Women contribute about 60% of the agriculture sector, and almost all are smallholder farmers. In spite of contributing immensely to safeguarding food security, in Ghana, women are unable to access financial assistance to upscale production.
Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has received Sh5.2 billion fertiliser from Russia for sale to farmers at subsidised rates under the government-backed scheme.
The 940,000 bags of fertiliser are landing in Kenya at Sh5,617 for 50 kilos, but it will be sold to tea farmers at Sh3,500 in line with the government directive.
The latest consignment is an addition to 720,000 bags the agency received in September.“We are receiving the consignment on Tuesday to supply to farmers at a subsidy rate as it was directed by the government,” said a KTDA official.
The consignment will help farmers cut the cost of production and improve their productivity. Before the subsidy, the cost of a 50-kilo bag was Sh6,500.
The fertiliser will be ferried from the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi via the standard gauge railway (SGR) for onward transportation to the farmers.
This is after KTDA and Kenya Railways signed an agreement that would see cargo meant for export or import by the agency transported through the SGR to cut the cost of ferrying goods.
President William Ruto announced the subsidy in one of his earliest directives after assuming power in September.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has distributed nearly three-quarters of the planting fertiliser under the subsidy programme.
Last week, NCPB said it has supplied 307,200 bags of DAP fertiliser for sale to farmers across parts of the country that are preparing for a short rain crop.
The Board said it is working closely with the Council of Governors to enhance the distribution of the commodity through the regional government outlets.
NCPB will be opening county government-supported satellite-selling centres.
The board said it is interacting with farmers and other members of the public through social media and vernacular radio stations to enhance uptake of the subsidised fertiliser.
Trade data from the Ghana Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association (Ghana Vegetables) indicate that annual tomato import from neighbouring Burkina Faso has hit a staggering US$400million from an estimated US$99.5million in 2018.
Whereas the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) has confirmed that the country currently imports 90 percent of its fresh tomato from Burkina Faso, it also added that the current national consumption demand of tomato is in excess of 800,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The president of Ghana Vegetables, Dr. Felix Kamassah, however attributed the rising imports and slump in local production to cost of fertilizer and quality seeds, and the lack of mechanisation and machinery
Our farmers grow the Burkina variety in Ghana, but the difference is sustainability and irrigation by mechanisation which is lacking here,” Dr. Kamassah said.
Ghana Vegetables, he indicated, is focusing on saving at least half of the amount internally by boosting production and increasing supply up to, at least, 40 percent.
More than 70 percent of tomato supply in major supermarkets and malls in Ghana are sourced from the Netherlands, Burkina Faso and other countries, data from Ghana Vegetables have shown.
Request to the Gov’t.
The Association wants government to support research institutions in seed development to grow seedlings in a greenhouse environments to enable year-round nursery.
It requested that mechanised irrigation, inputs and access to capital be prioritised in fruit and vegetable cultivation to combat changing trends in the current erratic climate occurrences, as well as governmental support and policies to lure the youth into vegetable farming.
“The PFJ policy must devote a chunk of resources to vegetable cultivation. That is the only way to increase support to farmers in the sector and whip up interest. We want the Food and Agriculture Minister to engage the horticulture industry on the way forward,” he said.
Recent climatic conditions in Europe have been increasing demand of tomato, as lack of sunshine, and heavy rains in some parts of that continent are creating unfavourable conditions for the fruit’s cultivation.
But Dr. Kamassah indicated this is the time for government to support local producers to meet rising demands in the European market.
Setbacks in tomato production.
GIRSAL has identified that the slump in local tomato production is attributed to most farmers cultivating less than 10 metric tonnes per hectare against the potential of 20 metric tonnes per hectare.
Besides, poor agronomic practices, lack of varieties for commercial agro processing, as well as farmers still planting local varieties – typically with high water content, many seeds, poor colour, and low brix level – have all been identified as key production setbacks.
