Agriculturist Offer Solutions To Africa's Food Security Challenges

Prof. David Millar

The immediate past Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Professor David Millar, has called on African governments to reassess the progress of the continent’s agricultural prospects in view of growing urbanisation so that they could deal with the issue of food and nutritional security effectively. 

He said that, a bulk of the food produced by farmers to feed the populace including urban dwellers, majority of who were in the formal sector, was often through the toil of smallholder farmers in rural areas. 

The Professor of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences however, wondered why decisions taken by African governments and policymakers often excluded the views of the rural farmer, saying this had made it almost impossible to mitigate the challenges of food and nutritional security on the continent.

Prof. Millar who was delivering a lecture on the topic: “Food and Nutritional Security: Mitigating Hunger in Africa” as part of the university’s 20^th anniversary celebration in Tamale, observed that at a time when most people lived and worked in urban environments, feeding Africa’s cities challenges the current food supply and production patterns. 

According to him, “Feeding African cities also challenges the way in which policymakers and other key actors perceive the rural vis-à-vis the urban. Traditionally, the rural area has been seen as a provider of services for the urban area, where as food policies have largely been addressed from the angle of large-scale production of major selected staples”, he noted.

Quoting extensively from the 2011 Africa Progress Report of the Africa Progress Panel chaired by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, he said it recognized the fact that several African countries were on the verge of meeting their Millennium Development Goal targets for hunger reduction.

This notwithstanding, the report he noted, also emphasised that the continent as a whole continued to be the world’s most food-insecure region. “Hunger and malnutrition remain pervasive in many countries, and rising food prices are compounding the situation for millions across the continent, particularly in zones of protracted conflict and in fast growing urban areas”, he observed.

Adding, Prof. Millar mentioned the position was taken in the report that, agricultural productivity was also affected by social realities such as persistent poverty and insufficient access of women to land and other essential resources.

Faced with reduced access to food and increased vulnerability to the seasonality of local food prices and markets, the report he said also observed that households were forced into unavoidable compromises such as choosing cheaper (often less nutritious) food, selling productive assets, withdrawing children from school, forgoing healthcare or simply eating less than they needed.

The report, according to Prof. Millar, enumerated the barriers to food security which included disadvantageous international trade rules and subsidy regimes; a debilitating lack of essential infrastructure such as irrigation and storage systems; inadequate agricultural research; a lack of improved seeds, fertilisers and plant protection material; poor soil and water management systems; poor access to credit and marketing services as well as inefficient and wasteful agricultural value chains.

He explained that these structural barriers cited by the report were increasingly compounded by global trends, adding that, in the short-term, the gap between the continent’s domestic food supply and demand would widen as global consumption patterns continued to shift towards meat products, and more profitable bio-fuels supplant food crops.

Global food production would have to increase by 70 percent over the next 40years to keep pace with population growth, and a significant part of that increase he confirmed, would have to come from Africa.

However, a section of the report concluded that there was an urgent need to scale up successful interventions, focus on Africa’s army of smallholder farmers and increase emphasis on staple food crops. Adding, Prof. Millar noted that, there was also a need to ensure that the growing foreign investments in Africa’s arable land, sometimes referred to as “land grabs”, were transparent saying “they add to the continent’s food insecurity, they do not benefit local farmers and communities, they undermine social, environmental and indigenous governance systems.”

Thus, in conclusion the former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the UDS stated that if African governments really want to feed their people they must assist the continent develop what its people on their own see as food, saying that was the area partners from the North needed to support because that was where real challenge lies for everyone to feed Africa.

Meanwhile, established in May 1992 by the Government of Ghana, the UDS exist to blend the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of Northern Ghana, in particular, and the country as a whole. 

The UDS has four (4) campuses, seven (7) Faculties, a Business School, one Medical School, one Graduate School and three (3) centers located across the three regions of the North including Upper West, Upper East and Northern. Several programs are run at these places. 

With an initial student population of 39 that was enrolled into the Faculty of Agriculture at the Nyankpala campus in September 1993, the university currently has about twenty-thousand students spread across all its four campuses with the Wa campus being the most populated.

Prez Mahama, Wife Donate Laptops To Alma Mater

Prez Mahama and Wife

President John Dramani Mahama and his wife, the First Lady Mrs. Lordina Mahama, have made a joint donation of one hundred laptops and 250 exercise books to their alma mater, Ghana Senior High School (Ghanasco) in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

According to the Northern Regional Minister Moses Bukari Mabengba who made the donation on behalf of the President and his wife, the gesture was intended to boost science, mathematics and Information, Communication and Technology education in the school.

This donation, the minister noted, was also to add up to an earlier pledge by President Mahama about a year ago during the celebration of the school’s fiftieth anniversary, which included the fencing of the entire school land and the construction of a new girls’ dormitory. 

