<![CDATA[Esoko]]> <![CDATA[Chinese To Invest In Soybean Production]]>
For a start, Mr. So will provide resources and engage the Chinese University of Hong Kong to partner with the University of Ghana for technology transfer to develop about 10 varieties of soybean adaptable to the local climate.

Mr. So, who is the Managing Director of PowerHouse Global Limited, a telecom resources infrastructure company based in Hong Kong, said the beans to be produced would be sold to local Ghanaian farmers.

“Other value-chain opportunities will also be explored,” he said. He disclosed this at a meeting with officials of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) in Tamale on Friday when he paid a fact-finding visit to the region to acquaint himself with the operations.

Mr. So’s interest in the sector was facilitated by Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Head of the Dominion University College in Accra, when they met in London about two years ago.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah also accompanied Mr. So when he visited SADA officials, whose main job is to facilitate investment to the savannah regions of the country, to bridge the development gap between the southern and northern parts including parts of Brong Ahafo and Volta.

SADA assembled a team of public and private sector stakeholders in agriculture and soybean production to brief Mr. So about how the soybean sector was performing.

Mr. So and his delegation earlier met with Moses Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister at his residence to brief him about their mission in the region.

Mr. So said he was looking at investing about one million dollars into the project.

Statistics by the Northern Region Office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture showed that soybean production in the region increased from 36,000 tonnes in 2007 to 119,000 tonnes in 2011, with demand always outstripping supply.

Soy oil, soy cake and soy milk are some of the products derived from soybean. Mr. So said he chose to invest in Ghana because of her favourable economic climate.

He was later taken round some of the fields at Buipe by SADA officials, who were led by its Chief Executive, Dr Gilbert Iddi.

Dr. Iddi assured that SADA was ready to provide assistance to ensure the success of the project.
]]> <![CDATA[Ghana seeks IIM-B assistance to become agriculture powerhouse]]> At a time when top brains passing out of the Indian Institutes of Management are lured into the corporate sector, policy-makers from Ghana have arrived at the IIM-Bangalore to enhance their knowledge on business management to make their country an agriculture powerhouse.

The 22-member team comprising MPs, chief executives of districts and directors of agricultural bodies are in the State to participate in a 10-day training programme, which is being held at IIM-B following a request from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Chairperson of Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Ghana, Alhassen Ahmed Yakubu, said the team of policy-makers are here to imbibe the good practices prevalent in the country.

Even though a majority of the delegation are not farmers, they believe that exposure to the agricultural success stories in India would help the policy-makers in taking decisions.

With about 60 per cent of Ghana’s population living in rural areas, Yakubu believes that use of information communication technologies (ICT) would help improve agricultural production. He said the government in Ghana is trying to merge two different ministries –– agriculture and local governance –– to ensure that they reap the maximum benefits.

However, with urban areas leading in terms of employment generated, Yakubu said the only way to maintain the balance between rural and urban areas is overall development and ensuring that agriculture remains profitable. 

Yakubu also said that the visit to India had helped the team notice the advantage of using technology in agriculture. He said a few simple gadgets would help immensely in collection of data about food sources. 

He was also positive that trade between the two countries related to agriculture would increase substantially in the coming years. Citing an example, he said a fertiliser plant was being set up in assistance with India, which he hoped will help both the countries.

The team, which was on a visit to Mysore on Friday, earlier visited a seed production facility in Bidadi and would head to HD Kote on Saturday to take a look at the advantages of organic farming.

Chairperson of IIM-B Fellow Programme in Management, Prof Gopal Naik, said the delegation was provided training in citizen orientation, public private partnership and providing an enabling environment for policy making. 

They were also provided information to develop appropriate agriculture business policies.]]> <![CDATA[Farmers Want Fertiliser Subsidy Restored]]> The Peasant Farmers of Ghana (PFAG) are reeling from the unavailability of subsidised fertiliser on the market, even as the farming season has begun in earnest and farmers have sown their seeds for the major season.

