Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Ghana to Become Self-sufficient in Rice by 2017
Mr Kofi Humado, Minister of Food and Agriculture has announced that government has allocated rice production targets to all regions in the country to become self-sufficient by 2017. He said Ghana had already become self-sufficient in yam, cassava and maize production and a breakthrough in rice production would therefore make the country a leading food producer for both domestic consumption and export to neighbouring countries. Mr Humado said this when he addressed the chiefs and people of the Likpe traditional area during their biennial Lekoryi festival celebration at Likpe- Mate in the Volta Region.
New Banana Disease in Africa Threatens Livelihoods of Farmers
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is warning countries to step up monitoring, reporting and prevention of one of the world’s most destructive banana diseases, Fusarium wilt, which recently spread from Asia to Africa and the Middle East, and which has the potential to affect countries in Latin America. The TR4 race of the disease, which is also known as Panama disease, is posing a serious threat to production and export of the popular fruit, with serious repercussions for the banana value chain and livelihoods, FAO said in an information brief.
Manasseh’s Folder: The Sad SADA Story of Northern Ghana’s Elite
The Akan Proverb teaches us that “Sε wo krom pεtε di wo nam a’ ebi ka,” to wit, if the vulture from your hometown eats your flesh, it leaves some. But the elite of Northern Ghana have once again demonstrated with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) that some merciless home-based vultures do not only finish the flesh but they also chew the bones as well.…the elite of Northern Ghana have been mainly responsible for the woes of the area. In fact, sitting in Accra and looking at northern Ghana this way is just like sitting in Europe and looking at Africa. Our continent is not miserable because something is wrong with the African.
Ghana: Radio Service On Climate Change Launched in Primukyeae
The German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Farm Radio International have launched a radio service program in Primukyeae a farming community in the Atebubu-Amantin district aimed at educating farmers on the effects of climate change.The programme which will run for forty weeks on a local radio station, Star 89.7 FM will take farmers through good and appropriate agricultural practices to enable them limit the adverse effects of climate change.While the programme is tailored to educate farmers within the district and beyond, Primukyeae and Lalai will serve as project intervention communities.
IFDC Shares Ideas With Chemico
Representatives of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) from Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, the Netherlands, and the United States, have commended Chemico Ghana Limited for producing enhanced agro-chemical products locally. The IFDC representatives who are participating in a five-day international workshop dubbed: “Fertilizer Value Chain-Supply System Management and Servicing Farmers’ Needs,” made the commendation during a working visit to Chemico's factory in Tema. Chemico Ghana Limited and Tema Chemicals Limited were both incorporated in 1976, as a result of the Investment Policy Decree, which aimed at putting the “commanding heights of the economy into the hands of Ghanaians.”
Scientists Plot to Defeat Cowpea Pests
Cowpea is considered the most important food grain legume in the dry savannas of tropical Africa where it is grown on more than 12.5 million hectares of land. Rich in quality protein, it has energy content almost equivalent to that of cereal grains, a good source of fodder for livestock and provides cash income. Nearly 200 million people in Africa consume the crop. However many biotic and abiotic factors greatly reduce cowpea productivity in traditional African farming systems. Cowpea is grown on about 12.5 million…hectares of Africa's land with about 200 million average numbers of people in Africa who consume cowpea.Among these constraints is the pod-borer, Maruca, which perennially damages cowpea pods …
It is a Criminal Offence to Tamper with Cocoa Weighing Scales
Cocoa Purchasing Clerks (P/Cs) have been cautioned to desist from exploiting farmers through the manipulation of their weighing scales. “It is a criminal offence to tamper with weighing scales with the intention to cheat farmers”, Nana Obutu Frimpong, Chairman of Adikrofo (sub-chiefs) in the Asamankese Traditional Area, gave the warning….Nana Obutu warned that any P/C caught cheating cocoa farmers by adjusting their scales would face the full rigours of the law.Nana Obutu, also the chief of Essaso was reacting to complaints received from some chief farmers in the area, that it had been the practice of some of the clerks in Akim Oda, Asamankese, Suhum and Kibi operational areas, all in the Eastern Region, to manipulate ….
Body Releases Facts about Biotech/GM Crops
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) 2013 Monday said 2013 was the 18th year of successful commercialization of biotech crops.Since its first commercialization in 1996, hectarage of biotech crops increased every single yearly with 12 years of double-digit growth rates, reflecting the confidence and trust of millions of risk-averse farmers around the world, in both developing and industrial countries… Biotech crop hectares increased by more than 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996, to over 175 million hectares in 2013. According to ISAAA, this makes biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times the reason they deliver benefits.
EU provides €700,000 Grant to FDA, Other Institutions for Capacity Building
The European Union has provided a grant of 700,000 Euros to four Ghanaian institutions under the Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling Programme (TRAQUE) for capacity development. The beneficiary institutions are the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the National Board for Small Scale Business and Industries (NBSSI), the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA)… The FDA will use the funding to improve its capabilities to effectively monitor markets for non-compliant food products, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and household chemicals and to inspect and authorize production facilities.
