GHEITI Bill to be laid before parliament this year

A bill to institutionalize the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) is expected to be laid before parliament this year.

The Initiative is a global coalition of governments, extractive companies and civil society working together to improve accountability in the management of natural resources.

Data collection for the Ghana EITI is currently voluntary for interest parties, including government agencies and firms operating in the extractive industry.

The Natural Resource Sector Transparency and Accountability Bill, 2014 seeks to provide the legal framework to enhance transparency and accountability in relation to governance of the natural resource sector of the economy.

National Coordinator of the Ghana EITI, Franklin Ashiadey, observed the Initiative has been instrumental in most reforms in the extractives sector – including the review of the minerals royalty from three to five percent, review of the corporate tax and capital allowances.

“For the fact that companies are now willing to disclose information to the general public, for Ghanaians to know how much companies are paying to government alone is enough to ensure some transparency in their operations,” he stated.

The GHEITI was introduced over a decade ago with a narrow focus on revenue transparency. This has been broadened to provide accountability and transparency along the entire extractive value chain – from the award of licenses and contracts through to regulation, collection of taxes, distribution and use of revenues to support sustainable development.

Legal Consultant on the Bill, Tuinese Amuzu, describes the legal instrument as a good governance and accountability tool. He explains the general context is to ensure natural resource extraction benefits the people.

The Bill also provide platform for the effective implementation of the EITI Standards and other measures aimed at good natural resource governance, whilst empowering the general public to demand accountability and transparency in the development outcomes from benefits from payments made by mining firms to government.

Mr. Ashiadey says giving legal backing to the Ghana EITI process will help address some of the challenges faced by the Initiative.

He is hopeful Bill, currently going through stages of consultation with interest groups, should go through parliament before end of year.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

US submits its Climate Action Plan ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement

The United States has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris, in December this year.

The US INDC also includes a cover note and additional information.

Including the United States submission, 33 Parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs, covering all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland.

The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: "According to UNFCCC data, two thirds of industrialized countries covering 65 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialized part of the world have now set out their ambition
for the new agreement which comes into effect in 2020—importantly many of these contributions also speak to longer term aims representative of progressively increasing ambition over time.”

“Over the coming months, we expect many more nations to come forward to make their submissions public. The pace at which these contributions are coming forward bodes well for Paris and beyond,” she added.

Countries under the UNFCCC have already finalized their negotiating text for the Paris agreement and formal negotiations will continue on the basis of this text at the next UN climate change meeting in Bonn from 1 to 11 June.

The text covers the options on the substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building, and transparency of action and support.

GRA tasked to retrieve Gh6.6m from Prestea Sankofa Gold

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has been tasked to retrieve an estimated Gh6.6million in outstanding mineral royalty from Prestea Sankofa Gold Limited, a gold mining firm in the Western region.

The company has failed to pay royalties for 2012 and 2013 after exporting over Gh130million worth of gold in the two years.

The default in payment is contained in the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Report for 2012 and 2013.

“Whatever the excuse, it’s something that is due the State and they have to pay,” said Kwadwo Asafo-Aidoo of Boas & Associates, which prepared the GHEITI Report.

Prestea Sankofa is essentially a Ghanaian gold mining company with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) holding majority shares.

The company produced 21,237 ounces of gold in 2012 at total revenue of $36,012,936 and an additional 22,853 ounces at revenue of $31,760,747 was recorded in 2013.

According to the GHEITI report, the company paid over Gh1.5million to the GRA over the period, but the amount covered outstanding royalty payments for 2011.

Liquidity and production challenges are some factors attributed to the company’s failure to honour the obligation.

But Mr. Asafo-Aidoo says the appropriate legal penalties should be meted out to the company.

“If these people have waited for two years without any payment of royalty, then you can imagine the quantum of liability… the GRA is at the moment taking up that issue with them and I believe that in the shortest possible time they should come up with that payment,” he stated.

The GHEITI Report has requested the GRA to investigate and reconcile the revenue to royalty payment and to recover the probable difference due the state.

The Report has also recommended regularization of royalty payment frequency in split quarterly payments to ensure standardization and adherence to procedures for royalty payments to promote compliance.

The Report noted that corporate tax has exceeded mineral royalty for three continuous years. “This may require further investigation and actions to ensure the sustainability of mining revenues,” it concluded.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Future concern no longer about energy security but climate change

A commitment to decarbonize economies and transition to a 100% clean energy future by 2050 was a vociferous subject at the climate change talks in Lima, Peru.

