Below are some current developments on Agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Agricultural Stakeholders Finalise Seed Policy Implementation Plan
Ghana adopted a National Seed Policy to guide development of the national seed sector in 2013 (June), but without an implementation plan it remains only a collection of statements of intention and exerts no influence. The seed implementation plan is expected to create an environment conducive for the orderly growth and comprehensive, balanced development of the seed industry. To this end, the 3rd and final edition of a series of consultative workshops was held in Accra to validate a National Seed Plan by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) with support from USAID’s Agriculture….Dr. Kwasi Ampofo, AGRA Country Head, said AGRA invests in creating transformational changes across the entire agricultural value chain in 17 sub-Saharan African countries; and AGRA’s Programme Seed Systems (PASS) has been investing in the seed sector from production to marketing and collaborates with….
Agric Students Appeal to Government for Employment
Students of Agricultural Colleges in the country have appealed to the government to directly offer them employment after completing their education. Currently, there are five state agriculture colleges in the country, namely: The Kwadaso and Ejura agricultural colleges in the Ashanti Region, the Damongo Agricultural College and Pong Veterinary College in the Northern Region and the Ohawo Agricultural College in the Volta Region. The National Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Agricultural College Students’ Union of Ghana (ACSU), Mr. Benjamin Ginab, who made the appeal in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said offering direct employment for agricultural students after completing their education was a positive step to reduce graduate unemployment and also boost agriculture. He said such an opportunity would also make it attractive for students to pursue courses at the agricultural institutions and improve farmer/ agricultural extension and veterinary officer ratio.
Industry Demand Spurs Corn, Sorghum Production
Beverage producers in the country have steadily increased their sourcing of local raw materials for their existing and new products, a development that has helped curb the perennial post-harvest losses farmers have had to endure. Maize, cassava, and Sorghum are the leading crops sourced by beverage companies for production. Corn production dipped slightly from 1.9million metric tonnes (MT) in 2012 to 1.6million/MT in 2013. Corn production in 2014 was about 1.8million/MT. Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) sources locally grown sorghum, maize and cassava for the production of its renowned brands Root Extra, Star Regular and Star Lite. Mr. Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director of GGBL said: “There are three crops we source locally -- cassava, maize and sorghum. Those are the three crops we will continue to source in the future. Maize is an important ingredient.
Zoomlion Ghana to Start Large-scale Farming in Volta Region
Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Jospong Group of Companies are to initiate large-scale farming in the Volta Region this year. Already, the company has acquired land at Adaklu, Ho, Jasikan, Kadjebi and Hohoe for the agricultural project. In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Volta Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr. Evans Ewudzie Arthur, said the company was acquiring agricultural machinery for the commencement of the project. Already, the company has begun a cocoa nursery at Shia in the Ho West District, from which it has nursed and sold 120,000 seedlings…. To prevent a situation where the company would rely solely on the government, Mr. Arthur said it was maximizing its profits through collaboration with district assemblies to collect revenue for the assemblies and manage their toilet facilities and car parks. The welfare of workers, according to him, was paramount to the ….
University of Energy Initiates Project to Boost Maize Farming
In an effort to help boost maize production in the Brong Ahafo Region, the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in collaboration with its foreign partners has initiated a project to support farmers with a spectrum of innovative technologies and inputs. The project is a concerted product of UENR, University Molise-Italy, Gulu University-Uganda, and Bioeconomy, an Ethiopian-based NGO. It is also being executed in Uganda and Ethiopia. The implementation of the project, “Centre for Innovative and Technology Dissemination (CITED)”, will see researchers and crop scientists mentor more than 20 model farmers as trainers of trainers for maize farmers’ field schools within the transitional zone of the region - Techiman and Nkoranza.
New Study Proves Coffee is Practically Medicinal
The next time someone gives you shit about your coffee addiction, you don’t have to lie about how many cups you’ve had: A new study conducted by researchers at Imperial College London in the U.K. suggests that three or four cups of coffee a day could reduce your risk of endometrial cancer by upwards of 19 percent. To pinpoint potential cancer-fighters, researchers examined the diets and health records of more than 456,000 women, including 1,303 women with endometrial cancer involved in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, and 1,531 women with endometrial cancer involved in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) or Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII). While the data is pretty convincing (and the world could always use another reason to love coffee), this research only shows a correlation, not causation. Researchers still don’t know exactly how coffee could reduce the….
