Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Can the Private Sector Lead Agricultural Mechanization in Ghana? *NEW GSSP POLICY NOTE*
Increasing agricultural mechanization has long been of interest to many African countries. Constrained by the limited area that can be cultivated through the use of the hand hoe and its association with perceptions of primitiveness and drudgery, agricultural mechanization and large-scale farming have long been a part of the vision of modernizing agriculture in many African countries, including Ghana. Early state-led efforts that suffered from the usual state-associated implementation failures, combined with a number of other factors, such as lack of demand, discredited public efforts to mechanize agriculture in Africa. Such past efforts were rightly perceived as being supply-led. Recently, there has been growing demand to mechanize farm operations due to the urgency of intensifying agricultural production and expanding land under cultivation. Factors leading to this increased demand for mechanization include more frequent use of land, increasing non-farm opportunities that attract labor away from agriculture, and, consequently, increases in land to labor ratios (Diao et al., 2012). Unlike with the previous generation of mechanization programs, supply issues may now be the main constraint to successful mechanization in Ghana.
The Netherlands Supports Ghanaian Fruit and Vegetable Exporters
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) in collaboration with CBI, an agency of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands, has started an integrated Regional Programme to support exporters in the fruit and vegetable sector. The programme, which is being implemented in Ghana, Benin, Mali and Senegal, is to provide support, especially in the Ghanaian contest to the pineapple sector of the country as well as fruits, vegetable and natural ingredients. The event was to ensure that exporters appreciate the Global-Good Agricultural Practices Certification and to increase the level of knowledge on markets and commercial methods in the European Market. The programme follows the successful completion of the multi-year capacity building programme under the Business Support Organization Development Programme for ….
Vegetable Farmers in Northern Region Depend on Waste-water
Dr. Felix Akpabey, an officer in-charge of the Northern Regional Water Research Institute (WRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), over the weekend said about fifty-two percent of urban vegetable growers in the Northern Region depended on polluted water due to scarcity. “As a matter of fact, waste water is not fit for unrestricted irrigation, which according to international standards poses risk on agricultural workers, crop handlers and consumers,” he stated. Dr. Akpabey said this during a review seminar organized by CSIR-WRI in Tamale at the weekend. The one-day internal review seminar was aimed at sensitizing CSIR-WRI clientele and the public, especially, the scientific community on the activities of the Institute in the Northern region.
Cocoa Farmers Complain about Cheating Marketing Clerks
The District Manager of the Cocoa Merchant Company at Agona Duakwa in the Central Region, has warned marketing clerks to stop exploiting farmers through the manipulation of weighing scales. Mr. Randy Nkrumah, told Ghana News Agency in an interview at Duakwa, after a general meeting of marketing clerks from licensed cocoa buying companies and other chief farmers in the area. The meeting was aimed at preparing participants for the opening of the 2014/2015 cocoa season. It also sought to find solutions to complaints from some chief farmers, that some clerks are manipulating their weighing scales to cheat them. The District Manager pointed out that it is criminal offence for clerks to tamper with weighing scales, with the intention to cheat poor farmers. He said Ghana Standards Authority would not relent in its efforts to ….
Distribution of Inputs Not Fair - Cocoa Farmers
Cocoa farmers in the Ashanti Akim-South District are crying foul over the distribution of chemicals and other inputs under the Cocoa Disease and Pest Control Programme (CODAPEC). They claim there is lack of equity, openness and transparency in the way things are being done. They have therefore called for fairness in the implementation of the programme which was an intervention introduced by the COCOBOD to improve crop yield, to facilitate maximum yield. Mr. Suleiman Seidu, one of the aggrieved farmers at Juaso, told Ghana News Agency that he found it disheartening that for more than two years “my farm has not been sprayed”, while some of his colleagues have no problems getting assistance from CODAPEC. “They are having their farms regularly sprayed. Clearly, there cannot be any justification for such plain act of discrimination.”…
Major Maize Consortium to Withdraw Services if…
Authorities of Ghana’s leading maize production consortium, Masara N’ Arziki have served notice of withdrawing their services if the various district assemblies in their operational zones do not stop over taxing their members. They are unhappy with the exorbitant taxes levied on Masara N’ Arziki members farm produce per bag especially in the Sissala West and East districts of the Upper West Region. They insists the high taxes if not revised downwards will curtail Masara N’ Arziki’s quest to ambitiously extend its agribusiness in Northern Ghana to produce enough maize to feed the nation and for export. It is documented that MAFA paid GHC302,799,18 as taxation levy for withholding tax and on rent whilst GHC250, 000, 00 was paid to the district assemblies in the Tumu zone for the same purpose.
