The African Union Business Council (AfBC) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost agribusiness in Africa.
The partnership was announced at the 8th Agricultural and Science Week held in Durban, South Africa.
The President of the African Union Business Council Dr Amany Asfour in her address explained that the partnership seeks to build the capacity of stakeholders in the agricultural sector with technology and an improved access to finance.
“While the private sector is investing in SMEs, women and youth, small-scale farmers, cooperatives, and young entrepreneurs, etc we need to see how we can build their capacity”, she said.
To achieve this feat, FARA plays a role in harnessing science and technology to accelerate the growth of agriculture and agribusiness by providing “knowledge, education, scientific innovation, etc to our farmers”, she added.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Lead Specialist at FARA, Mr. Anselme Vodounhessi, explained that FARA will focus on “technical assitance [providing farmers with inputs, education, etc” and the AfBC will look at “investment facilitation by linking the private sector to the stakeholders in the agribusiness.”
Mr Anselme who doubles as the CAAPs Coordinator quizzed that when the private sector wants to construct “a processing plant to produce mango juice and you’re not getting the raw mango how will you grow?”
“So what we will be doing is to create an enabling environment [for SMEs, farmers, etc] where they will be able to produce quality foods. Enabling environment refers to the technology and access to finance,” he added.
Dr Asfour further called on African governments to uphold their commitment “to have at least 1 per cent of their finances geared towards scientific and research technologies”, she further rallied them “to be self-sufficient in foods and nutrition”.
The AfBC serves as an independent private-sector institution of the African Union with a focus on boosting intra-African trade and the integration of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The partnership between the AfBC and FARA is a significant step forward in the fight against hunger and poverty in Africa as the two organizations can help to develop a more sustainable and resilient agricultural sector in Africa.
Ghana risks losing its major foreign exchange earner cocoa, due to a combination of factors such as illegal mining, accumulated losses and major developments by some advanced countries to aggressively grow and export the crop.
The Ghana Cocoa Board which is mandated to supervise the production and export of cocoa in the country is reeling under huge annual losses which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified as a major threat to the sector and government’s fiscal efforts.
The fund in its report on Ghana’s extended credit facility programme said COCOBOD had accumulated annual losses for many years.
It said those losses had been accumulated due to high rollover cost of outstanding cocoa bills, high purchase price to cocoa producers compared to its operational costs, and elevated quasi-fiscal operations such as fertiliser provision, rural roads development that have also been a burden on the board’s administrative expenses.
The Ghana COCOBOD in January this year, defaulted on payments for maturities of its 182-day bill, rolling over outstanding securities with face value of GH¢ 940.42 million.
The government is currently engaging with investors for a restructuring of the cocoa bills.
The sector has also not been spared the harsh realitiies of illegal minners whose activities have affected cocoa production.
In February this year, the Graphic Online reported that National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme which was done at a cost of GHC 4.2 million faces threats from illegal miners who have taken over cocoa farms across the country, including farms which were recently rehabilitated.
Foreign nationals have also taken advantage of the lapsed security issues at the district levels to perpetuate huge devastation of cocoa farms in favor of mining gold. Government efforts at fighting these menace have so far proved futile.
These challenges, coupled with some non-producing countries in Europe and Asia venturing into the production and export of cocoa poses a huge risk to the country;s cocoa sector.
Ghana earns over $ 3 billion in forex alone for the raw exports of the cocoa beans. Ghana’s cocoa commands a premium on the international market.
CompetitionGhana and Cote D’voire are facing competition from Western and far east countries, some of whom have started experimenting with cocoa production and the possibility of exports.
The decision of the top two cocoa-producing countries, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, to institute some aggressive measures aimed at safeguarding its cocoa industry appears not to sit well with global players, some of whom are now exploring the possibility of producing their own cocoa beans.
In 2018, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire agreed to set a floor price for cocoa on the global commodity market, below which none of the two countries would sell its produce.
Another key action point was the adoption of a concurrent opening season and announcement of producer prices to be paid to farmers in the two countries.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has confirmed an Anthrax cases in the Upper East Region of Ghana following the results sample analysis at the laboratory of the Veterinary Service Directorate.
To thwart the spread of the disease, the Ministry is announcing the following measures for public safety: restricting the movement of animals within, into and out of Binduri district; mass vaccination of animals in the affected district; band on the consumption of animals found dead from the affected areas.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease in livestock and it is transferable from animals to humans. The current case is limited to Binduri district in the Upper East Region, and it is highly possible to spreading to other areas.