The decarbonization target is currently in the draft text of the climate agreement – close to 90 countries have voiced their support for the inclusion of a zero-emission target.

But there are fears fossil fuel companies and polluting countries will lobby furiously to get it removed before a deal is signed in Paris.

In the following report, Kofi Adu Domfeh explores what alternatives are available for an emerging oil economy like Ghana.

Listen to audio report…

https://soundcloud.com/kofi-adu-domfeh/the-future-concern-is-no-longer-about-energy-security-but-climate-change-1

Mexico submits Climate Action Plan ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement

Mexico has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the first developing country to do so.

Mexico's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in December this year.

Its INDC also includes plans in respect to adaptation and a target to cut black carbon or soot. Mexico is a founding member of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition which was among the many inspiring international cooperative initiatives taken forward at the UN Secretary-General's Climate Summit in 2014.

Including the Mexico submission, 32 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs. This also includes all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission, Norway and Switzerland.

The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards this successful outcome in Paris. Governments agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris.

Developed countries are expected to do so as soon as possible and more bigger developing countries are also likely to submit their INDCs well in advance.

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time. Countries under the UNFCCC have already finalized the negotiating text for the Paris agreement.

The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.

Equal opportunities key to agricultural transformation with CAADP

The commitment of African leaders on Agriculture for Women Empowerment and Development is the focus of the 11^th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development (CAADP) Partnership Platform (PP) Meeting holding in South Africa.

CAADP is an African-wide agenda designed to support the transformation of the continent’s agriculture for sustained food security and socio-economic growth.

The annual continental forum brings together more than 500 stakeholders in African agriculture – ranging from government, the private sector, international development agencies, the African Union, civil society and Regional Economic Communities.

“Our top challenge remains that of changing the lives of our farmers that will benefit all our fellow citizens by improving our collective food and nutrition security. And of course this can only happen by tapping into the potential of those who can most contribute to it. Our women have to be at the forefront,” says Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency.

The 11^th CAADP Partnership Platform is being held in the context of the celebration of the year of women empowerment and after a landmark summit for African agriculture last year in Malabo.

The NEPAD Agency, as development agency of the African Union, is considered critical for addressing challenges of achieving the Malabo goals with particular attention for women.

Through the Malabo Declaration, a recommitment to CAADP made by Heads of States in 2014, the CAADP Partnership Platform also reaffirms the central role of farmers, men and women, as well as small-medium entrepreneurs as key players to foster decisions on matters of economic policy in Africa.

“By strengthening the position of farmers, women and youth in the value chains we should aim at reducing inequality and creating a more equitable society,” Dr Mayaki said.

Mrs Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union Commission, echoed Dr Mayaki by stating the CAADP has put in place several programmes on the ground that are yielding results, and are inclusive of African citizens.

In referring to the Malabo Declaration, Professor Edith de Vries, Director-General at the South African Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry emphaised that all stakeholders need to hold themselves accountable in CAADP for concrete results on the ground.

During a media briefing, Dr Mayaki stated that the energy so far focused on the remobilisation of African States towards participatory and improved planning processes in agriculture, resulting in the design of more than 40 investment plans, some of which were carried out at 100% with significant results.

Speaking on the role of women in agriculture, Mrs. Estherine Fotabong, NEPAD Director of Programmes, said that CAADP has allowed a more structured way of thinking and planning in the agricultural sector. 

For Africa to achieve its full potential in agriculture and development, women have to be supported, encouraged and empowered through favourable policies, platforms and various mechanisms.

Youth in rural Africa to benefit from $4 million agric project

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have launched a 4-year project that aims to create decent employment opportunities for young women and men in rural areas.

This is through the development of rural enterprises in sustainable agriculture and agribusiness along strategic value chains. 

The USD$ 4 million project is funded by the African Solidarity Trust Fund.

NEPAD's chief executive officer, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, has lauded this partnership. 

“The collaboration between NEPAD and FAO will go a long way in ensuring that the youth, Africa’s future, are not forgotten,” he said. “It is by creating an economic environment that stimulates initiatives - particularly by conducting transparent and foreseeable policies - and at the same time by regulating the market in order to deal with market failures that we will attain results and impact through the new thrust given to our farmers, entrepreneurs and youth.”

