Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Cocoa Production to Rebound
Expectations are high among farmers that cocoa production will hit its peak in the mid-crop season on the back of favorable weather and improved farming practices. Cocoa bean output in the main crop season (September- March) has been disappointing -- falling below the target of 600,000 metric tonnes and raising concerns that Ghana could miss its annual production target of 810,000 metric tonnes as cocoa production in the mid-crop season (May- August) has over the years accounted for just about 15 to 20 percent of the total harvest. The Deputy National Chief Farmer, Nana Agyei Damoa, is however optimistic Ghana will record a bumper cocoa harvest in the mid-season as farmers have recovered from the menace of black pod disease and low rainfall experienced in the main crop season.
COCOBOD Distributes Seedlings to Farmers
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has begun the free distribution of 50 million cocoa seedlings to farmers nationwide. The exercise that would run between April and July this year would ensure that all registered cocoa farmers in the country received free hybrid seedlings. It formed part of efforts to raise the country’s cocoa output from the current 850,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes. The Executive Director of the Seed Production Unit (SPU) of COCOBOD, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra. The initiative is aimed at ensuring that the country’s annual cocoa output equaled or overtook that of Cote d’Ivoire, which harvested about 1.7 million tonnes of the crop in the 2013/14 crop season.
Review Policies on Food Safety - Outgoing Health Minister
The outgoing Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, has called on all agencies under the ministry to review and update policies and protocols relating to food safety. He also called on ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to carry out similar reviews and updates of all food safety policies and protocols to take care of emerging and existing situations. The minister, whose speech was read on his behalf by the Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) of the ministry, Dr Afisah Zakaria, made the call at the launch of this year’s World Health Day in Accra yesterday. He said the review should also take care of both national and international requirements. World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 every year and the theme for this year’s celebration is: “Food safety”, with the slogan: “From farm to plate, make food safe”.
Many Rural Farmers are Losing Family Lands, Farms to Commercial Bodies
The Ghanaian economy is heavily reliant on agriculture and the rural farmer is crucial to the advancement of not only agriculture but the economy as a whole. Many farmers are however losing their lands to investors and commercial firms who offer traditional leaders good money for huge family lands that have been owned by the farmers for years, depriving these rural folks of their incomes. Over thirty farmers in Amantin, a local village in the Brong Ahafo region have been hit hard by the activities of one such firm. Amantin Agro Processing is a local firm that has acquired 42,000 acres of land stretching across 7 communities from the Paramount Chief of Amantin. Samuel Narh is one of the numerous rural farmers who have lost the farmlands they have tilled for over 50 years to the firm.
Government Starts Work on Storage Facilities
Dr Alhassan Yakubu Ahmed, Deputy Minister of the Food and Agriculture Ministry, (MOFA) has said that the construction of nine warehouses and four pack houses would help address post-harvest losses and stabilize the price of agricultural produce. The project, which is under the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), and funded by the African Development Bank(AFDB), is expected to be fitted with modern cleaning and sorting equipment, utilities, meeting rooms and offices, among other facilities. The beneficiary communities are Kukobilla , Sawla, Gushegu , Cheriponi in the Northern Region, Pwalugu, Tono, Garu, Weisi in the Upper East Region, Sombo, Eremon , Gwollu and Yagha in the Upper West Region and Badu in the Brong Ahafo Region which are all NRGP operational areas.
Vegetable Growers Rally to Provide Quality Products
Vegetable farmers have been counselled to avoid over application of agro chemicals to protect the health of consumers. The advice was given by Mr. Divine James Buo, Agribusiness Cluster Advisor for Two Sustainable Cluster in Agribusiness through Learning and Sustainable project (2 SCALE), under the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC). He warned that overdose application of agro-chemicals was not only a huge hazard for consumers but also ruins the environment. Mr. Buo said everything must be done to adhere to best farming practices in the entire vegetable value-chain, that is; production, harvesting, and handling at market outlets so as not to harm the environment and compromise the quality of foods. The Agribusiness Advisor was speaking on “vegetable production and soil quality management” at a five-day workshop for vegetable growers at Offinso.
Pong-Tamale Farmers Embrace new Fertilizer Technology
Smallholder farmers at Pong Tamale in the Savelugu / Nanton Municipality of the Northern Region have embraced a new fertilizer application technology, which aids them to save cost and enhance their yields. The technology dubbed: "Biochar" is a natural fertilizer made from rice husk, chicken droppings, and charcoal which are mixed to form compost, and also pesticide. The project initiated by the Abokobi Society of Switzerland, a local farming organisation, has been assisting farmers with free organic composts, which has an extra advantage of holding water and nutrients needed by the crops. Some of the farmers expressed their satisfaction when the organisation led by Mr Peter Billa, the Project Coordinator of Biochar Compost, paid a working visit to some of the farms of the beneficiaries to ascertain the progress of the application of the compost. Mr. Emmanuel Allegye - Cudjoe, the Director of Pong Tamale.
Importance Of Fish In Food Security In Ghana
Fish is recognized as the most important source of animal protein in all regions of the country. Estimates suggest that over 60 % of animal protein in the Ghanaian diet comes from fish and the commodity makes it up to 22.4% of food expenditure in all households and over 25 % of food expenditure in poor households. Certainly, fish is extremely important to Ghanaians for food security, particularly among the poor. The fisheries sector plays a vital role in the national economy contributing approximately 4% of the GDP, provides employment to the labour force and adds to the foreign exchange of the country as well as assists in the alleviation of rural poverty. Regarding foreign exchange earnings, Ghana's fish exports are among the top three most important non-traditional exports. On employment it is estimated that over 150 000 fishers are engaged in marine capture fisheries. It is also estimated about ….
