Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Government Secures $145million for Agric Sector
The government has secured a $145-million credit facility from the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help transform the agricultural sector into a vibrant commercial sector. The facility is for the implementation of the Ghana Commercial Agricultural Project (GCAP) in the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone and parts of the Volta, Greater Accra and Eastern regions. The GCAP is to support farmers in the SADA zone to cultivate maize, rice and soya, while those in the Accra Plains and Eastern and Volta regions will be supported to go into vegetable, fruit, maize and rice production. To ensure the success of the programme, 10,000 hectares best suited for the development of improved rain-fed agriculture has been identified and developed in the Nasia-Nabogo Valley in the Northern Region for rice production.
Why Agriculture and Agribusiness can Change Africa’s Story
Plunging cocoa prices in the past few months have been a major worry for more than 700,000 farmers located in the lush green forests of Ghana who depend on this cash crop to feed themselves and provide education and health to their families. But the inadequate capacity of Ghana to add more value to a large quantity of its cocoa is even more a bigger issue. Global demand for chocolate is expected to grow 25 percent by 2020, so cocoa prices will eventually recover. But cocoa farms must increase Ghana’s share of the final retail price of chocolate, which is only 5% at present. By increasing the country’s processing capacity, farmers in these countries can increase their incomes and create more critical jobs in the process. Ghana’s cocoa example mirrors the overall condition of Africa’s export commodities. Africa still exports more raw agricultural produce with little or no value addition.
Eximguaranty, USAID Sign $500,000 Agreement for Agribusiness
USAID-Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (USAID-FinGAP) has reserved an amount of $500,000 as grant to Eximguaranty Company Ghana Limited (Exim Ghana) to subsidize the cost of credit guarantee premiums on loans from financial institutions to agribusinesses in the rice, maize and soy value chains. The fund will serve as collateral substitute to help agribusinesses secure financing while reducing the risk for the financial institutions. The two organizations have signed an agreement to this effect. With this agreement, USAID-FinGAP and Exim Ghana have reduced the credit guarantee premium from 5.5% to 4.5% for agribusinesses in the project’s value chains. Eximguaranty guarantees up to 75% on the loan amount approved by the financial institution. USAID-FinGAP’s grant will be used to pay half of the credit guarantee premium required by the financial institutions.
Ghana’s Kuapa Kokoo Meets Scientists in UK to Learn Future of Chocolate
A £1m specialist facility has been created at Reading University in UK to protect and preserve over 400 different varieties of the cocoa plant. The facility should allay concerns of recent media coverage predicting world cocoa shortages. The International Cocoa Quarantine Centre (ICQC) at Reading University will be responsible for collecting new cocoa seeds and facilitating research into breeding plant varieties that will be more resistant to disease. In their greenhouses, they will be quarantining the seeds from all new diseases and pests, and growing healthier, more reliable plants in a hydroponic growing system. The plants there are used to supply Ghana and other major cocoa producers, as well as some of the smaller newer producers like Vietnam.
Cocoa Farmers Advised to Provide Permanent Shades
Mr. Francis Antwi Adjei, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Manager of Cocoa Health and Extension Division of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has advised cocoa farmers to retain trees in their farms to protect young cocoa plants. He urged farmers not to cut down all trees but should follow the appropriate method by ensuring that “for every acre of cocoa farm, there must be at least eight trees left standing to provide shade in it”. Mr. Adjei gave the advice during an address of a regional farmers’ education and sensitization rally organized by the Regional Cocoa Health and Extension Division at Nkrankwanta, in the Dormaa West District of the Brong-Ahafo Region. The rally attended by about 1,000 cocoa farmers from cocoa growing districts in the region was aimed at educating and sensitizing them on issues relating to their farms and the need to take advantage of incentives like the cocoa mass spraying and free fertilizer distribution being provided by the…
Upper East Farmers Abandon Tomato Cultivation due to Lack of Guaranteed Market
Tomato farmers in the Upper East Region have abandoned the cultivation of dry season tomatoes due to lack of guaranteed market. The farmers now cultivate chilli pepper, onions, okro, green peper, garden eggs and other green leafy vegetables which they claim have ready market and are more profitable than tomatoes. Speaking to the Daily Graphic at their farm gates, some members of the Akuniwoe Tomato Farmers Group said until 2015, they were involved in the cultivation of dry season tomato. They said their major headache was getting guaranteed market for their produce as market queens from the southern part of the country bypassed them to Burkina Faso to purchase tomatoes. According to the farmers, the excuse given by the traders was that the tomatoes from the Upper East were watery and easily perishable. They said not until a deliberate policy was put in place to ensure guaranteed market for tomato farmers in the region, its cultivation would gradually die off.
