Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
COCOBOD to Replace 33% of Cocoa trees with Improved, Disease-resistant Ones
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is to replace about 33 per cent of the country’s cocoa trees with hybrid seedlings that have high yields and are resistant to diseases, pests and harsh weather conditions. This follows a recent survey on the status of cocoa trees in the country, which revealed that about 23 per cent of national plant stock have passed the active fruiting age of 30, making it difficult for them to properly contribute to cocoa output. The survey also estimated that another 10 per cent of cocoa trees had been infected by the deadly cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD), bringing to 33 per cent the total number of the country’s cocoa trees that were not in their active fruiting stage due to ageing and diseases. Given that the development has adverse effects on annual cocoa output, the Executive Director of the Seed Production Unit (SPU) of the COCOBOD, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, said the board had resolved to cut down and replace those low yielding trees with improved seedlings that were resistant to diseases and pests.
Ghana, 5 other African countries achieve MDG One
Ghana has achieved the Millennium Development Goal One (MDG 1) of halving the proportion of people suffering from under-nourishment and halving hunger by the end of this year. The country is among six countries in Africa to have achieved the goal meant to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Angola, Djibouti, Cameroon, Gabon, Mali and Sao Tome & Principe are the other African countries to have achieved the target set by the MDG and the World Food Summit (WFS). This was made known at the launch of the first edition of the Regional Overview of Food Insecurity in Africa (2015) by the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative in Africa, Mr. Bukar Tijani, at a ceremony in Accra last Tuesday. West Africa in particular made notable strides, reducing its prevalence of under-nourishment by 60 per cent from 24.2 per cent in 1990-1992 to 9.6 per cent during the current 2014-16 assessment period.
No Cash for Agric Census
The nation-wide agricultural census to collect data on farmers, farm size and crops cultivated among others for decision-making is faced with funding challenges that threaten the entire exercise. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture estimates that it will need a total of GH22million for successful implementation of the Census Agriculture (CA) operation nationwide. However, only GH¢5million has been released by the Ministry of Finance. Fiifi Kwetey, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, last week told Parliament that: “Funding for the Census of Agriculture has been and is still a great challenge. Going by the planned activities, the main data collection for the Core and Community Modules (Phase II) was expected to start in October 2014.
The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to Reallocate Tractors to Farmers
The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), is to reallocate 270 tractors to individual and commercial farmers across its operational regions. This has become necessary owing to the misuse of the tractors and low repayment of input credit under the scheme- Agricultural Input Support Programme. The new SADA board has directed that the programme should be put on hold whilst concrete steps are taken to repackage it. The directive is to ensure that farmers across its operational areas are not unduly denied tractor services and also save SADA from high tractor maintenance cost. Mr. Charles Abugre, Chief Executive Officer of SADA made this known at the 5th SADA Stakeholder Coordinating Committee Meeting in Wa on Thursday. He said Management has achieved some reasonable success in the recall of some tractors from technical service providers, whilst a few are due for collection through the legal process. He said SADA is committed to support communities to improve the agriculture production and also working with other actors to find ways of making credit available to the farmers to enable them scale up agriculture
Farmers want 20% of ADB’s Shares
Some farmers have stated their intention to buy shares in the Agricultural Development Bank (adb) once the bank is allowed to float its shares on the market. The farmers say the decision to make the ownership of the bank public is a good one and should go ahead. According to the farmers, adb served their interests and as such they should be allowed to purchase shares in order to feel part of the financial institution. The Secretary of the Ghana National Tomato Farmers Federation, Patrick Ahiabu said that they intend to buy at least 20 percent of adb’s shares once it goes public. “This is the bank that bears the name of agriculture. We, the National Farmers and Fisherman Award Winners Association as a body on its own and the National Tomato Farmers Federation and other farming organizations in the country are now raising money to buy shares so that we the farmers will feel that we really own the Bank.
Sustainable Fisheries Management Workshop Ends
Participants at a day's workshop on Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SEMP), have urged government to put in place measures to ban the use of dynamites, light and other dangerous chemical for fishing. The participants included fishermen, fishmongers, heads of department, former Assembly Members, the Clergy, Non-governmental Organizations working towards the elimination of child labor and trafficking in the area, and traditional rulers. According to them, it was about time people using unapproved methods to fish were dealt with accordingly to avoid depletion of fish in Ghanaian waters. The SEMP is a five-year Fisheries Food Security Project being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Mission Feed the Future programme…
Civil Society Groups Say G8 Food Initiative in Africa Will Increase Hunger and Hurt Farmers
Civil society groups are calling for radical change to African agriculture to put control back in the hands of small farmers. A coalition of almost 100 social movements, grassroots groups, and civil society organizations are raising alarm about the New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition meeting secretively in Cape Town, South Africa, and are calling for governments to withdraw support for initiative. The G8-led, agribusiness-funded New Alliance is pushing for the approval of laws in 10 African countries that favor agricultural giants like Monsanto at the expense of small farmers and local food security. According to a statement by the civil society coalition Wednesday, policies supported by the New Alliance “facilitate the grabbing of land and other natural resources, further marginalize small-scale producers, and undermine the right to adequate food and nutrition.”
