Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
AfDB Plans US$3bn Facility to Improve Food Nutrition
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has taken a giant step toward improved food nutrition and security with plans to develop a US$300million facility that will leverage about US$3billion from banks and microfinance institutions across the continent to empower women and women-owned enterprises toward to improving access to nutritious diets. President of the bank, Akinwumi Adesina, told the B&FT in an interview on the sidelines of the third meeting of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition in Accra that the move is part of efforts to address the surging rate of stunted growth on the continent. He said: “The African Development Bank is planning a US$300million facility that will leverage US$3billion of …
Ghana Loses $520m Annually to Degradation of Agric Soils
Ghana loses at least $520 million annually due to the degradation of agricultural soils, forests and Savannah woodlands, coastal fisheries, wildlife resources and Lake Volta's environment. The deforestation rate in the country also stands at 135,000 hectares annually, culminating in the country’s forest reduction to 1.6 million hectares from 8.2 million at the turn of the century. These were made public at a consultative meeting to engage ambassadors appointed by the National REDD+ Secretariat of the Forestry Commission of Ghana to advocate for Ghana's Emission Reduction Programme. The Ambassadors are expected to "Sell" the REDD+ mechanism to their peers, emphasising on the need to adopt climate-smart agricultural…
Government Slashes Agric Budget by GHc40million…even as Output Falls
Government has cut its 2016 expenditure on the agricultural sector by GH?40million despite growth in the agriculture sector stalling to 0.04 percent this year, when government had targeted 3.6 percent growth. This year government’s budgeted expenditure on the agricultural sector is GH¢395.19million while for 2016 GH¢355.14million has been budgeted, indicating a 10.1 percent decrease. With the economy estimated to grow at about 5.4 percent next year, the role of agriculture in the economy appears to be falling down the pecking order. Last year, the sector’s share of GDP stood at 21.5 percent, but that will decline to 19 percent this year.
CSIR-SARI Evaluates Herbicides on GM Cotton Varieties
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) has begun undertaking a confined field research on the performance of Roundup Ready herbicides on cotton varieties being cultivated in the country. The research, which formed part of CSIR-SARI’s Cotton Improvement Programme, is being undertaking in collaboration with relevant stakeholders such as the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) (through the functioning of the Institutional Biosafety Committee), Ministry of Food and Agriculture amongst other regulatory bodies. As part of the processes and research protocols, CSIR-SARI organized an open field day for cotton farmers and stakeholders to visit the research field at …
Ghana Needs Plant Variety Protection Law
Ghana has no plant variety protection law and so breeders lack the opportunity to patent their newly developed crop varieties, an official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has said. Dr Dorothy Effa, Assistant Director, in-charge of Policy Planning and Budget Directorate, said an unprotected plant variety development system was not attractive for private investment and called for strong advocacy for the passage of a plant variety protection law in Ghana. She made the remarks when she presented an overview of Micro Reforms for African Agribusiness (MIRA) implementation in Ghana at a two-day national stakeholders’ workshop organized by MOFA and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa. The workshop was to identify and …
Grains Council Shields Food Security …500metric Warehouse Opens in Wa
The Ghana Grains Council (GGC) has invested GHc9million in a 500metric tonne certified grain warehouse with office complex for farmers at Wa in the Upper West Region. The warehouse is expected to reduce post-harvest losses and increase farmers’ produce to enable them get more income and expand their business to support the economy. The storage facility was constructed with support from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) for Ajar Enterprise, a Wa-based community grain aggregator, as part of the GGC warehouse receipt programme to benefit more than 7,000 nucleus farmers within Wa and 8 community aggregation centres regulated by GGC. The project is a GGC-certified warehouse built to …
Kofi Annan Pushes for Food Security and Nutrition
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has indicated the need for African governments to take urgent policy actions backed by adequate budget allocation toward the creation of resilient food systems that will boost access to high-quality nutrition. In a solidarity message on the occasion of the third annual meeting of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition in Accra, he said that improving food nutrition in a climate change era will require diverse, efficient and resilient food systems. He said: “Food nutrition is not just about the amount of food we eat but the right type of food; considerable progress has been made on malnutrition in Africa, but there are new challenges happening along the way…
Ghana’s Food Security Effort has Failed
Government efforts to ensure food security in Ghana has failed to yield results as the country continue to import some staple foods from neighbouring nations. A 2003 research on food security trends in Ghana had shown that there has been a decline in the production of some major staples and other agricultural commodities. Mr. Collins Tay National President of the Research Scientist Association (RSA) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said this when he addressed the 26th Annual General Meeting RSA of the CSIR. It was on the theme: “Innovation within the Food Industry: Attaining Food Security in a challenging economy.’’ According to him the Food sector is no doubt the biggest industrial sector in any …
