Chief Executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong, has called for digitalisation in the agriculture sector in order to make it more attractive for the youth to help reduce graduate unemployment.
According to Dr. Sarpong, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s economy was running at 7 percent GDP but it saw a sharp decline in 2020 due to the pandemic.
He further noted that agriculture has been a major contributor to Ghana’s economy and if harnessed properly, it will attract more youth into the sector.
“Agriculture remains one of the critical sectors that make a contribution to GDP over the years. We need to design policies that will make it more attractive, particularly for the youth. This has the propensity of creating sustainable employment, thereby, reducing unemployment,” he said this at the 10th edition of the Ghana Economic Forum in Accra.
He further urged Ghanaians to prepare themselves to go the digital way to propel prosperity for all and sundry.
“Technology undoubtedly is emerging as the force of Ghana’s economy for the 21st century of global competitiveness. Therefore, there are massive opportunities in equipping oneself in technology,” he said.
Dr. K.K. Sarpong emphasised that the energy sector is also vital in driving the industrialisation agenda of the government, adding that, investment in it is necessary for the long-term sustainability of the country’s economy.
Developing women capacities through transformation programmes is critical. Women are the backbone of the economy and having agribusiness transformation programmes would help in the creation of new jobs and translate into economic growth.
Dr. Elke Stumpf said this during the 4th graduation and the 5th enrolment ceremony of 2020 and 2021 igniters at Accra.
She commended Guzakuza for such a significant programme designed to add value to women in the agribusiness space and GIZ is happy to be part of it.
”We cherish immensely the partnership with organizations like Guzakuza and the ignite programme because they promote women and youth in agribusiness, that is one of the visions we share to promote”, she explained.
Guzakuza has shown that African led, African homegrown initiative for African development can work and has worked in the past 5 years and the gathering here is to unleash the power of innovation of the mind in the field of agribusiness. Dr. Sylvia Olanyinka BYDEN OOR
She cautioned them to be brave to withstand every challenge that would come forth as they undergo the training. “Out of one hundred and twenty (120) enrolled last year for ignite 2020, only seventy-one (71) were able to graduate, indicating the rest could not withstand the test of life but, I urged you all to over the challenges that you will face during this year’s training”.
She inspired the new igniters to commit everything to God in prayers and develop a strong faith in God and prioritize unland the unprogressive tendencies in their lives to bring out the opportunities to develop the African continent.
Giving a graduation speech, FadeKami Onasanwo, 2020 igniter extolled Guzakuza for such an inclusive and insightful programme designed to orient and develop women in the agribusiness space.
To her, being in a midst of 120 women under a single programme and mentored by someone who has 20 years of experience in agriculture has given her more skills, knowledge and understanding to expand her business.
She underscores the need for the igniter to be resilient in the training and learn keenly all the modules from the mentors and ascertain the needed skills to develop their business.
She advised the new igniters to; make every day count, dream it do it and remember the right decision to make in life might not always be the popular ones and should not be rigid their knowledge.
2021 ignite programme has enrolled eighty (80) agribusiness women from eighteen (18) African countries for capacity building to rethink, refine and refire the Female led agribusinesses in Africa.
So far Guzakuza for its Ignite programme has trained one hundred and thirty (130) women from eight (8) African countries for the past four years.
To increase productivity and sustainability among women in agribusiness, 13 women-led horticulture business owners have been trained and certified by HortiFresh through MDF West Africa to strengthen their capacity in the horticulture sector under the HortiFresh Access to Finance component in Accra.
The program was set up to build women capacity and strengthen them to be well-positioned and access funding, the Programme Manager of HortiFresh, Mrs Sheila Assibey-Yeboah mentioned.
The modules at which these women were coached for nine (9) months are business strategy, sales and marketing, human resource, business administration and financial management.
Highlighting the importance of capacity strengthening in the area of financial and business management, she stated that this capacity building will go a long way to position businesses in the horticulture sector for support from the financial sector and impact communities.
Talking about the program’s continuity, the Programme Manager said the lessons learnt from the first training would compel for an equally good selection and decision making for next year’s programme. She noted that next year would be better than this year based on the experiences gained.
