Two leading institutions in Ghana’s fruit and vegetable sector have joined forces to increase the production and supply of quality fruits and vegetables and to boost exports.
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VEPEAG and GAVEX partnered to promote and strengthen the horticulture sector.
Government tasks banks to support farmers.
The Ministry for Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has charged commercial banks in the country to contribute meaningfully to agriculture by making available credit facilities to farmers.
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Organic fertilizer producers join forces to support the government.
To help bridge the shortage of fertiliser in the country caused by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, local organic fertilizer producers have come together to form an association to scale up the production of fertilizers to complement the government’s efforts.
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Marwako dismisses FDA investigation findings and calls for an independent probe.
The Public Relations Officer for Marwako Fast Foods has challenged the damning findings by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the wake of the alleged food poisoning recorded at some of the eatery’s branches.
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Patronise IRECOP’s organic fertilizer to avert fertilizer shortage in Ghana – Agric Minister calls on Farmers
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has proposed to Ghanaian farmers to adopt Zoomlion’s Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants’ (IRECOP) locally produced organic compost for their farms to boost crop yields in Ghana.
He lamented the acute shortage of fertilizer in the sub-region due to the Russia and Ukraine fight.
He said as the chairman of the ECOWAS agric ministers committee, the ministers in the sub-region have been reporting on fertilizer shortage for the past two consecutive meetings likewise Ghana.
Dr. Owusu Akoto said based on this shortage, government is quick to adopt the organic fertilizer manufactured and supplied by indigenous Ghanaian companies to salvage the situation.
According to the Minister, his proposal is not peculiar to Ghana but the entire sub-region since the African market is not doing bad in the production and supply of organic fertilizer made in the form of compost, and urged ECOWAS governments to consider subsidising organic fertilizer for farmers to increase organic food growth against the inorganic food supplies in Africa.
He advise regional, municipal and district agriculture directors and staff to intensify farmer education to focus on the locally manufactured organic fertilizers to increase their produce for more harvest and incomes.
The Food and Agriculture Minister said in furtherance to the government’s desire to encourage local fertilizer usage by the farmers, eighteen local organic fertilizer producers and suppliers have been identified, applied and the government is currently working on approving them to produce and supply more organic fertilizer to farmers under a subsidized pricing scheme.
The Hon. Minister revealed this when he was interacting with the farmers and the heads of department at the Regional Coordinating Council at Goaso during his tour to the farms and the farmer groups in the Ahafo Region on Monday.
He visited the Zoomlion recycling and compost plant popularly known as IRECOP in Goaso which is about 80 percent complete to abreast himself with the seriousness of local fertilizer manufacturers, the Nkaseim Rice Fields and the farmer groups, ginger growers women group and the Duayaw Nkwanta Medium Prisons Farms among others.
At the IRECOP, the Executive Director of the Environment and Sanitation Processing Plants, of the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr. Haidar told the Minister that about 15 million USD plant will be fully be operationalized in 360 days to receive waste and process it into compost, and recycle the plastics waste as well.
He said the work is assiduously ongoing in all 16 regions of the IRECOP’s replication initiative by Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
At Duayaw Nkwanta Medium Prison, the Minister, pointed out that the reason for the high cost of food is due to transportation and world economic indicators including high cost of fertilizer.
The President of the Ahafo Traditional Area, Nana Akwasi Bosomprah I appealed to government to construct a warehouse to assist farmers in the region store their farm produce to avoid the farm produce rotten on the farms.
Nana Bosomprah, Goaso Omanhene, expressed the need for government to support farmers especially rice farmers in the area with combined harvesters to be able to harvest their produce for the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme (PFJ) to succeed.
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Poor hygiene caused Marwako’s food poisoning – Food and Drugs Authority.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has disclosed the outcome of its investigation into the recent incidence of food poisoning at the East Legon branch of Marwako Foods.
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Improved seeds patronage increased from 11% to 30% by smallholder farmers – AGRA.
Seed is the heart of the agriculture sector, for fertilizer to really function and appreciate its usefulness there should be quality seed. Without quality seeds, nothing can work on the soil.
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LIFESTYLE: Do you know what you’re really drinking? 8 Coffee brands that use the lowest quality ingredients.
Some people see coffee as an absolute necessity, a liquid that must be consumed within minutes of waking up. Others see it as a treat to be enjoyed at leisure, whether over a weekend paper at home or with a coffee shop scone or croissant and a side of good conversation.
So too do coffee producers fall into different categories. You have those brands that truly care about the quality of their product—that are careful about the sourcing of the beans, keep tight control over roasts and grinding, and do everything they can to ensure that the coffee is in a consumer’s cup is great stuff. Then you have the coffee brands that see their product merely as a commodity and do everything they can to cut costs.
The unfortunate thing is that sometimes you’ll find brands that operate like the latter acting like the former. Spot any like that on our rundown here? Here are the familiar coffee brands that use the lowest quality ingredients. Plus, don’t miss it.