The project – which will see over 100 000 young men and women in rural Benin, Cameroon, Malawi and Niger benefit – is anchored in the Rural Futures Program of NEPAD. Rural transformation is at the heart of this Programe where equity and inclusiveness where rural men and women can develop their potential and thrive.

Agriculture and agribusiness transformation required

FAO Assistant Director General for Africa Mr Bukar Tijani said, “Today marks an important milestone in moving forward and upward in terms of empowering youth in these four countries - especially women, as 2015 is the African Union’s year of women empowerment. This is actually also one of the concrete ways that we can see the declarations made in Malabo in mid 2014, coming to fruition by opening new paths for African youth within the agricultural arena”.

Over half of the continent’s population is below 25 years and approximately 11 million young Africans will join the labour market every year for the next decade. Despite strong economic growth in many African countries, wage employment is limited and agriculture and agribusiness continue to provide income and employment for over 60 percent of Sub Saharan Africa’s population.

However, the laborious, subsistence-oriented small-scale agriculture is often not the preferred choice of work for many young people. If Africa is to reap from this demographic dividend, it will need to attract young people in to the agri-food sector. This will require transforming the agriculture and agribusiness sector to be more modern, profitable and efficient capable of providing decent employment opportunities for this young labour force.

Africa leaders need to set policies that encourage skills development in the agriculture sector to train the youth in different aspects of agribusiness and ‘Agripreneurship’ along agriculture value chains for them to take agriculture as a business. The emphasis of this project is on acquisition of skills along specific value chains and the transition of the trainees into business in the sector.

Ending Hunger by 2025

In 2012 the African Union Commission, NEPAD Agency, the Lula Institute and FAO formed a partnership aimed at ending hunger in the continent. A year later, the four partners organised a high-level meeting of ministers - in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - leading to a declaration to end hunger and a road map for implementation.

This Declaration was subsequently endorsed at the 2014 African Union summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and incorporated as the “Commitment to Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025” in the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.

In providing a model for advancing the Commitment to Ending Hunger by 2025, it contributes to the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which aims to boost agricultural productivity and food security on the continent.

Climate justice takes centre stage at World Social Forum 2015

The struggle for climate justice has emerged as one of the most significant themes in the World Social Forum 2015, as frontline communities across the globe continue to build the “Road to Paris” and leverage global pressure to impact the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Over 70,000 grassroots activists from around the world have kicked off the World Social Forum 2015 with a march calling for peace, democracy and social justice in solidarity with the people of Tunis and all communities impacted by violence worldwide. 

The Social Forum will continue from March 24-29, under the banner: Together to pursue the revolution of rights and dignity.

The final global agreement on climate to be signed in December 2015 at the Conference on Parties (COP) 21 in Paris is expected to be insufficient and far from the kind of action needed to address the mounting crisis.

“People on the frontlines of the climate crisis know what action needs to be taken, and are ready to make change happen,” Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network. ”We need our governments and global leaders to catch up with the people on the ground. Keep the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole, and the tar sands in the land.”

Climate justice organizations from around the world will lead a track of “Climate Space” workshops, discussing the links and common root causes of the climate crisis, food, water, employment, migration, democracy and human rights, and profiling community-led solutions. 

Among the alternatives, delegates from the US will be lifting up the work of Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi and the struggle for economic democracy inside the United States.

Global feminism has also emerged as a core theme in this year’s Social Forum.  

Forests essential for meeting needs and tackling climate change

The sustainable management and conservation of forests must be considered in the design and implementation of the new sustainable development goals and the new climate change agreement to be adopted this December in Paris.

This is according to UN officials and forest experts in messages for the International Day of Forests, observed on 21 March.

At least 1.6 billion people directly depend on forests for food, fuel, shelter and income, but everyone benefits from the clean air, water, and climate regulation that forests provide. 

Three-fourths of freshwater, crucial for human survival, comes from forested catchments. Healthy forests are critical for building resilience—the ability to bounce back from storms and other natural disasters.  Mangrove forests, when left intact, reduce loss of life and damage caused by tsunamis.

With a focus on climate change, this year’s International Day of Forests aims to highlight how sustaining healthy forests and tackling climate change go hand in hand.

“Forests are integral to the post-2015 development agenda,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message marking the International Day of Forests.  “To build a sustainable, climate-resilient future for all, we must invest in our world's forests.”

