Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Kufuor To Deliver Keynote Address On World Food Day
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will tomorrow be the keynote speakers at this year’s World Food Day in Rome. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said this year’s celebration on the theme “Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth”, seeks to stress in particular, the role of family farming in eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition and achieving sustainable development. A statement issued by the FAO and copied to the Ghana News Agency yesterday said the Committee on World Food Security would convene at the FAO headquarters near the Circus Maximus, from October 13-18, to discuss policies in relation to food losses and waste, and how sustainable fisheries could support food security and nutrition.
In lead-up to World Food Day, Canadian Hunger Foundation Launches $19 Million Project to Strengthen Food Security in Northern Ghana
The Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) launched a $19 million project today that will strengthen poor rural communities in Northern Ghana by increasing and diversifying what is produced on farms, building on existing sources of income, and establishing new income opportunities. Farming families will also be supported to become more resilient to climate change and to access better prices for their pro" For over fifty years now CHF has helped farmers to increase their access to the nutritious food they need, while also diversifying their incomes," says Stewart Hardacre, President and CEO of the Canadian Hunger Foundation.
Ghana: 34th World Food Day Observed in Accra
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture is discussing with the Central Bank on how to provide a mechanism to help mitigate the risk of lending to farmers. The mechanism is also expected to use tax incentives to galvanize banks to lend more to primary producers in the agricultural value chain. The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Fifi Fiavi kwetey, who made these known on the occasion of this year's World Food Day in Accra, yesterday, noted that the ease of access to loans by farmers would positively impact on their productivity and improve their lot…."As the ministry works hard to find ways to improve agricultural financing, it is imperative for famers to also develop the discipline to honors their financial obligations by way of repaying bank loans," he added
Parliamentarians Cautioned Against Plant Breeders Bill
Mr. Jason Tutu, Communications Lead of Food Sovereignty of Ghana, a food advocacy group, on Wednesday called on parliamentarians to ponder the threat the Plant Breeders Bill (PBB) would bring to the country. He therefore tasked them to consider the major threat the bill poses on the environment, health, biodiversity, national security and the sovereignty of the people. Mr. Tutu made the call in a speech to mark World Food Day, which fell on October, 15. He alleged that the bill was smuggled to parliament “by unseen hands and particularly, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, known by its French acronym-Union Internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales.
NGO Launches Programme on Environment
Ghana’s REDD+ programme has been commended for attaining some achievements since its inception in September. Professor Mrs. Esi Awuah, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), made the commendation during a durbar organized by the National REDD+ Secretariat under the auspices of Forestry Commission (FC). The programme on the theme “Reducing forest loss and climate change impacts through REDD+; our collective responsibility”…The purpose “is to sell REDD+ to the Ghanaian populace, drawing attention to unsustainable land-use practices leading to deforestation and forest degradation, and their negative impacts including global warming and loss of livelihood opportunities”…“REDD+ is an acronym for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.
Peasant Farmers ‘Robbed’
Peasant farmers are being shortchanged by businessmen they (peasant farmers) term ‘24-hour farmers’, who purchase subsidized fertilizer from the government and re-sell to the peasant farmers at exorbitant prices. “There are some people who claim they are farmers but they are not farmers at all; they are ‘24-hour’ farmers. They are businessmen who go and buy the fertilizers when they are released by the government. They then send them across the country and sell them and make more money. “So the farmers are waiting for subsidized fertilizers that never come,” Abdul-Rahman Mohammed, National President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has said.
Government Urged to Address Challenges in Agricultural Sector
The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, on Wednesday commemorated the 10th Anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with the call on government to address the challenges in the Agricultural sector. Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana. The overall goal of CAADP is to help African countries reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculture-led development, which eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and food insecurity, and enables expansion of exports. The programme endorsed at the African Union Heads of State Summit as a New Partnership for Africa’s Development programme in July 2003 is a growth-oriented agricultural development agenda aimed at increasing agriculture growth rates to six percent per year to….
Ghana Commemorates International Day of Rural Women
Shea Network Ghana (SNG), a civil society organization, has condemned the destruction of shea trees for charcoal, plantation crops, construction and development as farm lands. This was contained in a press statement issued by SNG signed by its Coordinator, Mr. Zakaria Iddi and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Wednesday to commemorate the United Nations International Day of Rural Women… The statement said “The open destruction of non- timber forest species, including the shea trees, otherwise known as economic tree of the north ,if not curtailed, would affect the future income security of rural women in the north.” It said the destruction of the shea trees was a major challenge affecting the shea industry in the country.