MoFA Starts Receiving 2014 Farmers Day Donations
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Wednesday received plastic packages from Qualiplast Limited towards this year's National Farmers' Day scheduled to take place in the Sefwi Wiawso town of Western Region. Ms. Dalia Akl, Marketing and Corporate Communication Manager of Qualiplast presented assorted plastic packs comprising coolers, watering cans and galloons, among others, to the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of crops, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, Chairman of the 2014 Farmers Day Planning Committee. Dr Alhassan expressed gratitude to the company for being the first to contribute towards the celebration, which would cost GH₵ 5 million, and urged public spirited individuals and corporate bodies to emulate the gesture to help give befitting prizes to the gallant Ghanaian farmers.
High Demand for Ghanaian Honey in Turkey
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) says individual companies in Turkey have shown interest in buying honey from Ghana, but the volumes cannot be met now. Mr. Stephen Normeshie, General Manager, GEPA said the Authority would organize the honey producers to train them on group marketing, to enable them to meet the demands of these companies. Mr. Normeshie, who was speaking on the sidelines of the 83rd Izmir international Fair in Turkey, said the Authority would also meet the producers to know their production challenges and see how to support them in that regard. The Izmir fair is aimed at offering businesses and investors across the globe, the opportunity to market their products to the international business community, especially those from Asian and European countries.
Producer Price Inflation rises to 47.4 per cent in July
The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) rate for July 2014 stands at 47.4 per cent, up from a revised 33.1 per cent recorded in June 2014 on the back of increasing cost in the manufacturing sector, the Government Statistician Dr. Philomena Nyarko said on Wednesday. The PPI measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services. The rate for July is the highest level since January 2010. “This rate indicates that between July 2013 and July 2014, the PPI increased by 47.4 per cent, representing a 14.3 percentage point increase in producer inflation relative to the rate recorded in June 2014 (33.1%),” she told a media conference.
Ghana Bans Tilapia Importation
All tilapia imports into Ghana have been banned with immediate effect. Government says it will no longer issue permits for the popular fish found on most Ghanaian menu. The enforcement unit of the fisheries Ministry will also begin tracking all fishing vessels and scan through cold stores nationwide to enforce the ban. Fisheries Minister Sherry Aryitey tells Joy News the government expects the new policy to stimulate growth in the local aqua-culture sector to create more than 50,000 jobs.
Sustainable Development: A Must Priority for Ghana
Most environmental organizations and some Ghanaian individuals have always wondered how Government sees and priorities the issue of Climate Change. Is it just another chance for a developing country to make some money out of the developed countries or are they really concerned about using funds to address developmental and adaptation measures? Looking at the possible effects of climate change on Africans and the Ghanaian, one will expect it to be high on national agenda. Agriculture and food security is threatened in our motherland. A country with rich agricultural heritage and rainfall compared to most Sub-Saharan countries imports food from neighboring countries which are near desert. Ghana, a net exporter of food items some few years back, is now a net importer of food items that can easily be produced in the country.
Skills Upgrade Training Held for Horticulturists
A series of skills training for operators in the horticultural supply chain are being held at the Pack-House at Vakpo-New Adomi, funded by the African Development Bank. The trainings, which are in modules, cover areas such as propagation, transplanting, seed quality, fumigation, water supply, plant care, harvesting techniques and marketing. Agri-Impact Consult, an Accra-based international private agri-business service provider, is undertaking the trainings with support from Skill Development Fund (SDF), to build competencies of skilled workers. Dan Acquaye, Chief Executive of Agri-Impact, speaking at the close of training of a mainly women’s group of vegetable marketers and croppers, said there was the need for horticultural production to take advantage of the market opportunities.
Ghana Garden and Flower Show Underway in Accra
The second Ghana garden and flower show opened in Accra to provide awareness for the beautification of the country, enhance its green space and make it a pleasant habitat for the citizens. The goal of the show is also to create awareness about the commercial and psychological benefits of urban beautification and gardening, while contributing to make the country a compelling investment and tourism destination. Mr. Hans Docter, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo, expressed surprise at the lack of interest and appreciation of majority of Ghanaians regarding gardening and floriculture. He attributed this to the lack of knowledge of the business opportunities that the industry presents. He said the sector currently contributes heavily to the Gross Domestic Product of the….