The President of PFAG, Mohammed Nasiru Adam, expressed disappointment at the fact that subsidised fertiliser is unavailable to farmers at this crucial moment when the input is most needed, and poses a threat to attaining food security in Ghana.

“As you may be aware, we are at the tail-end of May and farmers have been planting since April; yet there is no sign of subsided fertiliser on the market. Farmers are jittery and anxious, and rightly so.”

Mohammed Nasiru Adam said the fact that the only key programme that has yielded significant impact and is hailed by farmers across the length and breadth of the country as the panacea to low crop-yield, which is the subsidised fertiliser programme, is being jettisoned.

He noted that the main reason for its introduction was to help farmers increase their rate of fertiliser application as a means of increasing crop productivity and production, as well as increase the current fertiliser application rate to at least 50 kilogrammes per hectare.

“This became necessary as statistics showed that Ghana’s fertiliser application rate was one of the lowest in the world, standing at 8 kg/ha compared with 20 kg/ha in sub-Saharan Africa, 99 kg/ha in Latin America, 109 kg/ha in South Asia and 140 kg/ha in East and South East Asia.”

This low application, he noted, was attributed to amongst other things the high level of poverty among small-scale farmers, low profit-margin, and high cost of fertilisers.

The PFAG President said the subsidised fertiliser programme faces a number of challenges which threaten its sustainability and effectiveness.

Key among which are: the high price of the input; when the fertiliser finally gets to the farmer late or in the middle of the season it is no more useful to crops; as well as the delay in releasing funds to fertiliser importers for consistent supply.]]> <![CDATA[Ghana choking from Cocoa price drop on World market ]]> Projected revenues from cocoa exports for 2012 are set to drop significantly as Ghana begins to suffer from the plummeting cocoa prices on the world market.

This is according to COCOBOD as a result of downward trend of cocoa prices on the world market which is affecting revenues from the sale of the commodity.

Earlier this week, there were wire reports that Ghana’s first quarter earnings from cocoa had shrunk by over 6 percent already.

In an interview with Citi Business News, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD Tony Fofie expressed fear about the impact of the continuous fall of cocoa prices on the world market on Ghana’s economy.

He said “initially we did a forecast which was in the region of 3,000 dollars per ton and now we know how much we are getting on the world market, it is between 2,100 – 2,100 dollars per ton.

“We believe that this is an area for concern for all Ghanaians because the revenues that we’re going to get cannot be measured to what we had last year. That is something that we should be worried about.

“If you’re looking at what we’re going to get, it’s a combination of the volumes production and pricing so if the volumes are going up and the prices go down, we may have a problem.”]]> <![CDATA[Poultry farmers accuse gov't of sabotage]]> Ghanaian poultry farmers have bemoaned government’s delay in releasing imported maize onto the market to control the increasing price of the commodity.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture imported 15,000 metric tons of yellow maize three months ago to augment local stock, but according to poultry farmers, the consignment is still locked up in warehouses at Kpong in Greater Accra.

According to the Chairman of Poultry Farmers Association, Kojo Asante, members of his association have been compelled by the situation to buy poultry feed at very exorbitant prices.

In an interview with Nhyira FM’s Ohemeng Tawiah, Kojo Asante said their plight has been communicated to the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Ministry of Finance among others, yet, nothing has been done.

Kojo Asante accused the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of deliberately crippling the poultry industry by hoarding the feed. He said the ministry has also looked on unconcerned as imported frozen chicken take over their broiler business.

The Chairman of Poultry Farmers Association said if government refusal to release the maize is a ploy to sabotage their egg business, then they will advise themselves accordingly.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture last year received support from the Agriculture Development Bank to start importation of the maize to boost the local poultry industry.]]> <![CDATA[Subsidized fertiliser drought hits peasant farmers]]> Farmers in the country are waiting with bated breath for subsidized fertilisers as their crops face imminent stunted growth and poor yield this farming season, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana has said.

The association says farmers risk extraordinary crop failures this year if something drastic and urgent is not done to put subsidized fertilisers on the market.

At a press conference at the weekend, the president of the PFAG, Mr Mohammed Adam Nashiru, said while farmers had started planting and requiring fertilisers, there was no single grain of the commodity (subsidised ones) on the market.

