Smallholder farmers constitute the largest workforce in the agriculture sector in Africa. In Ghana, the agriculture sector is overwhelmingly dominated by smallholders producing almost all the food crops being maize, cassava, rice, and cash crop like cocoa.
A letter was issued by the AG. Executive Secretary, James E.K. Dadson of the Land Commission has indicated that the Nungua Farmland which is the hub for research of the Animal Science Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been taken for redevelopment.
Even people who take sugar seem at lower risk, say experts, but results may be due to coffee drinkers being more affluent
People who drink coffee – whether with or without sugar – appear to have a lower risk of early death, although experts caution the finding may not be down to the brew itself.
About 98m cups of coffee are drunk every day in the UK, according to the British Coffee Association, with the National Coffee Association revealing that in the US the figure is about 517m cups.
Previous studies have suggested the beverage may be beneficial to health, with coffee drinking associated with a lower risk of conditions ranging from chronic liver disease to certain cancers and even dementia.
Now researchers in China have found people who consumed a moderate amount of coffee every day, whether sweetened with sugar or not, had a lower risk of death over a seven-year period than those who did not.
Similar results were found for instant, ground, and decaffeinated coffee.
The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is based on data from more than 171,000 participants of the UK BioBank – which has collected genetic, lifestyle, and health information from more than 500,000 people since it began in 2006, including details of participants’ coffee-drinking habits.
The team used data from death certificates to track the participants for a median period of seven years from 2009, during which 3,177 people died.
After taking into account factors including age, sex, ethnicity, educational level, smoking status, amount of physical activity, body mass index, and diet, the team found that, compared with those who did not drink the brew, people who consumed unsweetened coffee had the lowest risk of death.
The greatest reduction, a 29% lower risk of death, was seen for those drinking between 2.5 and 4.5 cups a day.
Reductions in the risk of death were also seen for coffee sweetened with sugar, at least for those drinking between 1.5 and 3.5 cups a day. The trend was less clear for people who used artificial sweeteners.
However, the study questioned participants about coffee drinking and other habits only once and relied on self-reporting. Most of those who used sugar added only a spoonful to their drink – meaning it is unclear if the results would hold for speciality coffees with a high sugar content.
Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow who was not involved in the work, cautioned that the findings – while intriguing – were not clear-cut.
“The observational nature of this new study means these conclusions are far from definitive,” he said.
“This is because coffee drinkers are in general more affluent and have healthier lives than non-drinkers and I remain unconvinced whether these factors can be overcome in observational studies.” Prof Sattar added that genetic evidence did not link coffee to any important health benefits.
“I would suggest people stick to coffee or tea, preferably without sugar, which most people can adapt to, and try to do all the other things we know keep you healthy – move more, eat and sleep better.”
In an accompanying editorial, Dr Christina Wee, deputy editor of the journal, agreed the findings were not conclusive. But, she added, it did appear that drinking coffee, whether unsweetened or with a modest amount of sugar, was probably not harmful to most people.
“So drink up – but it would be prudent to avoid too many caramel macchiatos while more evidence brews,” she wrote.
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Food prices continue to rise in Ghana as prices recorded this month are higher than those of last month.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has urged African countries to strengthen and improve their agricultural potential to become the global food buffer.
The Central Region office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has held a capacity-building session for some 95 operators and managers of Food Service Establishments (FSEs) on good hygienic and catering practices.
By making a few genetic tweaks using CRISPR technology, scientists have designed a special sun-dried tomato packed to the leaves with vitamin D.
A worker holds a hoe as they remove weeds at a farm amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Eikenhof, South Africa, on April 16, 2020.
The African Development Bank is looking to source about 500,000 tonnes of fertiliser for West Africa by the end of August as an emergency stopgap to avert a food crisis, a source with direct knowledge of the matter has told the Reuters news agency.
The move is part of the bank’s announced allocation of $1.5bn to shore up the continent’s food production and help with fertiliser due to the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, Reuters reported on Friday.
Akinwumi Adesina, its president, told Al Jazeera in April that the price of urea, a low-cost fertiliser, has gone up by 300 percent. “It’s [the war] driving inflation in Africa, and it could — if not quickly well-managed — trigger a food crisis in Africa,” he said.
The bank said there was a two-million-tonne fertiliser supply gap across the continent. It has been meeting with chief executives of leading fertiliser companies in Africa and abroad to discuss fertiliser affordability, without confirming the volume sought.
“We are talking to partners and farmers as well,” the bank said in a statement to Reuters, adding that a country must request to participate. “Fertiliser needs are two-fold at this time, half of the fertiliser in May and June for some planting seasons, depending on location across the continent. The second half, called a top dressing, is needed a month or two months later.”
Nigeria and Morocco sources.
The source said it was agreed in a meeting in mid-May that the emergency volume could be sourced from Nigeria, supplying 300,000 tonnes of urea, and Morocco, supplying 200,000 tonnes of phosphates and blended fertiliser.
Morocco’s OCP and Nigeria’s Indorama attended the meeting but did not respond to requests for comment. Nigeria’s Dangote fertiliser producer confirmed the attendance of their CEO but did not disclose details on the emergency volume.
Given the short timeframe to organise financing and logistics, the source said the countries which need it most – Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso – may not receive enough fertiliser in time.
Nigeria faced a potential shortage of potash earlier this year after financial sanctions on Russia rattled banks and Uralkali was unable to deliver the fertiliser ingredient in time. Nigeria ultimately found alternative Canadian supplies and Russia will also still deliver some supplies.
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is working with the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) to secure accreditation to enable the country to tap into the Green Climate Fund.
An African Development Bank report has shown that the institution was pivotal in 2021, delivering timely investments that are helping millions of Africans overcome the unprecedented challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