The public is been advised to be vigilant and purchase meat from only certified abattoirs and promptly report animal deaths to the nearest Veterinary unit or health facility around the affected areas.
For quick and prompting of the Veterinary Service Directorate officials, all are entreated to contact these officers:
• Dr. Patrick Abeka, Director, Veterinary Service Directorate 0208240734
• Mr. Rachman Adongo, District Veterinary Officer, 0245124150
• Dr. Nii Aryee, Regional Veterinary Officer, 0244542397 and
• Dr. Benjamin K. Sassu, Deputy Head, National Food Safety Laboratory, 0553339667.
The Ministry is assuring the general public that it is putting every measure in place to contain the disease.
Drissa Dembele, a farmer and buyer of raw cashews, surveyed unshelled nuts he had spread out to dry on a tarpaulin in a dusty courtyard, unsure of when he would sell them.
Dembele, a 36-year-old father of two, had sold only five bags of nuts since the start of the season in March, compared with around 20 bags over the same period in previous years.
Global demand for cashew nuts, eaten as snacks or used for cooking and desserts, has tumbled since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, driven by multiple factors, including consumer inflation and increased production.
This has led to a price slump, according to farmers, buyers and sector experts.
“No one wants to buy cashew, even if I ask for 150 CFA francs per kilogram ($0.24) instead of the farmgate price of 315 CFA francs. No one wants to pay, so the entire harvest remains with us,” said Dembele, who owns a 10-hectare farm.
Dembele lost 20 million CFA francs ($33,000) during the 2022 season after buying nuts he could not resell to wholesale processors.
In Katiola and other Ivory Coast towns such as Bouake, Korhogo, Odienne and Bondoukou, where 80% of the country’s cashew output is produced, farmers and buyers hold unsold stocks from the past two seasons due to a lack of industrial buyers.
“Cashew is rotting in our hands,” said Ibrahim Coulibaly, who owns a 7-hectare farm in Korhogo.
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Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, has become the leading global cashew producer.
Output rose from 400,000 tonnes in 2011 to 1 million tonnes in 2022, and is expected at the same level in 2023.
Production has risen in other countries during the same period, said Ganesh Rajaraman of Olam Food Ingredients, a unit of agri-food giant Olam Group (OLAG.SI).
Rajaraman said minimum price guarantees, together with historic price highs during 2016-2018 spurred an uptake in cashew farming with acreage and supply growing across producing countries, creating a stock surplus that has depressed prices.
This has hit Ivory Coast’s cashew value chain, plunging it into an unprecedented crisis despite government subsidies and export incentives to local processors to remain competitive.
In Bouake, the heart of the country’s cashew processing industry, work has come to a near standstill as employers struggle to pay salaries.
Factories had flourished in the boom years, some borrowing heavily in response to the government’s plan to boost local processing. But slump in demand and low prices have pushed them to the verge of bankruptcy.
“It’s been two months since we stopped producing anything. Our suppliers are demanding their money, but we are in the red,” said the director of a processing plant in Bouake who asked to remain anonymous.
“By July, we will most likely close down. We don’t have enough money to continue,” said a director of a separate processor in Bouake.
The National School Feeding Caterers Association is proposing a ¢3.50 allocation per meal for school pupils under the School Feeding Programme.
This, they said, will be enough to provide nutritious foods for pupils in basic schools across the country.
This comes after the government announced an increment of cost per meal, per child from 98 pesewas to ¢1.20.
The Minister for Gender and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, who announced this, said they are in talks with the Ministry of Finance to see how best the amount can be reviewed.
But the caterers have vehemently rejected the proposed increment noting that it is woefully inadequate to feed the children.
Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem on Tuesday, President of the School Feeding Caterers’ Association, Charlotte Asante, justified their position.
She explained that the caterers are suffering to feed the pupils with a balanced meal due to the hikes in the prices of food.
“We try to balance but things are not balancing because the money is too small; we are really suffering,” she bemoaned.
The distraught caterer said the pupils are expected to be fed a balanced meal, but the government is failing to pay to aid in the preparation of the meals.
She could not fathom why the government cannot commit just ¢3.50 per child to sustain such a laudable programme.
She said they have resolved not to cook until government reviews the paltry ¢1.20 per child.The Ghana School Feeding Programme, an intervention by the Government of Ghana, started in 2005 to provide food to children in public basic schools from kindergarten to primary six.
