Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
FAO Admits Bees are Capable of Ensuring Food Security
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday, for the first time, lauded bees for their role in helping increase crop yields. The small insects, wild or honey ones, have been unknowingly fertilizing plants as they move tirelessly from flower to flower. In doing so, bees may have a key role to play in improving the production of some two billion smallholder farmers worldwide and ensuring the food security and nutrition of the world’s growing population, the UN agency said in a new study published in Science magazine. “What do cucumbers, mustard, almonds and alfalfa have in common?” asked FAO in a press release. “On the surface, very little; but there is one thing they share: they all owe their existence to the service of bees.”…
WIENCO Schools Poultry Farmers on Profitable Practices
An agro-inputs distribution and marketing company, Wienco Ghana Limited in collaboration with Provimi - a South African company, has organised a one-day sensitisation seminar for poultry farmers in the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality of the Ashanti Region to equip them with modern and best production practices, aimed at improving their profit margins. The facilitators of the seminar, under the theme ‘Achieving profitability in poultry production’, among other things highlighted some farming practices which negatively impact production levels and quality of poultry products, especially eggs. The Poultry Feed Technician of Wienco of Ghana, Abdul Razak Mohammed, said high cost of production -- particularly feeding -- remains the major impediment to growth of the poultry industry in Ghana. He consequently pledged the commitment of Wienco to continuously assist farmers with tailored products and services to transform the industry’s production …
Farmers to Benefit from 15 Million Dollars Project
Smallholder farmers in Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania are to benefit from a 15-million dollar grant from the MasterCard Foundation under a project dubbed “Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Project” (FISFAP). The deal, signed by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in partnership with Kenya Commercial Bank Group would facilitate the implementation of a platform to enable smallholder farmers across the East African region access credit and training. The initiatives are to contribute to the professionalization of the agricultural sector and the diversification of rural economies through enhancing access to appropriate, affordable and sustainable financial and technical services. Mr. Paa Kwesi Awuku-Darko, Associate Program Officer of FISFAP, who disclosed this …
SARI to Scale-up Crop Improvement
The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will scale-up its crop improvement, as part of efforts to ensure that the nation becomes self-sufficient in food production. Dr Roger A. L. Kanton, the Principal Research Scientist, SARI-CSIR, said the goal of the programme was to develop crop varieties that fit into the agro-ecologies of the Institute’s mandate zone; which could withstand the specific stresses of low soil fertility, drought, pests and diseases that characterised the farming environment. He said SARI conducted research into food and fibre crop farming in northern Ghana for the purpose of introducing improved technologies to enhance agriculture productivity. Dr Kanton, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said crops covered included sorghum, millet, soybeans, maize, rice, cowpea, bambara beans, pigeon peas, yam, cassava, cotton and vegetables. He said the Institute was well endowed with …
IFAD-support Project in Swaziland Helps Farmers Combat Drought and Boost Food and Nutrition Security
The Kingdom of Swaziland and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed an agreement today to finance the Smallholder Market-led Project (SMLP), an initiative that will improve food and nutrition security and increase the incomes of 10,900 households, in particular smallholder farmers living in Lubombo and Shiselweni regions where the drought has been most severe. The total project investment is US $21.1 million, which includes a $9.6 million IFAD loan and a $500,000 grant. The government of Swaziland will contribute $6.6 million while local private sector companies will contribute an additional $600,000. The Kingdom of Swaziland is seeking cofinancing of $3.8 million from other donors to make up the remainder. The agreement was signed in Rome by Moses Malindane Vilakati, Minister for Agriculture of the Kingdom of Swaziland, and by Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD…
Significance Of Ghana - Iran Relations
Ghana - Iran relations date back to the co–founding of the Non-Aligned Movement by the first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1961. Since then, the two countries have maintained a very historic special relationship, concretised in the establishment of embassies in each other's country. The immediate past President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then, the 30th Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement, visited Ghana in 2013, and held discussions with President Mahama. Ghana's Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur also attended the inauguration of Hassan Rouhani who succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of Iran on 3rd August 2013. We cannot underestimate the tremendous support Ghana receives from Iran especially in areas of health, education and agriculture. Iran clinic in Ghana is popular among many Ghanaians, not only for the high quality of service offered, but also its reasonable cost. We cannot also overlook Iran’s educational support…
