Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Ghana Loses Gh₵61.5 Million of Cocoa Money
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has come under fire for taking poor investment decisions that have denied the country the much needed foreign exchange in high demand. COCOBOD has been accused of selling the country’s entire cocoa exports in forward contracts in the futures market, departing from its normal practice of apportioning sales in the spot and futures market. The graphic business has gathered that COCOBOD has traditionally sold 60 per cent of the country’s cocoa exports in the futures market in forward contracts and 40 per cent on the spot price. However, last year, COCOBOD sold Ghana’s entire cocoa exports in forward contract pegged at US$2,500 per tonne, an assertion COCOBOD has denied.
KNUST Students Help to Save Cocoa Industry
Students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) are partnering two international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in designing a deliberate policy to encourage the youth to go into the production and distribution of cocoa to save the industry from imminent collapse. The move is a response to a research which indicates that most cocoa farmers are ageing and the youth are less motivated to take over. The student volunteers, mostly from the agricultural department of the university under the code name: 'Cocoa Life Ambassadors,' are into community education cocoa reading clubs and vacation work on farms. They are also helping to promote involvement of the youth in the cocoa supply…
Government Worried About Large-scale Importation of Food
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Clement Humado says the large-scale importation of food into the country is a major concern for government. According to him, the massive importation of food was depleting Ghana’s scarce foreign reserves, thereby widening its trade deficit. Climate change, low investment into the agricultural sector and the general notion of Ghanaians towards farming, he said, were responsible for the country’s low performance in agriculture over the years. This, according to him, had led to large-scale importation of food into the country to complement those produced locally. Mr. Humado, in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan…
Traders Kick against Ban of Inland Rice Importation
Members of the Greater Accra Market Association, at the weekend appealed to the President, to reconsider the ban on inland importation of rice, which they said is creating a monopoly for foreign importers of the commodity. Madam Rosemary Laryea, Public Relations Officer of the Association, said the ban has led to harsh economic difficulties facing members, including locked up capital in foreign countries as well as unpaid loans to the banks…. “The ban has led to the rise in the prices of the commodity, which is one of the major staple of Ghanaians,” she said.
Agorve Residents Kick against Imposition of Rice Production
Residents of Agorve in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region are kicking against plans by government to impose rice production on them. The residents claim they do not have the necessary funding to venture into rice cultivation. According to them they are comfortable with the sugarcane farming which they believe is more profitable than rice production. The insist the sugarcane farming is their only source livelihood… They say any attempt to take the lands away for rice cultivation will be resisted, adding they have to be consulted on any decision government intends to take.
Kasapreko to Cultivate Herbal Plantation
Plans are underway by Kasapreko Company Limited to cultivate a herbal plantation to ensure that raw materials needed for the manufacture of its products are grown here. This is to enable the company to have access to the required herbal plants with the requisite medicinal values to produce its beverages, the Chief Executive Officer of KCL, Dr Kwabena Adjei, disclosed this when the company introduced three new alcoholic products onto the Ghanaian market as part of its plan to boost its operations. The new products are Barman Herbal Gin, Classic Magarita Lime and K20 Whisky.
Timber: Ghana Loses GH¢50m
Ghana has lost an estimated GH¢ 50 million for not reviewing upwards stumpage fees of natural forest timber species for the past 11 years. It is estimated that the country loses an average of GH¢ 5 million annually for not increasing the fees. The last time the fees were reviewed was in July 2003. Timber companies pay GH¢ 25 as stumpage fee for Odum and sell it for about €800 in countries like Germany. Information gathered by The Finder indicates that powerful timber merchants in Ghana allegedly lobby people who have influence on the Forestry Commission (FC) to ensure that the Commission did not increase stumpage fees of natural forest timber species for the past 11 years.
Trade Minister Charges GSA, Others to Ensure Improved Products
The Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI) has tasked the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and agencies under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to team up and address challenges affecting the standards of goods produced locally. Mr Haruna Iddrisu said recent reports received by the ministry revealed that products from Ghana were not accepted on the European market because the country was unable to meet minimal technical requirements and regulations. Addressing a national forum on technical regulations and standards in Accra yesterday, Mr Iddrisu said the report imposed compelling obligations on the GSA and FDA, in particular, to improve on the standard of goods produced
FYPD Warned Against GM Food Technology
There is no GM technology on the market that leads to the production of seeds that will not germinate. In the case of hybrid seed, farmers cannot save seeds that emerge from the high yielding hybrid crop for next planting due to the fact that the planting of such seeds will result in germination all right but the growth and eventual production are poor due to the ‘random mixing and combination’ of genes back to the original inbred lines or original parents with an accompanying loss of vigour. The farmer MUST purchase new hybrid seed every year. Ghana has produced hybrid maize seed since 1997. These are ‘Dada-ba’, ‘CIDA-ba’ and ‘Mama-ba’. ‘CIDA-ba’ and ‘Dada-ba’ are no longer in circulation. In 2013, CSIR released a more high....
Ghanaian Farmers To Attend Famers Union Confab In Mexico
The National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO) secretariat, is leading a 13 member Ghanaian delegation to the National Farmers Union (NFU) convention. The convention is slated for March 8 -11, 2014 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The NFU convention is an organization dedicated to family farm agriculture, cooperative businesses, and rural communities, across the world to gather, share ideas, interacts with insightful speakers in discussion panel, on diverse means to developing agriculture in both developed and developing countries. The theme for 2014 convention is ‘Spicing up family agriculture’.