She urged the women to use the knowledge gained from the training to transform and sustain their horticultural businesses to improve the horticulture sector.
The Lead Business Development Services of MDF West Africa, Susanne Roelofsen underscored the need for building women capacity as an advantage to capitalize on the opportunities presented in the horticulture sector in terms of processing and packaging to produce nutritious and healthy foods for the consumers.
She commended HortiFresh for the training and acknowledged the 13 women for their resilience in completing the nine (9) months journey of the programme.
According to her, the programme is a key milestone in getting women’s businesses ready to tap into opportunities available in the financial sector. She urged the women to strictly adhere to and implement the various elements of the programme in the day to day administration of the business.
“The programme has been very insightful and educative, it has been so intensive that they thought us so many things that have built our capacity and made our business resilience”, Dora Naana Amoah, the CEO of CARIS GOLD SERVICES said.
Speaking to Agric Today, Mrs Amoah said initially she could not perform some tasks like auditing but after the programme she could audit her accounts now but the training needs dedication and timing.
She explained that the training is a good opportunity for female agribusinesses to thrive because women need support in the agribusiness sector and such support will help in nurturing other women for national development.
She assured of good resilience business that is going to withstand the test of time and compliant.
Madam Marianne Titus Glover, the CEO of Anne’s Gardens added that the training has connected her business to many stakeholders to leverage on.
As a young woman entrepreneur what is most needed is grants to cushion the business instead of loans and more coaching programmes to monitor how the funds are been used.
The Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CAA) is committed to transparency and continuous improvement of Human Rights cases in cocoa growing communities, with a special focus on building the capacity and systems to improve human rights outcomes rather than punitive approaches which can lead to human rights violations.
According to CAA, as a result of the newly introduced Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System and the new Rainforest Alliance Standard, it is proper for the association to establish an assess and Address Committee to help identify risks to which cocoa farmer’s children are exposed to.
The Association explained that, the committee will help implement risk mitigation measures to prevent the identified risks from happening; monitor the actions taken to improve the way risks are addressed and remediate any case identified.
The committee includes: The 8 CAA Council Members, Chief Finance and Operations Manager, Sustainability Manager, Certification Manager and The Chairman of the Committee who is Human Resource & Administrative Manager, CAA.
This was disclosed during a 2-day workshop at the True Vine Hotel, Kumasi. The training workshop ensured that all members received adequate knowledge and skills on effective handling of cases related to remediation of Child Labor, Forced Labor, Gender and Inequality and help maintain transparent grievance procedures.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Anthony Agala said to ensure the protection of human rights in all their operational areas; the Association commits to the following actions signed by Council Members.
“We have established a system to access and address risks of child labor, forced labor, workplace violence and harassment, and discrimination; managed by competent, trusted individuals and supported by management” he pointed
Mr. Mamud Abdul Rahman the Certification Manager of CAA and a Rainforest Alliance Associate Trainer schooled members on a variety of subjects which includes: understanding the concepts and regulations of Child Labor, forced labor, discrimination, workplace violence and harassment.
Mr. Bart Draaijer the Sustainability Manager explained that, as at the 1st of August, 2021 about One Thousand Two Hundred and Ninety (1,290) households out of the expected Three Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty-Five (3,635) households have been visited in relations to child labour and school dropout cases.
“Our Child Development Officers have identified 9 cases so far and have reported to the committee. We have agreed on an amount of six thousand (USD 6,000) United States Dollars to remediate and support these children” he said.
The Chief Finance and Operations Manager, Mr. Patrick Van Brakel used the opportunity to encourage committee members to continue with their hard work and help end human rights outcomes rather than the punitive approaches which can lead to human rights violations.
A project to combat forced and child labour in Ghana’s cocoa and gold sector has been launched in Accra.
The initiative is intended to complement the government’s effort to eradicate force and child labour which is seen as unfair contract practices.
The project ‘Yen Ne Mmofra No Nti’ is implemented by Rainforest Alliance, International Cocoa Initiative and Solidaridad West Africa with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
The project is to use a landscape approach to solving the endemic systemic problem in a holistic manner. The regions to be covered are Ashanti, Western, Western North and Eastern Region of Ghana.
