Below are some current developments on agriculture in Africa:
Media Reports
Agribusiness Financing Receives Boost
Eximguaranty Ghana Limited and the USAID Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (USAID-FinGAP) are collaborating to provide credit guarantees which are expected to increase financing for agricultural development and innovation in Ghana. The collaboration, according to Felix Ntrakwah-Board Chairman of Eximguaranty, was born out of the fact that agribusinesses seeking financing to meet their business needs lack the fixed asset collateral usually demanded by financial institutions. “Exim is therefore collaborating with FinGAP to support Small and Medium including Large Enterprises with viable business ventures in the maize, rice and soy value chain, through the provision of credit guarantee in favour of financial institutions offering credit,” he said. To ease the full burden of guarantee fees on the borrower, FinGAP will pay 50 percent of the guarantee fee upon approval and acceptance of terms and conditions by the financial institution. FinGAP has received a grant of US$100,000 from USAID in favour of Exim, earmarked to support paying 50 percent of the guarantee fees that would have been borne by the applicant….
SADA Bank to Give Farmers Long-term Credit – CEO
The Chief Executive Officer of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Charles Abugre, has said that establishment of the Savanna Investment and Development Bank is a move to assist farmers have access to medium to long term financing. Speaking to the B&FT on the sidelines of a programme held in Accra to draw up a road map for the operations of the Authority, Mr. Abugre said short term financing has proven to be inimical to the operations of farmers and has been the reason farmers are unable to pay back loans, which is why SADA has initiated the establishment of the bank. themed: “Accelerate Transformation of the Northern Savannah Zone Through Agriculture”, “One of the problems we have is that all the universal banks lend their money over the short term, but agricultural takes a longer period to become productive enough to be viable. So that is what we are trying to sponsor the Savanna Investment and Development Bank,” he said. “The idea is to create a largely private-sector-owned entity with a bit of public sector participation. It is going to be a wholesale bank which will mobilize money to provide long term capital and lend it to banks so that the banks will in turn lend it to farmers over the medium to long term,” he added….
Farmers want Fertilizers by April
Small-scale farmers in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions are asking government to make available fertilizers and other farm input to them in April each year. The farmers said they were also interested in knowing the sources and manufacturing firms as well as the quality of the fertilizers provided them. They explained that some fertilizers provided farmers rather hindered the growth of crops and affected yields, while government subsidised fertilizers came late and brought no benefit to them. The Upper West Regional Farmers Based Organisation Network raised those concerns at a training workshop on Agriculture Policy and Advocacy in Wa, sponsored by USAID. “Subsidised fertilizers are not reaching small scale farmers. We are also neglected in the allocation of tractors and we are unable to expand our acreages and production,” Mr. Anthony T. Ngmentome, the Chairman of the Network, said. He said the denial in allocation of tractors and other farm machinery was affecting their operations and livelihoods and needed to be addressed….
Bulk Cashew Exporters Throw Processors out of Operation
Despite Ghana’s cashew processors having a combined capability of 60,000 metric tonnes, agri-processors suffer from a deficit of raw inputs, leaving only two of Ghana’s twelve cashew nut processors in operation as of May 2016 – or in some cases, completely idle. Brazil-based USIBRAS, which has a US$35 million factory in Ghana and an installed capacity of 35,000 metric tonnes per annum – making it the largest such facility in West Africa – is operating at just 25% capacity, due to the fact that the majority of the country’s crop is exported. Mim Cashew, a privately-owned Ghanaian firm and the only other processor still in operation, is also operating below its annual capacity of 7,000MT. Overall, reports indicate that utilization of domestic cashew processing capacity stands at just 7%. Ten other registered processing companies, including Ghana Nuts, have ceased operations entirely, with KONA Agro Processing the most recent closure coming in April. The challenge processors currently face is not a result of bad harvests or low crop production volumes. According to the African Cashew Alliance, an estimated 75,000 smallholder farmers in Ghana (with an average of 2.5ha of …
JICA to Scale up Rice Project in the Ashanti and Northern Regions
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be implementing the second phase of one of its flagship Projects in the Agriculture Sector called: ‘Project for Sustainable Development of Rainfed Lowland Rice Production’ in the country. This was made known at two separate workshops organized in Kumasi and Tamale to inform beneficiaries about the contents of the new phase of the Project. The participants of the workshop included the Rice Liaison Officer from the Directorate of Crop Services (DCS), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), MoFA Ashanti and Northern Regional Directors of Agriculture, staff from the two Regional Coordinating Councils and District Agriculture Departments of beneficiary districts, farmers, Project Experts and representatives from JICA. Together with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), JICA implemented the first phase of the Project from 2009 to 2014 in five districts in Ashanti region and four districts in the Northern Region. These districts include: Asante Akim North, Asante Akim Central, Atwima Mponua, Ahafo Ano North and Adansi South in the Ashanti Region. Those in the Northern region are Tamale Metropolitan, East Gonja, West Mamprusi and Sagnerigu districts…
Climate Change Adaptation Fund Project Launched