Turning the Cocoa Sector into a Game-changer
Cocoa-growing communities, supply chains and national authorities should find ways of working better together to bring lasting improvements to the lives of smallholder farmers, according to the International Cocoa Initiative. The leading organisation on child protection in cocoa growing held its annual event in Ghana on 9 November, urging for more coordination between disparate groups in the context of the ever prevalent risk of child labour in cocoa. Held under the auspices of the Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the event brought together more than 100 participants from the governments of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, workers’ and farmers’ organizations, the chocolate and cocoa industry, the UN, the …
Ghana’s Cocoa Output Up
Ghana’s cocoa production is projected to hit 850,000 tonnes this year, up from the 732,000 tonnes produced last year. The Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Noah K. Amenyah, who disclosed this, attributed the projected increase in cocoa production to good weather and rainfall. Amenyah disclosed this in an interview with The Ghanaian Times, when the United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Krysta Harden, paid a working visit to a cocoa farm here. Ms. Harden is leading a trade mission on a three-day visit to Ghana to expand export and import opportunities for US agriculture in the country and sub-Saharan Africa, forge relationships and learn about the market conditions and business environment in the region…
Experts Moot Ecosystem Services for Improved Cocoa Production
Experts have warned that Ghana’s cocoa production will decline if the expansive cocoa under no shade system, which destroys the ecosystem, is not halted. They said the practice, which seeks to increase productivity through forest shade removal and chemical inputs -- though beneficial in the short-term -- is inimical to ecological sustainability and economic outcomes in the cocoa landscape over the long run. Thus, they have called for the promotion of ecosystem services among smallholder cocoa farmers, which would engender sustainable use of forest cover and ultimately lead to improved ecological footprints and greater economic benefits for farmers. They gave this caution at a one-day knowledge-event on ecosystem services in …
Two Bodies to Help Reduce Emissions in Cocoa Growing Areas
The Forestry Commission and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) are rolling out a climate-friendly programme to reduce emissions in cocoa growing areas. Known as the Cocoa-Forest Emission Reduction Programme, the initiative seeks to significantly reduce emissions driven by expansion of cocoa into forest areas, coupled with illegal logging. The initiative is part of Ghana’s REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation + Conservation of Forests, Sustainable Forest Management and Enhancement of Carbon Stocks) programme. Led by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the programme provides economic incentives for initiatives/actions by developing countries that effectively result in …
Cocoa Farmers Trained to Fight Bushfires
One hundred and fifty cocoa farmers from 54 registered co-operative societies in the Suhum Municipal and Ayensuano Districts of the Eastern Region have undergone a two-day training workshop in fighting bushfires. The training was organised by the Suhum Municipal Carboy Cocoa Partnership Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited. The participants were taken through series of fire prevention tactics to enable them prevent bushfires and also protect their farms and other properties against fires. The Municipal Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Mr. Eric Owusu Bruch urged the farmers to protect their farms from fires. He said some fire outbreaks are caused by the negligence of some farmers who fail to put…
Fisheries Ministry Develops Medium Term Plan
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development is developing a five-year medium term National Fisheries Resource Management Plan to properly manage the country’s resources. The sector Minister, Ms. Sherry Aryeetey, who announced this at a public forum in Accra last Tuesday, said the plan would, among other things, seek to halt the over-exploitation of marine resources, promote co-management for effective protection of the marine environment and promote research into topical issues relating to sustainability of the country’s marine resources. She said it would also promote effective enforcement of the fisheries laws. The public forum was organised by the Ghana National Committee of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (GNC-IOC), on the theme, “Ocean Governance – The Role of Stakeholders”…
Ghana Develops Marine Fisheries Management Plan
A National Fisheries dialogue, aimed at creating a platform for stakeholders to make recommendation on effective ways of implementing the country’s newly approved National Marine Fisheries Management Plan, has been held in Cape Coast. The three day event, on the theme, “Rebuilding Ghana’s Marine Fish Stocks; Challenges and the way forward”, brought together various stakeholders from academia, government, food security Organisations and various fishing associations. It was organised by the Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), USAID-Funded food security programme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Development (MOFAD) and the Fisheries Commission.
