the project will be launched in Accra by Ghana’s Agric Minister Clement Kofi Humado and the USAID Mission Director, Mr. Jim Bever. The USAID-FinGAP is a five-year project with the goal of increasing access to finance and investment in the rice, maize and soy sectors in the northern part of the country.
Plant Breeders Bill to Protect New Ghanaian Cowpea Variety
The first Confined Field Trials (CFT) of the pod borer-resistant cowpea (Bt-cowpea) has proved to be very efficient, Dr Ibrahim Dzido Kwasi Atokple, the Project Coordinator of the CFT, has said…. The Bt-Cowpea is among three others, cotton, rice and sweet potatoes, which had been cleared for confined field trials for purposes of research and evaluation to generate improved and high yielding farmer-preferred cowpea variety that is resistant to the Maruca, a pod borer insect.
Don’t Rush Passage of Plant Breeders Bill - Journalists appeal to Parliament
Journalists at a workshop on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have called on Parliament not to rush the passage of the Plant Breeders Bill. he workshop, organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), a non-governmental organisation, was designed to provide journalists with smore information on GM foods so that they could set the agenda on the quest for the genetically engineered foods in the country.
Food Commodity Prices stable Despite Fuel Price Increases
A market survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency in various parts of Accra on Friday showed that prices of most commodities remained unchanged despite the fuel price increase announced on Thursday, January 16, 2014. This trend was explained by the fact that so far, the cost of transportation had generally remained unchanged. Prices of items such as gari, yam, palmnut and maize have maintained the same level as last week. Auntie Naana Kumiwaa, a trader, said an olonka of gari sold at Gh¢4.50 for the past week.
FAGRO Convention Comes Off from 8-14 March 2014 In US
The National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO) with invitation from the National Farmers Union, USA will participate, together with interested agric stakeholders in the National Farmers Union convention, Investment meeting and Field Trips in the USA…. Ghanaian agric stakeholders such as farmers, policy makers, fishery sector players, input suppliers and other affected parties will therefore have an opportunity to identify issues, concerns, and opportunities regarding the agricultural sector, adopt and …
Kuapa Kokoo Fights against Child Labour in the Cocoa Industry
The President of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKFU), Fatima Ali, has stated that Kuapa Kokoo is reckoned as the biggest cocoa farmers’ cooperative organization in Ghana with over 85,000 members spread across Ashanti, Western, Central, Brong-Ahafo and Eastern regions. According to her, the company happened to be the pioneering fair trade farmer-based organization in Africa with its members taking their own decision and seeing to its implementation.
Smallholder Farmers Of Nassana Appeal For Support
The socio-economic livelihood of the people of Nassana, a farming community in the Tain District of the Brong Ahafo Region is severely distressed as they do not get value for money from their farm produce, which is their only source of livelihood… Speaking to the B&FT, they lamented that access to market is the major challenge thwarting the gari business at Nassana. The deplorable state of the roads leading to the community, they said, makes it extremely difficult for buyers to reach them.
Ghanaian Producers to Attend Organic Food Fair
The Ghanaian German Economic Association (GGEA) is organising what it calls “a strategic business delegation” to participate in Biofach 2014, the world´s leading fair on organic food and natural cosmetics. Representatives of about 10 firms and individual producers of organic food and products are expected at Biofach 2014 slated for February 12-15 in Nürnberg, Germany… Ghana should, therefore, do everything to muster and increase growing crops organically, especially as it has the right climatic conditions and labour to do so,” Mr Antwi said, but added that…
Africa: When Companies Meet Communities - Is This What Friendly Commercial Farming Looks Like?
Some say the agribusiness Gadco's presence in eastern Ghana is the best thing that's ever happened in the region. Others fear that there are accidents waiting to happen… Gadco is the best thing that has ever happened to us as a people," insists Atakli proudly, attributing this partly to his strong leadership and principled approach in negotiations "Subjects have an inherent right to the land and you cannot deprive a subject of his property unless he consents, no matter how profitable the company may be," he says.
