Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
President Mahama Announces Incentive Package for Cocoa Farmers
President John Dramani Mahama on Friday announced a number of incentives for cocoa farmers to inspire them to step up production in the coming years. He said: "Apart from the on-going free fertilizers and spraying exercises, government is also providing free 50 million hybrid seedlings and solid extension services to the farmers." President John Dramani Mahama said this when he inaugurated the Touton Cocoa Processing Company in Tema, in the Greater Accra Region. Touton Cocoa Processing Company, which started buying cocoa from Ghana since 1988, currently has a working staff of 150 people with the view to leveraging employment opportunities among the Ghanaian youth. President Mahama said government had also earmarked $2 million dollars for the construction of well-equipped basic schools in deprived cocoa growing communities with libraries, boreholes and other amenities to keep …
COCOBOD Increases Scholarships to Farmers Wards
The COCOBOD has increased its scholarships to the children of cocoa farmers in various public Senior High Schools from 3,500 to 5,000 students annually. The increase is to enable more children of cocoa farmers to have access to secondary education, and it takes effect from the 2014/15 academic year. The Deputy Administrative Manager of COCOBOD Scholarship Scheme, Mr. Joe Baah announced this at a cocoa farmer’s forum in the Osino District on cocoa health and good farming methods at Akyem Sekyere near Anyinam. He said forms for the scholarship had been sent to the quality control division offices for collection by cocoa farmers on behalf of their wards. Mr. Baah said some of the scholarship forms had also been sent to public Senior High Schools.
Quality Rice Seed Project Launched at Nyankpala
A three-year project aimed at stimulating the production and use of certified and quality rice seeds for rice farmers in the Northern and Upper East regions has been launched at Nyankpala in the Tolon District of the Northern Region. The $1 million project is being implemented by the Africa Rice Centre (Africa Rice) in partnership with the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the Agricultural Technology Transfer (ATT) project and other stakeholders in the sector. The project also seeks to develop a sustainable rice seed system in the savannah ecological zone. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Rice Seed Scaling (RSS) project is funded by the USAID through the Africa Rice Technical Support.
Ghana’s Climate, Ideal for Tilapia Cultivation – Ayittey
Ms. Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, says although Ghana’s climate is ideal for tilapia farming, the lack of readily available fingerlings and affordable fish feed is preventing the attainment of the aquaculture potential. “The water quantity and quality is outstanding, the labour force is abundant. But these two things that are lacking today do not make such an aquaculture potential a reality in the country,” she said. She said aquaculture is an important component for Ghanaian fisheries as it contributes to national food security, income and employment generation as well as foreign exchange earnings. “Aquaculture has contributed to reducing the pressure on marine natural resources,” Ms. Ayittey said during a visit to some aquaculture farms in the Ashanti Region. Ms. Ayittey acknowledged that there is intense pressure on the sector because the global supply of wild-caught fish is unlikely …
Fisheries Ministry Promises Major Boost in Aquaculture Sector
Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Sherry Ayittey, has announced that aquaculture development in Ghana will soon be accelerated. According to her, the sector is considered an important sector in supporting the country’s economic development. She said these during a recent visit to some aquaculture farms in the Ashanti Region, where the farmers drew the minister’s attention to a number of challenges plaguing the sector. The farmers said fish feed availability and affordability has become a major challenge. The Minister acknowledged that there was intense pressure on the sector because the global supply of wild-caught fish has peaked, adding it is unlikely to rise again unless over-exploited stocks are rehabilitated. The Minister said “already, just under half of all fish that people consume come from aquaculture, which is one of the country’s fastest-growing animal food producing sectors.
"Lead the Fight Against Climate Change"
Mr. Sam Healy, Regional Environmental Officer, at the United States Embassy, has urged individuals to lead the fight against climate change. He said: "I urge all to take your turn leading the fight against climate change, wildlife trafficking, environmental degradation or any other environmental threat in any way you can. It is taking action, and not necessarily the action you take that will matter most in leading Ghana and the world to a sustainable and better future." Mr. Healy made the call in a statement issued ahead of the observance of Earth Day 2015 on the theme: "It is our turn to Lead". Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year, to promote environmental awareness, and a call for the protection of the planet. The statement said climate change is rapidly altering the environment on an extraordinary scale with oceans rising, and ecosystems changing forever. It said illegal, unregulated and unreported …
Research Institute to Train more Soil Scientists
Dr Joseph O. Fening, Director of the Soil Research Institute (SRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has called for more investment and research to improve soil fertility in sub Saharan Africa. The region, he said, has been grappling with declining soil fertility and this has affected agricultural productivity and food security. He expressed worry that while the rest of the world has seen significant increases in per capita food availability over the past 45 years, the situation in sub-Saharan Africa has only improved slightly. He said the region has not been able to benefit from the technological advances of the green revolution to solve its food insecurity challenge and this is caused by the lack of political will and sustainable research efforts, as well as limited funds to advance technological breakthroughs…
Japan Supports Ghana with $2.5 million Agricultural Machinery
The Embassy of Japan has handed over agricultural machinery under Japan’s Grant Assistance for Underprivileged Farmers (2KR) the Embassy said in a statement on Friday. According to the statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, the total Grant is three hundred and thirty million yen (￥330,000,000) which is approximately GH¢9.7 million or about $2.5 million. The machinery comprises 77 agricultural tractors, with matching implements, 49 power tillers, 20 rice threshers, 11 rice reapers and 6 rice mills, which are to be distributed to farmers on hire purchase, it said. "This grant assistance which started in 1981 is to contribute to the efforts of the Government of Ghana to mechanize agriculture and ensure food security, particularly rice production." The Embassy said Japan was committed to helping Ghana overcome its over-dependence on rice importation.
