Agricultural Articles
Since the global pandemic, COVID-19 struck in 2019, the issue of food security globally has been a major concern.
Coupled with the devastating effect of climate change on food production, a number of measures have been adopted at various country level to contain the situation.
It was in the light of this that the Emergency Support to Rural Livelihoods & Food Systems Exposed to COVID-19 (ESRF) project was introduced by the government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on smallholder farmers and food systems in 2019.
Funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), this initiative aims to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on vulnerable populations and maintain food security in the country.
Project goals:
The overall goal of the ESRF project is to protect the livelihoods, incomes, and resilience of target groups from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
Through its three main components and various sub-components, the project aims to protect against hunger, build resilient livelihoods, and strengthen rural marketing linkages and food security in the country.
Financing and partnerships:
The total funding for the project is $40.1 million. The breakdown of the amount includes an IFAD loan of $20.0 million, an estimated co-financing from the Government of Ghana (through exemptions on taxes and duties) amounting to $5.3 million, representing 12.6 per cent of the total cost.
Additionally, there is a beneficiary contribution of $11.2 million, which represents 27 per cent of the total cost, and contributions from other development partners such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the Government of Canada (GoC), among others.
Key interventions
The ESRF project demonstrates the commitment of the government and its partners to safeguard vulnerable populations and maintain food security amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
Over the past three years, the ESRF project has made significant strides in addressing the challenges faced by smallholder farmers and food systems in the country.
As the project draws its curtains down in August this year, four years since it was introduced, a number of smallholder farmers and families have been impacted positively.
For instance, the project has provided personal protective equipment (PPEs) to various departments and facilities, as well as sensitization campaigns and billboards to raise awareness about COVID-19 prevention measures.
In all, a total of 26,700 agric supply chain actors in 61 districts have been supported with PPEs and sensitization, while about 24,782 smallholder farmers across 14 regions have received agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and improved seeds for rice, maize, soya, and vegetables.
This has helped maintain and increase their production, food security, and climate change resilience.
Cash transfers have been provided to about 4,790 vulnerable beneficiaries, including 19 per cent females and five per cent persons with disabilities, to overcome hunger and prevent nutritional deficiencies.
Current project intervention
Poultry intervention aims to improve the livelihoods and nutrition security of targeted households by supporting smallholder farmers with production packs, training, and best broiler management practices across 11 districts in the Ashanti, Bono, Greater Accra, and Volta regions.
Digital extension support is promoting digital extension services through private and public extension agents, focusing on crop production practices, food conservation/preservation, and animal production practices.
Smallholder processing groups, particularly women and youth groups, are being supported with livelihood equipment and training to enhance their capacity in the conservation, preservation, and processing of food.
The project is constructing water harvesting schemes, commodity drying platforms, and boreholes in selected districts to promote environmentally friendly practices, conserve water resources, and optimize post-harvest processes for higher-quality rice production.
These interventions demonstrate the ESRF project's commitment to addressing the challenges faced by rural livelihoods and food systems in Ghana, fostering resilience, and ensuring food security amidst the ongoing pandemic and climate change.
Working in synergy
Before the assumption of office by Dr. Bryan Acheampong as the Minister of Food and Agriculture, many projects in the agriculture sector were running in an uncoordinated manner. It took the efforts of the minister to ensure the agricultural sector thrived.
To achieve this, it was crucial to coordinate and harmonize projects within the sector to work together towards a common objective.
In addressing this phenomenon Dr. Bryan needed the sector to bounce back strongly and so, he consequently carried out an assessment of ongoing projects, to help in understanding the status and areas that needed improvement.
The outcome guided the steps that were taken to ensure that projects under the sector including the ESRF were aligned with the overall objectives of the agricultural sector to be executed through the Planting for Food and Jobs Phase II (PFJ 2.0).
At the end of the day, the necessary adjustments were made to ensure that the projects worked in synergy and contributed to a common objective.
Source: MoFA PR Unit
As you are aware, the month of September has been dubbed “Rabies Awareness Month” by all health partners. Consequently, this year’s celebration is scheduled to take place in the Upper East Region.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “One Health, Zero Deaths”, which is aimed at highlighting awareness, celebrating rabies prevention efforts, intensifying activities and uniting towards a total eradication by 2030.
Rabies is a deadly viral disease of warm-blooded animals and is transmitted to humans through the bite or a scratch of an infected animal, resulting in fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), nervous system disorder and death.
Ghana has been facing youth unemployment for more than a decade. Statistics have it that 12 per cent of the youth are unemployed despite major investments by both the government and the private sector.
It is obvious that this challenge will intensify if job opportunities remain limited as it is now.
The agricultural sector, however, is deemed to be the engine of growth and job creation because it has the highest potential among the gamut of enterprises in this part of the world.
In this regard, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is working to make agriculture attractive to the youth and create decent employment opportunities through the greenhouse village and capacity-building centres, especially in our rural communities.
Read more: Tackling youth unemployment: Greenhouse technology holds employment potential
The implementation of new educational reforms in 2012 in Ghana led to the abolition of agriculture science as a single subject in basic schools and agriculture science course was subsumed into Integrated Science.
Concerns have been raised by stakeholders as to whether the reforms give room for adequate covering of agriculture needed in basic schools.
Agricultural education at the basic school level has been identified as vital for training young ones in the basic principles of agriculture, changing their attitudes towards agriculture and providing avenues for the development of their skills for sustainable agricultural development.
Read more: Agriculture colleges valuable tool for human resource development
Rice is an important strategic crop in the economy of Ghana which is cultivated as both food and cash crop. Rice consumption continues to increase due to population growth, urbanization and change in consumer habits. According to statistics from MoFA, between 2008 and 2020, paddy rice production was in the range of 302,000 MT and 987,000 MT (181,000 to 622,000 MT of milled rice) with large annual fluctuations The total rice consumption in 2020 amounted to about 1,450,000 MT which is equivalent to per capita consumption of about 45.0kg per annum.