Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Harvesting Cassava in a Minute with TEK Mechanical Harvester
The pain and energy together with lots of time spent in harvesting cassava manually will soon be solved. This is because, a device developed by an agricultural engineer at the Agricultural Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) offers the solution to take away long time and labour that are associated with the process involved in manually harvesting the tuber crop. The device, called TEK Mechanical Cassava Harvester, simply assists farmers in harvesting roots and tuber crops in Ghana and sub Saharan Africa. Locally produced at the KNUST, led by Prof Emmanuel Bobobee, the TEK mechanical cassava harvester is an innovative device developed to commercialise large scale cassava production in Ghana and sub Saharan Africa. It is a tractor drawn device which must be attached to a tractor (at the back) to function. This innovative comes at a point in time when there is low level of engineering technology inputs into agriculture which is hindering modernization of agriculture and food production in Ghana and rests of Africa…
Government Calls for Stakeholders’ Meeting on Water
A Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Jonny Osei Kofi, has called for an emergency stakeholders’ meeting to address the water stress in the country resulting from the massive pollution of the country’s water bodies. “We should be able to call for a stakeholders’ meeting. I wouldn’t want the meeting to take place anywhere but the Flagstaff House, so that it does not appear as if it is one ministry’s problem or another because it is a national problem,” he said. Mr. Osei Kofi, who was speaking to research scientists at a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) symposium on the state of Ghana’s water bodies, tasked the leadership of the research institution to arrange a meeting of stakeholders in the water sector at the Presidency in about 14 days to chart a way forward in the water sector…
President Withdraws Policy Banning Export of Raw Cashew
President John Dramani Mahama has announced the outright withdrawal of the policy banning the export of raw cashew, and outlined other measures to boost the emerging industry. At a meeting with representatives of cashew farmers in the Brong Ahafo Region at the Flagstaff House yesterday, the President also said the government would also establish a Cashew Marketing Board to regulate the cashew industry. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, which introduced the controversial policy, explained that it was part of measures to boost the local processing of cashew and subsequently create jobs for the people. The minister later suspended it after cashew farmers in the Brong Ahafo Region and buyers voiced their concerns over the policy, which they said was counter-productive. A press statement issued by the sector minister, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, announcing the withdrawal, said in part, “The ministry wishes to temporarily withdraw the administrative directive for the exportation of raw cashew nuts to allow for consultations …
Farmers Told to Avoid Use of Sub-standard Agro-chemicals
Farmers have been cautioned against the use of cheap and sub-standard agro-chemicals for their own safety and that of the environment. Mr. Obrien Nyarko said those unapproved chemicals could cause cancer and blindness. Speaking at a stakeholders meeting held by the Food and Agriculture Ministry at New Edubiase, he said there was another downside – low crop yield and damage to soil nutrients. It was attended by agro-chemical sellers, farmers and extension officers and it provided the platform to discuss ways of tackling the proliferation of unauthorized agricultural inputs – fertilizers and pesticides, on the market. Some unscrupulous people are reportedly selling these inputs to unsuspecting farmers, something that has become a big worry. Mr. Nyarko called for decisive action by the appropriate state institutions to rein in the illegal activity and stop smuggling of banned and fake agro-inputs into the country. He encouraged the farmers to make sure that they bought agro-chemicals from designated shops and accredited sellers …
World Bank to Offer Grant for Afforestation Projects
The World Bank is offering the Forestry Commission (FC) a grant to embark on afforestation project to replenish the depleting forest lands. The grant is also assist tree farmers to improve upon their living standards. The Commission would supply free tree seedlings to interested farmers in the project and technical officers would also be visiting the farmers in their farms to offer them the necessary technical advice to enable them to apply modern farming technologies. Mr. Isaac Hackim, Director of the Unity Afforestation Project at Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Nkoranza said the farmers would be advised to grow timber tree species to replenish the depleting species the country. Mr. Hackim who did not disclose the quantum of the grant and when it would be released therefore appealed to traditional rulers and individual land owners in the Municipality to release adequate lands to the youth to take to enable them take part in the project …
Komenda Sugar Factory Seeks Sugarcane from Farmers
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has called on sugarcane farmers within a 100kilometre radius or six hours drive of the Komenda Sugar Factory to arrange selling their sugarcane to the factory and thus enable it to become a success. The factory, whose construction began in August 2014, is now near completion and there is a need to test-run the facility before the official handing over and inauguration expected in May 2016. The test-run is to ensure the machines are tested, and also enable some of the few operational staff to gain a better understanding of the factory’s operations. The governments of Ghana and India, acting through the EXIM Bank of India, approved in 2013 US$35million for the establishment of a new sugar factory to produce 150,000 metric tonnes of sugar per year, and 1.0MW surplus power from factory-waste at Komenda…
Yam Production Sees Less Investment … Despite Strong Economic Prospect
Yams produced in the country, which boast unparalleled premium quality in both ECOWAS and international commodities markets, is faced with unsatisfied demand due largely to lack of required policy interventions, private sector investment and the non-existence of a value chain. In recent years, the economic value of the country’s yam industry has grown rapidly with its foreign exchange earnings shooting up to the third position among the non-traditional export commodities. The export volumes for 2014 stood at US$18.8million, while 2013 export figure increased to US$20million whiles demand for the commodity in both fresh and processed forms is increasing in new markets both abroad and local. The yam export trade which employs over one million workforce is the third largest producer in West Africa after Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire, but it is the leading exporter of crop accounting for over 94 percent of total yam exports in West Africa. About 90 percent of Ghana’s yams are exported to the US, Canada, UK and Europe…
