tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43765168362505212292024-03-13T03:10:24.797-07:00Technology for Food for LifeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-56591360703188334982013-11-10T07:54:00.003-08:002013-11-10T07:54:50.950-08:00Focus on Develop’t of Root and Tuber Crops, Prz Mahama urges Scientists <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/adopt-bioscience-to-increase-food-production/wpid-img_20130809_114205-jpg/" rel="attachment wp-att-2615" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="wpid-IMG_20130809_114205.jpg" class="size-medium wp-image-2615 alignleft" height="300" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-img_20130809_114205.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 14px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="225" /></a>Francis Npong, Acccra, Ghana: The president of the Republic of Ghana president John Draimani Mahama has said that root and tuber crops provide great opportunities for long-term poverty alleviation and food security in Africa and urged researchers to focus on the development of these crops to help reduce poverty among poor and vulnerable families in Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the president improving </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">competitiveness</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of root and tuber crops would help reduce poverty not only in Ghana but Africa at large. He said about that 80 percent of people living in rural communities depended on agriculture as a source of livelihood in which root and tuber constitute the chunk of food stuff consumed.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Root and tuber crops (sweet potato, cassava, and yams) provide great opportunities for long-term poverty alleviation and food security much more than any other staple foods produced in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions,”, said the president.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Delivering a speech on behalf of the president at the 12</span><span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9px; font-style: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Symposium organized by the International Society for Tropical Root Crops-Africa Branch (ISTRC-AB) in Accra by Mr. Mohammed Alfa, the Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology the president said root and tuber crops have the potential to increase food security. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 12</span><span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9px; font-style: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> ISTRC Symposium was supported by the government of Ghana, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), IITA, CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Banana, Harvest Plus, African Development Bank-funded Support for Agricultural Research and Development of Strategic Crops (SARD SC) project, IITA-Yams Improvement for Incomes and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike; the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Potato Center (CIP) among other organizations and aimed to develop agriculture in Africa.</span></div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/scientists-wage-war-against-cassava-viruses-in-africa/dr-richard-okechuju-iita/" rel="attachment wp-att-2577" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Dr. Richard Okechuku, IITA Cassava project Coordinator" class=" wp-image-2577 " height="219" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/dr-richard-okechuju-iita.png?w=300&h=219" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr. Richard Okechuku, IITA Cassava project Coordinator</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The symposium provided opportunity to scientists and development partners to re-examine the competitiveness of root and tuber crops to harness their potential to accelerate Africa economic growth and food security.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dr Nzola Mahungu, ISTRC-AB President, said, “Root and tuber crops play an important role in ensuring food security in Africa, and we must tap the opportunities of these crops to increase food security in Africa”</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He said the root and tuber crops are widely consumed across Africa and could play a key role in providing incomes generation for farmers. According to him, cassava as a tuber crop was a source of livelihood for over 300 million people in Africa but was less affected by climate change.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He said the root crops have become increasingly important because its ability to withstand drought and grow on soils with marginal fertility. “But the potentials of these crops are yet to be fully exploited,” Dr Mahungu pointed out.</span></div>
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The Deputy Director General (Partnerships and Capacity Development) of IITA, Dr Kenton Dashiell stressed that mobilizing investors for sustainable root and tuber crops research and development was crucial to the fight against food insecurity in Africa. He said the rising unemployment food insecurity could easily be solved by harnessing full potentials of root and tuber crops. “If properly harnessed, the root and tuber crops development can help to enagege the number of unemployed youths in the continent”, he said.</div>
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He called on scientists to ensure that their research outputs were creating the desired change both the community and farm levels and address the constraints in agriculture development.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/eastern-corridor-road-palava-series-of-demonstrations-to-rock-government/yam-truck/" rel="attachment wp-att-795" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="people picking pieces of broken Yams after accident" class="size-medium wp-image-795 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/yam-truck.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
people picking pieces of broken Yams after accident</div>
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The programme that brought over 200 local and international scientists, donors, farmers, and other development partners also discussed interesting topics including African root crops trade and market scenarios, Policies favorable to competitiveness of root crops in Africa, African scenario on production and utilization of root and tuber crops, Business and investment scenarios on competitiveness of root crops in Africa—benchmarking Latin American, Asian and European markets (Learning from Latin American, Asian & European industries).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-27320057093403896272013-11-10T07:52:00.003-08:002013-11-10T07:52:50.520-08:00Community Climate Change Adaptation: CARE leads the Way in Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/community-climate-change-adaptation-care-leads-the-pack-in-africa/mahama-aminatu/" rel="attachment wp-att-2711" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Mahama Aminatu frying to survive " class="size-medium wp-image-2711 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/mahama-aminatu.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Mahama Aminatu frying to survive</div>
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Mahama Aminatu, a 27-year old mother is a resident of Jawani, a farming community in the East Mampurusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana. It is about 68kms away from Gambaga, the district capital. Gambaga is an ancient town in Ghana and noted for the Witches Camp.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Gambaga Witches Camp hosts about one hundred women mostly, old, widows and children who are banished from their communities with the accusation of witchcraft. The alleged witches in a deplorable conditions.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, it is extremely hard to see Wizards (man accused of witchcraft in the camp). These women and children constituted the larger number of women and children callously accused, abused, marginalized and banished. Banishment is a popular punishment meted out to somebody or group who committed unpardonable crime such as murder. It is being practiced by some tribes in Northern Ghana.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Agriculture is the mainstay of the people of Jawani and adjoining communities. It has no electricity, running water or good road. It however has a health center, but lacks health workers. There is only one trained nurse in-charged of over 26,000 people made up of Jawani and its adjoining communities.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Malaria, malnutrition, snakebites are the commonest and frequent diseases recorded in the center. Maternal and infant deaths are relatively high. The clinic can only admit and handle minor sicknesses. The serious illnesses and those demanding surgical operations are referred to the Baptist Medical Center in Nalerigu, about 32kms. The clinic has no ambulance or vehicle to convene the sick. All of these referred cases are transported either on a motorbike or bicycle including women in labour. </span></div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/introduction-of-improved-crops-send-waves-of-fear-to-local-farmers/early-maturing-millet-failed/" rel="attachment wp-att-1841" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="One of traditional crops, early maturing millet " class=" wp-image-1841 alignright" height="168" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/early-maturing-millet-failed.jpg?w=300&h=168" style="border: 0px; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Aminatu, like other women in the community are responsible for the livelihood of the family. She is nursing a 2 Year old child, Ayeshitu. Ayeshitu like other children is malnourished and frequently fell ill.</span></div>
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“This year we had poor yields because of the rain failure”, Aminatu said as she stared straight into the frying pan. Aminatu once lived in a town of Gambaga and learnt how to prepare local cakes with soy or babara beans. The fried cake is a delicacy to the villagers. It is uncommon to see this stuff often in a typical village like Jawani.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/care-international-trains-journalists-on-digital-photo-story-telling-techniques/7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager/" rel="attachment wp-att-2238" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager" class="size-medium wp-image-2238 alignleft" height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 14px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a>Aminatu told me her husband’s maize farm had failed because the rains failed to come in abundance this year. “There is no hope for now except we find one”, she said. She pulled a container to block Ayeshitu who was dangling closed to the fire. “Stand there, the oil will burn you if you come close” she commanded the two year old child while concentrating on the frying material. She just want to ensure it is perfectly fried. She knew her customers taste. <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The frying of bean cake for sale is a coping strategy. The effects of climate change dealt a blow on their livelihood. Your farm failed so how are you going to manage through? I asked childishly. She smiled and said, we are used to it, and God will surely provide something. Aminatu accessed a loan facility from one of the VSLA groups in Jawani to start her frying business which is bringing in coins enough for a day or two expenses. She does not spend all the coins gathered but save part in the VSLA box (community bank). </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For now Aminatu and the entire family had no hope except to rely on the Heavenly intervention to make it through. Aminatu will always come out to sit under this tree to fry daily to enable her gather some coins to be able to buy food for the family.</span></div>
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The plight of Aminatu’s family points out the devastating impact of climate change on livelihoods. Climate change is no more a new science. The new science certainly is about the options of adaptation techniques processes. <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jawani certainly would need climate resilient agriculture policy intervention to escape this crisis.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether we accept the existence of climate change or not, vulnerable people like Aminatu definitely would need helping hands to cope. We must take action or perish in disease, thirst, drawn in floods or roast in extreme heat, and or starved in hunger. We must take action now or never. While we continue to drag our feet towards the mitigation and adaptation processes, the vulnerable people’s livelihoods continue to deteriorate.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is important and urgent now is how to help this vulnerable groups build their adaptive capacities to reduce their vulnerabilities.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is against this background that </span><b style="line-height: 1.5;"><i>CARE INTERNATIONAL </i></b><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Adaptation Learning Programme in Africa (ALP) intervention in the hard to reach communities in five African countries is laudable and worthy of replication.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ALP has successively developed various models of adaptation strategies and trained communities to use of the models. Dubbed Community Based Adaptation (CBA), it uses simple approaches to teach basic climate science, livelihood diversification and coping strategies for vulnerable communities. ALP is being implemented in Kenya, Mozambique, Ghana, Niger.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ALP community adaptation models are working perfectly in communities because of the participatory approaches adopted. What is done in a classroom is being practicalize at the communities level. The most exciting aspect of the programme is that it uses local dialect as the means of communication, a methodology has worked well for the community. Unlike other programmes being implemented by NGOs and Governments, CARE CBA is participatory, combining indegenous knowledge to that of scienctific and academic.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The fact that somebody cannot read and write does not mean he/she cannot reason too. These people have knowledge and coping indegenous strategies but what we need to do is to combine the two and allow the communities to chose the best options”, Says, Francis Avura, the Advocacy andgovernance officer of CARE Ghana. </span></div>
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The CBA models he said combine the two strategies and that encouraged massive local participation and adoption. He wished NGOs and governements in the project implementing countries would find them good to adopt and integrate them into national and local level development planning.</div>
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<img alt="community taking through planning, adaptation strategies and climate science by M$E officer of Care Ghana, Thomas Ayamga" class="size-medium wp-image-2712 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/some-of-the-women-in-open-class.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
community taking through planning, adaptation strategies and climate science by M$E officer of Care Ghana, Thomas Ayamga</div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.5;">Community Adaptation strategies (CARE</b><b style="line-height: 1.5;">’s models)</b></div>
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The CBA processes are currently being used by the communities in ALP operational communities in Ghana. ALP communities are five deprived communities each in the West Mampurusi and Garu-Tampane districts in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana, ALP intervention is yielding positive result with adoption of the community adaptation models such as the Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), Village Savings and Loans (VSLA), Community Adaptation Action Plans (CAAPs) and Community Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA).</div>
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<b>Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP)</b></div>
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This is a weather information dissemination techniques that uses both indigenous weather prediction knowledge and scientific weather forecasts. Under the PSP, the project works in partnership with the Ghana Meteorological agency (GMET) at the community level. The agency and communities share their predictions on when to expect rains: onset, drought spell, normal and abnormal. This enables farmers and the communities at large to plan their farming activities. In all the ALP communities rain gauges are installed and manage by the community monitors who record the data and send to the GMET for analysis and predictions.</div>
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<b>Village Savings and Loans (VSLA)</b></div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/from-despair-to-hope/p1190299/" rel="attachment wp-att-1421" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="we wish to have our livelihoods improved with this community plan " class="size-medium wp-image-1421 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/p1190299.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Community analyzed their current situation</div>
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This is often called community banking. The VSLA are introduced to encouraged community savings and banking. The loans are advanced to the group members, majority of who are women for petty trading with an interest rate of 10%. The savings are helping community members to pay their children school fees, buy food, establish scale businesses and for emergence purposes. Each group has what they termed emergence fund that seems to be helping members in terms of need. Most young girls do not leave the communities to urban centers to undertake head porter job to be able to buy their needs. It has also encouraged communities’ savings.</div>
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<b>Climate Vulnerabilities and Capacity Analysis (CVCA)</b></div>
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This technique is a data gathering tool used to assess the vulnerability of the community using community hazards mapping (identification of resources, diseases, flood prone area, changes of seasons, livelihood etc) this enables the community to develop disaster risk reduction plans to deal with the issue.</div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.5;">Community Adaptation Action Plans (CAAPs)</b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.5;"></b>The communities use this techniques to plan for community needs and need projects. All the ALP communities in Ghana have since developed their community development plans and presented to the local governments authorities for action. Before ALP the local authorities decide which project should be executed at which communities most of which did not meet the need project of the communities. The project also work closely with the department of agriculture that provide improved seeds for farmers. Improved seeds such drought tolerant, disease resistant, high yielding and early maturing crops have adopted. Farmers particularly those in the Upper East have adopted the dry seasoning gardening (onions) that has helped reduce the poverty level among the households.</div>
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The CAAPs is also an advocacy tool use by the communities to access their priority needs from any decentralized departments. Currently ALP communities worked directly with the local government authorities on their need project. Decision making in ALP communities are not a preserve of men only but both men and women. Some communities, women are chosen as leaders (community monitors), chiefs and group leaders.</div>
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The models are simple and easy. What are currently working is to ensure these models are integrated into</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/floods-wrecked-northern-ghana/floods-wrecked-northern-ghana-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-386" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="flood in northern Ghana; Credit Npong Francis" class="size-medium wp-image-386 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/floodsone.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
flood in northern Ghana; Credit Npong Francis</div>
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the local and national development planning, says, ALP Manager, Romanus Gyang. He said impact of ALP on social cohesion, livelihood diversification, community planning and decision making, advocacy and weather prediction cannot be overlooked. “We need to offer the same opportunities to other communities to benefit” he said.</div>