The goal of this project is to protect the children and the vulnerable against force and child labour in cocoa and gold-mining communities in Ghana to achieve increased socio-economic resilience.
The targeted group includes vulnerable children, youth, cocoa companies, cooperatives, relevant government ministries and CSOs in Ghana.
In all, the project seeks to benefit about 12,500 vulnerable individuals and will be implemented in 120 selected cocoa cooperatives and gold mining associations.
The Country Director for Rainforest Alliance, Mr Kwame Osei Boateng mentioned that a recent report published by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF estimates that the number of child labour cases have raised to 160 million worldwide; an increase of 8.4 million children in just four years.
According to him, a study by the United States Department of labour in October 2020 found that 770,000 children were engaged in cocoa production in Ghana and about 92 percent of them were exposed to at least one form of hazardous child labour.
“Protecting human rights within the production landscape should be a shared responsibility by all actors within the landscape,” he added.
The Regional Director of Solidaridad West Africa, Mr Isaac Gyamfi indicated that there is a need to improve labour services delivery in Ghana.
“There is the need to de-couple sustainability interventions from sourcing in order to make its implementation less competitive among private sector actors to drive compliance to sustainability practices” he pointed out.
The Norwegian Ambassador, Ingrid Mollestad believes that with Ghana’s vibrant civil society and different government agencies on board it provides a good framework and basis for the implementation of this project.
She indicated that the expertise that Rainforest Alliance has brought together in this project is promising.
“I am also very pleased that some of the tools and plans developed in this project for Ghana will be used and gain relevance for Cote d’Ivoire and hopefully for other countries in the region” she added.
Mrs Joyce Poku-Marboah, the Senior Project Manager said the key implementation strategies would be to collaborate with the government to map up existing strategies.
“We will orgainse training and workshops for key stakeholders to share lessons and engage in direct advocacy as well as establish a remediation fund for survivors and link them to existing programmes such as Technical, Vocational Education and apprenticeship training” she added.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board in charge of Operations, Dr Emmanuel Opoku said COCOBOD will offer their support to the ‘Yen Ne Mmofra No Nti’ project.
“The rise in forced and child labour cases in the country is due to the poverty in these areas and must be tackled with all seriousness.
I am happy Rainforest Alliance, International Cocoa Initiative and Solidaridad West Africa with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) are helping to combat child labour cases in a holistic manner” he said.
The Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) has urged the National Premix Fuel Committee and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture to set aside some percentage of the monies used to subsidize premix fuel as an insurance scheme for the fisher-folks.
The Secretary of the Ghana Tuna Association (GTA), Mr. Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio making the call said out of the 70 percent subsidy, 30 percent could be reserved as insurance which could be used to cushion fishermen.
Mr. Amarfio was speaking at the sixth Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office monthly stakeholder engagement and workers’ appreciation seminar, which aimed at bringing together both state and non-state actors together to address national issues.
He said the current arrangement on the 70 percent subsidy on premix fuel was not really benefitting the fishermen as they ended up buying it at an exorbitant price.
Therefore, it would be proper to set aside some of the money used to subsidize the fuel to safeguard their future.
He noted that it is sad to close the season for weeks without providing the affected fisherfolks insurance as a means or alternative to secure them while observing the closure.
“Artisanal fishermen are peasant farmers, their daily food depends on the catch they make, so, closing the sea for a month without providing them any alternative or insurance would not work,” he stated.
He added that waiting for a few days to the end of the season to share a five kilo of rice with the fishermen is not enough incentive to encourage them to observe the close season.
He expressed regret that most of the arable lands in the coastal areas especially in the Greater Accra Region had been turned into housing infrastructure depriving fisherfolks the alternative to farm during the close season as hitherto done which served as livelihood during lean seasons.
Mr. Amarfio said it is sad that even though the fishing sector employed about ten percent of the country’s population, fisherfolks are among the poor in society due to mismanagement of the sector.
Mr. Gilbert Sam, Administrator of the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA) on his part, called on the government to look especially at the fishing industry just as it puts in special programmes for farmers.