He said the situation was a source of considerable concern to farmers.

Read below the full statement by the peasant farmers.

PRESS STATEMENT PRESENTED BY MR. MOHAMMED ADAM NASHIRU, PRESIDENT OF THE PEASANT FARMERS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA:

FATE OF FARMERS HANG IN A BALANCE AS GOVERNMENT DELAYS ON SUBSIDIZED FERTILIZER FOR 2012-2013 FARMING SEASON

Colleague Farmers present; Invited Guest; the Media; Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana and the Small Scale Women and Men Farmers as a whole, I wish to welcome all of you to this evening’s Press Conference.

This press conference is to raise, for public discussion, a worrying development which has the potential to negate the country’s efforts at attaining food security. What is this development? Ladies and gentlemen, it is the unavailability of subsidized fertilizer on the market for farmers at this crucial moment when the input is most needed. As you may be aware, we are in May and farmers have been planting since April yet there is no sign of subsidized fertilizer on the market. Farmers are jittery and anxious and rightly so.

Ladies and Gentlemen; The agriculture sector is key to overall economic growth and development of Ghana as it provides employment to about 50.6% i.e. 4.2million people of the labour force in the country and still has the potential of addressing the problem of graduate unemployment if conscious efforts are made to tackle the bottlenecks in the sector and link it up to industry. The sector also provides livelihoods to about 80 per cent of the rural folk.

In realising the need to maximize the full potential of the sector as a strategy for food security and poverty reduction, Ghana in 2003 joined other African countries to make a declaration to devote at least 10 percent of national budget to the agricultural sector. The significance of the declaration finds expression in the urgent need to address investment requirements of the sector. Successive policies such as Food and Agricultural Sector Development Policy (FASDEP) I, &II and the Medium Term Agricultural Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) were all introduced to modernize agriculture and achieve a target agricultural GDP growth rate of at least 6% annually and halving poverty by 2015 which is in consonance with the MDG 1. In spite of all these, between 2000 and 2010 the average growth rate was 4.7%.

Ladies and Gentlemen; Sub-Programmes such as the Youth in Agriculture Programme, National Buffer Stock Company, Agricultural Mechanization Centres, Block Farming and the Fertilizer Subsidy Programme were all introduced to facilitate the success of this objective but the question is whether they are sufficient.

One key programme that has so far yielded significant impact and hailed by farmers as a panacea to low crop yield if properly manage is the “FERTILIZER SUBSIDY PROGRAMME (FSP)”.

Friends from the Media; The main reasons for its introduction were to help farmers increase their rate of fertilizer application as a means of increasing crop productivity and production, and also to increase the country’s fertilizer application rate to at least 50 kilogrammes (kg) per hectare (ha). This became necessary after statistics showed that Ghana’s fertilizer application rate was one of the lowest in the world, standing at 8kg/ha compared with 20kg/ha in sub-Sahara Africa, 99kg/ha in Latin America, 109kg/ha in South Asia, and 149kg/ha in East and South East Asia.

This low application rate was attributed to amongst other things, the high level of poverty among small Scale Farmers, low profit margin and high cost of fertilizers. For example a bag of 50kg NPK fertilizer was US40 Dollars in 2008. Even after government subsidy which reduced the price to 50%, Small Scale Farmers especially women were still finding it difficult to purchase since they needed money for other inputs and to cater for cost of production.
Ladies and Gentlemen; on a more frightening note, the programme faces a number of challenges, which threatens its effectiveness and sustainability. Some of the challenges are:

• Subsidized fertilizer is still far too expensive for Small Scale Farmers to afford
• Subsidized fertilizer often gets to farmers late or in the middle of the season when it is no more useful to the crops
• Delays in releasing funds to fertilizer importers for consistent supply etc

Invited Guests; these problems are far from over as there is still no subsidized fertilizer in the market even though most farmers have since April 2012 planted and are still waiting for subsidized fertilizer which is locked up in the pipeline.