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The National Advocacy Manager of CARE Ghana, Baba Tuahiru said the government of Ghana was responding positively on the integration of CBA into national and community level planning. “ALP is household name in Ghana. It got us into the National Steering Committee as a member on Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP), the government of Ghana Climate change programme where we offer technical advice to the committee”, he said.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/community-climate-change-adaptation-care-leads-the-pack-in-africa/dsc03051/" rel="attachment wp-att-2713" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DSC03051" class="wp-image-2713 alignright" height="350" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/dsc03051.jpg?w=450&h=350" style="border: 0px; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="450" /></a>Madam Fiona Percy who was impressed after making a field visit to the ALP communities said, “Evidence of ALP impact is visibly clear: women in active decision making, changed livelihoods, community plans and banking, collaboration between communities and local government authorities, adoption of improved seeds and best agronomic practices as coping strategies ar clear evidence that CBA is working”, she said.</span></div>
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At the Annual meeting in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana, ALP project officers from Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, and Niger met to review the project and to assess the impact of the project on community adaptation. CARE currently leads the pack in community adaptation with easy and adoptable tools for all (literates and illiterates). The models developed have been tried and tested and proven reliable. the tools used are a must adoptable if Africa is to make headway in climate change adaptation. The evidence of positive impact of CBA on community livelihoods adaptation was massive and makes CBA tools the best option for the vulnerable communities. CARE is the first NGO to have successful developed community climate change adaptation models that worked well. However, the programme is limited to few communities and would worthy of adoption by other NGOs in climate change adaptation programmes and governments at large. Like Aminatu who accessed loan facility from the VSLA to start a business, other communities would have that opportunity to diversify their livelihoods if given the training and capacity building using CARE’ CBA models and tools.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-71597540737480236922013-11-10T07:50:00.004-08:002013-11-10T07:50:55.985-08:00WB Official Faults Africa Scientists over Appalling Deprivation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/O5Zjd8iJWwV8BHJOYGiTyF0ce4JD1pLYmJhFEuVp2XGWn75FHLWvTsK3jXim3eTlvRoaOVuQoFiSNbW4b5NDmIFDyV-VzY4S/1343.jpeg" style="color: #333333;" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="241" src="http://api.ning.com/files/O5Zjd8iJWwV8BHJOYGiTyF0ce4JD1pLYmJhFEuVp2XGWn75FHLWvTsK3jXim3eTlvRoaOVuQoFiSNbW4b5NDmIFDyV-VzY4S/1343.jpeg" style="border: 0px none; display: inline !important; float: left !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="237" /></a><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_blank">Francis Npong.</a> Yaoude, Cameroon- The World Bank (WB) Senior Economist Dr. Hippolyte Fofack has blamed Africa deprivation, worsening socio-economic and inequality on the regional scientists.<br /><br />According to him, the relevance of Africa science to the development of the continent was in doubt and research findings questionable.<br /><br />Speaking in an exclusive interview with <em><strong>the Enquirer</strong></em> during the just ended climate change adaptation workshop held in Yaounde, Cameroon, a Senior Economist at the World Bank Dr. Hippolyte Fofack categorically said he does not see and recognize the revelance of Africa science to the socio-economic development of the region.<br /><br />He said that scientists in Africa were concentrating so much on their personal academic achievements rather than working to change the appalling situation of deprivation the people in Africa were facing with.<br /><br />"Materials for the majority of vaccines and drugs were taken from the continent by the European scientists. It is about time scientists here thought about the solution based researches", he said.<br /><br />He observed that, there was a total disconnect between science academies and the people on the continent adding that Africa science has been reduced to publishing of journals for academic achievements rather than finding solutions to the prevailing problems on the continent.<br />"No research by Africa scientists has proven to be a solution to any of the existing problems", he said.<br /><br />The World Bank official said that in the wake of climate change the prevailing problems in Africa would worsen and would need solution based scientific research to help in adaptation processess.<br /><br />Dr. Fofack stressed that the meraid of socio -economic, health and widening inequilities on the region existed because of the inabilities of the regional scientists to conduct relevance scientific research and propose practical solutions to the identified problems. "Nobody should be developing malaria drugs for Africa but it is sad that this is happening", he bemoaned.<br /><br />He expressed his disappointment an dissatisfaction to the activities of Africa scientists saying "their science activities have not helped the region out of any of its problems.<br /><br />"Most of the scientific findings done by scientists in Africa are mostly literature reviews. They dont proposed practical solutions to the problems in the region", he said.<br /><br />He said climate change would worsens the regional situations if nothing is done.<br /><br />Dr. Fofack who early addressed Africa scientists as a gust speaker also blamed the region's deprivation on poor resource management and utilization and bad governance.<br /><br />But Professor Ralp Mills Tetteh, the Honory Secretary of the Ghana Academy of Art and Sciences disagreed with Dr. Fofack assertion that Africa science was irrelevant.<br /><br />He said that Africa scientists luck necessary financial and political support to act effectively. He said the science academies have a lot in stock but luck political support to implement most of their research findings.<br /><br />Prof. Mills Tetteh said the relevance of Africa science would be visible if they get support from the political leadership.<br />He urged effective collaboration between the scientific community and political leadership in Africa to push for solution to some of prevailing situations.<br /><br />The workshop which was organised by the Network of Africa Science Academies (NASAC) was to draft a climate change adaptation policy guide for policy makers in Africa.<br /><br />It was also to encourage science academies in Africa to work togather to find lasting and practicable ways for Africa adaptation to the impact of climate change on livelihoods.<br /><br />This is aimed to reduce the vulnerability of the continent to the effects of climate change.<br /><br />The programme Coordinator of NASAC Madam Jackie Olang said NASAC was formed to bring togather research and science academies for a coordinated and collaborated efforts to find lasting solution to some of the problems in Africa using scientific means.<br /><br />She explained that the workshop was aimed to share scientific information and ideas about adaptation to the expected change of climate in Africa.<br /><br />It was also to identify science based recommendations o climate change adaptation strategies for policy makers, determine the role of science academies in the development of climate change adaptation strategies and to foster the exchange between African and other scientists working in the area of climate change.<br /><br />She said climate change impact on the poor continent would be greatly felt that it needs urgent attention and collaborative efforts from policy makers and scientific communities to deal with it.<br /><br />The workshop that brought science academies, research institutions and universities from across Africa also discussed how to improve food securities and increase resilience. The workshop was funded by the German ministry of Education.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-12215452219799077512013-11-10T07:48:00.002-08:002013-11-10T07:48:45.814-08:00Ghana Launches Climate Change Policy Document Soon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Accra-Ghana: The goverment of Ghana led by the president John Draimani Mahama would soon launch the national climate policy guide document as part of efforts to build national resilience to reduce vulnerabilities. Ghana is among the fewer Africa nations that developed climate change policy guidelines to help in adaptation resilience building.<br /><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/O5Zjd8iJWwWEdvyYyAZ12273wEETdycAuGEc2NmjcSSvent4ATwbQqL0ia72RW2OA5v1SVN9nt*olppyT*ETTNE4B84U2JLC/DSC02297.JPG" style="color: #333333;" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://api.ning.com/files/O5Zjd8iJWwWEdvyYyAZ12273wEETdycAuGEc2NmjcSSvent4ATwbQqL0ia72RW2OA5v1SVN9nt*olppyT*ETTNE4B84U2JLC/DSC02297.JPG?width=262" style="border: 0px none; display: inline !important; float: left !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="262" /></a><br />This policy was prepared in collaboration with the civil society organizations. The floods that wrecked northern Ghana in 2008 followed by prolonged drought served basis for national response. These floods claimed many lives destroyed properties and including farms and displaced thousands of the poor and vulnerable.<br /><br />The Director incharge of Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Mr. Fredua Agyemeng who made this known during a learning and sharing forum on climate change organised by CARE International in Accra said the policy contained effective adaptation guideline, social intervention and mitigation plans.</div>
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When launched the policy would be integrated into the national development plan both at the national and local levels, he said.</div>
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<br />The workshop dubbed learning and sharing forum on climate change adaptation was aimed to deliberate and reflect on the activities of Care International community adaptation and make recommendations and changes if the need be.<br /><br />It brought over hundred participants from the civil society organizations working in the area of climate change, sanitation, environment, development and livelihood and empowerment.</div>
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He hinted that anytime soon the president would outdoor the policy and demand the mainstreaming of the policy in all development planning both at national a.nd local levels. He said the proposed action plans are backed by budgetary allocations.<br /><br />Mr. Agyemeng said the policy prioritized energy, infrastructure, natural resources management and disaster risks reduction and preparedness as adaptation process.<br /><br />Ghana he said is among the few African countries to draft climate change adaptation policy and that government was ready to put the plan into action to help reduce vulnerabilities at both communities and national levels.<br /><br />The about 60 page policy document the Director disclosed focuses on building climate resilience in agriculture, food security, and disaster reduction and responsive plans, energy and infrastructure.<br /><br />The government he said is involving all the 216 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies planning officers to ensure that climate policies are integrated into the local development plans.<br /><br />Mr. Agyemeng said the only way to reduce the government expenditure in repairing infrastructure was to develop climate resilience economy.<br /><br />He stressed that the impact of climate change on social, economic, and infrastructure development would be greatly felt in the near future. The policy he said is the responses to climate change policy.<br /><br />The country Director of Care International Mr. Phil Christensen said the impact of climate change would be unbearable if nothing is done.<br /><br />He said Care International was working in collaboration with other organizations to influence policy at the national level.<br /><br />He said Care has developed community climate change adaptation and other learning models at the community level. He urged effective collaboration between the government, civil society organizations working in the area of climate change.<br />He observed that climate change is a new phenomenon that experts in the field to help in adaptation process.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-64362417485824022732013-11-10T07:47:00.001-08:002013-11-10T07:47:37.422-08:00Community Climate Change Adaptation: CARE leads the Way in Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/community-climate-change-adaptation-care-leads-the-pack-in-africa/mahama-aminatu/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;"><img alt="Mahama Aminatu frying to survive " class="size-medium wp-image-2711" height="421" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/mahama-aminatu.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="671" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em 1.5em; padding: 0px;">Mahama Aminatu frying to survive</dd></dl>
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Mahama Aminatu, a 27-year old mother is a resident of Jawani, a farming community in the East Mampurusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana. It is about 68kms away from Gambaga, the district capital. Gambaga is an ancient town in Ghana and noted for the Witches Camp.</div>
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The Gambaga Witches Camp hosts about one hundred women mostly, old, widows and children who are banished from their communities with the accusation of witchcraft. The alleged witches live in deplorable conditions.</div>
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However, it is extremely hard to see Wizards (man accused of witchcraft in the camp). These women and children constituted the larger number of women and children callously accused, abused, marginalized and banished. Banishment is a popular punishment meted out to somebody or group who committed unpardonable crime such as murder. It is being practiced by some tribes in Northern Ghana.</div>
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Agriculture is the mainstay of the people of Jawani and adjoining communities. It has no electricity, portable drinking water or good road. It however has a health center, but lacks health workers. There is only one trained nurse in-charged of over 26,000 people made up of Jawani and its adjoining communities.</div>
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Malaria, malnutrition, snakebites are the commonest and frequent diseases recorded in the center. Maternal and infant deaths are relatively high. The clinic can only admit and handle minor sicknesses. The serious illnesses and those demanding surgical operations are referred to the Baptist Medical Center in Nalerigu, about 32kms. The clinic has no ambulance or vehicle to convene the sick. All of these referred cases are transported either on a motorbike or bicycle including women in labour. </div>
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Aminatu, like other women in the community are responsible for the livelihood of the family. She is nursing a 2 Year old child, Ayeshitu. Ayeshitu like other children is malnourished and frequently fell ill.</div>
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“This year we had poor yields because of the rain failure”, Aminatu said as she stared straight into the frying pan. Aminatu once lived in a town of Gambaga and learnt how to prepare local cakes with soy or babara beans. The fried cake is a delicacy to the villagers. It is uncommon to see this stuff often in a typical village like Jawani.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/care-international-trains-journalists-on-digital-photo-story-telling-techniques/7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;"><img alt="7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager" class="size-medium wp-image-2238 alignleft" height="354" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/7d5e3-mr-gyangalpmanager.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="558" /></a></div>
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Aminatu told me her husband’s maize farm had failed because the rains failed to come in abundance this year. “There is no hope for now except we find one”, she said. She pulled a container to block Ayeshitu who was dangling closed to the fire. “Stand there, the oil will burn you if you come close” she commanded the two year old child while concentrating on the frying material. She just want to ensure it is perfectly fried. She knew her customers taste. The frying of bean cake for sale is a coping strategy. The effects of climate change dealt a blow on their livelihood. Your farm failed so how are you going to manage through? I asked childishly. She smiled and said, we are used to it, and God will surely provide something. </div>
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"i am however part of the community banking system, thanks to ALP support. all is not lost yet", Aminatu is part of one of the village savings and loan (VSLA) group in Jawani. </div>
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For now Aminatu and the entire family had no hope except to rely on the Heavenly intervention and VSLA to make it through. Aminatu will always come out to sit under this tree to fry daily to enable her gather some coins to be able to buy food for the family.</div>
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The plight of Aminatu’s family points out the devastating impact of climate change on livelihoods. Climate change is no more a new science. The new science certainly is about the options of adaptation techniques processes.</div>
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Jawani certainly would need climate resilient agriculture policy intervention to escape this crisis.</div>
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Whether we accept the existence of climate change or not, vulnerable people like Aminatu definitely would need helping hands to cope. We must take action or perish in disease, thirst, drawn in floods or roast in extreme heat, and or starved in hunger. We must take action now or never. While we continue to drag our feet towards the mitigation and adaptation processes, the vulnerable people’s livelihoods continue to deteriorate.</div>
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What is important and urgent now is how to help this vulnerable groups build their adaptive capacities to reduce their vulnerabilities.</div>
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It is against this background that <b><i>CARE INTERNATIONAL </i></b>Adaptation Learning Programme in Africa (ALP) intervention in the hard to reach communities in five African countries is laudable and worthy of replication.</div>
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ALP has successively developed various models of adaptation strategies and trained communities to use of the models. Dubbed Community Based Adaptation (CBA), it uses simple approaches to teach basic climate science, livelihood diversification an</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="community taking through planning, adaptation strategies and climate science by M$E officer of Care Ghana, Thomas Ayamga" class="size-medium wp-image-2712" height="401" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/some-of-the-women-in-open-class.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="566" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em 1.5em; padding: 0px;">community taking through planning, adaptation strategies and climate science by M$E officer of Care Ghana, Thomas Ayamga</dd></dl>
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d coping strategies for vulnerable communities.</div>
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<b>Community Adaptation strategies (CARE</b><b>’s models)</b></div>
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The CBA processes are currently being used by the communities in ALP operational communities in Ghana. ALP communities are five deprived communities each in the West Mampurusi and Garu-Tampane districts in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana, ALP intervention is yielding positive result with adoption of the community adaptation models such as the Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), Village Savings and Loans (VSLA), Community Adaptation Action Plans (CAAPs) and Community Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA).</div>
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<b>Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP)</b></div>
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This is a weather information dissemination techniques that uses both indigenous weather prediction knowledge and scientific weather forecasts. Under the PSP, the project works in partnership with the Ghana Meteorological agency (GMET) at the community level. The agency and communities share their predictions on when to expect rains: onset, drought spell, normal and abnormal. This enables farmers and the communities at large to plan their farming activities. In all the ALP communities rain gauges are installed and manage by the community monitors who record the data and send to the GMET for analysis and predictions.</div>