The programme aims to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, reduce short-term hunger and malnutrition and boost domestic food production.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong has stated that Ghana will continue to collaborate with Cote d’Ivoire to collectively protect the interest of cocoa farmers.
The two countries in 2019, pushed for a $400 living income differential solely for cocoa farmers.
Speaking to Joy Business after this year’s Cote d’Ivoire- Ghana Cocoa Initiative, Mr. Acheampong said government will continue to improve the livelihood of cocoa farmers.
“Countries have their cocoa pricing mechanisms. However there are underlying factors that affect us all. That is why we are meeting as leading producers of cocoa in the world to influence the pricing mechanisms for our farmers”, he said.
He explained that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have their differences in setting prices for cocoa farmers.
He, however added that there are some basic demands that can me be made to push for better income for farmers.
“The important issues that must be addressed will need the efforts of the two countries since we command the production of cocoa in the world”, Mr. Acheampong said.
On his part, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo said the two countries are also working together to check smuggling at the borders.
He stressed that security operatives have been stationed at the borders to deter smugglers from transporting cocoa beans to Cote d’Ivoire.
“The issue about the smuggling involves just a few people who want cross the border with cocoa beans to sell at our neighboring countries. But I can assure you that COCOBOD is working with the security to stop it”.
The caterers under the School Feeding Programme have rejected the proposed GH¢1.20 increment put forth by the Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu.According to the caterers, the increase is insufficient and unacceptable.
Since the reopening of schools, the caterers have withdrawn their services and are demanding that the government raise the daily amount per child and settle outstanding arrears.
The aggrieved caterers are requesting payment of GH¢3.50 per child before they end their strike.
Dorothy Ofori Sarpong, the spokesperson for the caterers in the Ashanti Region, expressed dissatisfaction with the Minister’s response to their concerns.
“We are not going to cook, we are still on strike, though the Minister has spoken. What she came to say wasn’t to our satisfaction. The arrears that she claimed has been cleared with the exception of the 2022 third term are not so. There are arrears as far back as 2019, 2020, and 2021…so if she is saying all arrears have been paid, it is not so.
“With the amount of GH¢1.20 proposal, we are not going to agree. We cannot use this to cook any better food for the children, and so we pray that she goes back and come and tell us something better.”
The leadership of the caterers under the government’s school feeding programme in the Ashanti Region have also expressed dissatisfaction with the Gender Minister’s approach to addressing their concerns.
The caterers want the gender Minister to visit various districts to appreciate the challenges of their members.
Speaking at the Meet the Press series on Sunday, the Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu assured the striking caterers that plans are in place to pay outstanding arrears for the third term of the 2022 academic year.
The Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Project (GIRSAL) is proposing a credit guarantee financing system for future fertiliser subsidy programmes (FSP), so as to aid growth in the agricultural sector.
GIRSAL’s Chief Executive Officer, Kwesi Korboe – speaking to the B&FT during the company’s assessment of the FSP under government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme at a stakeholder validation workshop in Accra, said the credit guarantee-backed financing arrangement will tremendously reduce interest costs on fertilisers to farmers.
“The credit guarantee for financial institutions to establish letters of credit (LC) for participating firms, backed by government promissory notes to GIRSAL, will reduce cost of capital to firms by at least two percent based on a deferred LC for a maximum of six months; and will also reduce the interest component in the fertiliser price build-up,” Mr. Korboe suggested.
The commercial letters of credit (LCs), according to the GIRSAL boss, can offer guarantees to sellers that the monies will be paid while assuring customers that no payment will be made until the goods are received.
This, according to him, will ensure cost reduction and encourage competition to drive fertiliser prices further down.
The government does not have to pay money to companies for the supply of fertiliser, Mr. Korboe said, adding: “The credit guarantee finance strategy will eliminate rent-seeking”.
Indeed, the FSP under the PFJ has allegedly been dented by rent-seeking – whereby companies have engaged in manipulation of the policy for increasing profits, though the quality of inputs supplied were questionable.
Assessing the fertiliser subsidy impact on farmers, an agricultural policy researcher and advisor who led GIRSAL’s FSP assessment project, Dr. George T.M. Kwadzo, said the entire PFJ programme under which the subsidy programme falls lacks policy coherence.
“The FSP through the PFJ should have been designed to complement the success of the School Feeding Programme and the One Village, One Dam Policy. But that policy coherence was not seen in our assessment of the policy’s implementation,” Dr. Kwadzo noted.
GIRSAL’s assessment recommended that timely availability of subsidised fertilisers and seeds must be considered in future subsidy programmes.