The minister admonished the students to take their studies seriously and desist from engaging in truancy, dodging to town as well as indulging in other nefarious activities that could jeorpadise their future.

Mr. Mabengba told the students to be happy and thankful of the fact that, the President of the republic and his wife were old students of the school, saying that alone should motivate them to aim high as they were in school.

Mr. Mabengba personally, also donated a cash amount of GH¢1,000.00 to the school and urged the authourities to use the money to buy mathematics textbooks to stock their library so that students could make good use of them in their studies.

Additionally, Mr. Mabengba again donated a cash amount of GH¢500.00 to Kabral House Ghanasco which he recently adopted, for their sterling performance during an inter-housing sports competition organised by the school.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the school, the Headmistress of Ghanasco Mrs. Mary Asobayire Dan-Braimah, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to President Mahama and his wife Mrs. Mahama, for their unflinching support towards the development of the school.

Meanwhile, Assistant Headmaster of Ghanasco in charge of Administration Chief N.A. Dramani told Savannahnews in an interview that, since the establishment of the school over fifty years ago, it had continued to make progress in the field of science and mathematics education especially being the first second cycle institution in Africa to launch a locally made rocket into space.

According to him, they school had not relaxed on its oars and always came top or second placed at any science and mathematics quiz competition organized locally or nationally.

In view of these significant achievements, Chief Dramani said Ghanasco was recently given four scholarships by the Indian Government to sponsor brilliant students to go to India and study science.

Rise-Ghana Launches Project To Combat New TB Infections

Ghana has recorded an increased number of Tuberculosis cases in recent times with 12,511 in 2007 and a peak of 15,842 in 2011 with 2010 recording 15,067 as against 14,479 in 2008 and 12,963 in 2007. These successes have been achieved by a combined effort of all stakeholders in the health sector.

TB control in Ghana has seen an unprecedented increase in detected cases and successful treatment of patients over the past six years. Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that, 85 percent of all new infections detected had been treated successfully. Ghana achieved this target from 76.1 to 85.3 percent of all infected TB cases detected in 2011. 

In order to attain a 100 percent treatment target or complete elimination of TB, Rural Initiatives for Self Empowerment (RISE-Ghana), a non-governmental organisation based in the Upper East Regional capital town of Bolgatanga, recently launched a project aimed at combating new TB infections and encouraging persons with the disease to seek treatment at the hospital.

The project also intended to fight stigmatisation, a major bottleneck that is derailing efforts towards eliminating the disease in the country and let people know that sharing cutlery, drinking cups and eating with an infected person would not necessarily get them infected with the disease.

The one year US$20,000 project, according to the Project Manager of RISE-Ghana Awal Ahmed, was funded by Stop TB Partnership Challenge Facility for Civil Society Organsations and the funds would be used to mobilise and strengthen CSOs and TB patients so that they could hold government, civil society and other service providers accountable so as to increase responsiveness towards TB, MDR-TB and HIV-TB.

He explained that an enabling environment would be created for various actors such as health advocates, TB patients, CSOs and the media to engage in advocacy and accountability dialogues towards stopping TB in the Upper East Region. “The project will also increase awareness on TB and reduce stigma through a monthly radio talk-show programme.”

According to health experts, TB is a curable disease that is spread through air by coughing, sneezing, shouting or singing. If one experience a cough for more than two weeks, weight loss, excessive night sweat he/she must report to the nearest health facility for laboratory investigation.

If it is not diagnosed as TB, it could be any other lung disease like asthma, bronchitis or pneumonia that needs to be treated. The WHO estimates that out of the 85 percent of TB cases that occurred in developing countries, Africa had 30 percent while Asia recorded 55 percent.

Looming disaster At Buipe

Excessive fear and panic has gripped most residents of Buipe in the Northern Region as close to three hundred fully loaded petroleum tankers are stranded at the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) depot under the hot weather condition of between 42 and 46 degree Celsius. 

 

At the moment, Buipe town is sitting on a time-bomb as a result of the hazardous way the tankers carrying highly inflammable products are allowed to pack along the main streets and within the community.

 

This follows the disagreement between the Management of BOST and some Tanker drivers over which acceptable measuring tool should be used in discharging or offloading the fuel.

 

Buipe is noted for its indiscriminate burning of bushes, burning of charcoal and worst of all the non-existence of Fire Station in the whole of the Central Gonja District.

 

While the drivers are demanding the use of a “T-Bar” to measure the fuel, the management of BOST also insists on using a “flow meter” to ensure transparency.

 

However, the tanker drivers, who accused the BOST Management of always tempering with the flow meters to satisfy their selfish interest, alleged that they (drivers) always run at a loss anytime the flow meter was used to measure their fuel at the Buipe Depot. 

 

According to the Spokesperson for the frustrated Tanker Driver, Nana Boakye Dwumfuor, the drivers are always blamed for the losses and compelled by their employers or owners to bear the cost.