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<b>Village Savings and Loans (VSLA)</b></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/from-despair-to-hope/p1190299/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;"><img alt="we wish to have our livelihoods improved with this community plan " class="size-medium wp-image-1421" height="369" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/p1190299.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="627" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em 1.5em; padding: 0px;">Community analyzed their current situation</dd></dl>
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This is often called community banking. The VSLA are introduced to encouraged community savings and banking. The loans are advanced to the group members, majority of who are women for petty trading with an interest rate of 10%. The savings are helping community members to pay their children school fees, buy food, establish scale businesses and for emergence purposes. Each group has what they termed emergence fund that seems to be helping members in terms of need. Most young girls do not leave the communities to urban centers to undertake head porter job to be able to buy their needs. It has also encouraged communities’ savings.</div>
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<b>Climate Vulnerabilities and Capacity Analysis (CVCA)</b></div>
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This technique is a data gathering tool used to assess the vulnerability of the community using community hazards mapping (identification of resources, diseases, flood prone area, changes of seasons, livelihood etc) this enables the community to develop disaster risk reduction plans to deal with the issue.</div>
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<b>Community Adaptation Action Plans (CAAPs)</b></div>
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The communities use this techniques to plan for community needs and need projects. All the ALP communities in Ghana have since developed their community development plans and presented to the local governments authorities for action. Before ALP the local authorities decide which project should be executed at which communities most of which did not meet the need project of the communities. The project also work closely with the department of agriculture that provide improved seeds for farmers. Improved seeds such drought tolerant, disease resistant, high yielding and early maturing crops have adopted. Farmers particularly those in the Upper East have adopted the dry seasoning gardening (onions) that has helped reduce the poverty level among the households.</div>
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The CAAPs is also an advocacy tool use by the communities to access their priority needs from any decentralized departments. Currently ALP communities worked directly with the local government authorities on their need project. Decision making in ALP communities are not a preserve of men only but both men and women. Some communities, women are chosen as leaders (community monitors), chiefs and group leaders.</div>
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The models are simple and easy. What are currently working is to ensure these models are integrated into</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/floods-wrecked-northern-ghana/floods-wrecked-northern-ghana-2/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;"><img alt="flood in northern Ghana; Credit Npong Francis" class="size-medium wp-image-386" height="360" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/floodsone.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="627" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em 1.5em; padding: 0px;">flood in northern Ghana; Credit Npong Francis</dd></dl>
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the local and national development planning, says, ALP Manager, Romanus Gyang. He said impact of ALP on social cohesion, livelihood diversification, community planning and decision making, advocacy and weather prediction cannot be overlooked. “We need to offer the same opportunities to other communities to benefit” he said.</div>
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The National Advocacy Manager of CARE Ghana, Baba Tuahiru said the government of Ghana was responding positively on the integration of CBA into national and community level planning. “ALP is household name in Ghana. It got us into the National Steering Committee as a member on Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP), the government of Ghana Climate change programme where we offer technical advice to the committee”, he said.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/community-climate-change-adaptation-care-leads-the-pack-in-africa/dsc03051/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;"><img alt="DSC03051" class="wp-image-2713 alignright" height="350" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/dsc03051.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="682" /></a></div>
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Madam Fiona Percy who was impressed after making a field visit to the ALP communities said, “Evidence of ALP impact is visibly clear: women in active decision making, changed livelihoods, community plans and banking, collaboration between communities and local government authorities, adoption of improved seeds and best agronomic practices as coping strategies ar clear evidence that CBA is working”, she said.</div>
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At the Annual meeting in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana, ALP project officers from Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, and Niger met to review the project and to assess the impact of the project on community adaptation. CARE currently leads the pack in community adaptation with easy and adoptable tools for all (literates and illiterates). The models developed have been tried and tested and proven reliable. the tools used are a must adoptable if Africa is to make headway in climate change adaptation. The evidence of positive impact of CBA on community livelihoods adaptation was massive and makes CBA tools the best option for the vulnerable communities.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-47350805345186470052013-10-09T13:48:00.002-07:002013-10-09T13:48:30.297-07:00Adopt Bioscience to Increase Food Production<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By: Francis Npong</div>
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Professor Walter S. Alhassan, a member of Bioscience for Farming in Africa’s Scientific Advisory Group (B4FA-SAG) has said It is relevant for Africa to rely on bioscience and new technologies to boost her agriculture.</div>
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Bioscience, he explained is not about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) but scientific and new agriculture technologies that are proven to be effective and efficient in food production and processing.</div>
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Prof. Alhassan in an exclusive interview with the Enquirer during the 6th Africa Science Week Conference held in Accra which sought to find lasting innovative ways to increase food production in Africa said, Africa weakness in food production is not about the lack of lands or human resources but the failure to combine conventional, scientific, research and development in agriculture.</div>
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He said Africa has not been able to move forward in agriculture because of inconsistent funding of agriculture research and development. Scientific or bioscience, Prof Alhassan explained to the Enquirer is methods of maximizing production with deployment of few inputs.</div>
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He said that, though the conventional crop breeding system is still viable but when it is combined with new found agriculture technologies, it could be more effective.</div>
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Africa, he observed though is endowed with vast lands and human resources it was still faced with low productivity as a result of poor yields.</div>
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The problem of poor yield he said is a combination of factors including poor seeds, infertile lands, crops diseases or the combination of all these factors.</div>
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Prof. Alhassan pointed out that for Africa to be able to feed itself well there was the need to deal with the factors mentioned above and that could easily be done with the adoption of bioscience technologies, he said.</div>
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In spite of it’s vast lands and relatively good weather, Africa still faced with the problem of food insecurity. This often trigger mass exodus of the youth from rural communities to urban centres to create not urban slums but also streetism, armed robbery, prostitution, conflict among other social vices.</div>
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Prof. Alhassa however stated that the problem of food insecurity could be properly tackled by the use of bioscience and new agriculture technologies such as crops modified scientifically to be drought, diseases and pests resistant crops, high yielding and nutritious crops to also deal with malnutrition in Africa. “Bioscience can change the story of Africa food production when effectively deployed”, he said.</div>
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The campaign for adoption of bioscience to boost food production has met with stiffer opposition from both scholar and religious groups because of the fears of health risks associated with the use of bioscience technologies in crops.</div>
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For example genetically modified crops they claimed pose cancer risks to human beings. However, all these claims about the negative effects of GMOs have not been scientifically proven.</div>
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Prof. Alhassan said the bioscience technologies is one of the effective option that could help Africa produce enough to feed itself in the next 10 years to come and that failure to pay attention to the development of agriculture could spell doom for the continent in future as its population increases rapidly. The UN estimated that the world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and that there was the need to step up food production to meet the daily food needs of the increasing population.</div>
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Also published in The Enquirer 7 Aug. 2013 page 3.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-85270853710438758492013-10-09T13:44:00.003-07:002013-10-09T13:44:56.399-07:00Rural Farmers Diversify livelihood<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.cultivate export crop</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/rural-farmers-diversify-livelihood/butternut/" rel="attachment wp-att-2589" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Butternut" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2589" height="248" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/butternut.jpg?w=300&h=248" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 14px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a>FARMERS in Tamaligu, a farming community in the Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region have resorted to the cultivation of exports crops as part of livelihood diversification process-thanks to the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP).<br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-img_20130726_171505.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image" class="alignnone size-full" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-img_20130726_171505.jpg?w=750" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 1.5em 1.5em 1.5em 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" title="women planting field." /></a></span></div>
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Last year for instance, farmers in this community exported about 15 tons of butter nut squash and cash in thousands of Ghana cedis after the NRGP introduced irrigation for dry season farming and butter nut squash crop to these farmers. This was harvested in a 15 acres land cultivated by a group of farmers with technical, and irrigation facilities support from NRGP.</div>
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“It was easy to transport the commodity to the market because of the access road. Our road that used to be un-motorable has also been paved by the NRGP linking us to various market centers and cities where the demand for farm produces are high’ says a farmer.<br />Butter nut squash, also known as butternut pumpkin, is a type of fruit or vegetable that has a yellowish skin and pulp with a sweet taste when it is well-ripen.</div>
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It can be eaten either by roasting, toasted or mixed into soup or other food. The crop is also noted for its high level of vitamins, fibre, potassium and other essential nutrients.</div>
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It is a popular vegetable in Europe and was introduced in Ghana to rural farmers by the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) in partnership with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). The NRGP and SADA, both the government of Ghana’s initiatives aimed to improve the livelihoods of rural northern farmers and bridge the development gap between the north and south are impacting positively in the lives of poor farmers in region.</div>
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The butter nut squash is suitable for savannah soil and needs little water for production. However, the changes in rainfall pattern as a result of climate change in northern Ghana favours the production of crops such as butter nut squash.</div>
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The crop is in high demand in Europe because of its nutritional value and rural farmers in Ghana are taking advantage of the long drought to grow butter nut squash for export during dry season.</div>
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Speaking in an interview with the Enquirer, the Secretary to Suglo-Viela Farmers Group in Tamaligu, Ibrahim Mohammed Muniru said NRGP trained them from the land preparation stage through to the farm management and to harvesting and packaging of the butternut squash for export.</div>
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“We have realized that the production of butternut squash can improve our livelihoods activities so we adopted it”, he said. He said the diversification of their livelihoods became necessary because of the consistent failure of the traditional crops and unpredictable rainfall patterns.</div>
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He said in addition to the cultivation of butternut squash, the NRGP had also supported the farmers in Tamaligu to cultivate maize, sorghum, soya beans and vegetables both in the dry and raining seasons. “We are busy all year round live in the community is getting more meaningful and better”, he stressed.</div>
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He said last year for instance, they cultivated about 300 acres of maize, 30 acres of sorghum and 50 acres of soya beans and hoped to improve on this in the next two years.</div>
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Farmer group was formed through the NRGP and comprises 76 farmers out of which 41 are females. The group was linked to a commercial farmer, one Mr Mahama Alhassan through whom the NRGP channeled its support to them.</div>
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The secretary said the commercial farmer aided them to acquire irrigation pumps from the NRGP at a subsidized cost under the NRGP’s matching grants scheme.<br />“We are to pay a part of the cost of the machines and the NRGP would also pay a part,” he explained.</div>
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Mr Mahama Alhassan, the commercial farmer told the Enquirer that the farmers have been trained and acquired the requisite knowledge to cultivate butternut squash that meet international standard. Mr. Alhassan opearates, the Savannah Agro-business Services, that renders services to farmers. He said farmers now have the capacity to produce more of these crops but would need a sustainable market with a good price for their produces to remain self-sustained and food secured.</div>
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He appealed to the NRGP to construct a warehouse for the community to enable them store their maize due to the huge volumes that was being produced by the farmers.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-73229130322580239592013-10-09T13:40:00.001-07:002013-10-09T13:40:49.389-07:00Focus on Develop’t of Root and Tuber Crops, Prz Mahama urges Scientists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/adopt-bioscience-to-increase-food-production/wpid-img_20130809_114205-jpg/" rel="attachment wp-att-2615" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="wpid-IMG_20130809_114205.jpg" class="size-medium wp-image-2615 alignleft" height="300" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-img_20130809_114205.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 14px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="225" /></a>Francis Npong, Acccra, Ghana: The president of the Republic of Ghana president John Draimani Mahama has said that root and tuber crops provide great opportunities for long-term poverty alleviation and food security in Africa and urged researchers to focus on the development of these crops to help reduce poverty among poor and vulnerable families in Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the president improving </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">competitiveness</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of root and tuber crops would help reduce poverty not only in Ghana but Africa at large. He said about that 80 percent of people living in rural communities depended on agriculture as a source of livelihood in which root and tuber constitute the chunk of food stuff consumed.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Root and tuber crops (sweet potato, cassava, and yams) provide great opportunities for long-term poverty alleviation and food security much more than any other staple foods produced in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions,”, said the president.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Delivering a speech on behalf of the president at the 12</span><span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9px; font-style: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Symposium organized by the International Society for Tropical Root Crops-Africa Branch (ISTRC-AB) in Accra by Mr. Mohammed Alfa, the Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology the president said root and tuber crops have the potential to increase food security. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 12</span><span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 9px; font-style: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> ISTRC Symposium was supported by the government of Ghana, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), IITA, CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Banana, Harvest Plus, African Development Bank-funded Support for Agricultural Research and Development of Strategic Crops (SARD SC) project, IITA-Yams Improvement for Incomes and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike; the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Potato Center (CIP) among other organizations and aimed to develop agriculture in Africa.</span></div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/scientists-wage-war-against-cassava-viruses-in-africa/dr-richard-okechuju-iita/" rel="attachment wp-att-2577" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Dr. Richard Okechuku, IITA Cassava project Coordinator" class=" wp-image-2577 " height="219" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/dr-richard-okechuju-iita.png?w=300&h=219" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr. Richard Okechuku, IITA Cassava project Coordinator</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The symposium provided opportunity to scientists and development partners to re-examine the competitiveness of root and tuber crops to harness their potential to accelerate Africa economic growth and food security.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dr Nzola Mahungu, ISTRC-AB President, said, “Root and tuber crops play an important role in ensuring food security in Africa, and we must tap the opportunities of these crops to increase food security in Africa”</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He said the root and tuber crops are widely consumed across Africa and could play a key role in providing incomes generation for farmers. According to him, cassava as a tuber crop was a source of livelihood for over 300 million people in Africa but was less affected by climate change.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He said the root crops have become increasingly important because its ability to withstand drought and grow on soils with marginal fertility. “But the potentials of these crops are yet to be fully exploited,” Dr Mahungu pointed out.</span></div>
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The Deputy Director General (Partnerships and Capacity Development) of IITA, Dr Kenton Dashiell stressed that mobilizing investors for sustainable root and tuber crops research and development was crucial to the fight against food insecurity in Africa. He said the rising unemployment food insecurity could easily be solved by harnessing full potentials of root and tuber crops. “If properly harnessed, the root and tuber crops development can help to enagege the number of unemployed youths in the continent”, he said.</div>
