The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon Dr. Afriyie Akoto, at a programme dubbed ‘Agricultural Sector Programme Review’ at the Coconut Grove Hotel on 20th November, 2018 reviewed the government’s strategy to boost the Agricultural Sector to exceed what has been achieved during the year 2017/ 2018.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Thursday 15th November, 2018 presented the 2019 Budget with the theme “A Strong Economy for Jobs and Prosperity” to the Parliament of Ghana seeking.
The agriculture sector is an integral part of Ghana’s economy and indeed an important part of the government’s grand agenda of achieving Ghana beyond aid. The minister announced a number of initiatives towards stimulating economic activities and ultimately ensuring economic growth and the creation of jobs through agriculture.
The following are the major takeaways in the budget presentation with respect to the Agric Sector.
The minister hinted that in 2019, the Government will launch the livestock model of Planting for Food and Jobs dubbed “Rearing for Food and Jobs” (RFJ) with the objective of increasing the production of selected livestock, especially poultry. To anchor this initiative, the minister said, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is working on a programme to boost soyabeans production in the country through the provision of improved and certified seeds, subsidized fertilizers and harvest equipments to reduce field losses and the cost of production feed which is primarily determined by the cost and availability of maize and soyabeans. He explained how the Government can leverage the “Planting for Food and Job” and “Rearing for Food and Job” to reduce the country’s large food imports.
To reduce post-harvest wastages and increase food security in the country, the Government plans to increase the number of warehouses and increase storage capacity of existing ones in 2019. He again explained that Ghana needs to add value to her cocoa output and by so doing Ghana and her neighbouring counterpart, Cote D’Ivoire, have initiated what is called Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire Cocoa Initiative. Through this initiative, the two countries will be working on several fronts to increase cocoa. These include: vigorously promoting both domestic and international cocoa consumption; and initiative for market expansion for exports of cocoa product to Asia; and provision of incentives to the private sector to set up cocoa processing factories.
The minister announced that Cabinet has approved the formation of a Tree Crop Development Authority (GTCDA) to regulate and create a favourable environment for the growth and development of that sector. The Authority will initially regulate the cashew, shea nut butter, oil palm and rubber crop sub-sectors in Ghana with other tree crops added as and when necessary.
According to the minister, 2019 will witness the construction of the 570 small dams and dugouts under IPEP to provides dams and dugout irrigation schemes to help expand agricultural production, particularly in the North.
In helping to manage the risk in Agriculture and stimulate private sector lending in the agricultural sector in Ghana, the Government is establishing the Ghana Incentive Base Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL). An amount of GH¢400 million with an additional funding of US$14.0 million from the AfDB which has been set aside to operationalize GIRSAL in 2019. GIRSAL aims to provide guarantees to promote commercial bank lending to the agricultural sector.
Government expects that these initiatives and development will give agriculture a major face lift in Ghana in 2019.
Source: agrictoday.com.gh
At the recent opening of a workshop on Participatory Management of Community Cover and Integration, Victória de Barros, Angola’s Minister of Fisheries and the Sea, said that the Executive is committed to giving greater quality of life to Angolan communities dependent on fishing by investing in infrastructure and training to support the sector on good practices and sanitary conditions for the handling of fish.
According to her, the artisanal fishing subsector continues to be the driving force behind the economic and social progress of communities in Angola.
As with most oil-dependent countries in Africa, the collapse in the price of crude oil in 2014 placed immense strain on Angola’s economy, forcing it to consider the option of diversification. With a 1,600km Atlantic coastline, fish is a readily available resource in the South African country.
The domestic fishing sector has always had a strong potential for employment and income generation, but it has struggled for years due to a lack of attention and investment from the government.
