Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
SADA scandal: Don’t pass premature judgment – Minister
The Minister of State in-charge of Development Authorities at the Office of the President Dr Ahmed Mustapha says it is premature to pass judgement at officials of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). The 2012 Auditor General’s report has revealed financial malfeasance involving top officials at SADA resulting in huge financial losses.Speaking on Point Blank on Eyewitness News, Dr. Mustapha described as “sad” for such allegations to be made against him and some other officials of SADA when management of the authority is “in the process of responding to a query that has come up of observations made by the audit team.” He urged the media and the general public to segregate the issues raised in the Auditor General’s report before passing judgement on SADA officials.
Ghana’s Economy Records 7.1 % Growth for 2013
Revised GDP estimates for 2013 showed a growth in the economy of about 7.1 percent. This is according to latest figures released by the Ghana Statistical service. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the estimate of the total value of final goods and services produced in the country during a given period. The last quarter of the 2013 recorded a GDP growth of 4.9%.... The Agricultural sector’s contribution to GDP continued to decline from 23 percent in 2012 to 22 percent in 2013…. Year-on-Year performance of Activities in the Agriculture Sector in the 4th quarter of 2013 showed strong growth in fishing it was 9.6%, crops and cocoa, 6.0%; of which cocoa was 1.7%; and livestock, 5.2%.
National Service Personnel Educate Farmers on Effects of Galamsey
Members of the National Service Personnel Association at COCOBOD (NASPAC), have educated cocoa farmers at Kwabeng in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region, over the negative effects of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey. Speaking on the theme Stop Galamsey And Save Our Farmland, Mr Bernard Nketia Oduro, President of NASPAC, entreated cocoa farmers to protect their cocoa trees, and stop giving their farm lands to illegal miners. He said cocoa, has since independence, become Ghana’s financial backbone with many communities benefitting from its revenue in terms of social infrastructure. Revenue from cocoa is being used to construct roads, schools, markets, pipe borne water, electricity and a host of other development projects, he said. He disclosed that such positive attributes from cocoa could not be related to galamsey.
Farmers Urged to Adapt New Trends in Farming
The Minister for Upper West Region, Mr Bede Ziedeng, has urged farmers in the region to adapt to new trends in farming in order to increase their yields. He said farmers, particularly those in the region who remained conservative with farming methods and practices, risked working in vain when new trends could boost their yields and make their toil more profitable. According to him, authorities of a recently installed rice mill project in the region had threatened to stop buying rice products from farmers in the region unless they could produce high quantities that make economic sense to the milling plant.
Farmer Societies Educated on Child Labour
Ninety four farmer societies in the Bibiani and Sefwi Wiawso districts in the Western Region have been educated on ways to prevent child labour, under the Danida Business Project. The three-year project which is being implemented by IBIS, a non-governmental organisation, and Armajaro Ghana Limited has helped 152 young people to enrol in various vocational institution. Under the same project, capacities of 30 Community Child Protection Communities (CCPC) in developing action plans have also been built. The IBIS Programme Director, Prosper Kwasi Nyavor, said this when a delegation from Denmark, led by the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Miss Margaret Thompson, visited some of the farmers at Kwamekrom.
Commercial Vegetable Farming in Ghana Gets €4m Boost
Richard is a young farmer – too young perhaps to set out establishing a vegetable farm in Dobidi in the Eastern region. How can a third year University student have the mind to do a labour intensive, capital-required business like that? Yet, propelled by the prospects of mouth-watering profit, he managed to get the chiefs in the area to lease out some acres of land, assembled hardworking farmers to work on it with the promise of splitting the profit. He started in 2013 with Ghc500 in the first season. He made Ghc 6,500 out of this. The Dutch government is in town to help the private sector and companies along the vegetable production chain revolutionize vegetable farming in Ghana.