We the Small Scale Farmers who are the backbone of agriculture in this country are doing our part to make this country food secured but the following areas are critical to us:
• Government delays in releasing subsidized fertilizer for 2012 farming season
• Additional incentives for farmers to compensate for high cost of living due to the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure for Public Sector Workers which led to high commodity prices in the local market for farmers
• General increased in commodity prices due to increased in fuel prices in the world market
• Depreciation of the cedi.
• Climate change and unreliable weather conditions

Ladies and Gentlemen; The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana on behalf of all Small Scale Producers in the Country are appealing to government to pragmatically approach this issues with all the urgency it deserves and make subsidized fertilizer AVAILABLE AT AFFORDABLE PRICES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, and also provide additional incentives to Small Scale Farmers that will enable them live a comfortable life to continue to provide the country with the needed food supply.
]]> <![CDATA[Statement: COCOBOD has not approved sale of AF Confidence insecticide]]> Information reaching COCOBOD indicates that an unapproved liquid fertilizer, also said to be an insecticide, by name AF Confidence is being distributed for sale to farmers for use on cocoa farms. 

We wish to inform all players in the cocoa industry, especially farmers and chemical sellers, that the said insecticide has not yet been approved by COCOBOD. 

The efficacy of the product is currently being determined by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and until they finish their testing and present their report, COCOBOD cannot confirm its effectiveness or otherwise.
We therefore wish to use this medium to advise all farmers to desist from patronising this product (AF Confidence) until further notice.

The sale of unapproved chemicals to unsuspecting farmers is a crime and any individual, group of persons or organization found to be perpetrating this act will be dealt with according to the laws of Ghana.

We use this opportunity to urge farmers to patronize only approved subsidized fertilizers to improve yield of their farms and enhance their income. Distribution of Cocoa Hi Tech fertilizers to cocoa farmers is currently in progress at a subsidized price of GH¢ 33.00.]]> <![CDATA[Army worms threaten more farms in Central region]]> Days after army worms invaded some farms in Ada in the Ga Dangbe East of the Greater Accra region, another invasion has also been reported at some farms in Senya Beraku in the Central region

According to the Director of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Vespa Soglo in an interview with Joy FM , farmers must be on the lookout for the worms adding that the situation can be properly managed if early warning systems are put in place.

He however noted that the worms are not spreading from one area to the other rather the worms are being sighted at different places at the same time because of favorable environmental conditions.

Mr Soglo further called on the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), the various district assemblies, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to come up with an effective early warning system across the country.

Meanwhile, more volunteers have been recruited in the Ga Dangbe East District where the first case of the worm invasion was reported.

According to the district NADMO Coordinator, Samuel Portuphy both affected and unaffected farms have been sprayed to curtail further spread of the worms in the area.

In the Ketu North District where over 2,400 hectares of rice farms are threatened, a similar spraying exercise is ongoing.

John Ricky Trakasu,Volta Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture also told Joy FM the farmers are actively involved in the spraying exercise.

Meanwhile, agric officials have revealed that although the chemicals used for the spraying exercise are poisonous, there is no cause for alarm because most of the crops attacked are yet to bear fruits.
 

]]> <![CDATA[Value chain conference to transform smallholder agriculture]]> Over 400 public and private sector players in agriculture will be participating in an international conference on agricultural value chains, holding in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, from 6-9 November 2012.

Dubbed “Making the Connection: Value Chains for Transforming Smallholder Agriculture”, the conference will bring together government officials, development partners, private sector, civil society, farmer organizations and academics, to share experiences on value chain development.

The event will also discuss how best smallholder farmers can be incorporated into value chains in order to promote agricultural and rural development. It being is organised by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in conjunction with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and other international partners.

The value chain concept is relatively new in agriculture but has repercussions for smallholder farmers who form the majority of the farming capital in developing countries, yet often seem left out of the growing value chain trend.

The conference will focus on strengthening agricultural value chains that enable smallholders to become more actively engaged in market-led agriculture – transforming the role of the smallholder into that of an entrepreneur.