Eighteen Million Farmers Chose Biotech Crops
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) 2013 Report Monday said more than 18 million farmers in 27 countries planted biotech crops in 2013, reflecting a five million, or three percent, increase in global biotech crop hectarage….Global biotech crop hectarage has increased from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to over 175 million hectares in 2013. It said Accumulated hectarage of biotech crops planted worldwide to-date stands at 1.6 billion hectares or 150 percent of the total landmass of China, said Clive James, author of the report and ISAAA Founder and Chairman.
Tobacco Companies Turn to GMOs
Tobacco companies are making frantic efforts to win the fight against their products. Consequently, they have turned to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to get the toxins out of their raw material, tobacco, to make it less harmful for people who patronise their product. The Operations and Marketing Manager of the National Institute of Agricultural (NIAB) Innovation Farm in North Cambridge, UK, Ms Claire Pumfrey, told media fellows of the Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) on April 10 that studies were currently in progress to ensure that the toxins in the tobacco were either removed or drastically reduced. “Once that is done and we are successful, we believe that the harm caused to people who…
Let’s Unite & Fight Awam Food
It is exactly one week ago since we raised the alarm that genetically modified corn and soya from the USA are most certainly being sold freely to Ghanaians as “all natural” products. One would have expected the Food and Drugs Administration to be proactive and come out to say something about this. The silence is amazing. Thursday, 17th April, 2014 is the International Day of Peasant Struggle, commemorating the massacre of 19 peasants struggling for land and justice in Brazil in 1996. We intend to mark this day to hammer home our point. Every year on that day actions take place around the world in defence of peasants and small-scale farmers struggling for their rights.
Anti-GM Protesters are Misdirecting Energy
The leading anti-GM group, The Coalition for Farmers Rights and Advocacy Against GMOs (COFAM) continuously bombard the airwaves with their anger against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They have attacked the Plant Breeder’s Bill which is currently before Parliament. I believe strongly that their argument is misdirected. The misdirection of their argument is caused by three factors-limited understanding of what GMOs are, possible areas of deploying biotechnology and globalization. The first two issues are highly technical, but the third is economic and political. Right from the beginning, the protesters are not against all GMOs including GM foods, but they are simply against the introduction of GM foods...
Samia Nkrumah Calls for Ban on GM Foods
Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, Chairperson, Convention Peoples Party (CPP), has expressed reservation over attempts to introduce Genetically Modified Foods (GM) into the country. This, she said, would undermine and damage traditional farming practices and serve as unnecessary threat to public health, water resources, air and the natural environment. Addressing the media during a demonstration against GMO at the Kaneshie Market in Accra on Thursday, Ms Nkrumah appealed to Government to research more into agro-ecological agriculture including agro-forestry, green manure, cover crops, soil and water conservation, mulching and use of local seeds.
My Vision For Post-2015 Development Agenda
In the year 2000, the UN set the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were to be realized by 2015, which is less than two years from now. It is understood that only 3 out of the 8 lofty goals will have been achieved so far worldwide by 2015. With conflicts raging in Africa in places such as Congo DR, Sudan, Nigeria, Central African Republic, the attainment of the MDGs looks like a mirage and a wish for Utopia. Need we not consider the constraints which made their attainment difficult?...The MDGs seem unrealizable in the face of greater moves towards regional integration and creation of trading blocs.
Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea Project Meeting in Accra
Africa needs to embrace technological innovation to enable it produce more to feed its hungry people in the years ahead, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan said Monday. Africa, he said, should move from subsistence farming into commercial farming to enable farmers become more productive. For this reason the deputy minister said African scientists should bring on board global technology, which includes biotechnology that comes up with crop varieties that could stand the test of time and also meet Africa’s food challenges. Speaking at the 2014 Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea Project Review and Planning meeting in Accra, he called for trust between scientist and policy makers and…
Vegetable Farmers Advised to Form Groups
Vegetable farmers have been advised to form groups in their communities, to help address specific challenges confronting them. Formation of groups will go a long way towards enhancing productivity, Mr Freeman Madji, Executive Director of Abibiman Sankofa Cultural Movement (ASCUM) said. Mr Freeman also the Founder of ASCUM was addressing about 350 members of the Movement drawn from the Birim Central Municipality and the Birim South District, to discuss among other issues on how to get market for the produce of member-farmers, at Akim Oda. ASCUM has more than 2,500 members operating from six districts in the Eastern Region.
Rubber Farmers Told To Form Farm Groups
The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) Mr. Clement Humando has entreated rubber farmers across the country to form farm groups in order to access technological support from government to enhance their production. He said Ghana has a high potential of increasing rubber production as such the private sector must partner the Rubber Out-growers and Agents Association (ROAA) to increase production. This was contained in a in the Minister’s speech read on his behalf at the 11th Annual General Meeting of ROAA at Takoradi.
Cattle Farmers plead for Veterinary Officers
Members of the Ahanta West Co-operative Cattle Farmers Society on have appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to post agricultural extension workers and veterinary officers to the area to educate members on the maintenance and growth of their farms. The cattle farmers said they have been recording drastic reduction in the production of livestock due to an acute disease with high risk of mortality which had affected most cattle in the area. A statement signed by Mr Emmanuel Akortsu, Chairman of the society and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi, called for the setting up of a decentralized animal health system in the area to ensure efficiency and sustainability.