Indigenous Knowledge could Help Mitigate Climate Dilemmas – Lecture
Researchers into climate change and food security have been asked to work with indigenous farmers, with a view to adopting and adapting their knowledge to modern approaches to farming, to ensure food security in the future. Professor Clement Dorm Adzobu, Vice-President of the Evangelical Presbyterian University College (EPUC), and Dr Yaovi Nuto, University of Lome, Togo, made the recommendation in Ho on Wednesday. They were speaking at the second Spieth, Agama, Abloh and Amoaku (SAAA) Lectures in Ho, instituted by the EPUC, in collaboration with the Volta Regional Museum. The theme for this year’s lectures was: “The Impact of Climate Change on Livelihood Systems in the Volta Region,” and sponsored jointly by Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Accra, Mayflower, Ho, Flair Catering, Accra, Konrad-Adenaur Foundation, Accra and Bremen Mission, Germany.
Palm Oil has Huge Export Potential – Spio-Garbrah
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has described the palm oil sub-sector as one of the sleeping giants in the country that could be developed into a key foreign exchange earner and job creator. Should the sector receive the necessary investment, Dr Spio-Garbrah said, the country could easily become a net exporter of palm oil and the proceeds would be used to help cancel out the country’s yawning balance of trade deficit. “With an estimated total land area of 305,758 hectares cropped to oil palm in Ghana, it ranks next to cocoa in the hierarchy of economic importance in the tree crop sector. There is a burgeoning market and a huge market space for palm oil and value-added palm oil-base products in the world and specifically in our sub-region,” he said.
Reports/Articles
Evaluation of the CGIAR Research Program “Policies, Institutions and Markets”(PIM)
K Andersson, C Gerrard, W Meyers, F Nankhuni… - 2015
The CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) supports evidence based research to help improve public policies and expenditures for pro-poor, sustainable agricultural growth in developing countries. It is the CRP with the greatest focus on social science research to achieve the four System-Level Outcomes (SLOs) established by the 2011 Strategy and Results Framework (SRF). Based in IFPRI, PIM now involves the second largest number of participating Centers (12) after the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program (CCAFS). During the period under review (2012–2014), the program was organized into seven flagships that conducted research from the global to the local level, and an eighth cross-cutting flagship on gender, partnerships, and capacity strengthening. Each flagship has established its own intermediate development outcomes (IDOs) which collectively ….
Returns to Fertilizer Use: Does it Pay Enough? Some new Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
E Koussoubé, C Nauges - rue, 2015
This article explores the importance of fertilizer profitability in explaining the relative, apparent low use of chemical fertilizers by farmers in Burkina Faso. Using large-scale plot data, we estimate maize yield response to nitrogen to be 19 kg/ha on average and to vary with soil characteristics. Profitability, which we measure through the calculation of a marginal value cost ratio, is estimated at 1.41 on those plots which received fertilizers, with significant variations across regions. For those plots on which fertilizers were not applied, we predict that fertilizers should have been profitable in most cases under the current level of subsidized fertilizer prices. These findings suggest that the low uptake of chemical fertilizers might have been driven by factors other than profitability, including insufficient supply of subsidized fertilizers to farmers in need. Our results also call for increasing the availability of credit to farmers in…
Construction of a Spatial Database for Lake Volta, Ghana, and Identification of Locations for Future Developments of the Sector
F Xia, L Falconer, LG Ross
The consumption of fish products in Ghana has increased in recent years; however the capture fishery production cannot nearly meet the local demand. One of the most effective solutions is establishment of aquaculture cages in Lake Volta, at 8,500 km2 one of the largest artificial lake in the world, to develop an aquaculture industry and increase fish production for the local communities as well as potentially for export. Geographical Information Systems based spatial models to optimize cages location have been developed for three different sizes cage: small cages (5*5*4m), medium cages (15*15*5m) and large cages (30*30*6m), respectively, based on consideration of bathymetry, hydrography, access and market and water quality sub-models. The results indicate there are numerous suitable areas in Lake Volta for all three cage sizes. For the small cages the highly suitable areas were 249 km2, while the….
Promoting Bio fortified Crops for Nutrition: Lessons from Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Tanzania
B Waized, D Ndyetabula, A Temu, E Robinson… - 2015
This case study examines the outcomes of interventions in Tanzania that have promoted the production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) – a biofortified crop – with the objective of reducing vitamin A deficiencies. The report contributes to policy efforts to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture by providing lessons for the introduction of biofortified crops in Tanzania and elsewhere. The case study is particularly instructive because OFSP has been a flagship of biofortification efforts, and because Tanzania appeared to have high potential for uptake of the crop. The country is a major producer of sweet potato, although the vast majority of production is of the nutrient-poor white-fleshed varieties (WFSP). Sweet potato is an important food security crop for small farming households, particularly in Tanzania’s Lake Zone. The crop has the advantage of requiring little land and few inputs, and can be stored on-farm for several months. The crop also has commercial value, and white-fleshed varieties are available in urban markets throughout the year.
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