Yuban
For years, Yuban was considered a brand that made good coffee for a great price. It was almost exotic, even, proudly made with 100% Colombian coffee beans. Then, recently, the recipe changed, according to Coffee Detective. And not for the better. Yuban is no longer 100% Colombian—and based on consumer response, it’s no longer good. In some of its advertising online, the company tries to hedge its way around this change, saying: “Made with Robusta and Arabica beans from Latin America and other tropical regions.” This actually means: “We sourced the cheapest beans we could get from wherever we could find them.”
Green Mountain Coffee
Once hailed as one of America’s best independent coffee companies, Vermont’s Green Mountain Coffee went the way of many brands: it went full-on corporate. According to CNN, by the late years of the 20th century, the brand had grown so big it bought up Keurig, the name with which Green Mountain Coffee pods are now synonymous in the minds of many, only to be bought out by private equity juggernaut JAB Holding in late 2015. Today, with a focus on costs instead of coffee, those little Green Mountain Coffee pods often contain inferior blends of coffee, according to Serious Eats.
Maxwell House
Maxwell House is a storied American brand that has been in the kitchen of many a family for many a generation. But that’s a testament to customer inertia, not product quality. Made with a blend of Arabica and cheaper, bitterer Robusta beans, according to The Old Coffee Pot, Maxwell House’s “Original Roast” coffee is cheap stuff, plain and simple. And in other cheap news, Kraft Heinz, the brand’s parent company, lost a suit last year that claimed they overstated how many cups of coffee a can of the stuff would brew, according to Bloomberg Law.
Nescafé
Not much of a surprise that a cheap instant coffee brand uses cheap ingredients, really. Nescafé coffee was never very good but got an ingredient change about five years back that made things even worse, according to Manchester Evening News. Customers compare the flavor of the new recipe to dishwater and called it “vile” and “awful.”
Folgers
Brewed with care, Folgers can make a decent cup of coffee. Not great, but decent. But that’s not because of any premium level of ingredients. Their Classic Roast blends Robusta and Arabica beans claimed to be “mountain grown” which implies higher altitude but does not actually ensure it, according to Leaf. Coffee grown at higher altitude tends to be more complex and tasty, but it’s harder and more expensive to grow—remember that mountains start at low altitude, so something can be “mountain grown” while in fact having grown quite near sea level.
Dunkin’ at Home K-Cups
Dunkin’, formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts, of course, actually has some pretty good coffee, especially for the price. And especially when accompanied by a donut. Now Dunkin’ at Home K-Cups, the quick-brew single cups you can make in a Keurig machine, on the other hand? That’s cheap Joe best skipped. What’s the disconnect? A complete one: Dunkin’ at Home is made under license by The J.M Smucker Company; it’s literally a different coffee.
McCafé at Home
Like Dunkin’, McDonald’s has surprisingly decent (though often dangerously hot) coffee in its stores and yet offers very low-quality coffee when you buy the stuff to brew it at home. According to Mashed, the McCafé coffee you can buy at stores tastes burnt and bitter even when brewed properly.
Seattle’s Best
Though they take pains not to share this fact, Seattle’s Best coffee brand is owned by Starbucks, and it has been since 2003, via Business Insider. But rather than being primarily a brand with its own retail locations, it’s a cheaper coffee pushed out at places like gas stations and fast-food chains that don’t have their own proprietary coffees.
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Plastics not designed to hold hot foods, stop the practice – FDA cautions.
The Director of Industrial Support at the Food and Drugs Authority, Ebenezer Kofi Essel, has warned the general public against consuming hot meals from plastic rubbers.
He pointed out that the practice may pose a health risk to all engaged in it and should not be encouraged.
Citing the example of ‘Koko’ (porridge) in plastics, he urged Ghanaians to seek alternative wares such as cups or calabash among others to carry their foods since plastics are not designed for that purpose
He explained that heat from some foods can cause harmful chemicals in the plastic rubbers to be ingested while eating from them.
“Plastics are not designed for Koko. What prevents me from taking a cup or any ware that can hold the Koko. Those plastics were not designed for hot foods and so once you put it in there if there is going to be any leaching then you are going to suffer the consequences”, Mr. Essel said on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo Morning Show.
He was responding to a question about concerns from some consumers over the continued use of harmful, non-biodegradable plastic items to serve or pack hot food and beverage (F&B) items
He however added that “I have not sited any work in Ghana or anywhere that has shown that if I put Koko in plastic this will happen to me. But what I can say is that so long as that material is not designed for Koko if there is any risk you would be exposed to that risk so don’t do it. I will be comfortable with you telling me that it was not designed for it.”
Contrary to the perception that food packaged in polystyrene, popularly called ‘take away’, Mr. Kofi Essel said that the temperature of the food is not high enough to cause the leaching of chemicals into the food.
“Leaching would take place under over hundreds of degrees Celsius. But the dangerous practices that we see is keeping such foods in microwaves [with the take away]”
Touching on the relevance of “World Safety Day”, he advocated that Ghanaians pay attention to eating safe foods, and be mindful of where they eat from.
He defined ‘safe food’ as food that contains all the essential nutrients and is devoid of microbes or disease-causing organisms.
The state and nature of the food should also be good such that its smell and look should not offend your senses but rather, appeal to you, he suggested.
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High intake of sugary drinks by children ‘worrying’ – FDA.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says it is concerned about the high intake of sweetened-carbonated drinks by the public, especially children.
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