Forests are the largest storehouses of carbon after oceans.  They can absorb and store carbon in their biomass, soils and products, equivalent to about one tenth of carbon emissions projected for the first half of this century.  At the same time, deforestation and land-use changes account for 17 per cent of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions.

Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said the benefits that forests provide are incalculable.  “Forests drive economic development and prosperity, provide jobs and livelihoods, and at the same time, promote health and well-being.  Proven solutions exist to create the future we want; investing in our forests is a pathway to transformative sustainable development.”

Manoel Sobral Filho, Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat, said “As the world’s population grows, demand for forest goods and services continues to increase. The dividends from forest stewardship will benefit us, and future generations.”

"Forests are central to the global effort to meet the climate change challenge, eradicate poverty and realise a sustainable century,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

Figueres added, “The new universal climate agreement to be inked in Paris at the end of the year needs to put in place a swift peaking of global emissions, a deep decarbonisation of the world-wide economy and climate neutrality in the second half of the century--this will not be possible without smarter and more sustainable ways of managing existing forests and the restoration and expansion of many lost and degraded ones.”

Tackling deforestation, Helen Clark said, requires mobilizing political commitment and working through partnerships. “Addressing deforestation promises wins for our climate, biodiversity, and inclusive development. But tackling deforestation requires political will and leadership from all sectors.”

Global targets set by the international community are driving action that will strengthen forest biodiversity, according to Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.  “These targets provide a foundation for addressing the underlying causes and direct pressures of forest loss as well as improving its status, enhancing benefits to all and ensuring wide-spread participation in forest and tree management.”

Mike Wingfield, President of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations said the many uncertainties associated with climate change require a robust understanding of appropriate forest strategies.  “Global collaboration in forest research plays a key role in improving knowledge that will underpin effective measures for adaptation and mitigation.”

The International Day of Forests is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of all types of forests and trees outside forests.  Global celebrations will range from community-level tree-planting events, to publication of new forest data and analysis, as well as cultural activities featuring art, photographs and film festivals.

UN Communicates Negotiating Text for Climate Agreement

The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has communicated the negotiating text for a new climate change agreement to governments in all six official UN languages.

This communication means that the formal legal and procedural requirements to allow countries to adopt a legal instrument under the UNFCCC have been fulfilled.

Governments are set to agree a global climate change agreement in Paris, in
December, which will come into effect in 2020. As part of the agreement, every country is expected to contribute now and into the future, based on
their national circumstances, to prevent global warming rising above 2
degrees Celsius and to adapt societies to existing and future climate
change.

“This allows early consideration of the emerging consensus and the options
now on the table by all concerned government ministries so countries can
conclude successfully in Paris,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana
Figueres.

“Paris needs to puts the world on a recognizable track to peak global
emissions as soon as possible, achieve a deep de-carbonization of the
global economy and reach a climate neutral world in the second half of this
century at the latest,” she said.

The negotiating text covers the substantive content of the new agreement
including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building,
and transparency of action and support.

Last week’s devastation of the small island State of Vanuatu by Cyclone Pam
brought into sharp focus the human consequences of the threats of climate
change and disasters to sustainable development. Pam hit just as nations
under the UN gathered to reach a new disaster risk reduction agreement in
Japan.

“There is no time to lose. Nations have now agreed new objectives to reduce
disasters and will decide a set of fresh sustainable development goals at
the UN General Assembly in September. The Paris agreement must ensure
climate change does not wipe out these efforts and sets all countries on a
faster track to a clean energy, climate-resilient future,” said Ms. Figueres.

Next Steps in Climate Change Negotiations

2015 will see continued, intense negotiations towards the Paris climate
change agreement. Formal negotiations will continue on the basis of the
negotiating text at the next UN climate change meeting in Bonn from 1 to 11
June.

“The Bonn meeting will be a key opportunity for countries to demonstrate
flexibility and willingness to come to an early resolution of the outstanding issues and to seek common ground on unresolved issues,” said Ms. Figueres.

Further sessions during which countries will have the opportunity to converge on and resolve issues in advance of the Paris conference have been scheduled in Bonn, from 31 August to 4 September and from 19 to 23 October.

Additionally, ministerial-level meetings throughout the year will include
climate change on their agendas and contribute to convergence on the key
political choices.

