Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
CRI Spearheads National Campaign to Overcome Food Insecurity
The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched a West African Virus Epidemiology for Root and Tuber Crops project. The project being undertaken at Fumesua near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region is to address virus threats posed to food production. Funded by the Global Development Programme of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it seeks to overcome food insecurity by maximizing root and tuber crops production to appreciable level. Dr Stella Ama Ennin, CRI Director, said at the launch that taking advantage of modern environmental and disease monitoring systems, the project would strive to understand and predict root crop virus emergence, evolution and spread in the sub-region. This would be done by conducting geo-referenced field surveys in six major cassava-producing countries, using harmonised sampling and analysis protocols.
Indigenous Knowledge of African Farmers be Enhanced – Dr Alhassan
Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Crops, on Wednesday reiterated the need for indigenous knowledge of the African farmer to be enhanced, to achieve food security and sovereignty. He said Africa had the needed trained human resources in scientific research to contribute to that knowledge or technology development. Dr Alhassan, who was speaking at the opening of the Fourth Planning and General Meeting of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in Accra, said “the era of despair, timidity and sometimes outright cynicism of African agriculture must give way to confidence, mutual trust and co-operation among stakeholders.” AFSA is a Pan-African platform of 21 networks and farmer organisations championing small African Family Farming/Production Systems based on agro-ecological and indigenous approaches that sustain food sovereignty and the livelihoods of communities.
‘Ghana Needs Concerted Efforts to Fight Bird Flu’
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Livestock, Dr Hannah Bissiw, has called for concerted efforts to combat the spread of the H5N1bird flu being recorded in some parts of the country. She said it was important to collectively fight the flu, because the strain of the avian influenza occurring in the country was the aggressive type which could be transmitted from animals to humans. Dr Bissiw who made the call during the opening of the 19th Biennial Conference of the Ghana Society of Animal Production in Cape Coast, regretted that not much attention was given to the outbreak which remained a risk to all. The three-day conference organized by the Ghana Society of Animal Production (GSAP), in collaboration with the Ghana Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Platform, is under the Theme: “Climate Change and Livestock Development.”
Netherlands Deepens Commitment to Grow Vegetable Sector
Netherlands has signaled its determination to strengthen support to Ghana in the area of commercial vegetable production to substantially increase the sector’s contribution to the economy. Ms. Mariska Lammers of the Dutch Embassy in Accra, said the focus now was on the promotion and development of strong trade relations but not aid. She said there were opportunities for trade and investment in vegetables between the two nations and these needed to be fully exploited. Ms. Lammers said they were already working through GhanaVeg to spearhead healthy and quality vegetable farming and give a new orientation to farmers. The goal, she said, is to establish a sustainable and internationally competitive sector that would bring in more returns. The GhanaVeg project seeks to increase productivity, facilitate efficient markets - link farmers and other value chain operators to the Dutch private sector and improve the business climate.
Krodua Chief Pledges Land for Youth to Cultivate Cocoa
The Chief of Krodua , a farming community near Asamankese, Nana Kwame Anim, has pledged 500 acres of land to support the Ghana Cocoa Board Youth in Cocoa Project. He made the pledge when the Public Affairs Manager of the Board, Mr. Noah Amenyah called on him at his palace at Krodua to thank him for his earlier offer of 60 acres to support the project when the National Service Personnel of Cocoa Board Association organized a sensitization durbar at the community to mobilize the youth to go into the cultivation of cocoa. Nana Anim said , few day after his announcement to support the project , three youth approached him for land to cultivate cocoa and so he allocated two acres each to the first two and five acres of land to the third youth who has started working on …
13,000 Farmers to Benefit from Yara and USAID/ADVANCE Partnership
Thirteen thousands smallholder farmers in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions are to benefit from a partnership between Yara Ghana Ltd., a leading fertiliser supplier, and the USAID-funded Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) Project to boost their crop productivity. Under the partnership, which took off last month, Yara is engaging smallholder farmers through ADVANCE of which 40% are women, to learn the right protocol for fertiliser application as well as involve MoFA extension agents in assisting farmers adhere to the protocols and get the best out of the fertiliser. Commercial Director of Yara Ghana Sergio Godoy said the partnership is targeted at smallholder farmers to increase yields and ensure increased production of maize and rice.