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He called on scientists to ensure that their research outputs were creating the desired change both the community and farm levels and address the constraints in agriculture development.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/eastern-corridor-road-palava-series-of-demonstrations-to-rock-government/yam-truck/" rel="attachment wp-att-795" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="people picking pieces of broken Yams after accident" class="size-medium wp-image-795 " height="225" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/yam-truck.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
people picking pieces of broken Yams after accident</div>
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The programme that brought over 200 local and international scientists, donors, farmers, and other development partners also discussed interesting topics including African root crops trade and market scenarios, Policies favorable to competitiveness of root crops in Africa, African scenario on production and utilization of root and tuber crops, Business and investment scenarios on competitiveness of root crops in Africa—benchmarking Latin American, Asian and European markets (Learning from Latin American, Asian & European industries).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-8143685353212052862013-09-01T08:26:00.000-07:002013-09-01T08:26:23.215-07:00Revenue Watch Institute to the Rescue of Mining Community<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="line-height: 1.5;"><i><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Francis Npong, Kintaka, B/A</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/revenue-watch-institute-to-the-rescue-of-mining-community/emmanuel/" rel="attachment wp-att-2623" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="RWI Africa Co-ordinator, Emmanuel Kuyole-Picture Francis Npong" class="wp-image-2623 " height="450" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/emmanuel.jpg?w=450&h=450" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="450" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
RWI Africa Co-ordinator, Emmanuel Kuyole-Picture Francis Npong</div>
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The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) has donated unspecified quantity of Treated Mosquito Nets worth thousands of Ghana cedis to Kantinka community in the Brong Ahafo Region. Dormaa-Kantinka as the village is popularly known is located in the Newmont Mining concession near Kenyasi.</div>
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The donation, according to the Africa Regional Coordinator of Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), Mr. Emmanuel Kuyole, is to help protect the community members including children from being bitten by malaria infliction insect- mosquito.</div>
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He explained that the gesture was also part of the organization’s efforts to help prevent or minimize malaria infections and other stinging insect attacks on the community.</div>
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This was when he led about 45 people from 12 different countries including Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Ghana, Mauritania, South Africa, Switzerland and Zimbabwe among other countries who participated in the 2013 Summer School to the community to learn for themselves the impacts of mining activities on communities’ livelihoods.</div>
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The learning programme organized by RWI was also supported by GIZ, a Germany International Development Organization. Dubbed, “Regional Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub (REIK HUB) Summer School 2013 focused on the governance of oil, gas and mining revenues.</div>
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The participants who were drawn from Civil Society Organizations, governments departments (especially revenue departments), senior journalists and environmental advocates also visited the Newmont mining concession where they were conducted round various mining pits, including Cyanide Containment Dam, reclaimed land site by the officials of the company.</div>
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Most of the participants were shocked when the team got to the Kantinka community where the community members raised various allegations against Newmont Ghana Gold Limited for worsening livelihood situations. “All that Newmont told us about Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation and it activities were actually not exactly what existed on the ground? I am not surprised mining companies always told their own stories to please the shareholders”, said Mauritania representative Mr. Balious Coulibaly.</div>
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Earlier officials from Newmont Ghana Gold Limited at a briefing indicated that the foundation established by the company took care of communities needs including resettlement and infrastructure.</div>
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Briefing this reporter after addressing the delegates, the Assembly woman for Atoa-Odumasi Electoral Area, Madam Afia Sampong who commended RWI for the gesture stressed that the community was now living under appalling conditions since the commencement of commercial mining activities some years ago.</div>
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“The first to be destroyed were our water bodies and farmlands” the assembly woman said and that when they complained Newmont dug a borehole and that it was later realized the borehole was infected with some worms. She said the community complained again to the company to disinfect the borehole to make the water safe to drink but they refused claiming “we were making up stories”. She showed to the participants a container of water full of unknown worms allegedly drawn from the said borehole. Currently she said for fear of infections, the community abandoned the borehole and went back to the streams that have already been contaminated by cyanide as a result of flooding.</div>
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She claimed the community experienced some strange deaths few years ago and suspected the pollution of water bodies was the cause. “We complained the deaths to the company and they said we should take the bodies to the hospital to autopsy and bring the result. We could not do that because of the bills involved so we have to bury the bodies without being able to determine the cause of their deaths”, she said.</div>
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The communities she stressed are now living in fear. Madam Sampong also revealed that, the communities including Kantika of late have come under insects’ attacks including mosquitos. These insects increase in the communities she alleged was as a result of mining activities saying “the stagnant waters in the mining pits were breeding places for these stinging insects”.</div>
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She said the insects gave them sleepless nights however, in spite of the complaints to Newmont Company nothing has been done about it. Coupled with the insects attacks are frequent flooding and that the flood waters which are reportedly contaminated by cyanide run into their sources water. Cyanide is a mining chemical and is said to be very dangerous to human and animals health.</div>
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The company, the Assembly woman alleged was running away from its responsibilities to the communities after seizing hundreds of their farmlands. The communities are pre-dominantly farming communities and depended largely on food crops.</div>
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Currently, the Public Account Committee of Parliament (PAC) is considering setting up an investigation to unravel the circumstance that led to the government of Ghana granting Newmont Ghana Gold Limited 100% retention, a deal unheard of in the country.</div>
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The Kantinka Community members say Newmont is also concern about it profit at the expense of communities livelihoods. Kintanka is currently a dumping site for Newmont and that the noise from blasting alone is unbearable to them.</div>
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The Communications Officer for Newmont Ghana Gold Limited Mr. Agbeko Kwame Azumah however explained in an e-mail to this paper that the company was still holding dialogue with the community through the Resettlement Negotiation Committees made of representatives of the community to have all issues relating to the community critically looked at and work on and that the community would continue to be engaged to ensure that all issues are settled.</div>
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He however debunked claims by the community that the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation was dictating to the communities and was not opened or transparent in their financial transactions relating to the projects cost and that communities do not have a say.</div>
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/revenue-watch-institute-to-the-rescue-of-mining-community/from-left-mr-agbeko-k-azumah-and-mr-emmanuel-kuyole/" rel="attachment wp-att-2625" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="From Left Mr. Agbeko K. Azumah and Mr Emmanuel Kuyole" class=" wp-image-2625 " height="300" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/from-left-mr-agbeko-k-azumah-and-mr-emmanuel-kuyole.jpg?w=350&h=300" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="350" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
From left Mr. Agbeko Azumah, Communications Director, Newmont Ghana Ltd and Emmanuel Kuyole, Regional Coordinator RWI. picture Francis Npong</div>
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The Communications officer also indicated that each of the 10 communities have representatives in the Sustainable Development Committee, a steering committee whose duties are to plan, and take decisions on what is to be done at which community and that the company do not have influence on the decision making processes of the committee.</div>
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On financial transparency, Mr. Azumah said the foundation publishes its annual and presents same to the Responsibility Forum which comprises about 50 member diverse stakeholder group representing all the 10 host communities. He said the 10 communities benefiting from the foundation regularly receive reports indicating how much is collected and spent and on which project at each beneficiary communities.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-13045646754429263622013-08-20T13:36:00.001-07:002013-08-20T13:36:10.972-07:00Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa Commends Ghana for Improved Agric Policy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b id="yiv3942838151yui_3_7_2_35_1373885158208_157" style="line-height: 1.5;"><i id="yiv3942838151yui_3_7_2_35_1373885158208_156"><span id="yiv3942838151yui_3_7_2_35_1373885158208_155" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Francis Npong </span></i></b></div>
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Dr. Tiemaoko Yo, the Chairman of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has commended the government of Ghana for adopting innovative agricultural policy that enabled the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in hunger. “Ghana is ahead of UN deadline for the achievement of MDGs in Hunger after “.</div>
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Speaking during the open space side event on Monday to about 1,200<b> </b>delegates including Ministers of agriculture, scientists bioscience technologists, researchers, farmers, extensionists, agricultural reporters, civil society organizations from across Africa and the world in Accra, Dr. Yo said Ghana had demonstrated great leadership to the rest of Africa by adopting innovative ways to improve agricultural sector.</div>
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The 5 days conference which is organized by Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in collaboration with the Government of Ghana would discuss innovative ways to improving productivity and resilience in food production.</div>
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The forum is under the theme “Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science and Innovation” would among other things discuss and propose how Africa could move from competition to collaboration as parts of efforts to finding lasting solution to low productivity in Africa.</div>
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The chairman urged other African nations to follow Ghana’s example by committing themselves to innovative agricultural policy to improve food production. He said adopting innovative ways was the only means to boosting African agriculture and improving food security.</div>
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The Minister of Agriculture Mr. Clement Kofi Humadu urged African agricultural scientists and researchers to come out with a result oriented researches to improve low productivity in agricultural sector in Africa.</div>
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The minister observed that for Africa to improve and increase productivity there was the need for what he called specialize manpower training. He said, Africa needs to modify systems and policies in agriculture to be able to meet the growing need for food. He urged the adaptation of value chain and private partnership approach to enhance agricultural commodities.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-64483654586029817772013-08-20T13:34:00.002-07:002013-08-20T13:34:45.601-07:00Banana Bunchy Top Virus Spreading in Nigeria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #ff6600; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/banana-bunchy-top-virus-spreading-in-nigeria/attachment/732943595/" rel="attachment wp-att-2603" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="732943595" class="alignleft wp-image-2603" height="450" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/732943595.jpg?w=450&h=450" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 14px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="450" /></a>By: Francis Npong</span></em></span></strong></div>
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Agricultural Research Scientists are battling yet with another challenging banana virus- Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTV ) said to be spreading across Africa.</div>
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The disease, according to scientists was spreading at alarming rate and needs to be curbed immediately before it causes havoc to banana plant in Africa.<br />In a statement issued by Dr. Lava Kumar, the virologist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriulture (IITA) in Nigeria said the disease was devastating banana across West Africa with more farms in Nigeria—West Africa’s second largest producer of the crop. “If not checked the virus will devastate banana farms, and jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of farmers who earn their livelihoods from the crop”, he said.<br />Dr Kumar whose statement came after a visit to farms ravaged by the disease in Idiroko, a border town in Ogun State.</div>
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Mr. Charles Onyeani, Head of the Post-Entry Quarantine, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has warned against the movement of banana planting materials from infected areas to uninfected areas to check the spread of the disease.</div>
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First discovered in 2012 by IITA in collaboration with the University of Ibadan and the Nigerian Agriculture Quarantine Service (NAQS), the disease is now widespread in Ilashe, Odan-Itoro, Ido-Ologun, and Igbogila, in Ogun State.</div>
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“Systematic studies on yield losses have not been done but empirical observations indicate 50 to 90% loss in the affected region,” Dr Kumar added, stressing, “There is a severe shortage of clean planting material.<br />The urged urgent actions to prevent further spread and also help farmers in the affected areas.</div>
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” Nigeria produces 2.74 million tons of banana, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, making the crop one of the important staples in the country.</div>
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Devastation by BBTV on banana fields will have a negative impact on the country’s economy, and thwart efforts towards food security.<br />Caused by a virus called, Banana bunchy top virus, BBTD is a serious threat to banana in SSA. The disease has been recognized in 14 countries in Africa; 13 of these are in SSA which represents a combined banana production area of 2.28 million ha, contributing 19.75 million tons of fruit per annum (FAO 2011).</div>
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The disease is known to occur in all the major banana production regions in DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia. Whereas, disease spread is limited to a few regions in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, and Nigeria.</div>
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BBTD was first reported from the continent in 1901, however extensive spread into new production areas were observed during the last two decades.</div>
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The disease has very recently invaded the Bénin (first reported 2011) and Nigeria (first reported in 2013) in West Africa. “The virus is also spread through an insect, banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa), which is widespread in all the banana and plantain-producing areas in Nigeria and many parts of the world, said Dr Rachid Hanna, entomologist at IITA.</div>
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Infected banana plants become progressively smaller and stand more erect giving the plant a bunchy appearance.</div>
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Plants infected early in their growth do not produce fruits resulting in total loss of yield, while plants infected at later stages may produce deformed fruits.</div>
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The plant may eventually die, but often remains with its lateral shoots which serve as a source of infection for further spread.</div>
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The spread of the disease into new areas can initially remain undetected, complicating timely eradication work and prevention of new outbreaks. Once the disease is present in a region, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.</div>
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No durable sources of resistance have yet been identified. Eradication of infected plants and planting healthy planting material is the best available solution.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-33362885131703100902013-06-27T13:17:00.000-07:002013-06-27T13:17:26.047-07:00Sheini Mining Concession: Who Owns It?– Journalists Ask <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
</h3>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgSKXCJmTs4/UcyDGS0zsNI/AAAAAAAACP0/w6lBKkxNJR8/s300/sheini.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgSKXCJmTs4/UcyDGS0zsNI/AAAAAAAACP0/w6lBKkxNJR8/s400/sheini.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole of this mountain is iron ore</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The extractive sector particularly gold, iron ore,
limestones, diamond mining among others, could be an important source of
development for Northern Ghana. In spite of its potential to turn over huge
revenue for development and job creation, mining communities continue to suffer
from serious environmental cost associated with mineral extraction. </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The wanton
destruction of the environment, air and water pollution among others by mining
companies has been a matter of concern to many right thinking citizens of this
country in recent times culminating in the formation of an interministerial
taskforce to deal with the situation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">While it has
been reported over the years that the activities of some mining companies were
having negative effects on the environment, the rate of destruction of such
activities seemed to be on the ascendancy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In view of this
development, it is important for individuals, groups and organizations with
interest in environmental management and sustainability to play an active role in
helping stakeholders to ensure that Ghana’s environments were safe even as her
mineral resources were exploited. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Against this background,
the Media Advocates for Sustainable Environment (MASE) in partnership with the
Rural Media Network (RUMENT) has taken steps to monitor mining activities at
Sheini in the Tatale District of the Northern Region to ensure environmental
sustainability and to prevent further depletion of the country’s ecological
system. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus, one
important issue currently being monitored by MASE is the Sheini iron ore that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was discovered in the 1960s and drilling and exploration
conducted between 1961 and 1965 by Soviet Geologists covering a very large area
of the eastern part of the Northern Region.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That exploration
test confirmed that, the Sheini iron ore deposit was the largest, finest and in
commercial quantity in the whole of Africa. Other geological surveys had shown
that Sheini ironstones react extremely well to a magnetizing reduction roast
process, which reduces iron in the form of hematite (Fe2O3) to magnetite
(Fe3O4) and ultimately to metallic iron (Feo) and that its quality was
uncomparable while its quantity could be extracted continuouly for 100 years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg-OD7xHQA8/UcyEVj8eGdI/AAAAAAAACQA/5nGoQYRiPBU/s238/npong.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg-OD7xHQA8/UcyEVj8eGdI/AAAAAAAACQA/5nGoQYRiPBU/s400/npong.jpg" width="356" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">National Coordinator, MASE Npong Francis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At a press briefing
in Tamale, MASE disclosed that information received from sources within Ghana’s
Minerals Commission indicated, that the Sheini Iorn Concession had been given
out to a joint-venture company through a process that was concealed because
there was no wide consultation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">According to the
group, it appeared therefore, that the government had given out the only
northern strategic asset without the full involvement of chiefs, communities
and stakeholders whose livelihoods would directly or indirectly be affected. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“This is a cause
for concern realizing the impact of mining on the environment. The failure by
the government to let communities, and the general public know, understand and
exercise their democratic rights including their right to “free prior informed
consent”, compensations and resettlement if any, and the right to prevent
conflict arising from the development of the concession are disturbing”, MASE
Spokesperson Npong Balikawu lamented.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">MASE called on
the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission and the Ministry
of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to tell the people of the Northern
Region whether the Sheini Iron Ore deposit had been given out as a concession
to a company or not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It also wanted
to know the name of the company, who the managers were and how the selection
process was done, stressing “We also want to know what arrangements have been
made in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate
any environmental degradation that may occur”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">MASE hinted that
a time bomb was waiting to explode in the area if issues relating to Sheini
iron ore were not handled transparently and in consultation with the various stakeholders.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Media
Advocates for Sustainable Environment is a network of environmental journalists
formed in 2009 under the auspices of the Rural Media Network<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>and the KASA environmental governance
project. The core membership of MASE are environmental reporters and advocates. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">MASE members
work to promote best environmental practices for development and also educate
people on best sanitation and agricultural practices and climate change issues.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-90391646712865237532013-01-26T09:34:00.002-08:002013-01-26T09:34:20.745-08:00Ghana: Cycling for Necessity, Not Ecological Reasons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" />
<h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 3em; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/P1140978-e1358401957518.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" height="450" src="http://thinkbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/P1140978-e1358401957518.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></h1>
<div id="article_content" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/development/ghana-cycling/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Truck carrying used bicycles from Tema Port enters Ghana’s northern city of Tamale. Photo by Npong Francis/ThinkBrigade.com.</a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/development/ghana-cycling/"><span style="color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-style: inherit;">In Europe, cycling is promoted</span></span> not only as a great way to exercise, but also for ecological reasons. In Ghana, poor farmers cycle out of economic necessity.</a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/development/ghana-cycling/">“I bought my first bicycle in 1985. Since then, the iron horse [the bicycle] has become my companion,” said Dawuni Alhassan, a 67-year-old farmer who lives in Choggu, a suburb of Tamale, northern Ghana’s capital city.</a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/development/ghana-cycling/">According to Alhassan, between 1962 to 1989 rice farming w</a>as booming in the area and farmers had to get to the farm early to provide security to the crop against rodents. A lack of public transportation to and from farms and market centres, where farmers would be selling their produce, required another solution – and it was the bicycle. “Mobility became very important: you need to be on the farm on time, else the birds will destroy the rice. So bicycle became the most important thing in our life,” he said.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Today, the bicycle is still the most important means of transportation for rural farmers in northern Ghana where access roads are non-existing. “We prefer bicycles to other forms of transportation because it is cheaper, easy to repair, and does not pollute the environment,” said Moses Binjo, a 46-year-old farmer. Small carriers can also be attached to the bikes to carry foodstuff enough to feed a family for a day.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
For Binjo, riding a bicycle is also a comfortable exercise that “relaxes our muscles when we are not doing any hard work during lean farming season.” He himself suffered from knee injury but says that cycling frequently had fixed that.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Although the exact number of bikes in Ghana cannot be calculated, there are some<a href="http://data.gov.gh/dataset/total-number-vehicles-registered-ghana-category2000-2010" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title=""> 700, 000 vehicles registered, according to Ghana’s Driver’s License and Vehicle Authority (DVLA)</a>. “There are thousands of bicycles in use in Ghana, particularly within rural communities,” says Awuni William, an environmentalist. He believes that most people in urban centres would love to ride, but there are no bicycle lanes which would make it safer.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
According to William, in rural Ghana almost everybody knows how to ride a bike. For women, cycling reduces the fatigue from carrying workloads and babies on their backs.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.adultbicycling.com/component/content/article/9-bicycling-basics/37-health-benefits-of-cycling-ii.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Adult Bicycling.com</a> states that riding a bike increases cardiovascular fitness, strength, balance and flexibility, stamina and endurance and helps burn lots of calories, all of which improves the overall health of an individual. Cycling is also a <a href="http://www.active.com/cycling/Articles/4_Ways_to_Use_Your_Bike_to_Beat_Stress" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">stress releaser</a>.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DSC00008.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" height="513" src="http://thinkbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DSC00008-e1358402684217.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.5em 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Hafisatu Adams learning how to ride a bike. Picture by Npong Francis/ThinkBrigade.com.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
But for the poor rural farmer, health and environmental cleanness reasons are not the main concerns; for them, cycling is just a matter of necessity, a means of livelihood, transportation and communication.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Adams Fuseina, a farmer, said: “My farm is miles away [from my home]. Before, we used to sleep in our farms and come home over the weekends, but with the help of a bicycle we could easily visit our farms and come back the same day.” She wanted to be close to her children – a challenge successfully eliminated by the bicycle.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
“You can go and come back to sleep with your family, so we don’t bother too much managing our farms and families at the same time. The bicycle has bridged the gap that previously existed between our farms and families,” she said.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fuseina’s youngest child, 4-year-old Hafisatu Adams, is currently learning how to ride a bike. She will soon join her friends who ride their bicycles to and from the community school.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://thinkbrigade.com/development/ghana-cycling/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">source: www.thinkbrigade.com</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-66212474905272164502013-01-26T09:30:00.000-08:002013-01-26T09:30:05.957-08:00Farmers in Upper East Region Livelihoods Threaten<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><a href="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/p1190160.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Image" class="size-full wp-image" id="i-1892" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/p1190160.jpg?w=487" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 1.5em 1.5em 1.5em 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></a></div>
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Farmers in some communities in the Upper East region livelihoods have been threatened<br />because of poor yields recorded in 2012 farming season.</div>
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The poor farmers who are now relying on water melons for their livelihoods sustainability experienced poor yield when they allegedly used same foundation seeds (improved seeds) from the previous farming season which affected the performances of farms leaving farmers deeply<br />disappointed in the so-called improved seeds.</div>
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The fears of these farmers heighten because of the fast perishability and un-dependability of<br />water melons putting their livelihoods under a critical condition. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Enquirer, the assembly member for Bantafarigu/Farfar Electoral Area in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region Mr. Joseph Duut Yennukor who disclosed this said, farmers were alarmed<br />by the failure of the crops. He said they have to resort into the cultivation of water melons as a adaptation and mitigation measures to sustain their livelihoods.</div>
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The assembly member however, could not tell what caused the failure of the crop but blamed it on the foundation seeds they acquired from the Presbyterian Agriculture Station in Garu (PAS-G), erratic rainfall and expensive agronomic practices or the lack of knowledge of it. “We adopted the cultivation of water melons as alternative livelihoods strategies which we sell to buy foodstuff”, he said. He said that, the farmers have to resort into water melons farming adaptation and mitigation processes to sustain their<br />livelihoods.</div>
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“But this crop is perishable and anytime soon its season will be over and that means that a lot of us will sleep without food”, he said. The assembly member said the farmers are in a distress situation challenged with a<br />life threatening condition and were now relying on sales of water melons for survival either then that it would be difficult for these farmers, he said.</div>
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When contacted the manager of Presbyterian Agriculture Station in Garu, Mr. Solomon Atigah said, the affected farmers used the foundation seeds supplied to them by his outfit the previous year and that affected the output of their farms. He explained that genetically modified or improved crops could not be planted twice<br />and that farmers who adopted hybrid crops would have to buy seeds each year to be able to increase their productivity adding that this farmers failed to heed to the directive of his outfit.</div>
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“The yield was good the previous year so they thought it will be the same when they used the same seeds but that does not work with hybrid or improved seeds”, he said. Mr. Atigah pointed out that these community farmers also failed to follow the prescribed agronomic practices relating to hybrid seeds.</div>
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He said, it is this reason that most farmers even in advance countries are against the introduction of genetically modified crops because it makes farmers “more vulnerable and more dependable”. “Farmers who use genetically seeds always have to buy the seeds, but the cost of buying such seeds are high and their availability not reliable”, he said.<br />He said the flooding of ‘killer seeds” and banned agro chemicals in the market without a clear governmental policy to deal with it would affect greatly the agriculture sector of the country in the long run. The Manager alleged that some banned agro chemicals that found their way into the country are repacked<br />by some unscrupulous individuals without recourse to national food security the situation he said must be checked.</div>
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The influx of such banned agro products in the Ghanaian market he said was an evident of porous, weak and failed systems.</div>
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The Director of Ministry of Food and Agriculture in charge of Garu-Tempane District, Mr. Paul S. Ayagiba told the Enquirer that the affected farmers situation arose as a result of inappropriate agronomic practices. He hinted that the farmers were adopting too much to the use of chemicals and that even the water melons from the region are fast losing it value and consumption rate because of the chemicalization of the crop. “People are now conscious of their health and are selective of what they eat explaining why the consumption rate of water melons in the region is reducing drastically”,he said<em id="__mceDel" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em><em id="__mceDel" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em><em id="__mceDel" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</em></div>
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The farmers made this rather disturbing revelation at a climate change adaptation review workshop organised by Care international Ghana under the auspices of Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa (ALP). The farmers were alarmed by the influx of “killer seeds” and alleged banned agro chemicals in the market saying if the situation was not control could put their lives in danger.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-19969189422496065482012-10-26T04:53:00.001-07:002012-10-26T04:53:28.301-07:00SAVE FOREST RESERVES IN NORTHERN REGION<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://salifunurudeen.blogspot.com/2012/01/save-forest-reserves-in-northern-region.html">THE</a></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://salifunurudeen.blogspot.com/2012/01/save-forest-reserves-in-northern-region.html"> importance </a>of forests to human life cannot be overemphasized. According to agric scientists, forests, apart from conserving nature, are a source of life.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">They purify the air that we breathe, serve as habitat for the animals that we feed on, and preserve climatic temperatures to protect our bodies. In Africa, in particular, forests are the main source of herbs and many of the food we eat.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Experts have also noted that forests play a crucial role in helping mitigate the impact of climate change on humans.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wzgie4KRBLM/TwsacJw8fiI/AAAAAAAAAGk/HypRPbcF6Tw/s1600/Saboba+illegal+logs+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #771000; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wzgie4KRBLM/TwsacJw8fiI/AAAAAAAAAGk/HypRPbcF6Tw/s320/Saboba+illegal+logs+1.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">Some illegally-sawn timber that were recently seized in Saboba</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">According to the Director of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Forests Secretariat, Mr Pekka Patosaary, forests can act as a ‘sink’ to absorb greenhouse emissions and store large quantities of carbon for extended periods of time.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">No wonder the developed world is now committing itself to invest in afforestation projects in Africa under the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">One is therefore at a lost why forests in the Northern Region of Ghana are being depleted at such an alarming rate, in spite of how essential they are to the livelihoods of the people in the region.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Checks at the Forestry Commission indicate that there are 24 forest reserves in the Northern Region.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">The region even boasts of having the largest forest reserve in Ghana, the Yakombo Forest Reserve, near Buipe, which occupies an estimated land area of 1,160km².</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Each year, more trees are planted in various parts of the region so as to create new or replenish existing woodlots and forest plantations.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Currently, the Forestry Services Department (FSD) of the Forestry Commission is establishing large acres of forest plantations in various parts of the region through the National Forest Plantation Development Programme.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">During a recent visit to the Northern Region by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry, the Northern Regional Forestry Manager, Mr Ebenezer Djaney Djagbletey, revealed that the region had exceeded its targets for the plantation programme.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">“A total area of 3,309 hectares had been planted by the end of December, 2010, which is far higher than the 2000 hectares target that had been set,” he told the committee.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">He said in Yendi alone, a total area of 1,126 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas and 200 hectares in existing forest reserves.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">In Tamale, a total area of 462 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas, whiles 70 hectares of areas located within forest reserves had been planted.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">In spite of all these glamorous statistics about the establishment of large acres of forest plantations, the question to ask is “how many of these trees would survive?”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">How many would become prey to the painful blade of chain-saw operators and how many would crumble when the dry season fires start?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Statistics from the EPA paint a gloomy picture about the depletion of forest resources in the Northern Region.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">According to the EPA, the region loses 38, 000 hectares of its tree cover every year due to activities such as indiscriminate bush burning, deforestation, use of chemicals in fishing, over grazing by livestock and illegal commercial logging.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Just recently, the FSD intercepted large quantities of illegally sawn rosewood, which had been felled from forest plantations in the Saboba district.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Due to the depletion of forests and the vegetation, some parts of the region are being reduced to desert-like conditions and this has caused a reduction in food and water resources and also increased the intensity and duration of droughts and disasters in the north.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">It is sad to note that many community folk do not seem to know about the harm they cause to the environment and future generations when they run down forest resources.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">The extent to which they cut down trees for firewood and to make space for farming and settlements exposes the region to desertification.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Unfortunately, forest conservation issues do not receive adequate attention from local government authorities and politicians in the region.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Under the noses of District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Co-ordinating Directors and traditional rulers, forests are destroyed and no one seems to border.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">It is high time that the nation’s leaders and the entire populace were reoriented on the importance of forests and the need to conserve them.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16pt;">Politicians, chiefs and opinion leaders in the region must stand up now to protect the region’s forests and not wait for calamity to befall us.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-51754733401622876232012-10-26T04:50:00.001-07:002012-10-26T04:50:30.509-07:00Ghanaian Crop Scientists Divided Over GMOs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/ghanaian-crop-scientists-divided-over-gmos/researcher-dr-abdulai-lansah/" rel="attachment wp-att-1792" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class=" wp-image-1792 " height="360" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/researcher-dr-abdulai-lansah.jpg?w=306&h=360" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Researcher Dr. Abdulai Lansah" width="306" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px 4px 5px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr. Abdulai Lansah, CSIR</div>