Aid organizations and the United Nations are calling for urgent famine relief in East Africa – as the people of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia confront their worst drought in 40 years.
Oxfam says food shortages are likely to cause one death every 36 seconds until the end of the year – while the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says help is needed now.
Etienne Peterschmitt, Representative in Somalia, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“We should not wait for a famine declaration to act, because then it will be too late. We know from 2011, when we faced a famine situation and a famine declaration, that by the time the famine was declared half of the 260,000 people who died had actually already died.”
Four successive seasons of poor rainfall have caused livestock to die and crops to fail – with rural populations in hard-to-reach areas of Somalia the hardest hit.
According to Etienne Peterschmitt, “The current drought is the worst that we have seen in the last four decades. It has affected about 7.8 million people. So just to put things in perspective this is about half of Somalia`s population. 90% of the country is facing extreme drought”.
High food prices caused by the war in Ukraine have exacerbated the situation, while food instability is often linked to an increase in gender-based violence
The Rearing for Food and Jobs is one of the government’s flagship programmes that seeks to develop a competitive and more efficient livestock industry for economic growth.
The programme is a five-year campaign expected to run from 2019 to 2023. The initiative is designed to address bottle-necks along five key value chains in the livestock sub-sector. They include sheep, goats, and pigs. The rest are poultry and dairy cattle.
The programme is also aimed at increasing domestic food production, while creating employment for the youth.
According to the President of the Ghana National Association of Cattle Farmers, Imam Hanafi Sunde, the government has not engaged them in any way on the project.
“Sometimes when the facts are pointed out, it is to draw the attention of people to do something better. For us the association, we have not felt the impact of the Rearing for Food and Jobs,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Cattle Ranching Committee, Dr. Kwame Oppong Anane insists that the government initiated the ranching system to back the Rearing for Food and Jobs programme to improve the livestock industry.
He however adds that there are still some challenges that must be addressed.“The meat consumption recommended is 30kg per annum per person.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Ghana is consuming 16kg and our own statistics show that the average Ghanaian consumes about 14kg.
Although we consume about half of the recommended intake, 60 percent of what is consumed is imported. Ghana has potential to rear all types of livestock with reference to how big the poultry industry is. If we can improve in feed production, the livestock sector will greatly improve which will end importation and generate more income for our farmers,” he said.
With just a year to assess the programme, it is important for government to engage all stakeholders in the cattle rearing sector to ascertain the number of employment created, as well as its impact on the economy.
The Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has approved a total of USD 250 million for Ghana and four other member states to boost the oil & gas, energy, road infrastructure and agricultural sectors of West Africa.
The other beneficiary countries are Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. The approvals are part of the intensified efforts by EBID to invest in key sectors to spur up post COVID-19 pandemic recovery and mitigate the impact of the Russia – Ukraine war on the member states of ECOWAS.
This was disclosed by the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, Dr George Agyekum Donkor at the just ended 79th session of the Board of Directors of the Bank.
In his opening statement, Dr Donkor observed that the impact of the COVID pandemic and ongoing Russian – Ukraine war have left many economies in tatters.
He indicated that the current market conditions have compelled investors to seek premium on investments in sub-Saharan Africa thereby increasing the cost of capital.
According to the President of EBID, this has resulted in dampening economic growth, wide-spread balance of payments deficits, unfavourable terms of trade, depletion of central bank international reserves, fiscal deficits, and debt distress.
Therefore, Dr Donkor stressed the need for EBID, as the financial arm of ECOWAS, to deepen its financial intermediation in all the critical sectors of the Member States to assist them to recover from the economic challenges.
Present at the session was the Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission, Her Excellency Damtien L. Tchintchibidja, who lauded the tremendous impact of EBID’s interventions in the sub-region and assured the Bank of the commitment of the new administration of the ECOWAS Commission to collaborate and support EBID in its multifarious activities especially in the area of resource mobilization to transform the ECOWAS Communities.