A statement issued by the CTA said the meeting aims to identify the conditions necessary to create a broader and more solid knowledge base for the promotion of sustainable value chains, including training and information-sharing needs.

It also seeks to provide an opportunity to exchange current ideas, knowledge, new approaches and best practices in order to both strengthen the efficiency and profitability of existing commercial value chains and assist those working to promote value chain development in order to strengthen economic growth in smallholder communities.

Participants will also discuss issues related to trends impacting on value chain development, innovation, sustainability and scaling up, and capacity building.

It is envisaged that participants will develop a shared understanding of the role of value chains in promoting sustainable and inclusive agricultural and rural development, and of the potential for existing best practices to be scaled up.

Experts hope to develop a greater understanding of the factors necessary for value chains to thrive, such as finance and investment, ICTs, and improved farmer-buyer linkages, with particular emphasis on small and medium enterprises. Strategies to further promote knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences on value chain development will be outlined.

The meeting will address how best smallholders can be included in such chains. There is an agreement in this field that interventions have to be demand-led and that the private sector plays a central role in all value chains.

By reducing some of the market risks and enhancing farmer incomes, value chains can attract businesses such as input suppliers, machinery hire services and banks to rural areas, as well as others seeking to profit from greater rural affluence.

To date there has been no attempt to provide space for discussion among value chain actors such as the private sector, the donor community, governments, civil society and others to fully explore the issues related to value chain development and to share experiences.

The conference will therefore attempt to provide such a forum.

CTA puts priority on enhancing value chain governance and competiveness across African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) regions to improve agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. ]]> <![CDATA[1,000 cocoa farmers benefit from mapping system]]> Over 1,000 cocoa-growing families and 5,000 cocoa community members in the Assin Fosu district of the Central Region are to benefit from the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping to provide precise measurements of farm acreage for their cocoa farms.

GPS mapping will help cocoa farmers plan and manage their cocoa farms better, increasing yields and farmer incomes.


It will as well enable farmers understand the actual size of their farms which makes it easier to make the best use of the latest practices in planting, pruning and fertilizer techniques for maximum yield and sustainability.

The programme is targetted at improving livelihoods among cocoa-growing areas through learning the latest in modern farming techniques and agricultural stewardship, including appropriate and inappropriate uses of labor.

It’s being introduced by the Hershey Company, a United States-based chocolate manufacturing company under its innovative project,


‘Hershey Learn to Grow.’

The ‘Hershey Learn to Grow’ initiative is part of Hershey’s US$10 million commitment in West Africa for the next five years to accelerate the company’s cocoa programme in the region.

The investment is aimed at helping to improve cocoa farming, community health and reduce instances of child labor.

In addition, Hershey and its partner Source Trust will establish 25 community-based farmer organisations to improve the living standards of 1,250 cocoa farm families.

Through good agricultural, environmental, social and business practices training; access to improved planting material; and financing for farm inputs, the goal is to double productivity yield and farm income over four years.

These local organisations will be the home of the new farmer and family development that Hershey and partner Source Trust are creating in rural Ghana.

Last year, Hershey introduced mobile phone technology for cocoa farmers in an innovative program called CocoaLink. GPS mapping and CocoaLink demonstrate that low-cost and widely available technology can provide farmers with new tools to modernise their cocoa farms and boost their productivity and livelihoods.

In addition to the GPS farm mapping initiative, Hershey and Source Trust are surveying participating farmers to better understand current farm characteristics, farming practices, and pest and disease issues.

This information will be critical in establishing a baseline from which to begin to help the farmers implement the best new practices and processes for making their farms more productive, diverse and successful.

The survey process also will look at key indicators for household risk of inappropriate forms of child labor. This will provide an important tool to help identify and monitor households at risk and to deploy information and programmes to mitigate the risk of child labor.

The Hershey Company is the largest producer of quality chocolate in North America and a global leader in chocolate and sugar confectionery. It has operations throughout the world with approximately 12,000 employees.