AU, FAO Establish Knowledge Platforms Between IGAD Member-states
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union Commission (AUC), on the implementation of the Regional Initiative on Resilience in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. A statement from the FAO and copied to the GNA, said the initiative would establish effective knowledge platforms between IGAD member-states, as well as strengthen the capacity of institutions to scale up proven cost-effective resilience enhancing good practices. It said in the Horn of Africa, the focus would be on supporting IGAD and member-states (Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan), to enhance knowledge on practical means for resilience building, as well as heighten the awareness of dynamics of resilience programming. The Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is a trade bloc in Africa, established in 1986, with a focus on development and environmental control.
Mahama Courts Investments to Agro-processing Sector
President John Dramani Mahama has requested investors to push more investments into the manufacturing sector specifically the agro-processing sub-sector to support government's export-based economy agenda. This, he said, will significantly reduce the millions of dollars that the country spends on importation of goods that can be produced locally. Inaugurating a new processing factory for Conserveria Africana Ghana Limited producer of Gino and Pomo tomato brands - in Kpone, he said the private sector has a critical role to play in transforming the dominant economic sector. "Government alone cannot raise the needed capital to grow the manufacturing sector, and for that matter private sector participation is key.
Ghana Overtakes Nigeria in Yam Exports
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) estimated that Ghana has overtaken Nigeria in yam exportation as the quality of the produce from Nigeria has dropped due to high dependency on traditional planting system. Nobert Maroya from Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa announced this fact in Ibadan during a meeting of the organization’s experts with Nigerian seed production companies. Maroya stated that the project had developed high ratio propagation technologies such as vine cuttings, aeroponics and bioreactor to address the constraints of quality and multiplication in seed yam production.
‘Only Technology Can Increase Productivity in Agric’
Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, has called on African scientists to develop technology that will help increase farm productivity. This, according to him, is paramount because of the dwindling natural resources. Dr. Alhassan, who was speaking at the opening of the Fourth Planning and General Meeting of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in Accra, said only science and technology could address the various challenges to increase productivity in the sector. “That is why African governments seek the best of technology whether from conventional or biotechnological sources to address the growing problems of climate change and its impact on food security.
Concentrate on Improving Fish Stocks – Scientist
Policy makers should concentrate on measures to improve fish stocks in the country instead of promising fishermen technologies to harvest more fish, Dr Joseph Padi, a research scientist, has said. He said there was need to grow fish now to ensure increased fish production and livelihood for the fisher folks. Dr Padi, who is a researcher at the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR – WRI), said this at an annual seminar of the CSIR – WRI in Tamale, during a presentation on the topic: “Use of Proven Technologies and Products Diversification to boost Aquaculture Production in Northern Region”. The seminar, which was attended by public and private agencies, including civil society organizations involved in the water sector, was to introduce CSIR – WRI’s activities to its stakeholders to forge a closer collaboration towards development of water resources in the country.
Government Receives $53.8million to Improve Fishing Industry
Government has received an amount of 53.8 million dollars to improve and ensure the sustainable management of the country’s fish and aquatic resources. The International Development Association (IDA) is financing 50.3 million dollars, whiles the Global Environment Facility will finance 3.5 million dollars under the West Africa Region Fisheries Programme. The project is meant to strengthen the country’s capacity to sustainably govern and manage the fisheries, reduce illegal fishing and increase the value and profitability generated by fish and aquatic resource exploitation. The beneficiaries for the programme include an estimated 206,000 marine and Lake Volta fishers, at least 27,000 women fish processors and over 3,000 fish farmers.