African Food Security Varies by Region
A new report on Africa’s food security showed regional differences in progress. Western Africa led the continent in reducing the number of undernourished people since the early 1990s. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has released the first edition of the Regional Overview of Food Insecurity in Africa. Africa, as other parts of the world, has had two main targets for food security: the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half the proportion of undernourished people – and the tougher 1996 World Food Summit target of reducing by half the actual number of hungry people. The findings may seem contradictory at first. For example, the prevalence of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa declined from 33 percent in the early 1990s to 23 percent today. So, in this case, prevalence is the percentage of Africa’s growing population affected by undernourishment. That’s gone down and that’s good.
Dr Akoto Spearheads Tree-planting Exercise in Kwadaso Constituency
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso Constituency, is leading a tree-planting project to green the area. According to the MP, he has embarked on the planting of teak trees at some basic schools in the constituency to ensure environmental safety, and also provide economic benefits for the schools. “The tree-planting project is a unique model I introduced in the area to provide financial incentives, as well as protect the environment,” Dr Akoto told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra. The GNA was seeking to know the reaction of the Kwadaso Legislator to environmental, water and sanitation challenges in the constituency. According to the MP, there are about 350,000 people in the constituency, which is peri-urban. The constituency is made up of 14 major settlements…
Fiaseman Rural Bank Supports 1,750 Cocoa Farmers
A total of GH¢2,944,958 has been disbursed to 1,750 cocoa farmers in the Prestea/Huni-Valley District in the Western Region by the Fiaseman Rural Bank Limited at Bogoso, the district capital. The money is to enable the farmers to embark on expansion of their farms and improve production programmes. Under the bank's Nnoboa Cocoa Scheme, the beneficiary farmers have also received farm inputs and training in farm management through the support of an experienced technical team. The recovery rate of the system, which the bank has put in place to provide financial and non-financial support to cocoa farmers within its catchment area, is 100 per cent. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Nana Amanfo Edu VI, who disclosed this at the 27th annual general meeting of shareholders at Bogoso, gave an assurance that the bank would this year increase cocoa loans to a GH¢1,000,000.
Cocoa Clerks Warned against Scale Manipulation
Cocoa Purchasing Clerks (P/Cs) have been warned to refrain from cheating farmers through the manipulation of their weighing scales. Nana Obutu Frimpong, the Chairman of Adikrofo (sub-chiefs) in the Asamankese Traditional Area, gave the warning when interacting with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Asamankese, in the West Akim Municipality of the Eastern Region. Nana Obutu warned that any clerk caught cheating cocoa farmers by adjusting their scales would face the full rigours of the law. Nana Obutu, also the chief of Essaso was reacting to complaints received from some chief farmers in the area, that it had been the practice of some of the clerks to manipulate their weighing scales to cheat farmers. “It is a criminal offence to tamper with weighing scales with the intent to cheat farmers”, he stated. He said some prominent cocoa farmers weighed their cocoa beans in their homes before sending the commodity to the various societies (sheds), and are able to detect the disparities between theirs and that of the P/C’s scales.
Africa Investors Seek Sustainable Growth
This year's annual World Economic Forum on Africa, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, focused on finding ways to ensure the continent's economic growth helps not only investors and business owners, but ordinary Africans as well. For centuries, the African continent has been seen as an economic battlefield for its rich natural resources. But officials, investors and business leaders have tried for 25 years to change that mindset at the WEF. Now, the WEF is focused on another goal - making sure that Africa's economic growth impacts hundreds of millions of Africans who struggle to survive in chronic, grinding poverty… “At the World Economic Forum in Africa, you have seen that the business community wants to be a part of this, as well. You are hearing both businesses and governments speaking about the importance of inclusive growth, a role that private investment can play in addressing energy challenges, agricultural challenges, the opportunity to increase the role of women in the economy, and the benefits for growth that that has," said Ballou-Aares.
Fears over Food Security as Suppliers Abandon Fertilizer Subsidy Programme
Concerns have heightened over the possible drop in crop yields following the withdrawal of some fertilizer suppliers from government’s fertilizer subsidy programme. A senior lecturer at the Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department at the University of Ghana, Dr. Irene Egyir, told the B&FT that food crop farmers who are unable to afford non-subsidized fertilizer are likely to cut down on food production, a situation she said could affect the country’s food security. Her concerns come after a leading fertilizer company, Yara, opted out of this year’s government fertilizer subsidy programme for the second year running. Although the fertilizer supplier did not disclose what had prompted its decision, Dr. Egyir said government’s failure to redeem its commitments to Yara over the years may be responsible for the unfortunate decision.