Source Trust is a not-for-profit organisation set up to help farmers improve their livelihoods through better crop yields and quality to be achieved through sustainable farming practices. Source Trust’s projects pave the way for long-term, sustainable cocoa production, while enhancing farmers’ business prospects.
]]> <![CDATA[Yam farmers to benefit from $12million AGRA facility]]> Some 50,000 Ghanaian Yam Farmers have been selected alongside 150,000 others from Nigeria to benefit from a US$12 million facility under a special project by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to improve yields and income for the yam farmers.

The project, launch April 2, 2012, formed part of AGRA’s newly launched Farmer Organizations Support Centre (FOSCA) initiative, designed to identify and support small-holder farmers in four Africa countries to have access to funding, adopt best practices, improve their productivity, have access to market and meet market demands.

But the special yam project dubbed Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa, was limited to Ghana and Nigeria and was being done in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria; Crop Research Institute, Ghana; Natural Resources Institute at University of Greenwich, UK; National Root Crop Research Institute, Nigeria: and the Catholic Relief Services, Ghana/Nigeria.

It was designed to take 10 years, but the first five-year phase, would be expected to see farmers cultivate enough to feed themselves and have surplus to sell so they could better their living standards.

FOSCA Project Coordinator for Ghana, Samuel Sey told Adom News in an exclusive interview that West Africa, particular Ghana and Nigeria, was a global leader in yam production and export, but due to poor practices, common diseases in yams tend to be passed on year after year.

“Because yam is a root, it picks up diseases from the ground and because the farmers only cut the heads of the same diseased yam and cultivate them as seeds the diseases are passed on from harvest to harvest,” he said.

He said AGRA had also identified that there were not enough specialized organizations and farmers, who nursed and supplied well treated seed-yams to farmers on a large scale only for cultivation, so they depended on the diseased yams to cultivate year after year.

Mr. Sey said AGRA had therefore selected scientists at IITA in Nigeria to lead research into seed-yam diseases and come out with disease-free and improved seed-yams hat would be supplied to selected and trained farmers, who would nurse them and supply to yam the mainstream farmers.

He said the seed-yams from the research were expected to grow faster and grow bigger to enable the farmers to improve their productivity and income.

Meanwhile, under the FOSCA initiative, several farmer organizations in Ghana and in three other Africa countries (Tanzania, Mozambique and Mali) have been selected to benefit from another $4 million facility in grants, training and technical support, and access to ready market.

Vice President of Apex Farmer Organizations of Ghana (APFOG), Kwaku Boateng told Adom News that over the years, small-holder farmers in Ghana have benefitted immensely from AGRA, in the area of disease control, improved seed availability and supply of fertilizer.

He therefore urged stand alone farmers to join the farmer groups and benefit from AGRA and FOSCA support, adding that the youth who thought of farming as a way of life rather than a business, should disabuse their minds because assistance from organizations like AGRA was making farming very lucrative. ]]> <![CDATA[‘Give Agric High Priority’]]> A special envoy of Australia’s Prime Minister is in Ghana to deepen her country’s engagement in the agricultural sector to ensure productivity and food security.

Joanna Hewitt, Chair of the Commission of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), who is in the country to strengthen bilateral relations met with Ghana’s Minster of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Ahwoi and officials of the Ministry at a roundtable discussion.

She mentioned that her country was interested in opportunities to contribute to the development of Ghana through investments in the agricultural sector.

After listening to various officials of the ministry, most of whom had benefited from Australian scholarships, the two countries agreed to improve the capacity of agriculture extension officers and harness research in the sector to boost productivity.

Ms Hewitt, who is knowledgeable in agriculture both in Australia and beyond, noted that farmers in her country have moved from subsistence farming to mechanized.

“Most farms in Australia are family farms which are run as a business and they sue technical and sophisticated methods. Though the farms in Ghana are smaller, it is possible for them to apply these technologies.”

She revealed that agriculture in Ghana could be transformed to provide not only “food but income and human capacity.”

Ms Hewitt, who was accompanied by the Australian High Commissioner, William Williams, said she would also discuss issues relating to other industries such as mining sector, governance and public policy, where her government intends to increase development assistance.