Ghana: Stop Importing Rice, Hunger and Starvation Is the Conclusion
The rice that is produced in the country is way beyond the pocket of the average consumer and is of poor quality. Therefore, what comes in as imports only augment our effort. If rice production in the country is done at a cheaper cost and sold competitively on the market there is no way any sensible person will buy imported rice. For some people it's fine if local producers bring their rice to the market at much higher price than imported ones, because it supports local industry. That may well be when those who have the purchasing power to buy continue to do so. On the other hand, what about those who will be priced out of the market? They will go to their second best meaning they will now be consuming, for example, maize that should have been available for others. So it becomes a regression. When you stop the importation of rice it is not…
African Agribusiness is Set for a Huge Leap
African agribusiness is set for a huge leap, according to a World Bank report…Imagine for a moment the impact of a $1 trillion African agribusiness sector on the lives of Africans. Currently worth about $313 billion, the sector already provides jobs for 70% of the poorest people on the continent. An increase greater than threefold will bring jobs to lift millions out of poverty; most stomachs will be filled with nutritious meals; Africa’s agricultural exports will dominate global markets; and the continent’s farmers, who have borne the brunt of harsh economic conditions, will get a new lease of life as they become competitive in the global marketplace. This is not an unreachable dreamland; a World Bank report published…
Ethical and Moral Concerns of Climate Change
Crop failures, water stress, very high and humid temperatures, excessive floods, severe and prolonged droughts, coastal erosion, erratic rainfall patterns, rising sea levels are some manifestations of climate change. All these have serious implications for food and nutrition, energy security, livelihoods, health and education, felt daily in homes across the globe, for which reason issues of climate change continue to be topical globally. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) obliges all countries to take specific steps to reduce the known causes of Climate Change, and its effects under the Kyoto Protocol and other similar instruments. The main culprit of climate change is the Emission of Green House Gases (GHG)-carbon dioxide, that produces the phenomenon known as global warming.
Reports/Articles
Farmers’ Preferences for Climate-Smart Agriculture
G Taneja, BD Pal, PK Joshi, PK Aggarwal, NK Tyagi - 2014
This study was undertaken to assess farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various climate-smart interventions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The research outputs will be helpful in integrating farmers’ choices with government programs in the selected regions. The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) was selected because it is highly vulnerable to climate change, which may adversely affect the sustainability of the rice-wheat production system and the food security of the region. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and improve the efficiency of the rice-wheat-based production system. CSA requires a complete package of practices to achieve the desired objectives, but adoption is largely dependent on farmers’ preferences and their capacity and WTP.
Decentralizing Agricultural Public Expenditures
T Mogues, K Omusu-Baah - 2014
This paper provides an exploratory analysis that highlights the implications of a new stage in the implementation of decentralization reforms in Ghana on agricultural service delivery. These recent developments begun in 2011, and as described at greater length in this paper, devolve certain categories of public funds for agriculture and selected other sectors to the district level, whereas previously these funds were channeled through the central sectoral ministries, such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. This paper offers insights into the current status of agricultural expenditure decentralization and draws out the likely implications of this stage in the decentralization process for agricultural service delivery and national strategies. It describes the newest and still evolving state of decentralization of agricultural services and funds and compares current conditions to those that prevailed before the recent reforms were initiated in 2011….
Tsetse/trypanosomosis Challenges and Rural Poverty in Africa: Implications OF food for Security and MDG1
RA Oluwafemi - Research Journal of Agriculture and Environmental …, 2014
Tsetse-borne trypanosomosis occurs only in Africa south of the Sahara where there are tsetse flies. Animals become sick with trypanosomosis after they are bitten by infected tsetse flies. The disease directly constrained the productivity of cattle, sheep and goats by reducing birth rates, increasing abortion and mortality rates among others. The negative effects of this situation on the productivity, economic growth, food security, poverty reduction and the attainment of the first Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 were reviewed. Quite a number of international aid institutions have made significant contributions towards Africa’ development, yet Africa is still far from achieving food and nutrition security. The success of food security and poverty alleviation programmes in sub-Saharan Africa has often been hindered by problems of wrong policy implementations and other avoidable constraints. This paper discusses past and present approaches towards tsetse flies and animal trypanosomosis control.