African Leaders Challenged to Invest More in Agriculture to Ensure Food Security
The Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo has challenged African leaders to invest in agriculture so as to increase output for food security. He said using new technology in agriculture will yield double results with little effort. Dr Akinbamijo said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra.
Dumsor: Blue Skies to Sack 1,000 Workers
Beverage producing company, Blue Skies, says it will lay off a thousand of its workers in the next few weeks if nothing is done to improve the erratic power supply in the country. This comes as the company plans to shut down one of its plants due to high production cost following the power crisis. Blue Skies currently employs over 3,000 people and this plan would mean that one-third of them would have to go home… The company produces 25 percent of the country’s pineapple exports and one percent of Ghana’s total exports. Blue Skies will join the list of many companies who are laying off their staff due to the challenges posed by the erratic power supply. In the previous weeks and months, companies like mining firm Gold Fields Ghana and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company announced plans to lay off over 400 of their staff. Over 1,000 workers are likely to lose their jobs if the current power crisis is not dealt with.
Reports/Articles
Getting a Piece of the Pie: An Analysis of Factors Influencing Women’s Production of Sweetpotato in Northern Nigeria
S David - 2015
This paper examines the conditions and factors that create opportunities for women to engage in market-oriented crop production. It uses as a case study of Nasarawa and Kwara states in northern Nigeria, where women have started to cultivate sweetpotato, a crop traditionally grown by men. Men’s responsibility for providing staple food crops for household consumption (based on religious and cultural norms) and the practice of spouses cultivating separate plots controlled by the individual presented opportunities for women to produce sweetpotato for the market, challenging the commonly-held assumption that commercialization often disadvantages women. The sweetpotato case shows how the dynamic nature of production organization, intra-household roles and responsibilities, and gender ideologies in Sub-Saharan Africa make it difficult to predict how men and women farmers respond to market signals. The study finds that sweetpotato is generally a more important source of income for women than for men due to the crop’s relatively low labor requirements and short maturity time.
Monitoring of SCARDA -Induced Institutional Changes at CSIR-Crops Research Institute, Ghana
NK Ojijo, I Annor-Frempong, SA Ennin, H Adu-Dapaah
This is the second post-implementation review conducted by FARA to determine institutional changes at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI) since completion of SCARDA activities in 2010. As in the previous survey conducted in 2011, the Institute presents an overall positive change in institutional disposition based on the SWOT methodology. About 19 SWOT factors registered positive changes, 15 have remained the same and two have deteriorated over the last two years. Of the 19 SWOT factors that registered positive improvements, six cases relate directly to human capital formation activities under SCARDA. These are 1) ability to develop technologies, 2) national recognition for high quality research, 3) mobilizing funds through competitive bidding, 4) key management skills, 5) recognition by donor community, and 6) stakeholder collaborations…
Employment Effects of Multilateral Development Bank Support: The Case of the African Development Bank
AM Simpasa, A Shimeles, AO Salami - 2015
Employment impact of development aid in Africa is investigated using a set of projects implemented by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in the last 20 years. The results indicate heterogeneous effect of aid. Projects directed at productive sectors, mainly those that focus on financing small scale enterprises and microcredit institutions, tend to have the largest employment impact than those focusing on health and education. More importantly, the implied employment effect of AfDB projects is much larger than the potential employment that could be deduced from aid-growth-employment nexus using macro data, particularly in the last decade. This could be due to the shift in the focus of development assistance away from productive sectors over this period. If inclusive development is the overarching objective of development assistance, then, there may be a need to revisit the current allocation of aid to ….
Factors Influencing Pesticide Use in Smallholder Rice Production in Northern Ghana
BT Anang, J Amikuzuno
Rice production is an important economic activity among smallholder farmers in northern Ghana serving as source of income and household food security. The production of rice is often associated with the use of pesticides to control harmful pests of rice, a practice which also poses environmental and human health risks. The study sought to investigate the factors which influence smallholder rice farmers’ use of pesticides in rice farming in northern Ghana. Rice farmers were selected from three irrigation schemes in northern Ghana, namely the Botanga, Tono and Vea Irrigation Schemes. A multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was used to identify 300 rice farmers who were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed both descriptively and inferentially. A probit model was used to study the determinants of pesticide use. The study showed that farm size, farm income, …
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