Dr Samuel Kojo Dapaah, Chief Technical Advisor to the Minister, who gave an overview of Ghana’s agriculture sector, hinted that the contribution of the sector to GDP has reduced from 40 per cent to 20 per cent over the past ten years.

Though the nation’s 14 million tones of roots and tubers is self sufficient, it lags behind in the production of cereals and livestock.

“There is a big gap. This is why we import a lot of cereals and livestock from Australia and Brazil and other places. “We are finding ways of minimizing this gap,” he stated while touching on other challenges such as illegal fishing.

Dr Dapaah mentioned that Ghana’s export of non-traditional products, which include other items apart from cocoa, have over the past 20 years increased from 20,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tones.

To improve the agriculture sector, Dr Dapaah said the ministry has developed a five-year Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) with the support of the World Bank and the USAID.

The METASIP has been developed to achieve a target agricultural GDP growth of at least 6 per cent annually, halving poverty by 2015 in consonance with the first target of the Millennium Development Goal and based on government expenditure allocation of at least 10 per cent over the five-year period.

Mr Kwesi Ahwoi noted that the agriculture sector is key to overall economic growth and development of the country but farmers battle with the twin challenge of too much rain or less.

“Our problem is not different from that of Australia but your country is able to manage these challenges and we want to learn from you,” the minister told the Australian Envoy.

Stella Ennin, Deputy Director of the Crops Research Institute, who is also the Regional Coordinator of Crop –Livestock Integrated Project funded by Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID), which is aimed at improving agricultural growth and economic development in Africa namely Ghana, Mali, Benin among others, gave an overview of the project.

She said the project, which is being implemented on a pilot basis in Atebubu and West Mamprosi, is helping to provide innovative platform to address specific problems in the agriculture sector with concentration on the value chain.

Kwame Amezah, Director of Agric Extension of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, called for the strengthening of the capacity of farmer-based organizations through enhanced extension services.

“Though we have so many farmers across the country we have very few extension officers.”

He said the ratio of extension office to farmers is one to 2500 when the ideal situation should have been one extension officer to 500 farmers.

By Emelia Ennin Abbey

]]> <![CDATA[WFP presents equipment to smallholder farmers]]>     

The equipment include: 10 rice reapers, 10 rice threshers and 524 tarpaulins.

    

Thirty per cent of the cost of the equipment was borne by the beneficiary farmers whilst the WFP provided the remaining 70 per cent.

    

The facility would help increase rice production and make the use of sickles and threshing of paddy with sticks, a thing of the past.

    

Mr Aboubacar Koisha, Head of Sub-Office of the WFP in Tamale, presented the facility to the smallholder farmers groups at a ceremony in Tamale on Monday.

    

In an address read on his behalf, Mr Ismail Omer, WFP Country Representative said the presentation of the equipment and the materials marked the fulfillment of the second objective of the P4P Initiative.

    

The P4P Initiative aims at improving the lives of smallholder farmers through training, providing basic agricultural equipment, and linking them to agricultural markets that offer fair prices for their commodities such as rice, maize and cowpea.

    

The implementation of the P4P Initiative started last year and its first objective which was to provide extensive training in technical, business and organizational development in the Tamale Metropolis and the Tolon-Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, and 16 maize producing farmer organizations in the Ejura-Sekyeredumasi District of the Ashanti Region was achieved.

    

The P4P Initiative also aims to increase smallholder farmers’ income in order to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition amongst vulnerable people.

    

Mr Omer said WFP hoped to also fulfill the third objective of the initiative by this year, which is to provide a market for the produce of the beneficiary farmers.

    

He said, “We hope to buy rice from you to support the Ghana School Feeding Programme to provide school meals to some 150,000 school children across the three northern regions”.

    

Mr Joseph Faalong, Northern Regional Director of Agriculture thanked WFP for the presentation and promised that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture would help farmers to ensure routine maintenance of the equipment.

    

Mr Iddrissu Alhassan Baba, one of the beneficiary farmers who received the equipment on behalf of his colleagues said it would help increase as well as improve the quality of their produce.