Researchers Aim to Improve Health of Children in Ghana
Minister of International Development awards $3.5 million to support project. A team led by Prof. Grace Marquis, of McGill University’s School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, will receive a grant of close to $3.5 million for an innovative project aimed at improving the health and household food security of infants and children in southeastern Ghana’s Upper Manya Krobo district. The funding was announced today by Senator Larry Smith, on behalf of the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, at an event held at McGill’s Macdonald Campus, in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Food Security/Crisis
Biotechnology Crucial to the Pursuit of Global Food Security
Biotech crops are essential but are not a panacea and adherence to good farming practices such as rotations and resistance management, are a must for biotech crops as they are for conventional crops. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) 2013 report said Monday. The report said a record 175.2 million hectares of biotech crops were grown globally in 2013, at an annual growth rate of 3%, up 5 million from 170 million hectares in 2012…. Millions of risk-averse farmers, both large and small, world-wide, have determined that the returns from planting biotech crops are high, hence repeat planting is virtually 100% which is the acid-test applied by farmers for judging the performance of…
Reports/Articles
Importance of Rice Research and Development in Rice Seed Policies
I from Nigeria - 2014
Seed is an important input in agriculture. Appropriate seed policy enables the supply of good varieties to farmers at a low cost. Thus, improved seed-sector functions, including seed subsidies, effective regulations, certifications, and efficient private-sector participation, receive significant attention. Relatively less attention, however, has been given to the suitability of varieties that various seed-sector policies try to disseminate. For countries like Nigeria, where agricultural research and development (R&D) has long been incapacitated, seed-sector policies may often have insufficient outcomes, not so much because of the efficiency of those policies but mostly because varieties being promoted are outdated (even though they are called improved varieties) or suitable only in certain environments but not in most of the other areas with diverse agroecological conditions.
Acceptability of Chicken Powder in Home Prepared Complementary Foods for Children in Ghana
AK Anderson - 2014
The persistent problem of childhood malnutrition and growth faltering in sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana despite food aid intervention programs, suggests rethinking of the content and mode of delivery of such food programs. While several food programs and formulations exist for the treatment and management of childhood malnutrition, most are neither culturally appropriate nor easily accessible to families at the household level. There is, therefore, a need for a food product that can be tailored to a particular culture and local food produce which provides the necessary macronutrients and micronutrients in adequate amount and is easy to use at the household level to prevent malnutrition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptability of incorporating chicken powder into the Ghanaian child’s everyday meal.
Risk Attitudes, Social Interactions and the Adoption of Genotyping in Dairy Production
X Yu, G Hailu, J Cao - 2014
Understanding the determinants of the adoption of technology has been of interest to economists (e.g., Feder, Just, and Zilberman, 1985; Foltz and Chang 2002; Barham et al. 2004). Of particular interest has been the role of risk attitudes and social interactions in technology adoption by firms (e.g., Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010; Liu, 2013;Manski, 1993; Foster and Rosenzweig, 1995; Baerenklau, 2005; Bandiera and Rasul, 2006). Risk attitudes and social interactions have important implication for the competitiveness of firms as the adoption of new technologies often have the potential to considerably enhance agricultural productivity. Empirical evidence, however, shows that adoption rates of new technologies are sub-optimally low (e.g., Foster and Rozensweig, 1995; Conley and Udry, 2010). The adoption of new technologies is made difficult by the uncertainty surrounding the unexpected consequences of the technology, which is inevitably associated with the use of any new technology
A Systems Thinking Approach to Address the Complexity of Agribusiness for Sustainable Development in Africa
KE Banson, NC Nguyen, OJH Bosch, TV Nguyen - … of the 57th Annual Meeting of the …, 2014African countries have comparative advantages in terms of land and relatively cheap labour cost compared to western countries in the production and export of primary commodities. However, there are many challenges such as sustainability issues, and the danger of “silo mentality” (in which fixing one problem “here” simply shifts the problem “there”) and “organizational myopia” agriculture sector. Since the democratic progresses of many African countries, there have been a number of interventions to overcome the challenges facing the agriculture industry but with little success. The problem still persists and many budgeted billions of dollars for the agriculture sector have already been spent. The agriculture industry is a complex system economically, socially, and environmentally thus dealing with problems in isolation fails to produce lasting results.
Policy Shift
S Kay - 2014
This policy brief takes seriously the call for a paradigm shift in favour of investment in agricultural alternatives by identifying a set of ten key policy changes that are required to support and promote these positive alternative investments. The approach adopted is both a normative one informed by prevailing human rights norms and an empirical one informed by pratical on the-ground examples of positive agricultural investments. In order to set the framework for such an analysis, four premises or starting points are outlined at the beginning. The brief ends with a discussion as to how these recommendations can feed into existing policy initiatives and regulatory tendencies around agricultural investment, most notably the ongoing discussion on responsible agricultural investment (rai) at the Committee on World Food Security.