A new climate change project dubbed: “The Adaptation Fund,” has been launched in the Upper East Region. It is aimed at increasing resilience to Climate Change in Northern Ghana through water resources and diversification of livelihoods. The four- year project with a total budget of 8,293,972 .19 Dollars is being executed at Savelugu, Bole, Zabzugu and Tatale in the Northern Region, Bawku Municipal, Bawku West, Bongo and Builsa in the Upper East Region and Lawra, Nadowli, and Sissala East in the Upper West Region. It is focusing on the protection, restoration and management of water bodies such as rivers and streams as well as enhancing the livelihoods of communities living along water bodies. The project is being executed by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, with technical support from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the cooperation of sector ministries and agencies, NGOs and the private sector. Briefing stakeholders at the launch in Bolgatanga Mr. Peter A. Dery, the Project Coordinator said: “The objective will be achieved through key results centred on the improvement of water access.”…
Government Asked to Invest more in Agricultural Research
Greater investment in agricultural research and development is the sure catalyst to help Ghana to attain and sustain food security, Dr Stella A. Ennin, the Director of the Crop Research Institute (CRI), has said. CRI is under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). She said there is also the need for the country to develop requisite equipment, institute price protection policy like taxes, duties, while taking advantage of new and emerging Science Technology and Innovations technologies to aid the country’s food security measures. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Speaking at a day’s seminar on the theme: “Is Ghana Food Secure,” organised by CSIR on Thursday in Accra, Dr Ennin said the country could have reduced money spent on food crop imports and channel same into developing agricultural production through research. She said Ghana for instance spends $ 500 million on rice imports annually while another $ 100 million is spent to import tomatoes within a year…
CSIR Invites Private Sector for Collaboration
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has called for stronger collaborations with industry and the private sector as a way of making itself attractive to the business community and beyond. Dr Victor Agyemang, the CSIR Director General, said over the years, the Council and its research institutes like the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) had contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the country. “We have conducted many research into various socio-economic happenings and have come out with credible reports that had helped with solutions to national development,” Dr Agyemang said at an open-day forum organised by the CSIR-STEPRI, in Accra. The forum aimed at promoting the impact of science, technology and innovation is on the theme: “Enhancing Sustainable Development and Economic Growth through Research and Industry Partnership.” It will help examine practical ways by which stronger ties could be established and sustained between research institutions including CSIR-STEPRI and the private sector….
Stakeholders in Upper East make Inputs into SADA Plans
Stakeholders at a day’s Regional Consultative Forum, in Bolgatanga, have made inputs into the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) Medium Term Development Plan. The forum, organised by the SADA Zone Civil Society Organisations, and led by the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA), was aimed at collating views and development priorities for the Authority to mainstream them into its Master and Medium Term Development Plans for the total transformation of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone. In their contributions, the participants including the youth, women and farmers groups drawn from the 13 Districts in the Region, emphasised the need for SADA to prioritise irrigation for all year round farming to ensure food security and eradication of extreme poverty. They called on government and SADA to take immediate steps to revamp the defunct factories in the regions including the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, the Rice Mill and the Meat Factory for agro-processing and value addition of their farm produce. “There is also the need for SADA to consider setting up a Farmers Resource Centres in each of the five regions in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone to provide multiple services to the needs of farmers.”, the participants said…
New Fishing Centre Established at Bortianor
A temporal Fisheries Training Centre has been inaugurated at Tsokeme near Bortianor in the Greater Accra Region to improve productivity within the fishing sector. The Centre would help train fish mongers and fish processors on how to improve the quality of fish sold on the markets, thereby reducing post-harvest losses and enhancing income along the value chain. Ms. Sherry Ayittey, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, who inaugurated the centre, said it was provided under the USAID-Sustainable Fisheries Management Programme (SFMP) for fish mongers of the District Action Association (DAA) within the Bortianor Fishing Community. A permanent fishing training centre is scheduled to be constructed at Kokrobite, also in Greater Accra, next year to accommodate more fishers for training. The current Tsokome fishing facility would, however, be turned into a model centre upon the completion of the Korkrobite centre. Ms. Ayittey said the fisheries sector made tremendous contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and national employment as well as national food security and nutrition…
Government, AGRA Plans New Agricultural Financing Mechanism
In an effort to find a lasting solution to the perennial agricultural funding challenge that has stalled development of the sector, the Alliance for a Green Revolution Africa (AGRA) NGO in collaboration with the Ghana government is developing an all-inclusive agricultural financing mechanism to that effect. Ghana’s agricultural sector is seriously under-resourced, particularly smallholder farmers who are being starved of the needed financial resources to purchase necessary inputs. Banks and other financial institutions have ‘blacklisted’ the sector as a highly risky venture, hence their hesitation to advance loans to its players. The situation is a major factor in the declining fortunes of the sector. The Country Head of AGRA, Dr. Kwasi Ampofo said the agricultural financial model, dubbed the ‘Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing Agricultural Lending System’, is currently in the developing stage. The system, he noted, will provide an effective framework for the Bank of Ghana to collaborate with commercial banks to lend at competitive interest rates to players in the agricultural value-chain, adding: “A technical team is working with the Bank of Ghana, Finance Ministry, and Ministry of Food and Agriculture to engineer the mechanism”….