These include the Major Economies Forum, with up to four sessions
tentatively scheduled this year; the Petersburg Climate Dialogue (17 to 19
May); and upcoming G7 and G20 meetings.

“These opportunities will help to ensure that countries can inject the right level of political energy and direction. What is needed now is that the views of Heads of State, Ministers and negotiating teams reflect a consistent view of ambition and the means to achieve it,” Ms. Figueres added.

Microfinance companies to be hit by mergers and acquisitions

Ghana’s microfinance industry is expected to be hit by mergers and acquisitions as the regulator demands recapitalization of companies in the sector.

The Bank of Ghana wants to microfinance firms to increase their capitalization from the current Gh100,000 to Gh250,000 by June 2015 – this should further go up to Gh500,000 or more in 2016.

There are concerns some companies may be challenged in meeting the requirement and the deadline.

Businesses operating in the sector would have to explore available options if they are to survive.

The Ghana Association of Microfinance Companies (GAMC) says there are arrangements to engage the regulator in managing the process.

National Chairman, Collins Amponsah Mensah however acknowledged the directive would help build stronger institutions, whilst instilling discipline and sanity in the industry.

According to him, members are encouraged to open up for mergers and acquisitions.

“I’m very hopeful that as we go forward, a lot more of our members will be coming together to form stronger institutions and in that case be able to raise the capital that is expected to be able to run this kind of business,” said the GAMC Chair.

Mr. Amponsah Mensah also believes there are opportunities for the public in invest in the industry.

“People who want to even start new microfinance institution should rather be looking at the possibility of acquiring equity in existing ones or even acquisition,” he noted.

The Bank of Ghana has also initiated action to flush out firms operating without license – names of companies which are not under regulation have been published in the dailies.

Mr. Amponsah Mensah has endorsed the exercise, stating that the savings public is getting increasingly discerning in entrusting their funds with an institution.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

AGRA boosts African seed market with a plant breeding initiative

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is implementing an initiative to increase availability of a new set of plant breeders who can better service Africa’s seed sector.

The Improved Msc in Cultivar Development for Africa (IMCDA) program has a revised practical training and internship approach to enable students to be more productive and useful to the private and public sectors.

The Program will train 90 students in three regional training hubs in Africa – Ghana (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), Uganda (Makerere University) and South Africa (University of Kwazulu Natal).

The Ghana component of the initiative was launched at KNUST, where 30 students from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger will be trained.

AGRA is providing a grant of $2.67million to offer full scholarship to students over a five year period.

The agric sector continues to face challenges of improved quality seed for improved yields.

According to Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. Otoo Ellis, certified seed usage and marching applications of other simple agricultural technologies can lead to higher crop yields.

“Therefore an increase in the number of plant breeders who can develop improved varieties with significant genetic gains quickly, in either the private seed companies or the public sector using modern data management and breeding methodologies, can result in higher crop yields and improved incomes for our resource poor farmers,” he stated.

The program, he believes, will empower the KNUST to train industry-ready graduates to produce improved varieties more quickly and efficiently in order to address the “dwindling productivity of staple food crops due to the inability of unimproved local varieties to adequately tolerate emerging biotic and abiotic constraints”.

He believes KNUST is adequately positioned to address problems of smallholder farmers in crop production.

AGRA has been funding other programs in soil science and seed systems at the university.

Dr. Rufaro Madakadze, Programme Officer at AGRA, the program should be beneficial to farmers and the private sector agricultural actors.

“We are beginning to realize that providing scientists for the public sector without some for the private sector does not work,” she stated. “The whole point of breeding is to develop a variety of cultivar that the farmers will adopt, that the farmers can grow and improve their yields.”

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Sweet potato: a special food security crop for health and wealth

The story is told of Nalongo Sekiguce, a widow and mother of 16 children, who lives in a hillside village in the Mukono district, a two hour drive from Kampala, Uganda.

Nalongo grew sweetpotato along with other traditional crops like banana and cassava. When she heard about the nutritional superiority of the Orange Fleshed sweetpotato, she planted it to feed her family.

She received her vines and training on good agricultural practices from extension workers trained by International Potato Centre (CIP) – one lesson she learned was that of clean planting material and how the vines from her sweetpotatoes could be multiplied and sold to others.

Nalongo became so good at this that once her cell phone number was announced on a radio station, she was inundated with calls for her vines.