Forestry Services Replants more Forests in Ashanti
A total of 5,230 hectares of degraded forests in the Ashanti Region have been restored under the National Forest Plantation Development Programme. Mr. Isaac Noble Eshun, the Assistant Regional Manager of the Forest Services Division (FSD) of the Forestry Commission (FC), said this involved the planting of 5,810,485 indigenous and exotic tree species. Some of the species, he said, are “Emere”, Mahogany, “Ofram”, Teak and Cedrela. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Kumasi, he said the replanting was carried out between year 2010 and 2013. This was done in eight forest districts – Bekwai, New Edubiase, Nkawie, Offinso, Mampong, Kumawu, Juaso and Mankranso. He said the FSD was doing everything to ensure that the trees were properly nurtured and maintained. Mr. Eshun said they were determined to put more of the denuded forests under plantation and pleaded for support of all stakeholders.
Food Security/Crisis
Community Action for Yam Seed to increase Food Security in Ghana and Nigeria
Smallholder farmers in Ghana and Nigeria are being supported to improve on the quality of saved yam seed for higher productivity. The Community Action for Yam Seed (CAY-SEED) Project is aimed at increasing food security and wealth creation by addressing some of the major limitations to yam production. The three-year project is targeted at improving the quality and productivity of 3,000 smallholder farmers through innovative agricultural interventions in eight major yam growing communities in Ghana and Nigeria. It is being implemented by the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and partners, with a $3.5million funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the CSIR-CRI is making $0.5million additional in-kind contribution.
Food Security in Africa Needs a Tailored Approach, Suggests New Research
A one-size-fits-all approach to African agriculture development will not lead to growth, suggests research published in Food policy. The authors of the study say that instead of blindly adopting 'solutions' that have worked in other continents, governments and researchers should consider the context more closely and develop a tailored approach. Selected by an international advisory board, the research paper has been awarded this month's Elsevier Atlas award. The researchers suggest that developing new technologies - to improve the output of tree and root crops that are predominant in Africa, and reduce the need for manual labor - would be more effective than copying the approaches that worked in Asia and Latin America. "Assuming Africa is an appropriate setting for another Asian-style Green Revolution is misleading and could result in, yet again, a frustrated attempt to attain sustainable agricultural growth," said Dr. Alejandro Nin-Pratt, lead author of the study. In the 1960s and 70s, Asian and Latin American countries experienced a 'Green Revolution' - a dramatic increase in their production of crops like wheat, maize and rice. New varieties of the crops with a higher yield, combined with…
SEND-Ghana Supports Farmers in Northern Region
SEND-Ghana’s Food security through Co-operatives in Northern Ghana (FOSTERING) project is on course in the eastern corridor of the Northern Region. As poverty alleviation donor fund managers, SEND-Ghana is up-scaling the five years project in eight districts comprising Kpandai, East Gonja, Nanumba North and Nanumba South districts, Krachi-Nchumuru, Zabzugu-Korli, Tatale Sanguli and Chereponi. Over 331,800 individual food crop small holder farmers including family members from 5,400 households are expected to benefit from the project… Mr. Kamara said the project will focus on expanding soya bean production and consumption to improve nutrition to address the issue of malnutrition. He projected that the production of soya beans in large quantities will boost the beneficiary farmers’ income levels.
Reports/Articles
Food Security Impact of agricultural Technology Adoption under Climate Change Micro-evidence from Niger|
S Asfaw, F Di Battista, L Lipper - 2014
We assess farmers' incentives and the conditioning factors that hinder or promote adoption of agricultural technologies under climate risk and evaluate its impact on food security in Niger. We distinguish between (i) exposure to climatic disruptions, (ii) bio-physical sensitivity to such disruptions, (iii) household adaptive capacity in terms of farmers’ ability to prepare and adjust to the resulting stress, and, finally, (iv) system-level adaptive capacity that serve as enabling factors for household-level adaptation. We employ multivariate probit and instrumental variable techniques to model the selection decisions and its impact. The results clearly indicate that while the use of modern inputs and organic fertilizers significantly improves crop productivity, results are unclear for the impact of crop residues. Results also show that factors driving modern input use are different than those of crop residues and organic fertilizer which can be characterized at low investment capital requirements, higher labour requirements and longer time for results versus modern inputs which can be characterized as higher investment capital requirements, less labour requirement and shorter time for returns….