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C<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/ghanaian-crop-scientists-divided-over-gmos/">rop Researchers</a> at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Institute, Ghana <a href="http://www.csir.org.gh/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(CSIR)</a> are extensively divided over the introduction of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) crops into a Ghanaian agricultural sector.</div>
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While some scientists brushing aside the adoption of GMO crops for the bases of uncertainty health risks, others are of the view that, conventional crop breeding has not withstood the test of time hence the need for all new methods to improve food production.</div>
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A Crop Researcher from CSIR Dr. Abdulai Lansah in an exclusive interview with the Enquirer in Bolgatanga, Upper East region, said “Even scientists at CSIR are divided over GMO introduction with the basis of uncertainty health risks”.</div>
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There had not been any laboratory analyses that pointed to the fact that, the consumption of GMOs are dangerous to human health according to scientists. However, the introduction of GMOs has sparked various protests from religious, political to traditional raising fears about the introduction of<a href="http://www.ghanasoccernet.com/adopt-genetically-modified-crops-to-increase-yields-prof-nketsia-tabiri/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3a6999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">GMO products</a>.</div>
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Dr. Lansah explained that, unlike the conventional crop breeding system that allows natural modification, genetically modified crop procedures use laboratory techniques to change the genes or characteristics of crops. “The genes or traits maybe from animals to crops, from one different plant to another and even from human beings to crops depending on the desired traits”, he disclosed.</div>
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He said this methods are raising a lot of questions and created a controversy over the GMOs products the world over. In US, UK and other developed countries, people some cases governments outlawed the importation of GMO products because of alleged health dangers associated to it.</div>
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Dr. Lansah explained that questions raised against the consumption of GMO products are most related to beliefs and alleged uncertainty health risks associated with such crops modification processes. However, he said scientists are still researching details about GMO products and until that “we can not confirm or deny questions raised against the consumption of GMOs”.</div>
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“For now, Ghana has officially adopted GMO cotton but scientists at CSIR are still testing genetically modified crops which are strictly confined” the crop researcher told this reporter when asked whether or not there are GMOs in Ghana.</div>
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Dr. Lansah said, though there is/are no known GMO crops Ghana except Bt. Cotton, people are however, suspecting some brand of soy beans in Ghana to be that of genetically modified. “Some of the seeds come into the market with no labels so it is difficult to differentiate between genetically modified and non genetically modified”, he said.</div>
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On food security, he said industrialize agriculture was the sure way out for Ghana. The industrialization he explained would resolved post harvest loses in agriculture sector in Ghana. He disclosed that not less than 40% of total food produce in country is lost in transit because of unavailability of preservation and storage facilities, and good infrastructure such as roads.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-71971178600245777632012-10-26T04:45:00.003-07:002012-10-26T04:45:52.199-07:00Eight Deprived Communities in Ghana Take Destiny to Own Hands<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A <a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/eight-deprived-communities-take-destiny-to-own-hands/">decision making </a>for climate resilient livelihoods and risk reduction training workshop aimed to build capacity of vulnerable communities in the northern and Upper East region has ended in Bolgatanga with a called on the stakeholders in development to as a matter of urgency integrate climate change into community development projects.</div>
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The training workshop organised by CARE International under the auspices of Adaptation Learning Programme in Africa (ALP) used participatory Scenario Planning approach to support eight participating vulnerable communities including Garu, Farfar, Tariganga, Akara Kugri in the Upper East region and Zambulugu, Jawani, Demia and Saamini in the northern region to develop climate response livelihood strategies.</div>
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This is not only to prepare these poor communities to adapt to climate variabilities and climate change but also to build their capacities to be able to recognise the underlying causes of their vulnerabilities to help them design coping strategies to effectively adapt to climate change and climate variability.</div>
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Addressing the participants, the Manager of ALP, Mr. Romanus Gyan said that, the weather pattern has become erractic and climate systems now unpredictable. This, he said makes communities whose livelihoods largely depended on weather more vulnerable.</div>
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Community Strategy mapping, Picture: Npong Francis</div>
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He said, it is against this background that CARE International Adaptation Learning Programme in Africa (ALP) was developed to support poor and vulnerable communities in Africa to effectively adapt to climate change and climate variability.</div>
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Working in partnership with local civil society and public institutions, the Adaptation Learning programme is being implemented in 40 communities across some selected African countries including Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and Niger.</div>
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The training workshop assisted the participating communities to develop the most important climate change adaptation strategies after identifying the underlying causes of their vulnerabilities. The strategies proposed to be implemented by these communities to help them cope with the changing climatic events include tree planting, dry season gardening, livestock rearing, use of organic manure and engage income generating activities.</div>
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Other strategies these communities proposed to adapt were; drought and disease resistant crops, early maturing crops, formation of community savings and loan schemes, encourage the youth in vocational skills projects, advocate for good road network to connect them to markets centers and construction of strong foundation for their houses to withstand floods and rainstorms.</div>
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These proposed strategies they said would not help to supplement their income but also improve the soil fertility and protect the environment. Speaking to the Enquirer after the training workshop, the National Advocacy Manager for Care International Ghana, Mr. Baba Tuahiru said diversification of livelihoods activities was the sure way that can reposition the poor communities to be able to cope with the effects of climate change and climate variability.</div>
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According to him, ALP is currently being piloted in some communities in the northern and Upper East region of Ghana considered to be vulnerable and that the programme is empowering the people to not only diversify, design coping strategies but also demand for accountable from duty bearers.</div>
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The Monitory and Evaluation officer for Care International Ghana, Mr. Thomas Ayamga who took the participating communities through the processes of Community Adaptation Planning (CAAP) helping communities to design their strategic plans would help them redirect their attention to the most important and pressing development projects that can help improve their living conditions.</div>
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section of participants at the training workshop. Picture Npong Francis</div>
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The governance officer for Care International Ghana Mr. Avura Francis urged the government institutions to always consult communities when they intend to undertake development projects in communities. He said this help them to design such projects to feed into the community development plan else the projects might impact positively on the livelihoods of the people.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-55568896949124075222012-10-26T04:44:00.001-07:002012-10-26T04:44:19.034-07:00My life depends on good harvest - groundnut farmer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PTL8iFLGGes/UIpkz-CAGPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/fZYea60SQuU/s1600/Groundnut+farmer+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #771000; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PTL8iFLGGes/UIpkz-CAGPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/fZYea60SQuU/s320/Groundnut+farmer+1.JPG" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">Afa Alhassan being assisted by mom and auntie to dry his nuts</td></tr>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://salifunurudeen.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-life-depends-on-good-harvest.html">EACH</a></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://salifunurudeen.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-life-depends-on-good-harvest.html"> year</a> between August and October, one can see chains of women carrying sacks and pans filled with freshly harvested groundnuts and walking along dusty or muddy paths in villages in Northern Ghana.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">It is that period of the year when groundnut farmers harvest their groundnuts, which were planted earlier in the year.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Groundnut or peanut happens to be one of the most farmed food crops in Northern Ghana due to its health, culinary and economic values.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">In 2011, the Ministry of Food Agriculture (MoFA) indicated that the total output of groundnut produced in the three regions of the north accounted for about 80 percent of the nation’s total groundnut production.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">In a recent trip to Zokuga, a farming community in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, I met with a 44-year old farmer who has been cultivating groundnut since childhood.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">It was midday and Afa Mohammed Alhassan as he is called was busily drying groundnut he had harvested from his 10-acre farm. He was being supported by his mother, Mma Salamatu and auntie, Mma Maata.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">In the interaction that followed, he mentioned that although he farms both maize and groundnut, it was the latter that was so dear to his heart.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnxLto6ZD0s/UIpk1ZiP71I/AAAAAAAAAQI/G4M_-v0ubXA/s1600/Groundnut+farmer+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #771000; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnxLto6ZD0s/UIpk1ZiP71I/AAAAAAAAAQI/G4M_-v0ubXA/s320/Groundnut+farmer+2.JPG" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">Afa Alhassan speaking to me</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“I focus much of my attention on farming groundnut because it is through this that I get enough income to take care of my family,” he said, adding that his favourite variety is ‘abaen’.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Afa Alhassan was unequivocal in stating that his life as a groundnut farmer depended on good harvest.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“When harvest is good, I can get about seven bags of groundnuts from an acre and this happens only once a while,” he stated.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">At the time, a bag of groundnut was selling between GH¢50 to GH¢70 and this in an incentive to Afa Alhassan.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“When prices are good, it helps us farmers to reap what we have sown,” he said with a smile.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">I asked him what were the factors that can account for a good harvest and he mentioned good rains as paramount.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">He noted that having a good harvest depended also on planting at the right time, adding that to plant one needs to mobilise the seeds and get the land prepared.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Unlike maize and other crops, groundnut does not depend heavily on fertilizer and this, in the estimation of Afa Alhassan, is one thing that makes farming groundnut conducive for the rural poor.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">In spite of this, he thinks that groundnut farmers, like other farmers, need some support from government and other organisations.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“When the season arrives and there are no tractors to prepare the land, then it could affect planting,” he said.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Afa Alhassan said the lack of equipment for harvesting and shelling groundnuts makes the work of harvesting groundnut a bit laborious.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">During harvest, he and other farmers use either their hands or hoes to uproot the vines from the ground, depending on the texture of the soil.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“When the ground is still wet, we can use our hands, but if it is dry, we have to use hoes,” he said.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">He said after the vines are uprooted, he employs the services of some women to separate the nuts from the vines, assemble them in heaps and transport them in pans and in sacks to his house.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">It is then that another process begins as the nuts have to be dried for a period of time, before being shelled, separated from the kennels and packed into sacks.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“It is a painstaking process,” he said.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Of course, Afa Alhassan is also concerned about getting the needed technologies to increase yield.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“If we can get help to enable us get better yields, it would help us a lot because our lives depend on it,” he noted.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Like many other rural men, Afa Alhassan has two wives and four children, but is not satisfied.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“I want to have more children,” he intimated, adding that “Three of the children are for my first wife and so my second wife would also be delivering two more.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">He admitted that taking care of his four children, together with his mother and other extended family, is quite a challenge, especially in keeping his children in school.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Three of them, Zakaria, Alhassan and Memunatu attend the Zokuga nursery and primary school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“Sometimes, the teachers ask us to pay some dues and buy some items for the children and I try to get it for them,” he said.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; padding: 4px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sbwsppjF6gQ/UIpk2dUy4YI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/P2fS-65Y3D4/s1600/Zokuga+children.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #771000; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sbwsppjF6gQ/UIpk2dUy4YI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/P2fS-65Y3D4/s320/Zokuga+children.JPG" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">Afa Alhassan's children are in school</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“They tell us that education is good, but I am yet to feel it because none of my children has gone far with their education,” Afa Alhassan said, with a sense of uncertainty.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">“Have you not heard of family planning,” I asked him and his response was expected: “I have heard of it, but I want to have more children because I do not know which one of them would prosper in future.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Efforts to explain that family planning is about planning child birth would however not sink.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16pt;">Well, it appears that Afa Alhassan’s 44-years of farming has shaped his idea of life and what he considers the most important is how to get a good harvest each farming season.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-24874548457727073522012-09-26T01:10:00.001-07:002012-09-26T03:41:27.008-07:00My Wife Detests GMOs But She's A Great Patronist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pU0u9t3_f9U/UGK30W5_kqI/AAAAAAAAAUY/ldGj_KQdrdU/s1600/P1130987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pU0u9t3_f9U/UGK30W5_kqI/AAAAAAAAAUY/ldGj_KQdrdU/s640/P1130987.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Npong shopping vegetables inside Tamale Central Market. Display are GMO tomatoes, pepper. </td></tr>
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Here i am in a crowded market. It’s just stopped raining and
business as usual has resummed with people pushing pass each other, stopping
by vendors of assorted items a market can offer. There are no rules of
engagement here. The best shopper here is one with bargaining power, and that
depicts a rare african market, a case in Tamale central market.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The market looked dangerously constructed, the walking lanes are
narrow. Trucker pushers and owners worsened the situatuion as they force their ways
through these narrow lanes, carelessly pushing shoppers side by side and some
instances block the lane to offload their carriage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was not sure of what my wife meant when she stressed “buy fresh
and good looking peper, tomatoes, okra, and salt? Do we have fresh and good
looking salt too? I asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Be sure not to also buy chemically induced vegetables for me, you
know i am careful of my family’s health”, she commanded.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My wife is among millions of people in the world who habor bad
feelings about genetically modified foods (GMOs). But she would not object to
cakes, cholates made from genetically modified wheat as gift, fresh and good
looking vegetables who genes have been modified to improve their desired traits
such as good looking, nutritional content, it’s durabitity among other things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Scientists are currently battling to correct the notion that GMOs
are dangerous to health. According to Professor Wayne Powell from the
university of Aberystwyth, the modification of plants in the laboratory is to
enhance their desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides,
pesticides, drought or improved their nutritional content and that nothing
dangerous about the use of GMOs has been scientifically established. Prof.