Food Security/Crisis
Project to Improve Food Security Launched
A $70-million project aimed at improving food security and food sustainability in Africa has been launched in Accra. The project, which would promote policies and capacity-building programmes, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Known as the Africa Lead II (AL II) the five-year project is intended to support farmers to sustain the economy of their countries to reduce poverty and hunger. The project, which is in its second phase, is an initiative of President Barack Obama to scale up food security in Africa. Africa Lead seeks to ensure that there are leaders trained to maintain a critical mass of food security. The leaders are trained to drive agriculture-led development by leading…
Reports/Articles
Do Property Rights and Contract Farming Matter for Rural Development? Evidence from a Large-scale Investment in Ghana
S Väth, M Kirk - 2014
With the rising demand for agricultural land, land deals must be designed to benefit not only the investors but also the local population. This paper looks at two ways this might be done for farmers in the vicinity of a large-scale oil palm investment in Ghana: contract farming and secure property rights to land. We compare farmers to whom outgrower contracts were allocated, in a quasi-natural experiment, with independent oil palm growers. We find that property rights have a significantly positive effect on households’ agricultural income, profit per acre, and perceived future security, but that while contract farming has a significantly positive effect on households’ aggregated assets and perceived future security, its effect on agricultural income and profit per acre is significantly negative because of effort substitution, since outgrowers have a higher probability of engaging in non-farm business.
Gender and Access to Agricultural Resources by Smallholder Farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana
JN Anaglo, SD Boateng, CA Boateng - Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
Men and women continue to have differential access to agricultural resources despite the seemingly equal roles they play in agriculture in many developing countries. The study sought to determine the relationship between gender and access to agricultural resources in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select 400 farmers disaggregated into men and women from four districts in the region. Statistically significant differences were observed between gender and access to land, labour, inputs and radio, extension agents and input suppliers (p<0.05) while there was no significant difference between gender and access to credit (p>0.05) even though women also have more access to credit than men…extension agents should endeavour to educate smallholders on how to access information through electronic platforms and also make them seek more information from input suppliers as the current situation demands.
Cocoyam (Corms and Cormels) - An Underexploited Food and Feed Resource
PG Owusu-Darko, A Paterson, EL Omenyo - Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and …, 2014
Cocoyams (old-taro: Colocasia esculenta; new- tannia: Xanthosoma sagittifolium) yield corms as root crops produced in regions of tropical and sub-tropical developing countries. In certain countries such as Ghana, there are surpluses in production but deficits in cereals. Cocoyams are used in a range of indigenous foods. Post-harvest losses are high due to mechanical damage of corms during harvest and microbial attacks on such damaged corms during storage. Cocoyams contain, on average, 25% starch (wet weight basis) with A-type structures characterized by small granule size (<1.5 µm). Non-starch polysaccharides in cocoyams confer gummy properties to the starch. However, mechanical effects of raphide - crystals of calcium oxalate and other components - produce irritation when raw corm tissue is ingested resulting in several levels of discomfort. With appropriate processing, cocoyams could be a rich source of starch for food and industrial applications and corms have potential for new product development.
Consumer's Food Shopping Choice in Ghana: Supermarket or Traditional Outlets?
T Meng①a, WJ Florkowskib, DB Sarpongc… - Food demand, diet, 2014
Diet-related chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have attracted a lot of attention. Food retail outlets play a significant role in affecting consumers’ diet-related health and nutrition by the foods they sell and prices they charge. This study assessed the relative importance of different food retail outlets, identified the socio-demographic profiles of consumers associated with shopping in each retail format, and then illustrated how the food retail outlet choices might affect consumers’ diet and nutrition, using the surveyed data set collected in 2011 from three big cities in Ghana (Accra, Tamale, and Takoradi).
Fertilizer Use among Cocoa Farmers in Ghana: The Case Of Sefwi Wiawso District
I Nunoo, BN Frimpong, FK Frimpong - International Journal of Environment, 2014
This study analyses factors that influence fertilizer use among cocoa farmers in the Sefwi Wiawso District in the Western Region, Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 200 cocoa farmers in the district. Descriptive statistics and ordinary least square regression analysis were used to analyse data collected. The results revealed that majority of the cocoa farmers were males and are getting old. Also farm size and price of fertilizer were significant factors affecting fertilizer use among cocoa farmers in the Sefwi Wiawso District in the Western Region. Moreover 74.5 percent farmers do not use fertilizer whereas 25.5 percent use fertilizer on their cocoa farms. The study recommends that Ghana government should further subsidize the price of fertilizer to make fertilizer more affordable to small holder cocoa farmers and also adopt strategies that hedge against price risk. In addition, illiterate farmers should be encouraged to undergo adult literacy programmes. Rural development policies should think about the importance of improving small-scale farmers‟ access to credit market…
Proximate Composition and Nutritive Value of Leafy Vegetables Consumed in Northern Côte D’Ivoire
O Patricia, L Zoue, RM Megnanou, R Doue, S Niamke - European Scientific Journal, 2014
In tropical Africa, leafy vegetables are traditionally cooked and eaten as a relish together with a starchy staple food. Nevertheless, scientific report on their nutritive potential is scanty. In order to contribute to their wider utilization and valorization, leafy vegetables consumed in Northern Côte d’Ivoire (Amaranthus hybridus, Andasonia digitata, Ceiba patendra, Hibiscus sabdarif a and Vigna unguiculata) have focused our attention. The physicochemical and nutritive properties of these leafy vegetables were investigated and the results obtained were as follow: moisture (69.93 - 87.40%), crude proteins (13.12 - 22.26%), ... The studied leafy vegetables highlighted antioxidant activity varying from 69.05 to 80.21%. All these results indicate that the studied leafy vegetables if consume in sufficient amount would contribute greatly to the nutritional requirement for human health and to the food security of Ivorian population.