Market Participation of Smallholder Maize Farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana
BM Abu - 2014
This study investigated farmer characteristics, private assets, public assets and transaction cost variables influencing the probability and intensity of participating in the market by smallholder maize farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The Household Commercialization Index was used to estimate the level of market participation and the Double Hurdle Model was used to estimate the factors influencing both market participation and intensity of participation. The results indicated that about twenty-four percent of maize is sold in the region within a production year which implies low commercialization index. Specific farmer characteristics, private assets, public assets and transaction cost variables significantly influenced the probability and intensity of market participation behavior in the region. The study concludes that maize is produced as a staple for household consumption. The study recommends that government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should institute productivity enhancing measures to increase the productivity of maize as well as establish rural finance schemes to address the credit needs of smallholders.
Farmers’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the Cocoa Disease and Pest Control Programme (CODEPEC) in Ghana and its Effects on Poverty Reduction
E Kumi, A Daymond - American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 2015
The study examined the contribution of the Cocoa Disease and Pest Control Programme (CODAPEC), which is a cocoa production-enhancing government policy, to reducing poverty and raising the living standards of cocoa farmers in Ghana. One hundred and fifty (150) cocoa farmers were randomly selected from five communities in the Bibiani-AnhwiasoBekwai district of the Western Region of Ghana and interviewed using structured questionnaires. Just over half of the farmers (53%) perceived the CODAPEC programme as being effective in controlling pests and diseases, whilst 56.6% felt that their yields and hence livelihoods had improved. In some cases pesticides or fungicides were applied later in the season than recommended and this had a detrimental effect on yields. To determine the level of poverty amongst farmers, annual household consumption expenditure was used as a proxy indicator. The study found that 4.7% of cocoa farmers were….
Role of Revegetation in Restoring Fertility of Degraded Mined Soils in Ghana: A Review
AK Mensah - International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 2015
The topsoil gets seriously damaged during mineral extraction. The consequences of physical disturbance to the topsoil during stripping, stockpiling and reinstatement results in soil degradation through loss of soil structure, accelerated soil erosion, excessive leaching, compaction, reduced soil pH, accumulation of heavy metals in soils, depletion of organic matter, decreased plant available nutrients, reduced cation exchange capacity, decreased microbial activity and consequent reduction in soil fertility. Management of topsoil is important for reclamation plan to reduce nutrient losses and eventually restore the fertility. Revegetation constitutes the most widely accepted and useful way to improve the fertility of degraded mined lands. A review was conducted to assess the contribution of revegetation to improvement of soil fertility of mined lands. The results obtained in this study indicate that revegetation through forest vegetation is one of the…
Urbanization: Its Implication for Sustainable Food Security, Health and Nutritional Nexus in Developing Economies - A Case Study of Nigeria
AS Ekpenyong - Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, 2015
The population of the developing countries including Nigeria, is becoming increasingly urbanized as a result of both natural increase and rural-urban migration. The percent of urban residents in Nigeria as in other developing economies has risen rapidly in recent years. This rapid increase in urbanization poses new and different challenges for food security in the country. Reliance on purchased food is a leading factor in household food insecurity of poor urban populations, who lacked a fixed income. Inspite of the availability of a wider variety of food, the food consumed in urban areas is not necessary of superior nutritional quality and food safety is a growing concern in many urban environments. There is limited knowledge of the similarities and differences in diets, nutrition status and health effects of diets and lifestyle between the traditional rural population and the emerging urban poor.
The Ghana School Feeding Program: Factors Affecting Enrolment of Pupils in Garu-Tempane District, Upper East Region
M Bukari, IPN Hajara - International Journal of Innovative Research and …, 2015
The socio-economic situation of the country has prompted policy actions from Government of Ghana since 2005 to start the Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) to improve enrolment among pupils in public primary schools. The study used a district-level data (2008-2012) to examine socio-economic factors affecting enrolment of pupils in food insecure district of GaruTempane District, Upper East Region. A quasi-experimental design was used in selecting 360 pupils both from participating and non-participating public primary schools with similar socio-economic characteristics. Frequency, counts, percentages and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistics were used in analyzing the data. Finding shows that the GSFP succeeded in increasing the gross enrolment among participating schools as compared to a decreased in non-participating schools. In addition, PPMC coefficients for socioeconomic variables and enrolment results showed positive….