    

Meanwhile, officials from the WFP and MOFA in the region have started training the beneficiary farmers on how to operate, handle and maintain the rice threshers, and reapers.

GNA

]]> <![CDATA[First national pollination seminar to open in Kumasi]]> The first ever national seminar on conservation and management of pollinators for sustainable agriculture, through ecosystem approach opens at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industry Research (CSIR) at Fumesua, near Kumasi, on Monday.

It is being organized by Global Pollination Project-Ghana, which is based at the University of Cape Coast.

The Global Pollination Project is a five-year initiative being implemented in seven partner countries of Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

The objective of the seminar is to improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods through enhanced conservation and sustainable use of pollinators.

It aims at harnessing the benefits of pollination services provided by wild biodiversity for human livelihoods and sustainable agriculture, through ecosystem approach in the seven selected countries.

The project is being funded by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) through Global Environmental Facility and coordinated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with co-funding from partner countries.

In Ghana, the project is being implemented in three sites; Mankessim, Dodowa and Kubeasi/Bobiri and focusing on three priority crops of Cocoa, Mango and vegetables-garden eggs.

Dr Peter Kwapong, National Coordinator of the project, told the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi, ahead of the seminar that pollination, which directly links wild ecosystems with agricultural production, is critical for food production and human livelihoods.

He said Ghana’s economy depended heavily on crops that demand animal pollination and it is important that the nation pays attention to the issue of conservation and sustainable utilization of pollinators within the environment, which are mainly insects or bees.

Dr Kwapong said the project has been carrying out activities in four thematic areas; knowledge generation and documentation, best management practices, capacity building and awareness creation and it involves farmers, extension agents, students, researchers and the general public to gather and document information on pollination.

According to Dr Kwapong, farmers in the project sites have been encouraged to list and document practices that are best to help attract and retain pollinators on the agricultural landscapes, adding that, training manuals have been developed and training carried out for farmers and extension agents in order to develop crop specific management plans.

He said the national seminar is one of the awareness creation strategies to inform particularly, the research community about the project and the need for all to come on board to conserve pollinators which are fast disappearing from the country ecosystem. GNA

]]> <![CDATA[KADJEBI:Housing project for cocoa farmers inaugurated ]]> Nii Nortey Dua, Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, has inaugurated three-bed room self-contained housing project for cocoa farmers at Kadjebi in the Volta Region. It is to afford cocoa farmers the opportunity to own decent accommodation at modest cost.

Nii Dua explained that the project is to increase the overall productivity of farmers to reflect on their status as key development partners in enhancing national development.

He said the Department of Rural Housing (DRH) was tasked to start the project on pilot basis in the Western Region and was started in Amenfi East, Aowin-Suaman and Bia districts.

He said the second phase of additional 19 houses has been inaugurated in three other Regions financed by Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).   These are five in the Central Region, seven each in Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions.

Nii Dua said the third phase of the project will start when additional funding is provided by COCOBOD to DRH to construct 26 houses across five of the six cocoa growing Regions.

There will be six houses in the Brong-Ahafo Region and five houses each in Ashanti, Western, Eastern and Volta Regions.

He said 20 out of the 26 houses have been completed and ready for inauguration while six others are at various stages of completion.

Nii Dua said an implementation strategy for the scheme involves an agreement between the government as the financier, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) as Fund Manager while DRH is to provide technical advice in the use of improved local building materials.

He said to ensure its sustainability ADB is required to recover the loans for other beneficiaries under the scheme.

Nii Dua explained that after the houses have been handed over to the beneficiaries, the loans are to be re-paid over a period of 10 years at 10 per cent simple interest with grace period of three months.

Mrs Debora Kuwonu, the Director of DRH,  said the department will fulfill its mission through maintaining high standard of excellence and competence in providing and facilitating access to decent shelter and providing on-the job training in building and construction skills.

She said the department is faced with litigation challenges over land for the projects, non-performance of sub-contractors and disagreement with beneficiaries over the building designs and room sizes.

Mr Opoku Mensah Kofi, a beneficiary expressed appreciation for the project and appealed to the youth to go into agriculture since it is the backbone of the economy.]]>