Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
Palm Oil can be the Next ‘Gold’ for Ghana
The Head of Corporate Affairs, Unilever Ghana, Mr. Gabriel Opoku-Asare, has described the palm oil sub-sector as the next “gold” sector for the country if all key stakeholders collaborate to grow the sub-sector to meet the increasing global demand for sustainable palm oil. Speaking at the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 Palm Oil Initiative Ghana Country Workshop held at the Best Western Hotel in Accra, he said the palm oil sector currently employs over 300,000 people in Ghana and must be given the needed attention to exploit its full potential to make sustainable palm oil production the norm and not the exception. The workshop was organised by the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA 2020) Africa Palm Oil.
Oil Palm Farmers Supports 10 per cent Import Tax
The Oil Palm Smallholders and Outgrowers’ Association, has urged government to go ahead with the imposition of a 10 per cent adjustment tax on crude palm oil (CPO) imports into the country. The Association said the call on government by some importers and few multinationals for the suspension of the tax amounted to economic sabotage. “The government must seriously not listen to the selfish interest of some multinationals in the industry to use our country as a dumping ground of their produce,” Mr. Charles Twumasi-Ankrah, Executive member of the Association told a news conference in Accra. Mr. Twumasi-Ankrah said local production would suffer when government continues to allow the influx of cheap low quality palm oil from the Far East. He said as much as the farmers recognise the need to bridge the gap between the current production and consumption, which is in excess of 200,000 metric tonnes, and could not call for a total ban on the import of the commodity there is …
ADB’s IPO to be Delayed Further
Agricultural Development Bank’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) would be delayed further until at least Thursday, 30th July 2015 when the court sits and possibly rules on the substantive case. An Accra High Court dismissed the application brought by lawyers for ADB for an order to discharge an order of 10-day interim injunction that was granted by the court on 10th July 2015. The bank’s application was to challenge another one filed by the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF), asking for an extension of the initial 10-day interim injunction it secured earlier. The lawyer for UNICOF, Charles Bawaduah explained to Joy Business the outcome of today’s court proceedings and the implications for the IPO. “At the hearing, it was obvious that the bank’s application could not be granted because the order for which they wanted to discharge elapsed yesterday and so there was no order to discharge, and so the judge in her wisdom decided to dismiss the application brought by ADB.
FAO Supports Ghana Government to Clear Obsolete Pesticides
Government in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched the Technical Cooperation Project in support of the safe disposal of obsolete pesticides in Ghana. The project is to improve on the capacity of relevant government institutions and agro-input dealers to ensure sound management of pesticides and disposal of the current stockpile of obsolete pesticides at the Pokuasi Temporary Storage Facility. The project is also to create an effective awareness strategy, aimed at preventing misuse and abuse of pesticides in order to reduce risks and improve pesticides management, thereby contributing to sustainable intensification of agriculture in Ghana.
Containing Food Loss and Waste - The Pathway to a Hunger-free Ghana
Despite an explosion in the growth of urban slums over the last decade, 76 per cent of the developing world’s 1.4 billion extremely poor people still live in rural areas, most of whom are smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture to make a living and feed their families, the 2013 Annual Report of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has indicated. Agriculture’s positive contribution to development and poverty reduction has, therefore, been widely acknowledged, with growth in the agriculture sector having been found, on average, to be, at least twice, as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors.