Powell was addressing seasoned journalists in Ghana who took part in in workshop
on initiating dialogue on plants breeding, genetics and bioscience for farming
organised by Bioscience for Farming in Africa (B4FA) for some selected sceince reporters
held in Accra.<sub> <o:p></o:p></sub></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BsW8Sa0Qfj8/UGLbhVZVQpI/AAAAAAAAAUo/9U0DRxP0DEI/s1600/P1130986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BsW8Sa0Qfj8/UGLbhVZVQpI/AAAAAAAAAUo/9U0DRxP0DEI/s640/P1130986.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Npong and friend Mohammed Nurudeen doing some veg buying</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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He explained that, GM technology was developed after the second
war II to help boost agriculture to meet global food supply. GM process
involves the transfer of genes responsible for desired traits of plants such as
drought and insects tolerance, or high nutritional content into a different
plant. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The best known example of this is the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.
genes) used in corn and other crops. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He also disapproved negative comments associated to GM products and
that GMOs are to ensure regular food supply to the increasing population by
controlling pests, crops diseases and improving their nutritional content for
the wellbeing of both humans and animals. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My wife has been a great patronist of GMO products at the sametime
she detests it. She would not reject genetically modified wheat cholate,
biscuit, neither would she buy bad looking vegetable from the market. Her
attitude towards GMO s stem from protests and rumours making round alleging the
dangers associated to GMOs. Ironically, my wife would also not go anywhere
without her GSM cell phone which scienctists say are dangerous than the
consumption of GMOs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-92023038420648515942012-09-04T14:46:00.003-07:002012-09-04T14:46:57.908-07:00Ghana Kick-starts Validation of Climate Change Policy Framework<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i><u style="background-color: white;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></u></i></b><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/KOAPCdBbMWwIAuYS4*lLGskwY-Z9bkNzEd7U-ywBBNYPKv4B42lRNHkLMJJHhy2g5dPXhxDP3tf9ck3Dp8ujEFRadNAqV9fQ/cc.jpg" style="color: #333333;" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="479" src="http://api.ning.com/files/KOAPCdBbMWwIAuYS4*lLGskwY-Z9bkNzEd7U-ywBBNYPKv4B42lRNHkLMJJHhy2g5dPXhxDP3tf9ck3Dp8ujEFRadNAqV9fQ/cc.jpg?width=750" style="border: 0px none; clear: both !important; display: block !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="750" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The government of Ghana has started a nationwide validation of a draft climate change policy document to support the formulation of climate resilient policies and programmes to enable the state to adjust to cope with the challenges and impacts of climate change and global warming on development.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) is to provide strategic direction and co-ordinate issues of climate change in Ghana. The NCCP surpasses ‘traditional’ climate change policy areas of adaptation and mitigation. It emphasises that social development is vital for, and cuts across, both of these areas.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Director of the Ministry of Environement, Science, and Technology Mr. Fredua Agyeman said that the document after the validation would be laid before parliament for approval and adoption to become a national working document.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">At a validation workshop organised for civil society organisations in Accra, the Director of MEST said that, the validation would ensure that the document was widely accepted by Ghanaians.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Director who was addressing civil socieity organisation on behalf of the sector Minister Madam Sherry Ayittey pointed out that climate change which is a threat to livelihood affects Ghana’s economic performance and development prospects.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">“Ghana’s climate is changing as a result of increased global emissions of greenhouse gases, with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, floods and more weather extremes”, he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Africa the minister said is currently, faced with challenges of floods, and droughts that have affected thousands of peole socially, economically and development.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Climate change the minister said is now everybody’s business, and stakeholders need to be part in developing a National Climate Change Policy Framework (NCCPF) to ensure a climate resilient and climate compatible economy while achieving sustainable development and equitable low carbon economic growth for Ghana.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">“The impact of climate change spans so many sectors, from agriculture to forests, and from health to social protection. Its impact on any or all of these poses a serious threat to our progress on the Millennium Development Goals and to our plans to become a middle income country. That is why we need a harmonised and coordinated climate change response”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Mr. Agyeman explained that MEST exists to establish a strong national scientific and technological base for accelerated sustainable development of the country to enhance the quality of life for all and that the overall objective of MEST is to ensure accelerated socio-economic development of the nation through the formulation of sound policies and a regulatory frame work to promote the use of appropriate environmentally friendly, scientific and technological practices and techniques hence the climate change policy framework to help Ghana cope with the effects of climate change and its emerging issues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Director who acknowledged the complexity of climate change urged the campaigners to break down terminologies involved to the understanding of ordinary person whose life is most affected by the changes for adaptation process.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The He observed that, the recurring floods in parts of the country had cost the country millions of cedis in reconstruction, repairs and relief items. The floods which she blamed on the indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste that choked the major water run-ways also cost Ghana millions of cedis to resettle flood displaced people in Accra.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The government of Ghana spent closed to 62 billion old Ghana cedis on floods relief victims in the northern sector, central and western regions for the past three years. Ghana has had her fair share of the harsh climate effects and could not wait to manage disasters anymore but takes proactive measurse to avoid them hence the national climate change policy framework.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Director thanked Care international for supporting the country to draft a climate change policy document saying “climate change is a development issues and should be tackled devoid of politization” to help the country cope with natural and man-made disasters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Professor, Chris Gordon, Dr. Adelina Mensah and Dr. Elaine T. Mensah from the university of Ghana, Legon are leading the validation process.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Some of the participants in an interview after the programme indicated that the effects of climate change on national economy too devastating to wait. They commended the government for taken steps to have a national climate change policy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Therefore however urged the government to involve civil society organisations in the implementation of the policy framework for effective result. Over fifty civil society organisations across the country participated in the validation process. The government would also be meeting with chiefs, women’s and youth groups, and other stakeholders before the document is placed before parliament.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-73191330904116400122012-08-03T09:23:00.000-07:002012-08-04T06:56:05.526-07:00High Level Interaction on Climate Change and Plastic Waste Ends in Ghana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="text-align: left;"><a data-mce-href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/U0mY7IZOGHdPXZ4wEhz8pMih8e0liCtmjSoLQSAJLeVlaW39rf21DQfwhMRBOsKes2OUc8aLHJ71ndKWU8*X*Y5h5z*FuNNJ/MinisteraddressingMMDCEs3.jpg" href="http://api.ning.com/files/U0mY7IZOGHdPXZ4wEhz8pMih8e0liCtmjSoLQSAJLeVlaW39rf21DQfwhMRBOsKes2OUc8aLHJ71ndKWU8*X*Y5h5z*FuNNJ/MinisteraddressingMMDCEs3.jpg"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/U0mY7IZOGHdPXZ4wEhz8pMih8e0liCtmjSoLQSAJLeVlaW39rf21DQfwhMRBOsKes2OUc8aLHJ71ndKWU8*X*Y5h5z*FuNNJ/MinisteraddressingMMDCEs3.jpg?width=750" height="301" src="http://api.ning.com/files/U0mY7IZOGHdPXZ4wEhz8pMih8e0liCtmjSoLQSAJLeVlaW39rf21DQfwhMRBOsKes2OUc8aLHJ71ndKWU8*X*Y5h5z*FuNNJ/MinisteraddressingMMDCEs3.jpg?width=750" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="749" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px; text-align: left;">Minister Sherry Ayittey Addressing MMDCEs during the training workshop in Kumasi</dd></dl>
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The <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Environment_and_Climate_Change" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Environment_and_Climate_Change" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Minister for Environment and Climate Change">Minister for Environment</a>, Science and Technology Ms. Sherry Ayittey has urged all Metropolitan, Municipal and <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Assembly" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Assembly" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="District Assembly">District Assemblies</a> to make climate change resilient policy and sanitation cleanness the topmost priority in their development plans or programmes to spare the country from both natural and man-made disasters.</div>
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She observed that, the recurring floods in parts of the country had cost the country millions of cedis in reconstruction, repairs and relief items. The floods which she blamed on the indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste that choked the major water run-ways also cost <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=5.55,-0.25&spn=10.0,10.0&q=5.55,-0.25 (Ghana)&t=h" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=5.55,-0.25&spn=10.0,10.0&q=5.55,-0.25%20(Ghana)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Ghana">Ghana</a> millions of cedis to resettle flood displaced people in Accra and Northern Ghana.<br />
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“We need to go green to reduce the impact of climate change not only on livelihoods but on the national economy. We can not go forward if we continue to dispose plastic waste indiscriminately in the country”, she said. The Minister said the only way to deal with plastic waste in the country was for people to change their attitude to disposal of used plastics.<br />
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The minister said this when she addressed the District Chief Executives (DCEs), District Coordinating Directors (DCDs) and Planners during one of the series of a nationwide high level interaction on climate change and plastic waste in Ghana held in Kumasi.<br />
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The programme which sought to encourage the mainstream of climate change into development planning in Ghana was organised by two international organisation includes, Care International Ghana under the auspices of Adaptation Learning Programme <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://www.alp.org.au/" href="http://www.alp.org.au/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Australian Labor Party">(ALP)</a>, Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment Science and Teachnology (MEST), <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://www.undp.org" href="http://www.undp.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="United Nations Development Programme">United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)</a>, Japan <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_development" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_development" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="International development">International Development</a> Agency (JICA) and <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://www.epa.gov" href="http://www.epa.gov/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="United States Environmental Protection Agency">Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</a>.<br />
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The training programme was aimed to educate the government and public office holders on the need to mainstream climate resilient and sanitation cleanness into their development programmes at various levels. It was also to encourage physical and economic planning in the country that takes climate change and environmental and anitation cleanness into consideration.<br />
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The minister indicated the government of Ghana spent closed to amount of 62 billion old Ghana cedis on floods relief victims in the northern sector, central and western regions. This amount was said to be exclusive of various contributions made by the development partners and that Ghana has had her fair share of the harsh climate effects and could not wait to manage disasters anymore but takes proactive measurse to avoid them.<br />
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Ms. Ayittey commended Care International Ghana’s Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) for making impacts on the lives of rural dwellers in parts of northern and <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_East_Region" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_East_Region" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Upper East Region">Upper East region</a>. ALP is implementating community based adaptation that includes education on climate variability and linking communities to agencies such as Ghana Meteorological Department (GMD), Ministry of Food and Agriculutre (MOFA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI).</div>
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These agencies provide necesary information to farmers to plan their crop production. The minister urged the MMDCEs to urged to put in place environmental sound policy to deal with plastic waste to ensure environmental sustainability.</div>
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<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px; text-align: left;">Manager of ALP, Mr. Romanus Gyang</dd></dl>
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The Manger for Care International Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) Mr. Romanus Gyang explained that the effects of climate change on livelihoods were too devastating to leave it for the governments alone to deal with. He said that while <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARE_%28relief_agency%29" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARE_%28relief_agency%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="CARE (relief agency)">CARE International</a> was collaborating with the government through the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) it was also implementing communities based adaptation at various communities and supporting them to diversify their livelihoods in relation to climate change and their vulnerability. Explaining the effects of climate on national economy, Mr. Gyang stated that if nothing is done immediately the devastating effects of climate change and climate variability on the national economy in the near future would be great to bear.</div>
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The Ashanti Regional Minister Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah said that climate change represents a key challenge to the development of the country. He said the effects of climate change will increase the financial burdens of governments and limit their ability to provide infrastructure. He said agriculture sector has already been affected by the effects of climate change and called for action to reduce its effects on the people. This was contained a speech read on his behalf during the training workshop on climate change in Kumasi.<br />
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The president of the National Association of Local Government Authority (NALAC) Mr. Ebenezer Akuoko Frimpong pledged on behalf of the MMDCEs in the Ashanti and <a class="zem_slink" data-mce-href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=7.75,-1.5&spn=1.0,1.0&q=7.75,-1.5 (Brong-Ahafo%20Region)&t=h" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=7.75,-1.5&spn=1.0,1.0&q=7.75,-1.5%20(Brong-Ahafo%20Region)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Brong-Ahafo Region">Brong Ahafo region</a> to mainstream climate change into local development programme. He observed that extreme climate variability in Ghana may grind development into a halt if nothing is done about it.<br />
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He cited rises in temperatures, low crop yield, flood and erractic rains and long droughts as some of the frightening signs of effects of climate change in Ghana. He appealed to his colleague leaders of Local government authority to take climate change issues very serious to reduce its negative impact on livelihoods and development.</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-38356000251422275722012-07-13T15:50:00.004-07:002012-09-10T10:57:55.263-07:00Climate Change: Failed Crops put Fears in Farmers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://d7pirkxfg5ducdu9axmdeqfqf%2Al1l2gmwlrjpmqswcegjnnavhnie31etwckdmzmqhgvt7jnin9w1exnmyscgoahiqu/Earlymaturingmilletfailed.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com/files/kh5Fsd7PIRKxFG5ducDU9axMdeQFqF*l1l2GMwlrjpmQSwCeGjNNaVHNiE31etwCKdMZMQHgVT7JNin9W1ExNMySCGOaHIqu/Earlymaturingmilletfailed.jpg?width=693" style="border: 0px none; clear: both !important; display: block !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="693" /></span></a></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span class="font-size-2" style="font-size: 10pt !important; line-height: 1.2 !important;"><em><strong style="background-color: white;">Picture: Millet farm performing poorly at Farfar Credit: Npong Francis</strong></em></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Farmers in Fafar, a farming community in the Garu-Tampane District of the Upper East Region have predicted food shortages, severe hunger and starvation in the near future if nothing is done to improve on the current traditional farming and cropping system.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">According to the farmers, the traditional crops are failing them because of inconsistent rainfall and high temperatures and that something urgent ought to be done about crop failures to protect the livelihoods of the farmers to cope with the forseeable severity of the food situation. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">They however, called on the ministry for Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to support farmers with short duration or maturing, drought and heat tolerant crops and new technologies particularly irrigation system to support food production.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The farmers including women also complained about the none availability of farm inputs and that alternative fertilizer should be developed because chemical fertilizer which cost has made them more dependable instead of self suffcient should be replaced with cheap and effective ferlizer. The women in particularly indicated that the cost of the quantity of fertilizer they needed to produce an acre of maize today is more than what they were applying previous on the same piece of farmland and that ought to be looked by the goverment. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">They intimated that failure by the government to do something quick such as introducing drought tolerant variaty crops and short duratioon maturing crops would plounge the nation under food insufficient.