Challenges in Promoting Export Diversification
Ghana in most parts of its post-independence era pursued an industrialisation strategy based on import substitution. By late 1960 a clear picture of a manufacturing sector characterised by high geographical concentration, high production costs, low value-added capacity, underutilisation, and high import content of industrial output had emerged….Ghana has been exporting unprocessed agricultural commodities, food items or raw materials since independence. If these items can be processed before being exported, more value will be added to them, and this could form the beginning of the manufacturing process. Developing an export commodity requires a lot of funds and financing becomes crucial. Therefore, to assist exporters break into the export market, government must come up with packages of financial incentives designed to help in the development of manufacturing and export diversification.
Reports/Articles
Food Security in the Midst of Our Mined Lives: Perspectives on Food Security and Mining in the Asutifi District of Ghana
J Opoku-Ware, N Kutor - Journal of Sustainable Development Studies, 2015
Mining inevitably impacts the livelihoods of mining communities in a number of ways. Effects on food production and ultimately food security have been argued variously in the literature. In this study, the mining operations in the Asutifi district and its relationship with supply of foodstuffs in the local district markets as well as food insecurity are analysed. Using quantitative techniques, semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to 150 respondents in the Asutifi district and responses analysed using frequencies, Cross tabulation, Chi-Square (χ2) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study found out that crop yield has reduced since mining started and residents largely attributed it to fertility loss from mining activities…
Understanding the Policy Landscape for Climate Change Adaptation
N Aberman, R Birner, E Haglund, M Ngigi, S Ali… - 2015
In the context of increasing vulnerability to climate change for people dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, the International Food Policy Research Institute and partner organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, and Bangladesh undertook a project broadly aiming to create knowledge that will help policymakers and development agencies to strengthen the capacity of male and female smallholder farmers and livestock keepers to manage climate-related risks. This study - one component of the project-examines the networks and power dynamics of stakeholders in the four target countries so as to (1) identify potential partners in the research process, (2) find out which organizations could make use of the research findings in their activities, and (3) inform the communication and outreach strategy of the research project. This paper describes the network structures for climate change policy, the actors in the networks with high centrality and influence scores, and the implications of these results for outreach and dissemination.
Value Chains and Nutrition
A Gelli, C Hawkes, J Donovan, J Harris, S Allen… - 2015
Income growth alone cannot solve the problem of malnutrition and may in fact create problems linked to overweight and obesity. The challenge from the nutrition perspective is how to sustainably improve the quality of diets, as well as other health-nutrition related behaviours, across different populations and age groups? In nutrition debates in developing countries there is growing interest in the capacity of the private sector to contribute to improved nutrition outcomes. Discussions have incorporated thinking around value chain frameworks, which emerged in the late 1990s to help development actors design interventions that responded to the needs of the private sector and contributed to development outcomes. Value chain approaches can provide useful frameworks to examine the food system and the potential to achieve improved nutritional outcomes by leveraging market-based systems. However, understanding the links between value chains, the overall business environment in which they operate, and nutrition among targeted populations is complex, involving actors and activities working across agriculture, health and…
Exploring the Potential of Bambara Groundnut, an Under-utilised African Legume species, towards Food Security in Africa
YY Muhammad - African Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology …, 2014
In a world faced with numerous problems, such as, population growth, poverty, hunger and malnutrition,etc. efforts to improve food production amidst global climate change are necessary. Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc.) is a leguminous crop native to Africa with great potentials towards food and nutritional security and poverty eradication. It is an underutilized/neglected plant species and has seen little research towards improvement. The nutritional composition of Bambara groundnut surpasses that of many other legume crops. Its protein and mineral content in addition to its content of some of the amino acids normally limiting in many cereals could make it an excellent adjunct to nutritional security. The species is also known to be drought tolerant and thrives in poor soils surpassing related species in low input agricultural systems. With appropriate research efforts towards its…
The Health Effects of Women Empowerment: Recent Evidence from Northern Ghana
KL Ross, YA Zereyesus, A Shanoyan… - International Food and …, 2015
Women empowerment could be the key to unlocking women’s productivity potential in Africa. Women’s contribution to the agricultural sector is greatly influenced by their health status. This paper examines the impact of women’s empowerment in agriculture on women’s health and the implications for the African food and agricultural sector. It utilizes a unique dataset from a 2012 survey of 2,405 women in northern Ghana and the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes modeling approach. Findings provide insight on how gender-sensitive policies and private-public initiatives can translate into better health outcomes for women and improved capacity to meet future needs of food and agriculture in Africa. Initiatives focusing on increasing women’s membership in social and economic groups, easing women’s access to credit, and increasing women’s incomes are some key….