Rice Farmers Receives Boost with CARI Project
The demand for rice in the country has followed an upward trend for over a decade, but local supply has been trailing far behind -- often based on concerns about the quality of locally produced rice, with traders and consumers relying on imports to address the challenge. To address this challenge, TechnoServe Ghana has launched a project dubbed the ‘Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI)’ in a bid to improve the livelihoods of smallholder rice farmers in the country by increasing the competitiveness of domestic rice supply to meet demand. In an interview with the B&FT, Samuel Baba Adongo, commenting on the project, bemoaned the tribulations smallholder rice farmers go through and is hopeful that some of those challenges …
3,000 Rice Farmers Receive Support …to Meet Consumers’ Demand
About 3,000 rice farmers in the Northern Region have received support to produce preferred rice varieties that are in demand in the country to reduce high importation of the staple. The project -- initiated by SNV, a Netherlands Development Organisation -- is expected to yield about 8,500 tonnes of Jasmine and Alliance for Green Revolution (AGRA) rice seeds to increase yields and meet the demands of consumers. As part of efforts to achieve the targets, SNV has established 15 demonstration fields to enable farmers undergo training to transfer improved technology in rice production and adapt to the changing trends to produce quality, tasty, aromatic and stone-free rice for consumers…
Cassava Records 7% Increase in Market Price
Whereas prices of some foodstuffs increased in the Ghanaian markets within the third week of November, others decreased. The highest increase of 7 percent was made by Cassava (fresh tubers) to close the week at an average price of GH¢ 3.50 per 3-4 tubers. This was followed by Millet with 4 percent gain in price to close the week at GH¢5.00 per olunka. According to Esoko Ghana, Maize, Tomato and Yam dropped by 2 percent each, to close the week at an average price of GH¢ 4.20, GH¢11.20 and GH¢3.80 respectively. Cassava (Gari), Cowpea, Rice (imported –unclesam), and Soya beans also followed with a percentage drop each. They closed the week at GH¢4.40, GH¢7.70, GH¢27.80 and GH¢6.50 per olunka and per 1 small …
Stakeholders Discuss Fertilizer Industry in Ghana
A two-day National Fertilizer Stakeholders’ workshop has opened in Accra to identify and address issues in the fertilizer industry to help sustain agricultural production and food security. Participants are also expected to come up with appropriate recommendations that would deal with fertilizer issues as well as inform policy. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in collaboration with Soil Research Institute (SRI) and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), organised the workshop being attended by various stakeholders including fertilizer manufacturers, importers, distributers, retailers and end users, especially, farmers and CSOs. Dr Francis Tetteh, a Senior Research Scientists of SRI and a Project Coordinator of the Soil …
Food Safety in the Hospitality Industry
It is apparent that modern lifestyles have driven many people, especially the working class, to depend on out-of-home foods. The traffic situation in the cities has not helped the situation much. You are only sure to get to the office on time if you wake up very early and leave home by 5am, especially when your workplace is located in the heart of the city. Many schoolchildren have to share in this agony by leaving home with their parents. Since it is normally too early to cook, the majority of urban dwellers depend on the hospitality industry for breakfast, lunch and even dinner. Scattered in the cities are hotels, restaurants, eateries, chop bars and other small-scale food sellers. Many of you reading this article, might have …
Agriculture has a very Bright Future – Adongo
Agriculture in Africa has a very bright future and is the cornerstone for the continent’s socio-economic development, Mr. Augustine Adongo, Team Leader, Market Development for Northern Ghana, has said. He said the concept of agribusiness which has engulfed the continent over the past decades, was an indication that the agricultural sector in Africa was witnessing a rapid transformation. Mr. Adongo said this in a lecture at the Agrique Africa Investment Summit 2015 in Accra. The two-day event on the theme: “Matching Agricultural Trade and Investment Opportunities in Africa”, brought together leading agricultural players in Africa seasoned speakers all with the common goal and vision to transform Africa’s Agricultural ...
IITA Wins Outstanding Research Institute Award
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has received the Outstanding Research Institute award from the Nigeria-based Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL). IITA was honoured for its sterling leadership in agricultural research in Nigeria in particular, and sub Saharan Africa in general. In a letter to the Director General, IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga; the Chief Executive Officer of CVL and copied to the GNA, Professor Pat Utomi wrote: “I write to appreciate IITA for its laudable contributions towards economic growth in Nigeria and also inform you that the CVL team has specifically selected your organisation as one of the honourees at the upcoming CVL Agriculture Sector celebration. Your recognition is under the Category of …
Tamale Mechanisation Station to be Equipped by AGAMI
A & G Agro Mechanical Industries Ghana Ltd (AGAMI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for the development of agriculture in the country. As part of the partnership agreement, A&G Agro will partner with the Tamale Mechanization Station to equip it with the state of the art tractor assembly line machinery to commence the assembling of MF tractors, planters, harvesters and other farming inputs. A press release signed by Thomas Abanga, CEO, AGAMI and copied to the GNA said, “our mission is to empower the agricultural community to eradicate hunger and poverty by assisting farmers in developing their current agricultural practices beyond mere subsistence to sustainable …
EPA Vows to Deal With Bush Burners - During the Harmattan
In an attempt to curb the perennial bushfire and other fire disasters which destroy food crops, human lives and other valuable properties every year in the Northern Region, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to arrest and prosecute people or group of people who engage in reckless and indiscriminate bush burning during this year's harmattan. The Northern Regional Director of the EPA, Mr. Iddrisu Abu, in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle in Tamale, emphasized that the punitive measures being put in place was very critical to stem the tide of any unfortunate circumstances that could result in the destruction of food crops, human lives and properties.