Government to Establish Cassava Processing Centre at Adidome
Government is to set up a Centre of Excellence for Cassava Processing at Adidome in the Volta Region, to ensure best practice in the cassava industry with respect to processing, quality management and use of technology. This is due to the enormous contribution of cassava to the socio-economic development of the country, as it contributed about 22 per cent of national agricultural Gross Domestic Product in Ghana. The best practices would ensure that good hygiene was observed, processing costs were kept low, particularly through the reduction of energy costs, to enable competitive pricing and access to larger markets, as well as innovative ways of cassava production. This was disclosed by Mrs. Mammie Hutchful, a Research Development Officer at the Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, University of Ghana, during a day workshop organized in Accra for cassava farmers from the Volta Region, to educate them on new and innovative uses of cassava.
Scientists Brainstorm to Address Development Challenges
The First International Conference on engineering, science, technology and entrepreneurship opened at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, on Thursday with a declaration by the Government to advance the cause of the nation through technology. Mr. Mahama Ayarigah, the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said his Ministry had already commenced discussions with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and other research-based organizations to establish science parks across the nation. The objective, he said, was to breed innovative and creative technological ideas borne out of research to address the nation’s development challenges in all sectors of the economy…
Two Sign Agreement for Research into Dairy Production
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has entered into a partnership with Peak Investment Capital (PIC), a social enterprise investment fund, to support research into the dairy production capabilities at the university’s Dairy Research Station. In line with that, the two institutions have signed an agreement under which GH¢650,000 will be made available to leverage the KNUST’s technical expertise to continuously innovate and develop a sustainable dairy ecosystem. To be executed at the KNUST’s Dairy Research Station, the project would be undertaken in two phases. The first phase is to expand the capacity of the facility at the university which produces yoghurt products in the Ashanti Region, revamp the staff base, focus on re-branding and marketing and ….
Ghana to Prepare Climate Change Learning Strategy
The Ministry of the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, on Wednesday began the process of designing a climate change learning strategy, to help educate Ghanaians on the phenomenon and how to adapt to it. In this direction, the Ministry is hosting a national planning workshop of stakeholders, including the academia, civil society, financial and private sectors, youth groups, and educational institutions to get views and opinions to input into the learning strategy. The strategy development process is being supported by the “One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership, also known as UN CC: Learn,” a partnership of 34 UN agencies that help countries figure out their peculiar climate change issues and needs and then design strategies to address them. The National Climate Change Learning Strategy would be an important piece in Ghana’s national climate change response, to help deliver climate learning-related products and services.
Report/Articles
Spreading the Gains of Agricultural Innovations in Africa: A Strategy to Scale-up and Scale-out the IAR4D Concept
AO Fatunbi, MT Ajayi, A Obi, GO Odularu, AA Adekunle - 2015
Agriculture plays an important role in the craving for the development of Africa, based on its position as the largest employer of labour on the continent. The productivity of African agriculture and its capacity to translate raw commodity to significant wealth through enterprise configuration is the only way to go. FARA has worked on this in the last decade, and with its constituents, has developed the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) concept as an effective vehicle to translate the available technologies to diverse socioeconomic benefits and expanded income through enterprise diversification. FARA has recently drawn up a Science Agenda for African Agriculture with its stakeholders having realised that the desired future of Africa agriculture is largely hinged on the quality of its science, among other considerations.
Africa’s Changing Farmland Ownership: Causes and Consequences
TS Jayne, J Chamberlin, L Traub, N Sitko, M Muyanga… - 2015
Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing major changes in farm land ownership and use, which are both cause and consequence of the economic transformations that the region is now experiencing. The rapid rise of emergent investor farms in the 5 to 100 hectare category represents a revolutionary change in Africa’s farm structure since 2000. The rise of investor farmers is affecting the region in diverse ways that are difficult to generalize. In some areas, investor farms are a source of dynamism, technical change and commercialization of African agriculture. In densely populated areas, however, investor farms may be displacing the potential for agricultural land expansion of small-scale farming communities. In most countries examined, the majority of medium-scale farms are owned by urban based professionals or rural elites, many of whom are also public sector employees. Domestic investor farmers tend to control farm lobby groups and influence agricultural policies and ...
Cushioning Women Against Gender Inequality Through Promoting Indigenous Chicken Production in Sub Saharan Africa.