Influence of Cowpea Lines As Green Manure on Growth and Yield of Carrots in Root-Knot Nematode Infested Soil
FK Appiah, JK Tufuor, FNY Codjoe - Journal of Natural Sciences Research, 2015
An experiment was conducted at the University of Education, Winneba, Mampong-Ashanti campus to determine the effect of some cowpea lines as green manure on the growth and yield of carrot in root-knot nematode infested soil. Randomized complete block design with five treatments and four replications was used. The treatments were cowpea lines IT97K-570-18; IT97K-566-18; and IT00K-1150 as green manure, N.P.K (15, 15, 15) and control. The results showed negative correlation between root-knot nematode infestation and growth and yield parameters of carrot. The various cowpea green manure treatments and NPK (15, 15, 15) fertilizer significantly (p<0.05) improved the vegetative growth of carrot plants. Carrots from plots incorporated with cowpea line IT97K-570-18 produced significantly higher root yield than the control. Root-knot nematode infestation on carrot was lowest from…
Poverty Level of Cassava Flakes (GARI) Marketers in Osogbo Agricultural Zone, Osun State, Nigeria
MO Adetunji, O Amao - Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 2015
This study examined the poverty level of cassava flakes (gari) marketers in Orolu, Boripe and Egbedore local government areas in Osun state. A multi-stage sampling method was employed to select one hundred and eighty (180) respondents. Analytical tools employed in the study include the descriptive statistics, FGT P-alpha, budgetary, and ordinary least squares regression. Findings revealed that nearly all (96.7%) the study respondents were female. Respondents’ mean age was 43.98 years (economic active age) and the mean household size was 9 members. Also 76.7 percent of the marketers had some level of formal education, while 23.3% had no formal education. 28% of the marketers were living below the poverty line. The poverty headcount, poverty gap and severity indexes of the marketers were 28%, 11.6% and 6.0% respectively. Marital status and household size were negatively significantly …
Farmers’ Perceptions on Climate Change: A Step toward Climate Change Adaptation in Sylhet Hilly Region
M Kamruzzaman - 2015
The main objective of the study was to determine and describe the perception of climate change of farmers. The study was conducted at Sreemangal and Baralekha Upazilla of Moulovibajar district. Three villages from each upazilla were selected as the specific study location. A sample of 150 respondents (20%) was randomly selected from a total population of 800 farmers. Data were collected from the sampled respondents throughout July-August, 2013 through interview schedule. Most of the farmers (69.3%) perceived that climate change started between last 5 to15 years. Almost half of the farmers (48.0%) believe that environmental factor is responsible for climate change than supernatural factor. They felt that both rainy season and cold season delays to start but ends early. Mean duration of both seasons has been significantly reduced in recent past than long time ago. Hot season shows opposite….
Status and Management of Water in Rainfed Agriculture
PK Sharma, M Kumar - Efficient Water Management for Sustainable Agriculture, 2014
Rainfed agriculture is the future hope of food and nutritional security globally and at national level. There are two reasons for it. One, large potential exists to meet present and future food demand through increased productivity, as a large gap exists between potential and actually achieved rainfed crop yields, and there is a scope to narrow it down through proper water and soil management. Studies have shown that there is a 100% yield increase potential in rainfed agriculture in developing countries compared to only 10% increase potential in irrigated agriculture (Pretty and Hine 2001). However, productivity improvement and expansion in rainfed agriculture in developing countries have remained rather slow compared to irrigated agriculture (Rosegrant et al. 2002). Two, larger chunk of cultivated area is still rainfed, while irrigated areas have started showing fatigue in terms of crop productivity…