Vegetable Farmers in Kulungungu Hit by Acute Water Shortage as White Volta Dries Up
Vegetable farmers at Kulungungu in the Pusiga District of the Upper East Region face the risk of losing their crops to harsh weather conditions. They are unable to irrigate their farms because for the first time in more than 20 years, a stretch of the White Volta which runs through the area has completely dried up. For months, the farmers have had to device various means of finding water to keep their crops green. The situation is likely to push these poor farmers out of the vegetable production business …
District-Level Capacity Upgrade Good For Agriculture Sector Growth
In September 2015, the USAID/Ghana Feed the Future Agriculture Policy Support Project (APSP) awarded a yearlong grant to FMSL Multimedia Rite 90.1 FM, a local radio station in the Eastern region, to implement the Mobilizing Action towards Agriculture Sector Improvement (MAASI) initiative. This program will use radio and other multimedia platforms to advocate for improved resource allocation to district-level Departments of Agriculture (DOA) and District Assemblies (DA). The project will work in the following six Districts in the Eastern and Greater Accra Regions respectively: Asuogyaman, Lower Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Upper Manya, Akuapim North, and Shai Osudoku …
Price of Imported Rice Decline in Third Week of February
For the third week of February, imported rice recorded the highest drop of twenty percent. A five kilogram bag of imported rice is now selling at 21 cedis 90 pesewas. This was followed by local rice which lost five percent to close the week at 6 cedis 80 pesewas per medium size tin. Groundnut and cowpea followed with 4 and a percentage drop in price respectively. Meanwhile the prices of yam, maize and gari made gains of between 3 and 7 percent. Also, the price of tomato which has been declining for the past three consecutive weeks, increased by one percent to close the week at 6 cedis 90 pesewas per medium size tin. Similar declines were recorded by fresh tubers of cassava and soya beans ….
Severe Weather Conditions to Push Food Prices Up
Prices of some foodstuffs are expected to shoot up if the current weather conditions persist. According to Esoko Ghana, which delivers market information to farmers across Africa, the price of tomatoes could increase to about 35%, while maize could also go up by 5% in the next three months if the rains don’t come. Though the price of tomatoes has seen continuous reduction of at least 15% in the last three weeks, Esoko fears the price will go up in the next three months should the dry season linger on. In an interview with Citi Business News, the Content Producer at Esoko Ghana Commodity Index (EGCI), Francis Danso Adjei said, Ghana faces a serious food crisis which will have an effect on the prices of foodstuffs sold on the market. ‘‘With the current weather condition, we know basically that Ghana’s agricultural activities are rain fed. So we plant according to the rain fall pattern. If the rains do not come in at the expected time that we anticipate it to, it shortens the length of the season,”…
FDA Denies Palm Oil Adulteration Rumours
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG) have rejected claims that palm oil in the market has been adulterated with millipedes. This follows a market survey conducted last year, October 2015, by postgraduate students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in four major markets in the country, which states that some traders of the product soak millipedes overnight in the palm oil in order to give it a reddish colour and enhance the taste. However, according to Ms. Maria Aba Lovelace-Johnson, Head, Food Safety Management Development of the FDA, research conducted by her outfit indicates that the said findings by the university graduate students cannot be substantiated with facts …
Agriculture as a Business: Approaching Agriculture as an Investment Opportunity
African smallholders are the private sector – the largest segment on the continent. By seeing agriculture as business, smallholders as customers and entrepreneurs, and companies as organizations that want smallholders as customers and suppliers, policymakers and investors can leverage the continent’s existing assets to catalyze economic transformation rather than trying to create it from whole cloth. I was recently appointed President of the African Development Bank. A development bank is not necessarily an intuitive concept; most banks don’t exist to serve explicitly social purposes. But what defines a bank is the way it conducts business, whatever that business may be. This is why I say I wear my banker hat, and not my development hat, when I speak about agriculture. Agriculture is not …
Scheme to Promote Financial Inclusion for Farmers Launched
Rural smallholder families in sub-Saharan Africa remain the most financially excluded households in the world. To address this phenomenon, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the MasterCard Foundation are involved in initiatives that contribute to professionalisation of the agricultural sector and diversification of rural economies through enhancing access to appropriate, affordable and sustainable financial and technical services. The Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Project (FISFAP) is a US$15million, five-year project that aims to improve food security and incomes of over 700,000 farmers in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. FISFAP seeks to enable partnerships between financial service providers, value chain actors such as agro dealers and aggregators, and mobile network operators to develop appropriate and affordable (digital) products and services for smallholders….