Private Investments must Focus on Agric …To Eradicate Poverty
The Minister of State in charge of Private Sector Development and Public-Private Partnership, Rashid Pelpuo, has urged private investment companies to partner government in investing in agriculture as part of efforts to expand the economy and reduce poverty in the country. Private investors are however quick to point out the conditions are not conducive for investment in the sector and that the state is paying lip service to the sector. In an interview with the B&FT at a workshop held in Accra themed: “Building the Field, Measuring Success: an executive workshop on evaluating impact investment”, Mr. Pelpuo said since the agricultural sector is the largest employer of the workforce of the country - employing about 60 percent - massive investments must be made in the sector to drive economic growth. “Agriculture is another key area that private investments can have significant impact on the economy…
US$100,000 Africa Food Prize Award Launched
With agriculture emerging as Africa’s best bet for increasing food security and expanding economic opportunity, officials gathered in Ghana for a critical agriculture meeting and launched a prestigious new US$100,000 award called the Africa Food Prize, which is intended to inspire innovations in the field and the marketplace. “We want to celebrate individuals and institutions that are changing the reality of farming in Africa - from a gruelling struggle to survive to a profitable family business that thrives,” said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is chairing the Africa Food Prize Committee. The announcement was made in Accra as high-level leaders from across the region gathered under the auspices of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) to seek new sources of investment and financing for African farmers and agriculture businesses …
Reports/Articles
Findings Across Agricultural Public Expenditure Reviews in African Countries
SD Mink - 2016
This paper examines whether the consensus reached by the late 2000s among African Union member countries and their external partners on the need to reverse the decades-long decline in spending for essential public goods and services in agriculture has begun to result in improved levels and quality of national expenditure programs for the sector. It synthesizes evidence from 20 Agriculture Public Expenditure Reviews (Ag PERs) that have been carried out in countries in Africa South of the Saharan (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia) with World Bank assistance during 2009–2015. This synthesis focuses on several measures: (1) the level of expenditures on agriculture, with particular reference to the explicit target by African heads of state in the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security (reconfirmed in the Malabo Declaration) to allocate …
Agricultural Sector and HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa: The Economic Retrogression Model
TG Apata, MO Oladapo, AL Kehinde, OM Apata… - Agricultural Sciences, 2016
Agricultural activities in most African countries demand human labour, the supply of labour to agriculture may be threatened if humans could no longer farm because of HIV/AIDS pandemic. Past studies have identified the alarming situation and challenges the spread of HIV/AIDS endemic poses to human existence and agricultural growth. Examining these interactions, and their direction, is useful for informing policy directives. Therefore, the general objective of this study is to examine interactions between HIV/AIDS pandemic and agricultural growth in Africa using a model of retrogression. Methods: Twenty countries in Africa identified as HIV/AIDS ravaged countries were taken as the areas of study. These countries are spread over four zones of the Northern Africa, the Eastern, the Southern and the Sub-Saharan Africa. A combination of analytical tools was employed to meet the study objectives. Results: The results revealed that long run economic cost of HIV/AIDS had a statistical positive significant relationship with agricultural/economic growth. The results suggest that there is a curvilinear relationship between the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and ….
Financing Small Scale Oil Palm Producers in the Western Region of Ghana-Ahanta West District
M Coleman, DO Okyere - Business and Economic Research, 2016
Business finance has been a major problem facing most businesses, both the small and large companies as well as the medium ones. Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are no exceptions of the problems faced by businesses. These enterprises are mostly managed by low income earners. Some of these enterprises cannot grow into large companies because of lack of funds. The objectives of the study are to identify the various forms of funds available to SMEs in the oil palm producing sector of the Ahanta West District of the Western Region of Ghana, find out the funds that have been actually accessed by oil palm producers in the Ahanta West District, and identify some other means of financing the oil palm production. The study revealed that majority of oil palm producers in the Ahanta West District finance their operation with personal savings and have not accessed any loan from the banks …
Building Local Institutional Capacity to Improve Food Security: Using the SATISFY Approach
S Sarpong - 2016
The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of communities through the Systems Approach to Improve and Sustain Food Security (SATISFY) programme, an initiative that seeks to make rural communities in West Africa self-sufficient in food security, income-generation and health. In exploring the SATISFY initiative, the paper seeks to obtain a clear understanding of the milieu in which it can be carried out, the level and intensity of such interventions and also draw on the challenges and lessons learnt by stakeholders in the process of implementing the planned activities. The paper makes a very valuable contribution to the work of development practitioners and researchers alike by outlining key areas that make for interventions and strategies needed to ensure community participation in projects…
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