Malaysia Partners Nigeria to Increase Rice Production
The Ogun Government on Saturday said that the Malaysian Government would soon commence the massive cultivation of rice and cassava in the state. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ronke Sokefun, made this known when she spoke to newsmen in Abeokuta on Saturday. Sokefun said that the Malaysia Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry would be the arrow head for the projects… According to her, the projects are evidence that the partnership with the Malaysian government has started yielding dividends.
Food security/crisis
Irrigation would Guarantee Food Security
Mr Lemuel Quarshie Martey, 2012 National Best Farmer, has called for the intensification of irrigation to protect farmers from the vagaries of rain-fed agriculture. “Let us take another look at the vision of Kwame Nkrumah and use the volumes of water which freely flow into the sea and other sources of water to irrigate farmlands throughout the country which is a sustainable way of cultivating the food we desperately need throughout the year,” he said
Execute Projects to Specifications
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, has admonished contractors to always ensure that contracts awarded them are executed to specifications to ensure value for money. The project is being undertaken by the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP). The programme is an eight-year agricultural initiative that was inaugurated in 2009 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). It aims at reducing poverty and ensuring food security among rural households in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions, as well as five other districts in the Brong Ahafo region.
Reports/Articles
Local Institutions in Poverty Reduction and Welfare in Farm Households in Core Igbo States of Nigeria
EC Ogbonna, AC Onyedikachi, OC Kelechi
This study examined local institutions, poverty status and welfare of farm households in core Igbo culture area of Nigeria. A total of 290 farm households were surveyed to identify and analyze the benefits of members who belonged to local institutions. Quarterly data collection lasted from February 2008 to December 2011. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, savings inequality indices, and regression technique. Education level among heads of farm households was high. Area of farm lands owned by households varied between < 1.0 and 5.0 hectares. Members of farm households belonged to local institutions and made social and economic contributions.
Evaluating the Effect of Price and Non-price Policy Intervention on Rice Cultivation in Sierra Leone: A supply response model approach
AMH Conteh, X Yan - Agricultural Sciences, 2014
Rice is the main food for over 95 percent of the Sierra Leonean populace. It accounts for the largest portion of the agricultural GDP of the country. On the contrary, its cultivation has been shrinking over the past decades. Consequently, importation now becomes the main source of supplying the grain for local needs since its cultivation or production could no longer meet domestic request. The deterioration in the local cultivation of rice has had severe socio-economic implications such as higher consumer prices and balance of payment burden. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of price and other related nonprice policy intervention on rice cultivation in the country.
Nutrition Policy in Developing Countries
AK Reme
Increased knowledge of causes and consequences of malnutrition, and of the inherent potential of investing in improved nutrition, has contributed to renewed attention to nutrition in policy and on the development agenda. Nevertheless, malnutrition remains a significant development challenge in many developing countries, and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular appear to be lagging behind. This study seeks to gain insights into issues that pose as constraints for progress towards improved nutritional conditions and hamper desirable progress. The focus is thus on implementation dynamics experienced in nutrition policy at country and population level, and on developing countries with Mozambique as a case study.
Choice-making in Facilitation of Agricultural Innovation Platforms in Different Contexts in West Africa: experiences from Benin, Ghana and Mali
A van Paassen, L Klerkx, S Adjei-Nsiah… - Knowledge Management for …, 2013
Platforms provide an increased capacity for learning and coordinated innovation. The value of platforms for innovation is widely recognized, but more understanding is needed of the choices made in facilitation, to enable platforms to perform effectively within varying value chain contexts. This paper applies a comparative case study analysis of four innovation platforms in West Africa that aim to create institutional change for the benefit of smallholders… Concerns about the limited development impact of science-based, technology-driven development made agricultural development practitioners aware that innovation is not a linear research and development (R&D)-driven process, but rather depends on all actors involved in the production and use of the product as well as the constraining and enabling institutional…