Reports/Articles
Fertilizer Intensification and Soil Fertility Impact on Maize Yield Response in Northern Ghana
Antony Chapoto, Darlington Sabasi, Collins Asante-Addo
Fertilizer use and intensity is low in Sub-Saharan Africa. Further, soil fertility has been declining over the years. These together have potentially been contributing to lower crop yields particularly for smallholder farmers. In this study we examine maize yield response to nitrogen in three Districts in Northern Ghana controlling for a number of covariates including soil fertility which have received less attention in the literature. Results show that soil fertility is crucial in increasing yields in Northern Ghana and increasing nitrogen per ha enhances maize yield up to a certain yield plateau beyond which further increases will not increase yields…
Role of Soil Properties and Precipitation Concentration in Enhancing Floods in Northern Ghana
EO Effiom, OA Kwabena, KB Precious - European Journal of Sustainable …, 2015
Rainfall and soil inherent properties are natural factors that influence flood occurrence. The study assessed water infiltration rates and storage capacities of soils in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana and their contribution floods. The objective was to assess the ability of the soil to absorb hydrological shock from floods and explore ecological tools that could be used to manipulate the soils of the regions to play flood reduction and mitigation roles. A field infiltration test was carried out and precipitation concentration index (PCI) was estimated for over a 30 year period. Soil bulk density was determined and porosity inferred. The PCI indicated that 100% of rainfall in Northern Region for 1977 - 2012 has been uniform in distribution and should not pose flood threat assuming rainfall is the only determinant. For the same period in the Upper East Region, 46% – 54% of the rainfall distribution is indicative that could be susceptible to flash flood. Soil infiltration rates ranged between very slow and extremely infiltration classes (0.5 – 7 mm hr-1) and slow class…
Factors Determining Enterprise Shift Behavior among Smallholder Cocoa Farmers in the Mpohor-Wassa East District in the Western Region of Ghana
M Kwadzo - Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 2015
Recent cutting of cocoa trees and the shifting of farm resources to only rubber cultivation among smallholder cocoa farmers particularly in the Western Region of Ghana has raised great concern. It is important to examine factors influencing enterprise-shift behavior among smallholder cocoa farmers. Interview schedules were administered to all smallholders of rubber plantation famers registered under the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL)’s out-grower scheme at Mpohor. 150 smallholder cocoa farmers (except 35 absent) were interviewed for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression. About 73% of smallholder cocoa farmers were found to be shifting from cocoa to only rubber cultivation while the remaining 27% engage in both cocoa and rubber cultivation…
Climate Change Impacts on Livestock
PK Thornton, RB Boone, J Ramirez-Villegas - 2015
This Working Paper summarizes projected climate change impacts on livestock across Africa, using a combination of literature review and some new results on the projected impacts of climate change on the rangelands of Africa. Findings show that there are many options that can help livestock keepers adapt, but there appear to be no options that are widely applicable which do not have constraints to their adoption. An enabling technical and policy environment will thus be needed to ensure livestock keepers can adapt to climate change and enhance their livelihoods and food security…
Mining and Agriculture in Ghana: A Contested Terrain
F Owusu-Ansah, RC Smardon - Int. J. Environment and Sustainable Development, 2015
There is a growing concern that mining is decreasing agricultural lands and crop production, and thereby contributing to periodic food shortages in Ghana. This study combined evidence from literature, national-level data (1989–2007) and empirical findings. The national-level data was analyzed using SAS version 9.2, including trend analysis, simple linear regression and correlations. The research question was: is there a relationship between expansion of the area under mineral concession (mining) and decline in national crop production? Results revealed that increases in both mineral output and crop production have closely followed expansions of the area under mineral concession. At the national level, no statistical evidence was found to support the argument that mining has reduced total acreage cropped. However, a statistical relationship was found to exist between expansion in area under mineral concession…
Producer Willingness to Adopt GM Rice: A Multi-Country Assessment
A Durand-Morat, E Wailes - 2015
GM technology has been adopted for major field crops except for food grain crops, rice and wheat. It has generated sizable economic benefits to the adopters, many in the developing world (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014; Klümper and Qaim, 2014). Despite the benefits associated with this technology, to date no GM food grain crop, including rice, have been commercialized (Demont and Stein, 2013). Notwithstanding the barriers to commercialization, research and development of GM rice continues, focusing on agronomic and nutritional improvements to stabilize production and improve the well-being of consumers. The objective of this study is to analyze producers’ willingness to adopt GM rice. The study was largely motivated by the lack of studies focusing on the stated preferences for GM products by producers. The stated preference literature is heavily biased towards consumer preferences, and only a few ….
Poverty and Gender Inequality in Developing Countries
E Dormekpor - Developing Country Studies, 2015
The issues of poverty and gender inequality are long standing social problems that permeate every society (United Nations, 2009). Poverty and gender inequality are experienced differently in many developing countries as compared to developed countries, and various definitions are given from different perspectives that direct policy makers how to address the issues (Batana, 2008; World Bank, 2009). The framework for understanding and addressing the problem has many dimensions; however, a general understanding is required for society to address basic human needs that allow for the daily survival of the less fortunate. Poverty and gender inequality continue to be massive social problems in developing countries. Researchers, policy makers, and various institutions including the international community, have designed measures to reduce and eradicate the problem; yet in today’s modern society, poverty…
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