Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Young Cocoa Farmers form Association in Western Region
Five thousand young cocoa farmers in two districts and a municipality in the Western Region have come together to form an association. The Akuafo Anigye Young Cocoa Farmers Association is to bring all young cocoa farmers under one umbrella with the primary responsibility to resuscitate and preserve the once vibrant cocoa industry, facilitate effective communication among members, as well as imbibe in them the spirit of hardwork and good agronomic practices. It is also to encourage the youth from Ellembelle, Jomoro and Nzema East to take advantage of the many opportunities the cocoa industry offer, initiate additional livelihood programmes such as livestock production and ensure elimination of worse forms of child labour.
Ministry Bans Poultry Imports from Burkina Faso
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has banned the importation of poultry and poultry products from Burkina Faso, following the outbreak of Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu, in that country. The Veterinary Service Directorate of the ministry has also increased its surveillance activities in the Volta, Upper East and Upper West regions to prevent a possible outbreak in Ghana. A statement signed by the acting Director of Veterinary Services, Dr Ben Aniwa, and issued in Accra urged the public to avoid using their bare hands to handle dead birds and also cook meat and eggs properly before eating. “The general public is to quickly report any unusual deaths in domestic, as well as, wild birds to the nearest veterinary office,” it said. Bird flu is a viral infection that is hosted by birds and spread from bird to bird. The disease may infect several species of mammals. It was first identified in Italy in the early 1900s…
Awareness Creation Forum on Agriculture Policies held in Yendi
A day’s forum on awareness creation on agriculture policies has been held at Yendi in the Northern Region. It was organized by the Evangelical Presbyterian Development and Relief Agency (EPDRA) and sponsored by the USAID Ghana’s Feed Future Agriculture Policy Support Project, and drew 40 participants from Yendi Municipal, Saboba and Chereponi districts, as well as other government institutions and Civil Society Organisations. Topics treated included Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP II), Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) and the role of Civil Society Organizations. In his welcome address Mr. Joshua Nyaaba, Acting Coordinator for Evangelical Presbyterian Development and Relief Agency (EPDRA) North, said EPDRA had identified a serious knowledge gap among agricultural sector stakeholders in the country. Mr. Nyaaba stated that before they could engage in any serious policy dialogue they must first of all create public awareness on the country’s agricultural policies for people to have good knowledge and understanding of those policies to make effective and relevant contributions …
Exploring Israel’s Agric Expertise for the Benefit of Ghana
Ghana has always been touted as an agricultural country with farmers receiving due recognition, especially after the National Farmers Day was instituted. In spite of this, however, the country faces a major problem with food self- sufficiency due to the inability of many farmers to preserve their yield. Such is the situation that farmers have had to make do with any price offered for their produce by unscrupulous market queens and middlemen. It is, therefore, incumbent that every effort is made to assist the Ghanaian farmer to learn the techniques that assist him avoid post-harvest losses. If the right measures are put in place, it will sustain their interest in the sector and encourage the youth to take to agriculture. According to the 2014 Oxford Business Group report, Ghana’s economic foundation is based on agriculture, which employs more than half of the population and is a key focus for the country’s inclusive…
Local Rice Production to Increase
About 800 metric tons of rice seeds have been produced across the Rice Sector Support Programme (RSSP) regions for planting in the 2015 farming season, Dr Wilson Dogbe, Research Coordinator of RSSP has announced. He said the available 800 metric tons of rice seeds would cover 16,000 hectares of rice fields, which would increase domestic rice production to meet the rising demand for rice in the country. Dr Dogbe announced this at the 2015 Annual Rice Seed Stakeholders Meeting organised by the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR – SARI) at Nyankpala in the Northern Region. The meeting brought together stakeholders from Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), development partners including United States Agency for International Development, rice seed companies, input dealers, seed producers, researchers, rice related projects among …
Centre to Improve Agricultural Production in Ghana Inaugurated
A one point five million dollar Research Centre to work out how to use water to manage agricultural challenges has been inaugurated in Accra. The Centre known as International Water Management Institute will also help improve agricultural production in the country. A Minister of State at the Presidency, Akwasi Oppong-Fosu who performed the ceremony believes the institute will turn challenges in the water sector into opportunities.
GhanaVeg Holds Fifth Workshop for Stakeholders
As part of measures to improve on the vegetable sector of the country, GhanaVeg has organised a day’s business platform meeting and vegetable fair for stakeholders in Accra. The workshop, which brought together consultants, agronomists, importers of agro-chemicals, vegetable exporters and producers; sought to share ideas on how to improve on the growth and development of the vegetable sector. The business platform event, which also introduced the first vegetable fair, was on the theme: “Innovative Technologies, Healthy, Quality Produce and New Connections for Domestic Trade and Export.” Mr. Joep Van den Broek, Programme Leader, GhanaVeg speaking at the fifth business platform meeting, said the organisation is driven by a strong belief in healthy and quality vegetables from Ghana through new ways of doing business. GhanaVeg is an initiative supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands which aims at enhancing commercial agriculture in Ghana.
Solidaridad Organizes Outreach Programme for Farmers
Solidaridad, a non-profit organisation that supports the sustainable development of farmers and production systems in West Africa, has organized an outreach programme for its farmers at Kade in the Eastern Region. It explained to the farmers about its Sustainable West Africa oil Palm Programme (SWAPP), aimed at increasing the productivity and profitability of small to medium enterprises, farms and mills in the oil palm sector. Korsi Yankey, Consultant at Solidaridad said it has also introduced a SWAPP incubator with the aim of providing incubation support to help grow businesses and accelerate the development of a larger and more productive oil palm sector in West Africa. She said the incubator would also help create opportunities for innovation, and develop and sustain an enabling environment with greater impact for oil palm sector.