During the first week of October 2022, the Extension and Advisory Services Division through its technical staff, conducted a vegetable damage assessment survey in Agricultural Region Two.
The main objective of the survey was to determine the impact of excessive rainfall in September on farmers’ vegetable cultivation.
The findings from the survey respondents indicated that the impact of excessive rainfall in September on farmers’ vegetable cultivation is as follows:
Increased incidence of pests and diseases which resulted in 80% to 100% losses of carrots, cucumbers, watermelons and peanuts, and between 50% to 70% losses of tomatoes, cabbages and sweet peppers respectively;
High incidences of blossoms drop which was reflected in low fruit sets;
Poor growth and development of fruits and root vegetables due to excessive nutrients leaching and reduced sunlight (photosynthesis);
Farmers unable to prepare lands for new planting, and perform essential cultural practices such as weed control, pest and disease control, harvesting and fertilizer applications;
The monetary losses reported range between $1000 to $10000;
Extremely fast rate of growth of broad and narrow leaf weeds;
High rate of unemployment of farmers and farm workers;
70% to 80% of farmers inability to supply their main buyers and
100% of tomato farmers harvested fruits at the green stage to avoid split fruits.
In conclusion, it is forecasted that over the coming months that there will be a shortage of carrots, cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins, sweet peppers, tomatoes and peanuts from the region which will have an impact on national supply.
Therefore, if the rainfall does not reduce significantly for October, then supply will decrease over the coming months. Consequently, demand will increase and prices will go up. Thus, in an effort to stabilize prices, imports will increase to meet local demand. Also, affected farmers will be in a difficult financial situation and will require support to get back into production.
The assessment was carried out by Agricultural Officer, Mr Donawa Jackson and his technical team, Miss Shamika Grant, Miss Shafika Andrews, Mr Alston Lynch, Mr Dwayne McKenzie and technical Aides Farmers. Interviews were selected randomly from among the major vegetable producers from Majorca, Forty Acre, Mt. Pleasant, Evesham, Riley, Water house, Green Hill, Fenton, Calder, Akers, Farm, Dauphine and Montreal.
Workers drying cocoa beans in the village of Goin DebeWorkers dry cocoa beans in the village of Goin Debe, Blolequin department, western Ivory Coast in this August 17, 2015 file photo.
Cameroon and Nigeria requested to join the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI), a joint body spearheading the interests of the two countries in the cocoa trade, the head of the initiative Alex Assanvo said on Wednesday.
The initiative was set up after a 2018 declaration by Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s first and second-largest cocoa producers, on willingness to define a common sustainable cocoa strategy that would raise prices paid to farmers.
It was created with the view of including other African countries.Representatives from Cameroon and Nigeria were invited to a CIGCI meeting in Abidjan to begin the process of joining the initiative, Assanvo told reporters after the meeting.
“With Cameroon and Nigeria we are going to represent around two-thirds of global cocoa production,” Yves Brahima Kone, chief executive of the Ivory Coast Cocoa and Coffee Council, said at the meeting.
“This will allow us to have more leeway in discussions with the industry on imposing a decent price for our cocoa farmers.”
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is cautioning the public against the consumption of two contaminated sausage brands on the market.
The Authority said the brands – AIA Wudy and Pavo brands under the Agricola Tre Vali sausage products have been recalled by Italian authorities.
In a statement issued by the FDA, it noted that the sausages contain listeria bacteria.
The statement further directed persons in possession of any of the brands to return them to any FDA office.
“The attention of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has been drawn to the recall of Agricola Tre Vali sausage products, namely, AIA Wudy and Pavo brands, by the Italian authorities due to the presence of Listeria bacteria in these sausages made from poultry meat.
”Considering the recall activities ongoing in Europe and other countries, the FDA has also conducted a market surveillance activity and Pavo Frankfurt sausages with expiry dates of November 2022 were found in Ho in the Volta Region.
The products have since been detained for safe disposal.