WFP Buys US$2 Million Maize from Smallholder Farmers
The World Food Programme (WFP) has within the past five years bought 5,000 metric tonnes of maize worth US$2 million from smallholder farmers across the country as efforts to transform their livelihoods intensifies. Ms. Magdalena Moshi, its Country Director, who announced this said the strategic direction was to leverage its purchasing power more effectively and support the sustainable development of food security by improving the lives of low-income farmers. She was addressing a workshop on the theme: “Adoption and institutionalization of weights and measures” for smallholder farmers and other stakeholders at Fumesua in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. It was jointly organized by the WFP, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Ghana Standards Authority and the Trade and Industry Ministry. The programme brought together farmer groups, officials from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Wienco, Technoserve and the Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) project. The goal was to discuss ways of making sure that farmers got fair prices for their produce….
Africa will Achieve Food Self Sufficiency
Dr. Charity Kruger, Chairperson of FARA, has expressed confidence that Africa will definitely get to the point of achieving food self-sufficiency, given all the initiatives and investments being made to reach that goal. “Already in Africa we have achieved a lot, and we need to scale-up communications on our achievements,” she said. She was responding to questions from journalists at the 7th African Agricultural Science Week and the FARA General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda. She referred to initiatives such as school feeding programmes currently going on in African countries, as well as the development of fortified and composite meals for children and the youth - which are developed from local produce to enhance nutrition in children - and said these are strides that have been achieved. She said research institutions all over Africa have made satisfactory strides in unearthing innovative approaches to boost food production on the continent. Asked whether Africa should not have made more progress than it has considering very favourable factors -- such as agricultural research activities that have come up with innovative findings, best agricultural and agribusiness practices available globally, and donor support – Dr. Kruger said there are fragmented challenges which have impeded rapid growth of agricultural self-sufficiency for Africa…
Shocking: Ghana has No Reliable Data on Agriculture – Minister
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture cannot depend on some of its present database for planning and operational purposes because the data is not current. The sector Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru, said the last time the ministry carried out an agricultural census in the country was almost four decades ago. The Minister told a Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee hearing in Parliament that the data was collected 37 years ago and were no longer relevant to the planning and operations of the sector. “It is important as a country we go back and resource the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to conduct agric census to enhance productivity of agriculture,” he said. Alhaji Muniru came to Parliament to brief the people’s representatives on measures taken by the Ministry to implement the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA), 2010 – 2013. The hearing was also to determine if the targets set and incorporated in the GSGDA for 2010-2013 had been met. Alhaji Muniru said an agricultural census would enable the Ministry to determine the extent of the loss of the nation’s forest cover the quantum of arable lands and the current levels of soil fertility. He said such census would also help the Ministry to know the major crops cultivated nationwide and the potentials of any new crops ….