Civil society Organisations (CSOs) Committed to Monitor SADA Programmes
Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Northern Savanna Ecological Zone, have committed to carry out participatory monitoring and evaluation of Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) programmes to ensure greater transparency and accountability. The CSOs said they have confidence in the new SADA management and its governing board and are prepared to partner with the authority to ensure transparency and accountability to realise the authority’s mandate of bridging the gap between the forested south and the north. They made the commitment in a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day conference organised jointly by SEND-Ghana and SADA with funds from IBIS-Ghana and Oxfam, which aimed at strengthening SADA and civil society partnership. The conference on the theme: "The role of CSOs in achieving the SADA mandate and bridging the development gap between the north and …
Government to Give Micro Credit to Canoe Owners
Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, has assured the Canoe Owners Association of government efforts in establishing a micro credit system to improve their operations. She said her outfit would organise a national conference for stakeholders in the industry to agree on the terms of payment, discuss challenges, prospects and chart the way forward in improving the sector. Ms Ayittey gave the assurance when the Association paid a courtesy called on her in Accra to share their grievances and dialogue for amicable solutions. She said the Ministry recognises their contributions and as such a draft policy has been prepared to develop the sector and awaiting parliamentary approval for its implementation. Ms Ayittey noted that the Ministry has completed a cold store at Prampram, in the Greater Accra Region, to support the fishing community and it is due to be handed over in May, …
Blue Skies Rules out Immediate Dismissal of Workers due to ‘Dumsor’
Beverage producing Company Blue Skies has told Citi Business News it has no immediate plans of laying off workers in the wake of the ongoing power crises despite the negative implications it is having on the company. The company which exports its finished goods to international markets currently runs on generators when power goes off. Spokesperson for Blue Skies, Alistair Djimatey told Citi Business News though the power crises has affected the company’s operations, redundancy is not an immediate option. ”We are hoping that the power crises will get better but if doesn’t, laying off workers may become an alternative in the future but not immediately; we are trying to look for all other alternatives to make sure that we remain in production and don’s send people home.”
Reports/Articles
Determinants of Small Ruminant Farmers’ Decision to Participate in Veterinary Services in Northern Ghana
F Adams, K Ohene-Yankyera - Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, 2015
This study analyzed the determinants of small ruminant farmers’ participation in veterinary services in Northern Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect data on 249 farm households in different locations in Northern Ghana. Analytical tools including frequencies, means and logistic regression model were used to analyze the data. The regression analysis indicates a positive relationship between participation in veterinary services and sex of household head (p<0.05), education (p<0.05), household income level (P<0.05), herd size (p<0.05), and affordability of veterinary service (P<0.01). In addition, the study shows that diseases and pests menace, insufficient veterinary offices and animal health professionals were the major three constraints affecting animal health management in northern Ghana. In order to improve quality delivery of veterinary service in the area, the result of the logistic model …
Factors Affecting Adoption of Agroforestry and Evergreen Agriculture in Southern Africa
W Mwase, A Sefasi, J Njoloma, BI Nyoka, D Manduwa… - Environment and Natural …, 2015
This paper examines the factors that affect adoption of agroforestry and integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) practices in Southern Africa. Agroforestry practices, especially evergreen agriculture and conservation agriculture with trees have emerged as sustainable measures of addressing land degradation and loss of soil fertility. Although agroforestry is known to be beneficial to farmers and the environment, its adoption rate falls far behind the projected goals. The present study reviewed several publications on adoption of agroforestry in Southern Africa and complemented the review with household and key informant interviews to obtain evidence from farmers and promoters of the technologies on the factors affecting adoption. The study revealed that the major factors affecting adoption of agroforestry fall into two main categories of socioeconomic and biophysical factors…
Lactic Acid Production from Biomass: Prospect for Bioresidue Utilization in Ghana: Technological Review
R Bayitse - International Journal of Applied, 2015
The production of lactic acid from fossil fuel is now widely accepted as unsustainable due to depleting resources and the accumulation of environmentally hazardous chemicals. Cheap raw material is one of the key inputs to cost effective production of Lactic acid. This paper reviews current research in lactic acid fermentation processes, bio-residue availability in Ghana and potential utilization for lactic acid production. Bio-renewable residue has been widely studied and employed due to its abundance and cost. Various fermentation technologies have been employed using fungi and lactic acid bacteria to generate different yields of lactic acid. Both starchy and lignocellulosic biomass have been extensively used, however lignocellulosic biomass in Ghana is generated in large volumes as crop residues and mostly considered waste although some amount is used as animal feed. These crop residues are readily available …
Building a Stronger System for Tracking Nutrition Sensitive Spending: A Methodology and Estimate of Global Spending for Nutrition Sensitive Foreign Aid
SB Ickes, RB Trichler, BC Parks - 2015
There is growing awareness that the necessary solutions for improving nutrition outcomes are multi-sectoral. As such, investments are increasingly directed towards “nutrition sensitive” approaches that not only address an underlying or basic determinant of nutrition, but also seek to achieve an explicit nutrition goal or outcome. Understanding how and where official development assistance for nutrition is invested remains an important but complex challenge. Our objective was to develop a methodology for classifying and tracking nutrition sensitive official development assistance and to produce estimates of the amount of nutrition sensitive aid received by countries with a high burden of undernutrition. We analyzed all financial flows reported to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee Creditor Reporting Service in 2010 to estimate these investments. We assessed the relationships between national stunting prevalence, stunting burden, under-five mortality and the amount of nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive ODA…
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