“So far, no AIA Wudy sausages have been found on our market. The FDA directs that anyone in possession of the above-mentioned products should immediately take them to either our Head Office or Regional Offices across the country”.
“The FDA wishes to assure the public that its surveillance teams continue to monitor the markets for any of the above-mentioned products”, the statement further added.
Due to the actual failure of the “grain deal” signed on July 22 in Istanbul, grain and fertilisers produced in Russia did not reach the countries that need them most, despite all assurances concerning the need for such supplies made at the highest international level.
The threat of famine in African and Asian countries has taken on new gloomy colours.
The UN and the EU regularly declare that no restrictions apply to trade in agricultural products and fertilisers between Russia and third countries, and yet hidden barriers disavow all these statements. European companies engaged in transportation, transshipment, trading, insurance, financial transactions, and technical services, in fact, refuse to work with Russian counterparties, even if they are not sanctioned.
At the same time, the European Union took care of its members. Having imposed sectoral sanctions on Russian fertilisers, the EU in April introduced purchase quotas for its countries – 837,500 tonnes of potassium chloride and 1,577,800 tonnes of other types of fertilisers containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
However, in August 2022, the European Commission imposed a ban on the activities of European operators related to the transit of fertilisers for third countries through the EU. In addition, the supply of fertilisers by European operators to third countries, even without using the territory and infrastructure of the EU, will now be seen as a violation of sanctions.
Taking into account the fact that Europe is the largest hub for the transit of various types of products from Russia to third countries, these bans mean a blockade of supplies to the neediest countries in the world.
Thus, the most needy countries received only the leftovers of the “grain deal”. Of the 2.5 million tonnes of food exported by sea from Ukraine, only 3 percent reached the shores of Africa and South Asia, the rest were sent to the EU countries.
The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell and other top European officials have repeatedly declared and continue to declare that no sanctions are imposed on the critical humanitarian goods such as energy, grain, and fertilisers. However, their words are at odds with their deeds. No effective efforts have been made to lift the bans.One of the latest assurances of a de facto lifting of the ban on Russian fertiliser, coal, cement, and timber shipments was made by high-ranking EU officials on September 28.
However, this was done not out of humanitarian considerations but in order to encourage Greece, Cyprus, and Malta to support restrictions on the transportation of Russian oil by tankers. Hence, transport and insurance companies have been banned from transporting or insuring Russian oil if it is sold in the amounts exceeding an EU-defined threshold. As we can see, the problem of providing the most needy countries with food and fertilisers stays where it cannot be solved.
Currently, about 300,000 tonnes of various types of fertilisers have been stuck in European ports. Russia is ready to hand them over to African countries free of charge; however, they are not released from the ports. What is this if not the conscious desire of the EU to doom hundreds of millions of people in Africa to starvation?
In this situation, Uralchem, a Russian producer of potash, nitrogen, and complex fertilisers, decided to take initiative and act independently. In the end of September, Uralchem sent more than 23,000 tonnes of complex fertilisers NPK 27:6:6 to Africa as a humanitarian batch.
Since it is impossible to supply fertilisers and other vital products from the EU ports, the products were shipped from a Russian port. The ship went to the port of Lome, Togo, for the subsequent free delivery of fertilisers to Burkina Faso. The shipment is expected to reach the African continent in mid-October.
The actions of the EU preventing the transportation of vital products entail devastating consequences for many countries in Africa and Asia. The decline of agriculture, food shortages, and the spread of starvation among billions of people – this could be the result of the EU policy.
This is unacceptable.
For many months the EU has been publicly claiming that supplies will resume soon, but dependent countries and companies in fact must comply with many onerous conditions that turn these statements into nothing. So far, the “battle for food and fertilisers” is going on without any participation of third countries, that is, those who are most interested in the supply of these products.
The continuation of this battle for the sake of the political ambitions of the developed countries puts half of the Earth’s population on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe never seen before.