Mr. Sam said the government could invest in robust fishing vessels to cater for the numerous canoes on the country’s seas just as it budgets and acquire tractors and other equipment for farmers to enhance their work, instead of focusing on enforcements of its policies without any mitigating measures for the fisher-folks.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema Regional Manager, explained that the stakeholder engagement which comes on the last Wednesday of every month is a progressive media caucus platform created to give the opportunity to both state and non-state stakeholders to interact with journalists and address national issues.
He said modern journalism practices demand a comprehensive dynamic approach to issues that affected society, through which the media must provide a platform for proactive engagement and exchange of ideas towards shaping national development.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has assured that new data made available to the government by researchers will help to enhance transparency and improve the reach of farm produce such as seedlings and fertilizer to farmers.
According to him, the non-existence of reliable data in the past has made it difficult to measure the impact of the government’s social intervention programmes such as the distribution of fertilizer across the country. This, he said, created fertilizer shortages in some areas while in high supply at certain parts of the country.
Speaking at the launch of the Visualizing Insights on Fertiliser for African Agriculture (VIFAA) Ghana Dashboard, Dr. Akoto said the platform shows trends across the years on the government’s diversification of subsidy products, and the increase in support to reduce the price paid by farmers.
“The dashboard fills key fertilizer information gaps and will go a long way to supporting the government, development partners, and the private sector to respond to changes in the fertilizer market, ensuring that sufficient quantities and appropriate fertilizers reach farmers at the right time for planting.”
He assured that government will continue to use the data on the dashboard to inform its current and future subsidy policy efforts, to benefit all farmers considering the changing conditions in the fertilizer space. He observed that with a reduction of fertilizer production globally, the effects were also felt in Ghana, with high international pricing leading to a shortage of fertilizer to farmers during the planting season.
He maintained that data is crucial now more than ever to inform the government, private sector, and development partners to navigate the negative effects of Covid-19 on the supply of fertilizer. “As a mitigation effect, the government is also currently working on constructing fertilizer plants to take advantage of the net surplus of gas needed for Urea production in Ghana.”
Providing more details on the dashboard, the Country Lead of Development Gateway, a data management company, Wekem Avatim explained that the platform will provide data to help policy and investment decisions in the fertilizer sector. “It will give up-to-date and comprehensive fertilizer data available to meet the needs of stakeholders and It is a user-friendly tool.”
He stated that the new dashboard was developed by Development Gateway, in collaboration with the AfricaFertilizer.org (AFO) initiative of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).
He added that funding for the dashboard was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a collaborative effort with key partners from both the public and private sectors.
“The goal of the Dashboard is to help fertilizer industry actors respond appropriately to changes in the fertilizer market, to ensure that sufficient appropriate fertilizers reach our farmers at the right time for planting. It is expected that the VIFAA Dashboard in Ghana will enrich decision-making among stakeholders in the fertilizer industry. The key beneficiaries will be our farmers who work to ensure agriculture production and productivity,” he added.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has announced plans to establish the Grains Development Authority, among others to further the development and regulation of the market for the produce.
The Grains Development Authority, which will replace the Grains and Legumes Development Board (GLDB) set up in the 1970s, is expected to have a wider mandate to absorb most of the functions that have been abdicated by the current Board.
The mission of GLDB is to produce and distribute good quality foundation seeds of cereals, legumes, and vegetable seeds as well as vegetatively propagated planting materials of cassava, plantain, yam, and citrus seedlings.
But with Ghana making substantial gains in the grains sub-sector, Dr. Afriyie Akoto assured that the creation of the Authority would be a major boost to the export market and also help put in place price control measures. To this end, he observed that various stakeholder consultations have been done while waiting to table the idea before Cabinet for approval, and subsequently Parliament.
The proposed Authority is hoped to contribute significantly to complement the achievements being realized under the government’s flagship agricultural programme – Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), introduced in 2017. “We are building institutions to underpin the gains that we have made,” he stated.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto, who was speaking at a press engagement in Kumasi on agric sector developments, indicated that add some other authorities would be proposed to cover some other areas of the sector.