Re-fixing the Ghanaian economy: The Role of Agribusiness
Agribusiness is a management discipline that blends business management principles such as planning, controlling, organizing, budgeting among others with the science of agriculture to produce goods and services to profitably satisfy the needs of consumers. Until recently, it was only the University of Ghana that train competences in agribusiness management in Ghana…At policy level, agribusiness competences are useful in directing government expenditure towards profitable agricultural investments to maximize returns for the state… The government of Ghana, as a matter of strategy, has to integrate the value chain approach into the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority’s food crop module. This can be done by engaging able agribusiness investors in private-public partnerships to as it were improvise the agribusiness cluster of…
Articles/Reports
Recommendations from a Meeting on Health Implications of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
G Amofah - Ghana Medical Journal, 2014
The Ghana Public Health Association organized a scientific seminar to examine the introduction of genetically modified organisms into public use and the and the health consequences. The seminar was driven by current public debate on the subject. The seminar identified some of the advantages of the GMO and the health concerns. It is clear that there is the need to enhance local capacity to research the introduction and use of GMOs; to put in place appropriate regulatory mechanisms including particularly the labeling of GMO products and post-marketing surveillance for possible negative health consequences in the long term. Furthermore the appropriate state agency should put in place advocacy strategies to keep the public informed about GMOs.
Adoption Intensity of Soil and Water Conservation Practices by Smallholders: Evidence from Northern Ghana
PK Nkegbe, B Shankar - Bio-based and Applied Economics, 2014
Soil and water conservation practices are being promoted in Ghana as a way of sustainably managing the environment to support agricultural production. Despite the important role the adoption of the practices plays in conserving the environment, very few studies have been conducted to analyze the factors influencing their intensive adoption. This study analyses the determinants of intensity of adoption of soil and water conservation practices using data from a cross-section of smallholder producers in Northern Ghana. Count data models are used for the analysis. The empirical results show that access to information, social capital, per capita landholding and wealth play an important role in smallholder producers’ decision to intensively adopt soil and water conservation practices.
Identifying Agricultural Expenditures within the Public Financial Accounts and Coding System in Ghana
E Overestimated - 2014
This paper is part of four country case studies that take a detailed look at public expenditures in agriculture, and at how the data on expenditures are captured in government financial and budget accounts. The objective of these studies is to unpack the black box of public expenditure statistics reported in various cross-country datasets, and ultimately to enable the use of existing government accounts to identify levels and compositions of government agriculture expenditures, with better understanding of what these data are in fact accounting for… This paper analyzes how GAE may be consistently identified and aggregated within the new public financial management and accounting system to generate more reliable information on…
Agricultural extension in eastern DR Congo: Does Gender Matter?
I Lambrecht, B Vanlauwe, M Maertens, N IITA - 2014
Agricultural extension programs often evaluate their gender strategy by the proportion of female participants. However, female participation is not necessarily conducive for reaching program objectives. We analyze whether participation of female farmers in an agricultural extension program in South-Kivu increases adoption of three technologies: improved legume varieties, row planting, and mineral fertilizer. Joint male and female program participation leads to the highest adoption rates. Female participation is not conducive for the adoption of capital-intensive technologies while it is for (female) labor-intensive technologies. Participation of female-headed households is more effective for technology adoption than participation of female farmers in male-headed households.
Unit One: The Current Aid Framework: Agriculture and Rural Development Investments
K Readings
This unit reviews the international context to, and modalities of, investment in the agricultural and rural development sectors. It considers the nature and role of projects in comparison to development assistance provided as direct budgetary support. In this unit we also consider the important linkages between development in the agricultural sector, economic growth and poverty reduction. This provides the rationale for our focus on agricultural and rural investment. In the third and final section we try to build on the two previous sections by exploring how agricultural and rural development can contribute to both national and international objectives for development and poverty reduction.
Factors Affecting Maize Production In Oluyole Local Government Area, Oyo State
IO Oyewo, R MO, AAA Adesope, AB Adio - Scientia, 2014
Agriculture has been observed to be one of the major sources of income to average Nigerian farmers, but there is a problem militating against increase in productivity and sustainable farm practices. The research therefore undertakes the factors affecting maize production among farmers in Oluyole local government area of Oyo state using descriptive, frequency table and, Ordinary Least Square model to estimate the determinant of the impact of agricultural practices on the farmers output A multistage sampling technique was used to select 99 farmers in the study area, it was revealed that 58.6 percent of the farmers were male, and large percentage (76.8%) of the respondent had one form of formal education, 51.5% makes use of hired labour, the output analysis showed that 53.4% of the farmers produce between 6-10 bags (50kg/bag) of…
Determinants of Technical Efficiency among Rice Farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria
OE Ataboh, JC Umeh, PT Tsue - Journal of Agriculture and Sustainability, 2014
The study used a stochastic production frontier analysis to analyze the determinants of technical efficiency among rice farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 288 rice farmers in Kogi State through a well-structured questionnaire. The study noted that farm size, seed and fertilizer were the most important factors increasing rice productivity. Also, the technical efficiency of rice farmers varied due to the presence of technical inefficiency with the mean efficiency value of 0.54 implying that about 46% of rice output is lost due to inefficiency on the part of farmers. Variables such as age (-0.05), household size (-2.38), and the use of improved variety (-0.10) caused an increase in technical efficiency of farmers. The productivity of the factors could be improved by expanding the farmsize, increasing the…