N Assan - 2015
Poultry sub sector is a privileged entry point for promoting gender equality. Gender inequalities in poultry and livestock activities are now more and more acknowledged by governments, scientists, and farmers in sub Saharan Africa. This is on the background that gender inequality has translated into loss of opportunities or potential gains on agricultural production and food security. This has been exacerbated by the fact that the progress in empowering women in agriculture and reducing gender inequality has been slow despite this realization. The paper presents an overview of the development of the indigenous chickens sector in sub Saharan Africa and its implication on addressing gender equality. The assumption is that despite the multitude of socio-economic constraints faced by women in agriculture they are capable of raising indigenous chickens for the welfare of their households, hence promoting indigenous…
Evaluating the Potential for Passive Greywater Irrigation in Northern Ghana
CL Fagan - 2015
Water scarcity, malaria, and malnutrition are all concerns facing the people of Chirifoyili and the Northern Region of Ghana. Greywater pooling outside of homes increases human exposure to pathogens and provides breeding grounds for disease carrying insects, especially malaria spreading mosquitoes. This project looks at draining this water away from the home and using it to irrigate vegetables, fruit trees and other beneficial plants. The purpose of this study is to estimate the effects of grey water irrigation on the growth of plants commonly found in village home gardens. The field project consisted of constructing and managing household greywater irrigation systems for valuable trees. These greywater pools were modeled in a campus laboratory to determine the effect greywater would have on the growth of tomato plants. The results of the study showed the tomato plants’ health and growth rate were improved by the extra water and nutrients.
ICT-Based Framework for Improved Food Security in Nigeria
SC Asogwa, FN Ugwoke, FE Ozioko - West African Journal of Industrial and Academic …, 2015
Hunger has plagued mankind throughout history and still remains a critical problem especially in Nigeria. This paper has analyzed the government and individual farmer’s effort to improve the lot of agriculture in Nigeria and discovered that enough has not been done on the issue of embracing ICT tools as a needed foundation for improved agricultural productivity. This paper has modeled an ICT based platform that if adopted by stakeholders, shall greatly pull Nigeria out of the mess of food insecurity. This framework incorporated a national internet host that will drive the information flow amongst the various stakeholders in agriculture. The six regional decision support systems in this model is a comprehensive database of agricultural information generated from research findings and innovations, inputs from agricultural extension officers, farmers, consumers, marketers, agricultural agencies via the interactive websites, radio, television, computers, personal digital assistants etc.
Microbial and Parasitological Quality of Pre-Harvest Vegetables Irrigated with Urban Wastewater and Water from Microdams in Mekelle and Southern Zones of Tigray, Region, Ethiopia
S Alemayehu, T Asmelash, T Alemayehu - 2015
Currently wastewater vegetable irrigation in Ethiopia is growing due to water scarcity, population growth urbanization. Samples of pre-harvest leafy, fruit and root vegetables were collected using a random sampling technique from small scale farms of wastewater drainage canal in Mekelle and Southern Zone of Tigray Region in triplicates during dry season (November-May). Survey result reveled that different types of vegetable (Swiss chard, lettuce pepper, carrot, tomato, beef root, onion and cabbage) were produced using waste water. It was found that total of 146 household heads with ages ranging from 25-65 years were directly involved in urban and peri-urban irrigated vegetable production in Mekelle, Alamata and Maychew. Out of the 55 vegetable samples, the highest microbial …
Natural Infrastructure in the Nexus
S Ozment, K DiFrancesco, T Gartner - Nexus Dialogue Synthesis Papers. Gland, 2015
This paper discusses how natural infrastructure, the networks of land and water that provide services to people, can help decision makers and infrastructure managers address interconnected challenges facing water, energy and food systems, often referred to as the “nexus”. Natural infrastructure can help maintain an adequate supply of clean water, which in turn supports energy and agricultural systems. Presenting the most recent developments, studies, and approaches regarding natural infrastructure, the paper examines reasons and ways to include natural infrastructure in this nexus, challenges that have prevented increased investment in natural infrastructure, and recommendations for moving forward.