When President João Lourenço assumed office a year ago, he promised to upturn Angola’s waning economy declaring that his administration will relaunch the sectors of aquaculture and agriculture as a way to grow its economy. So far, President Lourenço seems to be making good on that promise with investments being made in the acquisition of a Fishery Research Vessel, cold equipment, the establishment of new artisanal fishing centers and the renovation of old centres – all part of the Artisanal Fisheries Support Project in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The support project for small-scale fishing is being developed in seven coastal provinces of the country to support fishing in communities where their livelihood is mainly fishing. Valued at $38 million, with the AfDB financing 80 percent of the cost and Angola, 20 percent, the project aims to increase the incomes of artisanal fishers and traders, especially women, by improving the quantity and quality of fish landed and traded through marked improvements in fish landing and handling facilities.
It also aims to combat poverty and hunger by building fishing infrastructures, training and sustainable environmental management.
Currently, four centres are being built in Benguela (Egypt Beach), Cuanza Sul (in the salt flats), Bengo, and in Zaire (Nzeto), all equipped with cold equipment, solar and public energy to support artisanal fishing (CAPAS). In addition to the eight centres previously built, the new centres will bring all artisanal fishing centres in Angola to 12.
Earlier in the year, de Barros announced plans for the establishment of a new port with refrigerated storage in Tombwa, Namibe at a cost of $23.5m.
The Angolan government is looking to increase the annual fish catch by 16 percent over the next four years to 614,000 tonnes and also aiming for a 50 percent increase in fishmeal production to 30,000 tonnes over the same period.
The world’s four largest agriculture companies, commonly known as ABCD, have partnered to digitize international grain trading by using blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
ABCD, composed of Archer Daniels Midland Co., Bunge Ltd., Cargill Inc., and Louis Dreyfus Co., states that blockchain implementation could make trading more efficient and transparent, as well as reduce costs. The conglomerate aims to digitize the system that has previously relied on paper contracts, invoices, and manual payments.
According to grain industry news outlet World-Grain.com, blockchain and AI will be initially used to automate grain and oilseed post-trade execution processes, which are a highly manual and costly part of the supply chain.
In the long run, ABCD plans to integrate blockchain technology on different levels of the supply chain, including shipping, storage, and customer experience.
As cited by World-Grain.com, CEO of Louis Dreyfus Co. Ian McIntosh explained how blockchain could help develop the agriculture industry, noting the technology’s “capacity to generate efficiencies and reduce the time usually spent on manual document and data processing.”
Major food giants across the world have been testing blockchain to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. Louis Dreyfus Co., along with four other parties, conducted its first blockchain-based shipment back in January 2018, sending soybeans from America to China using the Easy Trading Connect (ETC) blockchain platform.
U.S. national milk marketing cooperative Dairy Farmers of America also piloted decentralized solutions among its farmer-members in 48 states, while major Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn used blockchain to track orange juice production.
As per a recent study by Reportlinker, blockchain use in agriculture and food supply chains market will be worth over $400 million in the next five years
The past few weeks have been nothing but great and memorable experiences for the women who have dared to break the jinx in an area entirely dominated by men.
The past few years has seen a dramatic increase in vegetable and fruit consumption in Ghana. Even though this development has provoked a lot of investment in the sector, fruit and vegetable production in the country is yet to meet the consumption demands of the growing population.
Post-harvest losses have been a regular feature in Ghana’s agricultural sector. Every year, millions of agricultural produce while away due, largely, to inaccessible roads. This situation is no different to farmers at Towkrom in the Eastern Region. These farmers have to grapple with the perennial ordeal of seeing their farm produce go bad as a result bad road network.
The first ever women training programme on tractor operation is ongoing at Adidome Farm Institute in the Volta Region. The programme was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and it was implemented by New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) through its Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and funded by the German Cooperation (GIZ).
Africa should be the breadbasket of the world, has no reason spending US$ 35 billion a year importing food, Adesina tells Agriculture conference in U.S.
Ghana’s cereals and legumes production have increased by 707,150 metric tons following the introduction of the government’s flagship “Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ)” programme. Dr Gyiele Nurah, Minister of State at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), said this at the two-day national policy summit held in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