The Ministry of Agric, he mentioned, is keen on ensuring that Ghana becomes the food basket of West Africa, having exported over 130,000 metric tons of 19 food items to neighboring countries, in 2019. Against this background, he dunked speculations by some leading members of the opposition political parties that the country would experience a food crisis in the coming years.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto, for instance, disclosed that Ghana is a net exporter of maize, with the volumes of production still increasing. “Maize production has gone from 1.8 million tons to 3 million metric tons in 2020. Our target is to double that to 6 million metric tons in the next two or three years because the farmers are showing keen interest in the programme that we have put together.”
He acknowledged that Ghana is on course to becoming self-sufficient in rice production, latest by 2024, and targeting 1 million metric tons of soya
Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, the Chair-Elect of the AFAP Board of Trustees.
The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) has appointed Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, a Ph.D. holder in Agronomy/ Soil Microbiology and the Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as the Chair of the AFAP Board of Trustees.
Dr. Sanginga has dedicated all his life to the service of the agriculture space. He has more than 35 years of experience in international agricultural research and development, research administration and management, and resource mobilization, particularly in the field of applied microbial ecology, plant nutrition, and international natural resources management in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
It is, therefore, a privilege for AFAP to appoint a leader with decades of experience, and the vision to transform the organization into a more impactful institution in Africa.
Appreciating the appointment, Dr. Sanginpa commended the organization for elating him with such a position.
“Dr. Namanga Ngongi has been my mentor whose shoes are rather big for me to wear. I am humbled by the appointment and promise to do my best to advance the course and mandate of AFAP of bringing access and availability of yield-enhancing production inputs to smallholder farmers”, Dr. Sanginga said.
As part of his contribution to the youth development in the sector, Dr. Sanginga, in his long-term career has focused on mentoring and building the capacity of the youth in the agriculture and agribusiness in Africa.
Contributing to the agriculture sector, he has transform IITA from a Pan-African research organization into the largest international agricultural research centre in tropical Africa, developing solutions to agricultural and development challenges and contributing to food and nutrition security in the region.
Dr. Nteranya Sanginga succeeded Dr. Namanga Ngongi, the founding Chairman of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP).
The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) is an independent non-profit organization that adds value to the agriculture inputs and agribusiness value chain by building the capacity and linking African Hub-Agrodealers and smallholder holder farmers to global inputs and output market companies.
The government’s national Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme risks total collapse following an admission by some supervisors and cocoa farmers that the Programme is crumpling and needs to be rescued immediately.
The youth providing labour and technical support said heavy workload, delay in payment and lack of quality tools will put the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme in limbo, as more youth are seriously reconsidering their participation in the programme.
“This poor approach is discouraging us from the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme; managers of the programme do not have us at heart, they tell us what they don’t believe in their hearts,” the youth said.
This was disclosed during an interaction with members of the Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalist Association (GARDJA) when they visited some communities in the Western North to ascertain challenges confronting cocoa production in the region.
Some of the communities visited include Ahwiaa, Suroano, Daboase, Manso Nkwanta, Adjakaa Manso, Ntrentreso and several others.
Farmers said the discussion had been that the youth could find employment in agriculture but more times the sector is being mismanaged, the very sector that could employ the majority of the youth of Ghana.
“Most of the youth in the region thought that the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme that has been introduced by the government would create employment for them instead, people are brought from elsewhere to do the work, how do we close the unemployment gap in our communities?” the farmers quizzed.
Secretary Sefwi Bekwai Cocoa Farmer’s Cooperative Union Mr. Nicholas Kwabena Gbadago explained that managers of the National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme are killing the vision and mission behind the programme.
“The government has allocated over USD200 million of the $600 million syndicated loan facility it secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme but it may not yield the needed results if urgent measures are not put in place.
COCOBOD promised to give an amount of GH₵1000.00 per hector to each farmer who has been affected by the disease but rather most of us received GH₵500.00 per hector instead of GH₵1000.00 per hector” he pointed out.
Chief Farmer of the Sefwi Ahwiaa Cocoa Farmers’ Cooperative, Mr. Peter Nkrumah said contractors that are assigned to provide labour and technical support are not serious minded people.
“We are losing our cocoa farms, this poor approach and strategy are discouraging us from joining the programme; which will lead to the further and rampant spread of the disease”, Mr. Nkrumah.
We want to own the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme that has been introduced, just provide us with the technical support, we will take care of our own farms” he added.