Reports/Articles
Synopsis, Is There Fiscal Space for CAADP in Ghana?
Stephen D.Younger
In 2009, Ghana was one of the first African countries to accept the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) target of committing ten percent of government expenditure to agriculture. Despite this commitment, Ghana remains far short of that goal. In recent years, spending on agriculture has increased, but only to about 3.5 percent of total expenditures (Benin 2014; ReSAKSS 2015). To attain the CAADP target, Ghana needs to spend an additional 6.5 percent of total expenditures, or about 2 percent of GDP, on agriculture. Yet Ghana also finds itself needing to reduce an historically large and persistent budget deficit of about ten percent of GDP. In such difficult fiscal times, is it possible for Ghana to meet its …
Hybrid Maize Seed Supply in Ghana
Robert Tripp, Catherine Ragasa
This paper examines factors related to the supply of hybrid maize seed in Ghana and lays the groundwork for research on the demand side. There are a number of public maize hybrids, but most are recently released and only a few are readily available to farmers. There has also been importation of hybrid maize seed, but this is now severely restricted. The current system for variety release is undergoing modification and has proven particularly unsatisfactory for imported hybrids. One of the major challenges in promoting the public hybrids has been an inefficient source seed system, and this has affected the prospects of the relatively few emerging domestic seed companies that are attempting to produce and market local …
Evaluation of Type and Application Timing of Indigenous Organic Materials on the Productivity of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Guinea Savannah of Ghana
IK Dzomeku, O Illiasu - Ghana Journal of Science, Technology and …, 2015
Timing of application of organic materials to seed sowing and the type of material used are fundamental to maximizing nutrient availability and productivity of maize. A pot experiment was carried out at the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala near Tamale to determine (1) the optimum planting date of maize after the incorporation of untreated organic materials (OM) and (2) the effect of different organic materials on maize productivity based on the concept of organic nutrient management. 4 × 5 factorial experiment laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated thrice was used. The four organic materials used were: Biochar (B), Rice straw (RS), Rice husk (RH) and Grounded groundnut shell (GGS) and the …
Improving Irrigation Access to Combat Food Insecurity and Undernutrition: A Review
L Domènech - 2015
Interventions aimed at increasing water availability for livelihood and domestic activities have great potential to improve various determinants of undernutrition, such as the quantity and diversity of foods consumed within the household, income generation, and women's empowerment. This review analyzes the existing evidence concerning the role of irrigation in improving nutrition and health outcomes. Most of the studies examined showed a positive effect of irrigation interventions on food security. However, existing evidence is still insufficient to draw broad conclusions, largely because nutrition is yet to be considered an explicit objective of irrigation development. Nutrition-sensitive irrigation programs are needed to help realize the …
Assessment of Socio-Economic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Kpong Fishing Community in Ghana
CL Ayisi
The present investigation was carried out to assess the socio-economic status and demographic characteristics of fishing community at Kpong Landing site in Ghana. The study was conducted by the use of well-structured questionnaire. In total, 50 fishers were involved in this study. The study revealed that 32% of the respondents representing the majority were aged between 24-29 years. A hooping majority (64%) of the respondents were married with 6% being divorced. 20% of the respondents had no formal education with 24% being educated up to S.H.S level. 37% of the fishery indicated that they had being in the business for 6-10 years. Men making up 62% were directly or indirectly involved in fishing activities with the …
The Role of Social Network and Regional System in Maintaining Livelihood Security of Smallholder Farmers in Central Kenya
MK Kauti - 2015
Taking smallholder settlements constituting a relatively compact set of two newly settled villages adjacent Northeastern Slopes of Aberdare, Central Kenya as the main research field, the study: investigates the migration patterns, kinship relations and emerging associational life in the study sites; explores the social networks underpinning the exchange and sharing of information and knowledge by the smallholder farmers; and illuminates the functioning of the regional system driven by local-level area differences arising from ecological gradient of a mountain slope. It draws from both qualitative and quantitative data collected from field surveys between 2007 and 2009. Additional field work was conducted intermitted between…
* The GSSP News Digest just summarizes news that is reported in the press. Any errors of fact or omission are not IFPRI’s responsibility*