Exporters Need Long-term Financing
The General Manager of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Mr. Stephen Normeshie, has appealed to banks and other financial institutions to extend long-term financing to exporters to enable them to make meaningful impact on their businesses. Mr. Normeshie, who was speaking in Accra, said although several banks in the country had dedicated funds to support export businesses, most of the funds were short term, and not the medium- to long-term financing the exporters desired. “There are other banks that are turning to exports and are collaborating with the GEPA to support exporters. But the only challenge is that they are not ready to give them long-term support, especially for the agricultural sector,” he said. The GEPA general manager made the remarks when he received a cheque for GH¢12,000 from Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd to support the 24th National Awards for Exports Achievement, slated for October 18.
Ghanaians Advised to Preserve Biodiversity
Professor Peter Kwapong, an Entomologist at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has advised Ghanaians to change their attitude towards the environment, to conserve biodiversity for national food security. He emphasized that fruits and seeds served many purposes in the lives of man and in the economies of countries, and proper management of pollinators (animals whose activities perform the eco-system of pollination) would improve on food productivity. Pollination is the reproduction in flowering plants, through the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma. Prof. Kwapong, who is the National Coordinator of the Global Pollination Project-Ghana, gave the advice at a media training workshop on the Project at Dumasua, in the Sunyani West District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.
Efforts by Government to Transform Agriculture Sector
Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, Minister of Agriculture, on Thursday said the Vea and Tono Irrigation dams in the Upper East Region would soon see massive rehabilitation and restructuring. Mr. Kwetey said the plan was part of efforts by government to transform the agricultural sector to help address food security and improve livelihoods of the people. He said the government was going to do that in collaboration with the World Bank and USAID.…The Minister indicated that the project’s objective of improving livelihoods for small holder farm families was in tandem with the country’s effort at addressing food insecurity and poverty and added that the move was beginning to receive the needed results.
Reports/Article
Farmer Based Organizations in Northern Region of Ghana Intention to Adopt GM Crop: Empirical Application of Theory of Planned Behaviour
Z HUDU - 2014
Following the passage of Ghana Biosafety Act, 2011, (Act, 831) and the Plant Breeders’ Protection Bills being currently under consideration stage in Parliament, there has been intense debate in many media platforms, on the safety and appropriateness of applying GMO technology in commercial agriculture. As such a lot of information is being chained out in the public domain with potential effect on farmers’ prospective adoption decision. This paper presents findings of a study investigating factors predicting farmers’ adoption intention from a survey of 305 members of Farmer Based Organizations in Northern Region of Ghana. A probit regression analysis was used in identifying factors which significantly predict farmers’ adoption decision. The study found more than two–third of the farmers…
Fungi Associated with the Postharvest Fungal Deterioration of Shea Nuts and Kernels
DO Esiegbuya, JI Osagie, FI Okungbowa… - 2014
The preliminary investigation into the postharvest fungal deterioration of Shea nuts and kernels with the aim to investigate and assess the impact of the fungi on the postharvest deterioration of Shea nuts and stored Shea kernels revealed four types of postharvest deterioration which are nut cracks, kernels discoloration, nuts discoloration and kernel deterioration. The major causes of the postharvest deterioration of Shea nuts are mainly as a result of cracks in the nut, insect’s larvae and microorganisms. The microorganisms isolated from the postharvest fungal deterioration of Shea kernels using the serial plate dilution techniques, revealed the presence of four genera of microorganisms such as Aspergillus, Mucor Phoma and Fusarium spp while two genera of microorganisms namely…
An Assessment of the Predictors of the Dynamics in the Arable Production Per Capita Index, the Arable Production and Permanent Cropland and Forest Area Based on Structural Equation Models
ET Epule, CR Bryant, C Akkari, MA Sarr, C Peng - SpringerPlus, 2014
This study sets out to verify the key predictors of the dynamics of the arable production per capita index, the arable production and permanent crop land and forest area at a national scale in Cameroon. To achieve this objective, data for twelve time series data variables spanning the period 1961–2000 were collected from Oxford University, the United Nations Development program, the World Bank, FAOSTAT and the World Resource Institute. The data were analyzed using structural equation models (SEM) based on the two stage least square approach (2SLS). To optimize the results, variables that showed high correlations were dropped because they will not add any new information into the models. The results show that the arable production per capita index is impacted more by population…
Gender and Fisheries and Aquaculture - From Policy to Implementation. Lessons Learned from Germany’s Policy for Sustainable Development
M Kronen - WOMEN IN FISHERIES
The question of whether gender issues in fisheries are any different from other natural resource-based sectors has often been posed. Disparities that exist between men and women are documented (World Fish 2010; Harrison 2001). However, women’s involvement in and their contribution to fisheries are more significant than generally believed or indicated by statistics (Kleiber et al. 2014; Weeratunge and Snyder 2009). Globally, across most cultural, social and political and economic strata, the role of women is still believed to relate more to post-harvest and marketing activities rather than fishing or aquaculture itself. While global average figures may support this perception, the real importance of women at country level remains thus masked…