Cargill to Award $13 Million in Grants to Advance Food Security, Nutrition
Cargill and the Cargill Foundation have committed to provide $13 million in grants to fund a multitude of programs focused on food security, sustainability and nutrition. The grants are part of Cargill’s initiative to promote sustainable agricultural practices, improve market access and productivity for farmers, support childhood nutrition and education, and advance healthy diets to prevent diet-related health issues in low-income communities. ”We’re investing in scalable solutions that make a real difference for people and communities,” said Ruth Rawling, vice-president of corporate affairs. ”The private sector can be a catalyst for lasting change by jumpstarting innovation and economic development.” The newly approved grants from Cargill and Cargill Foundation involve more than 20 partners. The beneficiaries of the grants range from global non-governmental organizations to locally based food and nutrition assistance programs. The partnerships emphasize scaling successful, long-lasting projects. Other grants are expected to be used to trial new approaches. Cargill said details on individual grants will be released in the approaching months…
WFP Buys $2m Maize from Smallholder Farmers in Ghana
The World Food Programme (WFP) has within the past five years bought 5,000 metric tonnes of maize worth $2 million from smallholder farmers across the nation as efforts to transform their livelihoods intensifies. Ms. Magdalena Moshi, its Country Director, who announced this said the strategic direction was to leverage its purchasing power more effectively and support the sustainable development of food security by improving the lives of low-income farmers. She was addressing a workshop on the “Adoption and institutionalization of weights and measures” for smallholder farmers and other stakeholders at Fumesua in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. It was jointly organized by the WFP, the Food and Agriculture Ministry (MOFA), Ghana Standards Authority and the Trade and Industry Ministry. The programme brought together farmer groups, officials from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Wienco, Technoserve and the Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) project….
Reports/Articles
Household Food Security and Child Diet in Northern Regions of Ghana: Evidence from the 2012 Ghana Feed the Future Population Baseline Survey
P Agbadi - 2016
There is dearth of literature on the link between household food security and child feeding practices in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between level of household food security and achievement of recommended child feeding practices (minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity, and minimum acceptable diet) in northern regions of Ghana. Also, the study investigated the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and achievement of recommended complementary feeding practices. Conceptual Framework: The Model of Childcare was used as both the conceptual and analytical framework of the study. The model posits that childcare resources (food security resources, maternal resources, and infrastructure resources) exert influence on child health and development through childcare. Also, happenstances and genes in the childcare model directly influences child health and development. Context in the Model of Childcare either directly exert influence on child health and childcare or indirectly through childcare resources. Using child data from the 2012 Feed the Future baseline survey….
Evaluation of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for Enhanced Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Production in the Guinea Savannah Zone of Ghana
IK Dzomeku, ENK Sowley, IS Yussif - Current Agriculture Research Journal, 2016
Field experiment was conducted in the dry season of 2014 in the Golinga Irrigation farm (Latitude 09°21'N and Longitude 0°56' W) at Golinga, in the Northern Region, Ghana. This was to evaluate the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for enhanced grain yield, yield components and economic viability of Gbewaa rice variety production under irrigated conditions. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatments comprised four SRI and two Farmers’ Practice treatments viz: FP 1, SRI 1, SRI 2, SRI 3, SRI 4 and FP 2. Under all SRI treatments, seeds were nursed and seedlings were transplanted singly and widely (25 cm × 25 cm), irrigated intermittently and soil earthing up regularly. SRI 1 and FP 2 each received only 13 t ha-1 compost, SRI 2 and FP 1 each received an amount of 37.5 kg ha-1 each of N, P2O5 and K2O as basal application and 26.25 kg ha-1 of N as top dressing while SRI 3 and SRI 4 both received 13 t ha-1 compost followed by either 18.75 kg ha-1 each of N, P2O5 and K2O as basal application or 13.13 kg ha-1 of N as top dressing respectively. SRI 1 plants established best and took the longest days to flower. Higher number of grains per panicle was obtained in SRI 3. SRI 2 produced the highest plant height, panicle length, panicle weight, tiller count and plant biomass. SRI 2 also produced the highest yield (4026 kg ha-1) which was not statistically different from the yields produced in SRI 3 (3866 kg ha-1) and SRI 4 (3737 kg ha-1)….
An Empirical Analysis of Commercialization of Smallholder Farming: Its Inclusive Household Welfare Effects
P Ochieng - 2016
This paper assesses the potential impact of commercialization of agriculture on household welfare of farmers in eastern Kenya under the Mwea rice scheme. The study consists of cross-sectional data collected with structured survey questionnaires. Stratified sampling was adopted with each of the four zones in the District forming a stratum. The number of respondents was 368 selected conveniently with the help of the National agriculture advisory services officers. The causal relationship and impact of commercialization on welfare were estimated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The analysis results revealed significant positive relationship between commercialization and household welfare, with key variables of market access and internal farming activities positively and significantly contributing to improved household incomes and farm outputs. The regression result further predicted a 16.9% improvement in household welfare if farmers actively worked on improving market access and internal farm activities like fertilizers and pesticides. It’s therefore recommended that farmers work on all aspects that can improve on their farm outputs and also get links to both nearby and far markets. Formation of saving schemes will help them pool resources to buy inputs like tractors, lobbying central and local governments for ….
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