Daniel Asiedu Moves to Head ADB
Beginning March 1st, 2016, seasoned banker Daniel Asiedu will begin another chapter in his highly successful banking career as the new Managing Director of state-controlled bank, Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADB). The announcement was made by the bank’s Board Chairman, Nana Soglo Alloh IV, in a press statement. Mr. Asiedu, a financial specialist, brings on board his rich experience in the banking industry having been at the helm of affairs at Zenith Bank in Ghana as the Managing Director for more than a period of six years, and served the Zenith Group for over 16 years. Despite taking on the unenviable job of making Zenith Bank -- a new addition to the banking landscape of Ghana at the time -- the preferred banking institution in the country, taking on the …
COCOBOD Organises Health Screening for Adeiso Community
The Cocoa Board Senior Staff Association at the weekend organised free health screening exercise for cocoa farmers at Odeng Adeiso in the Eastern Region. The exercise was part of the Association’s corporate social responsibility to respond to the health needs of the community. About 700 to 1000 people from the community benefited from the exercise, which saw women being screened for breast cancer and taught how to perform self-examination of the disease. Other beneficiaries were screened for blood sugar, blood pressure, malaria and other related diseases. During the exercise, those found needing immediate medical attention were referred to a Cocoa Clinic van for the necessary care. Mr. Fuad Mohammed, Chairman of the Association in an interview with the ….
Chief Farmer Wants Action on Unusual Taste of Veggies
The Chief Farmer of Amanase in the Eastern Region, has complained that the some vegetables being sold at the marketing centres in the area have bitter aftertastes. He, therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, to organise periodic courses on agro-chemical applications for vegetable growers in the Suhum Municipality and the Ayensuano District. Nana Alex Ampofo Asamoah made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Amanase at the weekend, saying he wanted a research conducted to find out what was causing the bitter taste. Recently, consumers of vegetables, especially garden eggs and kontomire, from the Suhum, Akroabo, Anum Apapam and Amanase, the major markets in the area, have been complaining about the development and expressed worry about the possible impact on their health. Some speculate that it is the result of the contamination by agro-chemicals, which were inaccurately measured and applied …
Reports/Articles
Climate Change and Agricultural Productivity: A Case Study of Maize Production in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions of Ghana
JF Eshun, SO Apori, EY Wereko
This study utilized mixed methods to assess fertilizer and fuel use in maize production in Ghana, their impact on greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Two hundred maize farmers cultivating more than 2 ha (5 acres) were purposively selected and data on input for maize production collected, collated and analysed for fertilizer and fuel input per a hectare of maize cultivated. International emission inventory data was used to estimate pollutants such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide generated per each hectare. The study revealed that approximately 468.91 kg CO2-equivalent of GHG is emitted per a hectare of maize production in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions. Of all the activities generating GHGs considered, fertilizer application accounted for the highest emission, 73 %. The study recommended that Ghana establishes a system that could monitor GHG emissions and generate information that might be utilised for environmentally-friendly options in crop production ...
The Use of Radio to Disseminate Agricultural Information to Farmers: The Ghana Agricultural Information Network System (GAINS) Experience
J Sam, L Dzandu - Agricultural Information Worldwide, 2016
In Ghana, an important vehicle for increasing agricultural productivity is the provision of relevant and current agricultural information on time and in the right format to stakeholders. This paper discusses the role that the Ghana Agricultural Information Network System (GAINS) has played in disseminating agricultural information to farmers using radio. Recommendations have been made on how to improve information dissemination and to collaborate with other institutions, to provide agricultural information to improve agricultural productivity, food security and rural livelihoods in Ghana…. Agriculture plays an important role in Ghana’s economy. About 60% of the population is employed by the agricultural sector, which supports about 80% of the population economically ….
An Accountability Indicator for Gender Equality Projects Run by Non-governmental and International Organisations
D Lempert - Journal of Human Rights in the Commonwealth, 2016
The article offers an easy-to-use indicator allowing scholars and practitioners to measure whether the criteria for the goals of gender mainstreaming and gender equality − established by various international treaties and recognised by experts in the field − are met by national and international organisations (NGOs/INGOs) as well as by the government policies and projects that focus on this area. Use of this indicator on more than a dozen standard interventions, currently funded by United Nations (UN) organisations, country donors and NGOs, reveals that most of the major actors in the field of gender (and women’s rights) are actually failing to promote gender equity. They have substituted a political agenda to promote women’s interests over men’s (or those of a small group of mostly urban women), or an agenda of only symbolic equality that actually promotes global exploitation and cultural destruction, rather than overall gender equality interests and the protection …
* The GSSP News Digest just summarizes news that is reported in the press. Any errors of fact or omission are not IFPRI’s responsibility*