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Project to tackle forced and child Labour in Ghanaian cocoa and gold sectors launched.

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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.

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GTA entreats the government to utilize part of premix subsidies as insurance for fisherfolks.

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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.

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Fertilizer troubles to end with availability of new data – Agric Minister.

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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.

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Agric Ministry pursuing the creation of Grains Development Authority.

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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

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Dr. Nteranya Sanginga appointed as new AFAP Chairman.

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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.

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National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme in limbo.

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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.

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COCOBOD to sign a $1.5 billion Syndication Loan for 2021/2022 cocoa season.

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Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will later today sign a $1.5 billion Syndication Loan for the 2021/2022 cocoa crop season.

The facility, which is the largest deal in sub-Saharan Africa, will be used to finance cocoa purchases and related operational activities in the crop season.

The signing comes on the back of some positive developments in Ghana’s cocoa sector.

COCOBOD exceeded its production target to reach a record 1.06 million metric tons for the 2020/21 season, beating the previous record of 1.024 million metric tons in the 2010/ 2011 crop season. Also, global demand for cocoa is projected to grow by 2.2% for the next crop season.

Since the 1992/93 crop season, COCOBOD has consistently and successfully, through the pre-export syndicated finance facility, obtained a receivables-backed syndicated loan each year from the international money market to finance its cocoa purchases.

The latest loan facility, which has an interest rate plus LIBOR of 1.75%, is repayable in seven calendar months and projected to help purchase about 900,000 metric tonnes of cocoa.

Cocoa/Cedi buffer.
So far, the cedi has depreciated by about 1.30% to the US dollar, selling at about ¢6.25 to the US dollar on the interbank forex market.

Analysts have however calmed market sentiments about the recent persistent depreciation.

This is because the local currency will be bolstered by the expected COCOBOD Syndication Loan as well as other developments.

Importantly, the current pricing of the cedi to the dollar is also within the range of many research institutions’ forecasts for the year.

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Know the Ministers of Food and Agriculture from independence to date.

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The 1st Agriculture Minister in Ghana in cloth.

The Minister for Food and Agriculture is the government official responsible for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The Minister is responsible to the government and the Parliament for the development of agriculture and maintaining food security.

This minister of Food and Agriculture of Ghana has in the past been also responsible for the Cocoa Affairs that has now been absorbed back into the Ministry of Agriculture.

These are the names of the Ministers of Food and Agriculture from the time of independence to date with their respective governments.

 

List of ministers

The first Ghanaian to head this ministry was Boahene Yeboah-Afari. The current minister is Owusu Afriyie Akoto (MP).

NumberMinisterTook officeLeft officeGovernmentParty
1Boahene Yeboah-Afari19561956Nkrumah governmentConvention People’s Party
2Francis Yao Asare19571960
3Kojo Botsio19601962
4Lawrence Rosario Abavana19621962
5Krobo Edusei19631965
6F. A. Jantuah196524 February 1966
7Jacob Ofori Torto19671968National Liberation CouncilMilitary government
8Albert Adomakoh19681969
9Kankam Twum Barima1969Busia governmentProgress Party
10Kwame Safo-Adu13 January 1972
11Major-General Daniel Addo19721973National Redemption CouncilMilitary government
12Colonel Frank Bernasko19731975
19751976Supreme Military Council
13Lt. Col. Paul K. Nkegbe19771979
14Major General Neville Alexander Odartey-Wellington19791979
15Colonel Samuel Akwagiram19794 June 1979
16Abayifa Karbo19791979Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
17E. Kwaku Twumasi1979Limann governmentPeople’s National Party
18E. K. AndahDecember 1980
19Nelson AgbesiDecember 198031 December 1981
20Bortei Doku19821983Provisional National Defence CouncilMilitary government
21John Ndebugre19841985
22Isaac Adjei-Marfo19851986
23Steve Obimpeh19861992
24Ibrahim Issaka Adam19927 January 1993
19931996Rawlings governmentNational Democratic Congress
25Steve Obimpeh (MP)19961997
26Kwabena Agyei (MP)19971998
27J. H. Owusu-Acheampong (MP)19987 January 2001
28Courage Quashigah1 February 2001[3]2005Kufuor governmentNew Patriotic Party
29Ernest Akubuor Debrah1 February 2005[4]7 January 2009
30Kwesi Ahwoi200924 October 2012Mills governmentNational Democratic Congress
24 October 20127 January 2013Mahama government
31Clement Kofi Humado (MP)30 January 201316 July 2014
32Fiifi Fiavi Franklin Kwetey (MP)16 July 20143 February 2016
33Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna3 February 20167 January 2017
34Owusu Afriyie Akoto[5]28 January 2017incumbentAkufo-Addo governmentNew Patriotic Party

 

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The shortage of food in Ghana: Exaggeration of PFJ figures is the cause – GAWUG.

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The shortage and price hikes of food commodities have been attributed to the exportation of food commodities to other African countries, but the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana (GAWUG), Mr. Edward Kariwe has refuted the assertion.

Exportation of rice, maize, and soybean have been declining and there is no way that could have had an effect on Ghana’s food system.

According to Mr. Kariwe, the success of the Planting for Food and Job (PFJ) was over-emphasized. In 2020, PFJ was successful that there was an abundance of food in Ghana and that maize production had increased by 110% and rice production 48%, projected figures had said.

Surprisingly, he said with such a remarkable increase in production as the figures suggest, how come there was no availability of maize between January to July and August as exportation has declined?

He suspected that the figures that were given in 2020 about the level of production were exaggerated and the figures did not support the availability of food in the country.

The General Secretary recalled that in 2018, Ghana exported more food commodities than in 2019 and in 2020, yet in 2018 Ghana did not have a food shortage, therefore, export cannot be the yardstick for the shortage and high cost of food commodities as Ghana exported less in 2020.

He acknowledged that Planting for Food and Jobs has made a success but it has been exaggerated. He called for a national conversation to probe into the real causes of the current country’s agriculture situation because the future looks very disastrous.

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