Today, she grows just enough sweetpotato to feed her family but focuses on multiplying and selling her vines to other farmers as her primary source of income.

Adiel Mbabu, CIP Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, describes Nalongo as his hero because she is such a good farmer and business woman and also because she took a chance on a new crop that was good for her family’s health and well-being.

Mr. Mbabu is therefore challenging other Africans to be like Nalongo by taking a chance on Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato.

 

“You know in Nalongo’s village they sing a song about it that says ‘the orange sweetpotato is the healthy one. It’s good for the eyes and the body’. This is true and it’s a great way to tell others about this nutritious crop,” he noted.

The CIP Strategic and Corporate Plan for the next 10 years is to reach 15 million households by responding to the strong demand for biofortified orange fleshed sweetpotato, working with national partners to generate new, locally adapted and nutritious sweetpotatoes and by accelerating breeding and multiplication.

“We can soon claim to have reached a milestone in our history by reaching one million households in Africa with sweetpotato – preventing blindness and stunting in children along the way. This is part of a 10 year CIP program to scale up and out Resilient Nutritious Sweetpotato in Sub-Saharan Africa,” stated CIP Director General, Barbara Wells.

Promoting new varieties in Ghana

In Ghana, CIP has set a goal of reaching nearly 500,000 households with resilient nutritious sweetpotato by 2020.

Former UN Secretary-general, Kofi Annan and Wife, Nane Annan joined a round table discussion led by CIP and attended by a range of Ghanaian partners to discuss innovative ways to harness the power of orange-fleshed sweetpotato, which is rich in beta carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A that is critical to enhance children’s health and in reducing blindness. The crop is also rich in other nutrients and carbohydrates vital for children under the age of five and lactating women.

“The high Vitamin A content of sweetpotatoes is of high value to children and young infants, particularly in West Africa and in Ghana,” stated Mrs. Nane Annan. “Offering vocational training to mothers and youth and making use of marginal lands is a great model for the region.”

Ghanaian researchers have been deliberating on opportunities and strategies to enhance sweetpotato production along the value chain for health and wealth creation.

Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), describes sweetpotato as special food security crop in the face of climate change.

Her Institute has developed and released 12 high yielding sweet potato varieties, which yield 2-3 times higher than the traditional varieties.

The CRI-CSIR, as part of its vision, wants to establish a Sweetpotato Resource Centre “for stakeholder capacity building along the value chain”. This will serve to demonstrate best cropping and harvesting practices, provide technical backstopping to the private sector on commercial processing, raise the image of the crop and facilitate entrepreneurship in the sector.

CIP breeders will focus on developing a nutritious version of this sweetpotato to make it palatable to the Ghanaian taste buds and improve beta carotene intake.

“However, to get these scientific products in the hands of the smallholder farmers, it is critically important that we work closely with the partners who work closely with the target communities,” observed Adiel. 

He expects partners under the sweeetpotato value chain – from farm to folk – to work towards ensuring products and services generate health and wealth to the deserving communities in Ghana. 

This, he noted, “would be inspiring enough to turn it into another Nalongo story for Ghana”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Local farmers can be part of global food security system – Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan championed the establishment of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with the objective of catalyzing the transformation of smallholder agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, sustainable and competitive system.

Since inception in 2007, AGRA has reached over 15 million farmers in 16 African countries with over $386 million invested in projects.

Ghana is among the four “breadbasket” countries receiving 44% of AGRA’s resources in support of farmers with seed and soil health and water management along the agricultural value chain. Other countries include Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Today, the former UN Secretary-General says he has a bigger ambition for farming in Africa.

Kofi Annan wants smallholder farmers to become part of the global food security system.

According to him, local farmers can produce to feed their families and also for export by taking a collectively decision at the community level.

“Today Africa is spending $35 billion to import food and we have all the land around us; we have the labour, we can encourage young people to go into farming. If they don’t want to be called farmers, we’ll call them agribusinesses but get it done,” he stated.

Mr. Annan and Mrs. Nane Annan met with the International Potato Centre (CIP) to discuss collaboration with the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to promote sweet potato for health and wealth in Ghana and West Africa.

Citing the efforts of Ghanaian farmers in producing cocoa to feed the world, Mr. Annan noted that such drive can be extended to other crops like sweet potato.

“As a continent, some of us have the habit of producing what we don’t eat and importing what we eat; that has to stop,” he said.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh