Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Agricultural Issues
MOFA Signs Agreement with FAO to Tackle Avian Flu
A Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) between the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) was signed this week toward controlling and eliminating the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). This particular technical assistance aims at strengthening the country’s capacity to control and prevent further spread of the disease, contain it, and better manage the risk factors. The Deputy Regional Representative for Africa and FAO Country Representative, Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, signed for his organisation and said the ceremony is a demonstration of continued commitment and resolve to collaborate and coordinate efforts to stamp out spreading of the HPAI, and its subsequent elimination from Ghana. Dr. Gabriel noted that Ghana is currently experiencing HPAI outbreaks, which were formally reported in May 2015 and confirmed in June of the same year, after reports of similar outbreaks in other …
Poultry Farmers Angry at Government
The Ghana National Poultry Farmers' Association has expressed their dissatisfaction with measures by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Veterinary Services Directorate to combat bird flu. “If the measures are being effective, by now we would have contained the bird flu in Greater Accra, but it is still lingering,” Executive Secretary, John Torto told Joy News. Ghana has experienced 36 outbreaks of bird flu within the Greater Accra region being the worst hit with 31 cases since May 2015. Achimota and Tema were said to be the worst hit with birds from the two areas quarantined. During the Christmas season, the Ghana Chamber of Commerce dispelled fears that the outbreak endangered consumption of Chicken. The Chamber assured the general public that no infected bird would get to the market. The Chamber said measures were being put in place to combat the flu…
10-year Master-plan Targets 150,000MT of Cashew
A 10-year cashew sector master-plan aimed at increasing production from 50,000 metric tonnes to 150,000 metric tonnes per annum by 2025 is being discussed by government and private sector stakeholders. The plan’s aim to increase the utilisation of installed processing capacity of 65,000 metric tonnes from 5% to 75% by 2025 is being discussed. The sector currently has 14 processing factories within the country with a processing capacity of 60,000mt, while the country produces 50,000mt of raw nuts. The deficit, among other challenges, stakeholder say calls for an effective dialogue between the government of Ghana and agencies responsible for implementing policies that will help promote the sector. Worldwide demand for cashew is increasing at around 5% annually, and …
New Seed Varieties not Reaching Africa's Small Farmers - Study
Africa's small farmers, more than half of whom buy their seeds from local informal markets, need access to improved seeds that can yield more food and cope with climate change, according to research published on Wednesday. Innovations in food science, including seeds that produce vitamin-rich food and crops that can withstand the hotter, drier conditions due to global warming, are not reaching many of Africa's small farmers as they are not available in local markets, researchers said. The study, published in the journal "Food Security", examined 10,000 seed transactions across five African countries and Haiti, and researchers said it shed light on how food production can be expanded…
Adansi South to Boost Food Security
This is being done under a joint project by the Food and Agriculture Ministry (MOFA) and the Crops Research Institute (CRI) with support from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Mr. Obrien Nyarko, the District Director of Agriculture, mentioned some of the varieties as “Pan 53”, “Honampa”, “Pioneer”, “Omankwa”, “Timtim”, “Abontem” and “Obaatanpa”. The goal, he said, was to substantially increase maize production and returns to improve the livelihood of the people. Speaking to farmers and agricultural extension agents, during a visit to a demonstration farm established at Atobiase, near New Edubiase, he said the other high point was that the new seeds had high nutritional value – good for consumption by both humans and animals …
Newmont to Spray Cocoa Farms Free of Charge
As part of measures to ensure sustainable development in its host communities, Newmont Ghana’s Ahafo Mine continues to pursue social intervention programmes, aimed at improving the lives of communities around the mine. A number of these interventions are in the area of Agricultural improvement support as most communities in the Brong Ahafo area are agrarian. The company has instituted a special initiative to improve the lives of the people close to the boundaries of the Ahafo mine site. These beneficiary communities, known as fence line communities, include Dokyikrom, Yarogrumah, Amankonakrom, Oseiwusukrom, Tailorkrom, Manushed, Ananekrom, Nsonyameye No. 1, Nsonyameye No. 2 and Akorekrom. The initiative, known as the Fence line Communities Management Initiative, includes the periodic spraying of cocoa farms, provision of crop seedlings and plantain suckers to farmers …
Over 200,000 at Risk of Food Insecurity in Southern Mozambique
“The only reasonable region district is Xai-Xai of the province, all other 11 districts are affected,” said Gaza Provincial Director of Agriculture and Food Security, Ernesto Paulino, quoted by Radio Mozambique. The director said that so far 174,000 hectares of food production are lost from a total of 300,000, which represents more than 50 percent of the province had planned production for the current campaign season. “Our main concern is that the seeds that we distributed for the current campaign season were spoiled to the droughts,” said the provincial director. The authorities are still hopeful that some rains will fall in the coming two months, the last two for the end of the rainy season, if there ….
SADA Must be More Viable in Brong Ahafo
Some residents of the Brong Ahafo Region have raised concerns about the relatively snail’s pace of socio-economic development in the transitional area of the region, which falls within the northern ecological zone under the of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority’s (SADA) umbrella. According to them, despite the enormous economic potentials in the SADA zone of the region, especially agriculture and tourism, the area has not seen any significant development initiated by SADA. The SADA zone in Brong Ahafo covers Atebubu-Amantin, Pru, Sene East and West, Tain, Banda, Kintampo North and South. Agriculture along its value chain is the major employer of the active population in these areas. These districts are well-noted for the cultivation of maize, rice, cashew, mango, yam, and soya beans among others. Mr. Kwame Appiah Baah, Acting Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the Associations of Ghana Industries (AGI), told the B&FT: “SADA has added next to nothing to the…
Vegetable Farmers Advised to Form Groups
Mr. Randy Nkrumah, District Manager of the Agona Duakwa Depot of the Cocoa Merchant Company, has called on vegetable farmers to form groups in their communities, to help address specific challenges confronting them. “Formation of the groups would go a long way towards enhancing productivity”, he said. Mr. Randy Nkrumah was addressing about 150 vegetable farmers from the Agona Duakwa Zone of the Agona West District. The meeting also discussed among other issues, how the farmers would get market for their produce. Mr. Nkrumah said plans were far advanced to train the youth who wish to get into vegetable farming. He said “strengthening farmers’ groupings in urban vegetable production systems, is seen as one of the ways of solving farmers marketing problems”….
Fiifi Kwetey Nominated as Transport Minister
Minister for Food & Agriculture Franklin Fiavi Fiifi Kwetey has been nominated as the Minister of Transport to replace Dzifa Atsivor who resigned from her position on December 23, 2015 over the controversial GHc3.6 million bus re-branding saga. His nomination together with over 8 others is President Mahama’s first reshuffle list for 2016. ranklin Fiavi Fifi Kwetey’s current position which is Minister for Food & Agriculture will be taken over by the current Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna….
Reports/Articles
Evaluation of Alternative School Feeding Models on Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Other Social Outcomes in Ghana: Rationale, Randomised Design and Baseline Data
A Gelli, E Masset, G Folson, A Kusi, DK Arhinful… - Trials, 2016
‘Home-grown’ school feeding programmes are complex interventions with the potential to link the increased demand for school feeding goods and services to community-based stakeholders, including smallholder farmers and women’s groups. There is limited rigorous evidence, however, that this is the case in practice. This evaluation will examine explicitly, and from a holistic perspective, the simultaneous impact of a national school meals programme on micronutrient status, alongside outcomes in nutrition, education and agriculture domains. The 3-year study involves a cluster-randomised control trial designed around the scale-up of the national school feeding programme, including 116 primary schools in 58 districts in Ghana. The randomly assigned interventions are: 1) a school feeding programme group, including schools and communities where the standard government programme is implemented; 2) ‘home-grown’ school feeding, including schools and communities where the …
Seed Systems Smallholder Farmers Use
S McGuire, L Sperling - Food Security, 2015
Seed can be an important entry point for promoting productivity, nutrition and resilience among smallholder farmers. While investments have primarily focused on strengthening the formal sector, this article documents the degree to which the informal sector remains the core for seed acquisition, especially in Africa. Conclusions drawn from a uniquely comprehensive data set, 9660 observations across six countries and covering 40 crops, show that farmers access 90.2 % of their seed from informal systems with 50.9 % of that deriving from local markets. Further, 55 % of seed is paid for by cash, indicating that smallholders are already making important investments in this arena. Targeted interventions are proposed for rendering formal and informal seed sector more smallholder-responsive and for scaling up positive impacts….
Technical Inefficiency Effects in Agriculture—A Meta-Regression
JG Djokoto, FY Srofenyo, AAA Arthur - Journal of Agricultural Science, 2016
A number of studies have examined the effect of study characteristics on mean technical efficiency as the dependent variable. This article departs from these earlier studies by using second-stage inefficiency covariates as key exploratory variables and study characteristics as control variables in a meta-regression. Unlike the vote count method of quantitative review, the parameters of the key variables have desirable properties and enable statistical inferences to be drawn. Additionally, the dependent variable employed is mean technical inefficiency. This is demonstrated using data on technical inefficiency of primary studies in Ghanaian agriculture, fitted to fractional regression models. The appropriate functional form of the fractional regression model is discussed with policy….
Current and Future Potential Distribution of Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus and Risk of Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease in Africa
BE Isabirye, I Rwomushana - Journal of Crop Protection, 2016
Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), caused by the synergistic effect of maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV; Tombusviridae: Machlomovirus) and any potyvirus, has the potential to devastate maize production across Africa. Since the first report in Kenya in 2011, MLN has spread to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and probably other surrounding countries. To understand the spatiotemporal distribution of MCMV and MLN risk in Africa, we developed ecological niche models using a genetic algorithm (GARP). Model inputs included climatic data (temperature and rainfall) and known detections of MCMV and MLN across Africa. Model performances were more statistically significant (p < 0.05) than random expectations, with Receivership Operating Curves (ROC) / Area Under Curve (AUC) scores above 86% and Kappa values above 0.936. Field observations generally confirmed model predictions. MCMV and MLN-positive incidences across the region corresponded to a variety of temperature and ….
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