The assessment also proposed that subsidised fertilisers should be provided all year round to cover both minor and major seasons.“Warehouse systems in districts must be prioritised.
Commercial farmers must be integrated into the FSP programme while digitisation must be deployed in fertiliser distribution and mechanisms to link farmers to markets,” the assessment recommended.
Speaking at the recent launch of an agriculture product under the Sustain Africa Initiative at Kpone in Tema, Minister of Food and Agriculture Bryan Acheampong revealed that from June this year, the ministry will roll out a more sustainable five-year food security and availability plan to replace the PFJ.
The African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) Lead Coordinators have convened in Bonn, Germany, to strategise ahead of the 58th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Bodies (SB58) Conference scheduled for June 5–15, 2023.
The Global Stocktake (GST) and discussions on the modalities for establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund are dominating the agenda.
The GST, as enshrined in Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, is a process for taking stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement with the aim to assess the world’s collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the agreement and its long-term goals.
The first stocktake got underway at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November, 2021 and is expected to conclude at COP28. Each stocktake is a two-year process that happens every five years. Thus, as Parties prepare for the SB58 session and COP28 later in the year, all eyes are on the outcome of this process, which is critical to achieving the overarching goal of the Paris Agreement and the Convention.
The GST is currently in the technical phase. The political phase will be at COP28 where leaders will be expected to adopt the outcomes of the process.
Similarly, in view of the landmark COP27 decision on Loss and Damage, the discussions centred on the need for robust and flexible modalities for the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund.
Speaking after he officially opened the meeting, AGN Chair, Ephraim Mwepya Shitima re-affirmed AGN’s call for the GST to be balanced, covering all thematic areas, and the need for robust and flexible modalities for the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund.
“This is an important year for us; following key outcomes from COP27, and especially in the context of taking stock of where we are, we have a mammoth task to ensure we continue advancing Africa’s interests. We cannot afford to lose track of the GST, whose outcome, we have repeatedly said, must be comprehensive and balanced to facilitate progress across all thematic areas, and respect the priority issues of all Parties and stakeholders.
“Our emerging position, which is still being discussed, is to ensure an equitable and just global transition to a low emission and climate resilient world that allows African countries the policy space to achieve the SDGs in the immediate to medium-term (2030), using all its natural resources and endowment.
Equally, operationalization of Loss and Damage Fund with flexible and robust modalities, is a key priority for the AGN as our leaders and the entire continent is banking on us to ensure that it is not short-changed,” said Shitima.
Other key agendas included the continued push for Africa’s Special Needs and Special Circumstances; the need for scaled-up financial and technical support to implement Africa’s highly ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in particular, adaptation finance through a call for grant-based financial resources for African countries and the need to reform the climate financial architecture; the need to expedite operationalization of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA); Just Transition work programme; a call for ambitious mitigation efforts from developed country parties; the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture and food security; and means of implementation.
Africa’s Special Needs and Special Circumstances
As mandated by the African Union through the Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) at the 36th African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February, 2023, the AGN Lead Coordinators deliberated on, and agreed to take forward the agenda on Africa’s Special Needs and Special Circumstances—a continent which is the least contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions (less than 4%), and yet the most adversely impacted region, as reaffirmed by latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.
According to the IPCC, Africa is already experiencing severe and widespread impacts of climate change, causing devastation to lives, livelihoods and the continent’s development trajectory.“At the 36th session of the Au Summit in February, 2023, the AU Heads of State Assembly gave guidance on a number of issues, including urging the AGN to continue collaborating with other stakeholders, including the COP28 Presidency on Africa’s special needs and special circumstances agenda. So, we will continue pursuing this agenda item as guided by our leaders in the interest of the continent’s development aspirations in relation to climate action,” Shitima said.
Climate Finance and reform of the financial architecture
The question on climate finance is as old as the climate negotiations. Still, the AGN team is determined to ensure this agenda item is given the prominence it deserves, particularly for developed countries to deliver on their climate finance pledges. The key task is for developed countries to provide predictable and accessible funding for climate action on affordable and reasonable terms that do not further worsen the debt crisis that most developing countries are already dealing with.
Adaptation (GGA)
Adaptation to the impacts of climate change remains one of the key challenges that Africa is facing. Therefore, adaptation remains a key priority as people, infrastructure and ecosystems on the continent continue to experience climate shocks and economic distress.