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">These farmers were contributing to discussions on food security, livelihoods development, agriculture and climate change adaptation at a community engagement meeting held at Farfar Community in the Garu Tempane District of the UER.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The programme which was organised by the Presbyterian Agriculture Station Garu (PAS-G) under the Care International Ghana’s Adaptation Learning Programme was to solicit information from the community on their livelihoods activities.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The assembly member for Farfar Electoral Area, Mr. Joseph Duut Yennukua thanked Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) and Presbytarian Agricultural Station in Garu for bringing officers from various decentralized government agencies into the community. He pointed out that whose farming and livelihoods situations were deteriorating need urgent attention and support but it was difficult for them to acces such supports to improve on their lots.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">He also called the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Kwesi Ahwoi to as a matter of urgency supply them with short duration improved crop variaties and extension officers to support their farming activities. The Upper East Regional Director of the Savanna Agriculture Research Station (SARI), Dr. Roger Kanton promised to supply the community with short duration (Abontem) and high quality protein maize variaties to improve on the crop production.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Monitoring and Evaluation officer of CARE International Ghana, Mr. Thomas Ayamga explained that, the community engagement fora are initiatives by Adaptation Learning Programme to make social services available to community members to improve not only on livelihoods, but also help deepen governance, promote participatory democracy, bridge the relationship gap between the comunities and duty bearers and bring governance to the doorsteps of the communities.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">He stated that, the fora were to support community to identify gaps and design their development action plans and strategies to enable benefit from currently ongoing programmes being implemented by the government and non government agencies.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"> <a href="http://api.ning.com/files/ugl7CqJnQT0CMn2NqeASX6TtD3qHfSe*Ey2Z5*fg5lHXg*LdYRatEinBUZbjYaLdLeNM-PyINxtcUjYLiQG1R4Jz-4JXsy-3/farmersharingtestimoniesofchanges.jpg" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com/files/ugl7CqJnQT0CMn2NqeASX6TtD3qHfSe*Ey2Z5*fg5lHXg*LdYRatEinBUZbjYaLdLeNM-PyINxtcUjYLiQG1R4Jz-4JXsy-3/farmersharingtestimoniesofchanges.jpg?width=750" style="border: 0px none; clear: both !important; display: block !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="750" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong><em style="background-color: white;">Picture: farmer lamenting failure of crops during a community engagement forum at Farfar, Garu-Tampane District, Ghana.</em></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The fora, which were held in eight communities including Zambulugu, Jawani, Demia &Saamini, Tariganga, Akara, Farfar and Kugri in the Northern and Upper East regions respectively also sought to educate farmers on adaptation and mitigation measures against the effects of climate change and climate variabilities.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">It engaged decentralized departments such as the district assemblies (DAs), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and National Disaster Management Organisations (NADMO) and Meteological Agency (GMA) were to enable them respond to the communties felt needs such as the basic infrastructure including roads, water, health posts, schools and agricultural extention services among other public services to support the people prepare adequately for climate change adaptation, explained the Local Governance and Advocacy officer for Care International Ghana, Francis Babongte Avura.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Mr. Avura stated that, the process was not only to deepen participatory democracy and bridge the relationship gap between the decentralized offices and educate the communities on the available opportunities to be sourced to improve on their lots but was also to gather testimonies from communities the changes that took place and impacted negatively on their economic and social lives.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The programme Manager for Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP), Mr Romanus Gyang who also participated keenly in the processes told the Enquirer in an interview that ALP was a community driven and life changing programme and that the programme was supporting vulnerable communities to adapt to the effects of climate change and climate variabilities for sustainable livelihoods.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/X9oD7A8iJ3eVSt7ezGi-2HBz4CZtVrrQ*di9DzKIAbTJ80F4KCd7z2wgj8b40yEqN-Z6fwxb1usT0zbllBwAaRkc01Zh2Mdl/cats.jpg" target="_self"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com/files/X9oD7A8iJ3eVSt7ezGi-2HBz4CZtVrrQ*di9DzKIAbTJ80F4KCd7z2wgj8b40yEqN-Z6fwxb1usT0zbllBwAaRkc01Zh2Mdl/cats.jpg?width=750" style="border: 0px none; clear: both !important; display: block !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="750" /></span></a></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-55036996206760829882012-07-07T02:29:00.001-07:002012-07-07T02:29:51.009-07:00CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS LAUD GOVERNMENT, CARE INTERNATIONAL FOR CLIMATE ACTIONS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://npong2franco.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/civil-society-organisations-laud-government-for-climate-change-actions/section-of-csos-review-alp/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1345" height="436" src="http://npong2franco.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/section-of-csos-review-alp.jpg?w=650&h=436" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" title="Section of CSOs review ALP" width="650" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; min-height: 1em; padding: 0px;">
Section of CSOs member reviewing ALP</div>
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The Civil Sociaety Organisations (CSOs) have commended the government for constituting climate change department within the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://eng.me.go.kr/main.do" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Ministry of Environment (South Korea)">ministry of Environment</a>, Science and Technology to handle climate change related isssues and prompting the parliament to constitute <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Select_committee_%28Westminster_system%29" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Select committee (Westminster system)">parliamentary select committee</a> on climate change to be responsible for reviewing, recommending and initiating climate change resilient policies and programmes.</div>
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They also commended Care International for taken lead role in championing climate change issues in Africa.</div>
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The constitution of a parliamentraty select committee and special department on climate change would further the ducation and formulation of climate change resilient policies and programmes to help the poor and vulnerable communities adapt to the<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Effects of global warming">effects of climate change</a> and climate variabilities.</div>
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The civil society organisations commended the government during a two-day <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_to_global_warming" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Adaptation to global warming">climate change adaptation</a> learning programme <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.alp.org.au/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Australian Labor Party">(ALP)</a> review meeting organised by Care International <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=5.55,-0.25&spn=10.0,10.0&q=5.55,-0.25%20(Ghana)&t=h" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Ghana">Ghana</a> held in Tamale.</div>
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The meeting which brought togather civil sociatyorganisations working in environment, food security, water and sanitaion, community development and capacity building organisations across the country reviewed climate change adaptation learning programme being implemented by Care International Ghana through partner organisations, assessed climate change situation and it impacts on livelihoods.</div>
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They also reviewed and evaluated food and water situation, and how far agriculture sector fared for the past five years and climate change variabilities impact on livelihoods on the poor.</div>
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Members of the CSOs point out that a step by the government to constitute parliamentary select committee to champion climate change issues in Ghana was an indication that the nation’s leadership had recognized the need for comprehensive policy and programme on climate change to reduce impacts on livelihoods.</div>
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The coordinator for Youth Volunteers for the Environment (YVE), Mr. Lovans Owusu-Takyi who also commended the government for the move said the climate change was a threat to sustainable livelihood and development and needed attention.</div>
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He said that the effects of climate change were greater and disasterous and that any action by the government to deal with the issue should not be politicise.</div>
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Addressing participants, the manager of Care Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa, (ALP), Mr. Romanus Gyan explained that ALP is a life changing programme that seeks to build the capacities of vulnerable communities and households to adapt to the effects of climate change and climate variability.</div>
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He said that the programme was using what he called “community based adaptation approaches” which centered on four key elements including promoting climat resilient livelihoods strategies, building capacities of local <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Non-governmental organization">NGOs</a> and local public institutions, disaster risk reduction strategies and addressing underlying causes of vulnerability through social mobilization for empowerment and advocacy to influence quick policies implementations and intervetions. The Manger told the Enquirer in an interveiw that climate change does not only needs cash but governmental and individual and corporate institutional actions. He said “Coping with effects of climat change will demand support and willingness and result oriented adaptation and mitigation measures to reduce the impact of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Global_Climate_Change" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Global Climate Change">climate chnage</a> on people’s livelihoods”.</div>
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He said that, it is against this background that, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARE_%28relief_agency%29" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="CARE (relief agency)">CARE International</a> Ghana has introduced the Village <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_association" rel="nofollow" style="color: #333333;" target="_parent" title="Savings and loan association">Savings and Loans</a> Association (VSLA) in northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana to support rural but poor and vulnerable women to cope with the effects of climate change and climate variability.</div>
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The Adaptation Learning programme, which is currently running in five communities in these regions, also seeks to empower women in micro financing activities to reduce their vulnerabilities and expand economic viable ventures within these areas to support people’s livelihoods improvement.</div>
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The programme manager said that, ALP is expected to cover about ninety rural communities in the two regions of Ghana targeting about 5,400 poor rural women to help transformed rural economies to better the livelihoods of rural dwellers and at the same time cushion them against the effects of global warming.</div>
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<a href="http://api.ning.com/files/Vo6gC7oUVXHTe8Xy0MKfsmsDUpM31Byh3GDQROag3yxhbKVB7NoaEY7F7Yvsj1kMsRS3w4KttTL*buyrme69owvz*wIaERxI/vul.jpg" style="color: #333333;" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com/files/Vo6gC7oUVXHTe8Xy0MKfsmsDUpM31Byh3GDQROag3yxhbKVB7NoaEY7F7Yvsj1kMsRS3w4KttTL*buyrme69owvz*wIaERxI/vul.jpg" style="border: 0px none; clear: both !important; display: block !important; height: auto; margin: 4px 0px; max-width: 721px;" width="704" /></a></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-83561424092756700712012-07-06T02:23:00.000-07:002012-07-07T02:31:06.023-07:00Government presents Climate Change Policy framwork to Ghanaian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://npong2franco.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3c78a7; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">The Ghana Government</a> through the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), has developed a policy framework on climate change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />To facilitate the polishing of the framework, the ministry held a stakeholders, consultative meeting that brought together diplomatic corps, security agencies, women groups and the academia, to discuss the draft policy to help the country cope with Climate Change.<br /><br />The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Sherry Ayittey, stated that since the Copenhagen Conference in 2009, stakeholders have worked in a concerted manner to come out with a common national vision and guidelines that will guide the country in dealing with the issue of Climate Change, which threatens lives, the existence and economic progress.<br /><br />"We aspire to ensure systematic integration of climate change into national development processes for sustainable development, we want our sectors to develop efficient reporting, communication and awareness programmes and we want to provide a national voice for Ghanaians to contribute to the climate change debate both at home and abroad," she said.<br /><br />The Minister said the draft National Climate Change Policy hinged on seven main themes including, Governance and Co-ordination; Capacity Building; Research and Knowledge Management; Finance; International Co-operation; Communication; Monitoring and Reporting.<br /><br />Ms. Ayittey said the signs of Climate Change are obvious to even the less discerning members of society today and the scenarios are set to manifest even more forcefully in the coming years.<br /><br />"We are in November and we all expected to feel some dry air or see signs of harmattan but we are experiencing intermittent rains," she explained, and added, climate change could undermine all the investments Ghana has made over the past years to reach a middle income status.<br /><br />The Minister, therefore, commended the National Climate Change Committee for working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to integrate climate concerns into the 2011 budget.<br /><br />"Today is an opportunity for all of us to comment on, contribute to, express opinions and views, review portions of the text and if need be generally enrich it," she encouraged, announcing that the Ministry intends to subject the policy framework to international discussions as well.<br /><br />Professor Chris Gordon, Head of the Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies at the University of Ghana, said Ghana's economy is tied to climatic changes since many people, especially in the rural areas, depended on the environment for their livelihood.<br /><br />He noted that Ghana's response to Climate Change mattered to the rest of the world and explained that the policy framework aimed at building a climate resilient society, adding, "We need to make sure that our development is climate compatible."<br /><br />Prof. Gordon urged government to embark on outreach programmes to the grassroots to enable them to understand and possibly adjust their lifestyles.<br /><br />Nana Kobina Nketiah V, Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, who chaired the forum, emphasised that Climate Change is a challenge to the very existence as human beings.<br /><br />"Climate change will have an impact on all of us and we should all be part of the solution," he said.</span></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376516836250521229.post-80574585374088035132012-07-06T01:37:00.001-07:002012-07-06T01:37:10.910-07:00Is Broadcasting Groundnuts on Farmland Right?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Candara, sans-serif;">Farmers now broadcast groundnuts – how productive is it? </span></h1>
<h1 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Candara, sans-serif;">A
look at the agronomic and socio-economic implications<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
order to achieve optimum yield for every crop, there is a recommended plant
population.</span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is easy to get
the appropriate plant population by planting the crop in rows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Groundnut
is a very important cash crop in all farming families in areas where the crop
has a potential thereby increasing household income and food security. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However,
farmers in their attempt to cultivate this important crop have resorted to a
practice which requires serious considerations to ascertain its productivity. Thus,
an agronomic and socio-economic study was conducted into the practice in
selected communities in Karaga and Yendi districts where the crop is
cultivated.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Candara, sans-serif;">Findings from study<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Results
show that both the haphazard planting and the broadcasting methods had significantly
lower yield than the dibbling at recommended spacing (60 x 5 cm ) on flat
ground and in rows, even though the same quantity of seed was used. For one
thing, this is probably because there was no even</span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">spread of the seeds to efficiently utilize both the
above and below soil resources Secondly, crowding at some spots while other
spots were sparse allowed weed growth, and weed control was difficult and time consuming.
These factors result in low yields compared to the dibbling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
all the districts the dibbling yielded higher than the broadcasting</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.
</span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, in some districts this may partly be due to
enhanced rainfall.</span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Disadvantages of broadcasting.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">•<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Difficult to
achieve the right plant population.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">•<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Refilling is
difficult if there is drought and germination is bad</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">•<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cultural practices in
terms of weeding, fertilizer application, harvesting etc are also difficult to
perform.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Even
though it is early to conclude using one year data, dibbling at the recommended
spacing will always give higher yields no matter the precision at which the
broadcasting is carried out!</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Can our media friends help us
inform the general public, especially our local farmers on the need to do
dibbling instead of broadcasting?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A Paper released by Ghana Communities Development Association (GDCA</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__JjE1zOxwE/T_ajWIl14zI/AAAAAAAAATA/FCedNK3S-i0/s1600/ALP+commitment+durbar+_Dimea+013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__JjE1zOxwE/T_ajWIl14zI/AAAAAAAAATA/FCedNK3S-i0/s640/ALP+commitment+durbar+_Dimea+013.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873592692094757486noreply@blogger.com0