ECOWAS Bank to Focus on Economic Growth
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) says it would continue to focus efforts on providing support to private and public sector initiatives to grow the economies and create jobs in the sub-region. Mr. Bashir Ifo, EBID President, said everything would be done to lift the people out of poverty and transform their economic situation. Evidence of this, he said could be seen from the bank’s assistance in areas of infrastructure, agriculture and private sector development. Since the start of its operation in 2004, it has made available a total of $1.77 billion towards the implementation of 177 projects in the member states, a facts sheet detailing the operations of the bank, and made available to Ghana News Agency in Kumasi said. EBID has agreed to give a $ 20 million credit facility towards the construction of an ultra-modern shopping mall that would serve as a one-stop shop in Kumasi. The signing of the loan agreement preceded the official launch of the project which would …
Ghana Strategises to Meet Demand of UNCCD
Ghana which is a party to the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD) has begun activities to ensure that it meets the demands of the UNCCD 10- year strategic plan. Ghana signed and ratified the UNCCD in 1996 to show commitment to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought. Globally, the UNCCD entered its second decade in 2007 and the Conference of the Parties (COP) unanimously adopted the plan to enhance the implementation of the Convention. In Ghana the Ministry of the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in collaboration with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is playing a leading role to formulate and revise the National Action Plan (NAP) to align with the plan. As part of the activities to help …
EPA Sensitizes Students on Ozone Layer Depletion
The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) has sensitised students in second cycle institutions in the Upper East Region on the depletion of the Ozone layer and how to help reduce the phenomenon. The beneficiary students are expected to act as ambassadors in their respective schools and communities by educating other people on the need to avoid certain negative human activities that could deplete the ozone layer. The students were selected from the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High, Navrongo Senior High, Bolgatanga Senior High, Bolgatanga Technical Institute, Notre Dame Seminary, and the Gowrie Senior High Technical schools. Mr. Emmanuel Osae Quansah, Head of the Ozone Department, EPA, told the students that the Ozone layer absorbed most of the harmful ultra violet …
Combating the Menace of Avian Flu in West Africa
The clarion call by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for $ 20 million to prevent the spread of avian flu across West Africa, deserves serious attention by the international community to combat the disease. The call, which follows outbreaks of the virus in poultry farms, markets and family holdings in Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger and Cote d’Ivoire, is a step in the right direction. This is because it would enable West African governments contain the situation; as avian flu could trigger a mass die-off of chicken – a nutritious and inexpensive source of food for many people–with detrimental impacts on diets and on the economy of the region, exacerbating an already difficult situation. The FAO’s appeal for $ 20 million for prevention and response foresees bolstering weak veterinary systems, improving the capabilities of local laboratories and putting specialists on the ground in affected and at-risk countries.
Reports/Articles
The Challenges and Prospects of the Commercial Poultry Industry in Ghana: A Synthesis of Literature
LY Kusi, S Agbeblewu, IK Anim, KM Nyarku - 2015
Ghana’s poultry sector has been experiencing a steep decline since the year 2000. Many, if not all, the commercial poultry farms that were established in the late 1960s and early 1970s have collapsed and/or are on the verge of collapsing. Parliament passed a law to increase taxes on the importation of frozen chicken but that law has never been implemented due to pressures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This paper examined the challenges and prospects of the commercial poultry industry in Ghana. A synthesis of secondary data was sourced to assess the prevailing issues. It was concluded that the Government of Ghana should pass the law to increase taxes on the importation of frozen chicken; adopt policies to encourage SME financing in …
Do the Land-poor Gain from Agricultural Investments? Empirical Evidence from Zambia Using Panel Data
P Ahlerup, S Tengstam - 2015
In the context of the global land rush, some portray large-scale land acquisitions as a potent threat to the livelihoods of already marginalized rural farming households in Africa. In order to avoid the potential pitfall of studying a particular project that may well have atypical effects, this paper systematically investigates the impact on commercial farm wage incomes for rural smallholder households of all pledged investments in the agricultural sector in Zambia between 1994 and 2007. The results suggest that agricultural investments are associated with a robust moderate positive effect, but only for households with a relative shortage of land…
Performance Evaluation of Termite-mound Clay, Concrete and Steel Silos for the Storage of Maize Grains in the Humid Tropics
M Omobowale, Y Mijinyawa, P Armstrong, J Igbeka… - Journal of Stored Products …, 2015
Inadequate storage facilities have contributed to severe postharvest losses in maize in many developing countries. This study determined the potential of termite mound clay (TMC), a readily available material in Nigeria for constructing on-farm storage silos. 3 tonnes of maize at 11.2% moisture content (MC) was loaded into each silo for an 8-month storage period. Performance evaluation was done in comparison to conventional silos constructed from reinforced concrete (RC) and galvanized steel (GS) by monitoring temperature and relative humidity inside the silos. Selected quality parameters including moisture, protein, oil, crude fibre, starch, and ash contents were also measured. Observations revealed that temperature trends were similar in all silos. A consistent increase in relative humidity was also observed but was less pronounced in the GS silo (10.6%) compared to TMC…
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