The latest science by the IPCC reveals that Africa will need up to 86.5 billion USD for adaptation alone by 2030. In view of the foregoing, the AGN is seeking a clear and traceable delivery mechanism for the doubling of adaptation finance, a commitment made by developed countries in Glasgow in 2021, to avoid the mystery of the 100 billion USD per year, which has haunted negotiations since 2009.
Additionally, the weak outcome at COP27 on adaptation, largely due to developed countries’ unwillingness to take the matter seriously, has remained a concern to the AGN. The group is therefore seeking for seriousness on this matter and agreed to continue pushing for science-based indicators, targets and metrics within the agreed framework.
Mitigation
Notwithstanding the concentration on adaptation, the AGN’s call on developed countries to take their leadership role in climate action seriously by urgently scaling up mitigation ambition and implementation during this critical decade, to keep the 1.5-degree Celsius temperature goal alive.
The group’s emphasis is also on the importance of support to implement conditional components of African countries and other developing countries’ NDCs to enable them effectively contribute, as well as the call for countries to increase the share of renewable and low emission energy sources in their energy mix and scale-up renewable energy investments in particular to address the energy access challenges of many countries in Africa.
Just Transitions
In deliberating on Africa’s special needs and circumstances, the AGN Lead Coordinators also spotlighted the continent’s energy poverty, with latest statistics showing over 600 million people having no access to electricity and 900 million people with no access to clean cooking.
This is in addition to other development challenges that Africa faces requiring the continent to fully exploit its natural resources. With a heightened global campaign for countries to transition to clean and green energy sources, Africa will thus require support for Just energy transition that ensures resources and technologies are made available to enable the continent achieve climate, energy and development goals.
“Our argument is that reducing emissions should not be at the expense of Africa’s development but at a pace and scale affordable to African countries. The work programme should facilitate ambitious and equitable climate actions, recognising different starting points of countries and nationally defined development priorities of developing countries, different pathways and national circumstances and the importance of the social and economic components of the transition,” said AGN Chair.
Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture and food security
In the context of the climate crisis in Africa, agriculture is seen as an important agenda item in view of the continent’s food insecurity, said to be worsened by climate change vagaries. In view of the foregoing, Africa cannot afford to slumber on the importance of making agriculture resilient to climate change.
Given its importance to most African countries’ food security and economic transformation, the AGN has firmly set its agenda on ensuring a clear action matrix of the the four-year Sharm el-Sheikh joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security.
A new regulation to block foreigners from purchasing cashew nuts directly from the farmgate will soon be enforced to make trading the commodity the sole preserve of Ghanaians, deputy Chief Executive Officer, Operations at the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA), Foster Boateng, has revealed.
Mr. Boateng disclosed that foreigners will only be able to buy cashew nuts from the farmgate using registered Ghanaian agents when the regulation is finally approved.
“The draft guideline by the TCDA has been reviewed by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Legal Affairs, and is supposed to be laid in parliament soon by the sector minister. It will be passed into law after 21 days when laid in parliament,” he said.
What the law will regulate
The regulation, according to the TCDA, will enshrine key tenets and mandates to properly develop and regulate other tree crops, including oil palm and rubber among others.
The law is also expected to ensure that the Authority regulates pricing mechanisms to address farmgate price volatility for tree crop produce. This will help incentivise farmers to produce.
Within the law, aggregators, processors, exporters and traders in any tree crop commodity will be licenced, as well as developers of planting materials – including nurseries.
Already, a pricing formula has been developed by the TCDA for cashew, oil palm and rubber for value chain actors, considering key parameters including exchange rate volatility for trading on the global market.
Ongoing registration of cashew buyers
The TCDA said it has begun engagements with value chain actors to register all cashew buyers. Indeed, there are about 25 major cashew buyers in the country – with the majority being from India.
Current cashew pricing
A kilo of cashew sold at GH¢8.5 at the beginning of this year, but the price shot up to almost GH¢13 at beginning of the second quarter due to demand and supply market forces.
The price move was instituted when local producers met the approved minimum standard of 10 percent moisture content kernel outturn ratio (KOR) of 46 pounds and other factors.
But prices began to fall in April this year, as Ivory Coast – largest producer of cashew in the region – released the commodity onto the market just when quality standards began to plummet in Ghana from the second quarter of this year.
Recent financing of the sector
The World Bank earlier this year announced the grant of a US$100million credit facility to boost production and improve the value chain of cashew, coconut and rubber, in partnership with government under a six-year funding initiative known as the Tree Crop Diversification Project.