 

The Fuel Tanker Drivers have since the last three weeks been stranded at the BOST depot together with their mates. Majority of the drivers and their mates expressed disappointment at the management of BOST for taking what they termed as “unreasonable” stance to deprive the entire Northern Ghana of access to fuel.

 

The raging confusion between the drivers and BOST management at Buipe has so far sparked up some fuel shortages across the region. 

 

The angry drivers who found it very difficult to get a good parking spaces and had rather parked at some mosques and churches premises as well as individual homes, told Savannahnews that they could not guarantee the safety of the people in Buipe, since the weather continues to be at the boiling point.

 

Chanting “no T-bar no discharging of fuel” the tanker drivers said the uncompromising position of the BOST management had forced them to sleep in their vehicles for two to three weeks in order not to be taken surprise by any fire outbreak.

 

They however complained bitterly about the inability of BOST and the Central Gonja District Assembly to build a befitting parking space for the tankers.

 

Savannahnews discovered that the perilous way of parking the tankers had compelled school children to share the street with vehicles.

 

Around the Buipe Market, this blogger in the course of accessing the situation spotted some fire burning to the direction of the tankers and alerted the drivers who quickly battled it out. The paper also discovered that most of the tankers were packed under high tension polls with others close to chop bars and individual homes. 

 

The Assemblyman for Buipe Electoral Area, Abubakari Yussif in an interview with Savannahnews appealed to the authorities and BOST management to consider the dangers the tankers pose to the lives and properties in Buipe and settle the issue amicably.

 

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Central Gonja, Sualisu Be-Awuribe described the situation as a security threat and urged the parties to address the issue immediately. 

 

He also unveiled plans by the Assembly to construct a commercially viable modern state of the art cargo port in Buipe.

 

UDS’ CCEIR To Be Upgraded Into An Educational Institution

UDS Vice Chancellor

The Centre for Continuing Education and Interdisciplinary Research (CCEIR) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) will soon be upgraded into an institute to run cultural studies programmes at the postgraduate level.  

This would be in line with the broader objective of expanding the university’s mandate by utilising the rich cultural diversity of its operational area which comprised of the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana where it had four campuses.

The announcement, which came to light at the 2013 edition of the annual UDS Harmattan School organized by the CCEIR in Tamale, would further consolidate the commitment of the university to foster cultural integration by making practical, theoretical methodologies. 

In a speech read for him, the Vice Chancellor of the UDS Professor Haruna Yakubu, believed that such innovative thought could harness positive cultural practices that could be employed to galvanise support to adaptive strategies to neutralise the effects of climate change.

The Harmattan School is one of the several platforms created by the UDS and opened to researchers, civil society organisations, policymakers, and non-governmental organisations to meet and brainstorm on developmental issues confronting Northern Ghana in particular and the country at large.

The event is not just a platform for academic peer review but most importantly, an avenue for the discovery of practical solutions to address the developmental challenges of Northern Ghana.

Under the theme: “Accelerating Socio-Economic Development in Northern Ghana through Culture and Climate Change Adaptation”, the 2013 edition is the seventh in a series organized by the CCEIR which is the lead organizer of the annual event.

According to Prof. Yakubu, an energy and climate change expert, equally important to accelerating socio-economic development of Northern Ghana through culture and climate change adaptation was the issue of gender parity, stressing that “cultural insensitivity to gender parity consideration which in part can be attributed to long standing cultural practices can seriously repudiate adaptive strategies to climate change.”

On account of this, he said the Harmattan School must give recognition to gender in analysing culture and climate change adaptation, adding that, the success of culture and climate change adaptive strategies would to a large degree depend on the empowerment and participation of all in the decision making process.

Prof. Yakubu emphasised, that women were discernibly better at decision-making of the type that climate change adaptation required, hence greater inclusion of women could improve adaptive decision making in general and reduce the negative impact of climate change on accelerated socio-economic development of Northern Ghana.

He continued: “The degree to which human and food security, environment and sustainable developments are vulnerable depends largely on the exposures to changes in climate and the ability of mitigating strategies to adapt. Climate change adaptive strategies vary according to systems in which they occur, the climatic stir that prompts them, their procedures and effects. Above the capabilities, the culture and believes of the communities to be responsive to the impacts and risks of climate change are necessary to achieving accelerated socio-economic development”, he noted.

However, Professor Yakubu observed that, the neglect or failure of development practitioners and policymakers to identify the relevance of culture and climate change adaptive strategies to accelerate socio-economic development had always been the missing link to complement development tools indicators. 

The Vice Chancellor of the UDS also stated that adaptation to climate change had the potential to substantially lessen many of the adverse impacts of climate change and enhanced beneficial impacts. 

Most communities in Northern Ghana, he further observed, were reasonably adaptable to changes in average conditions, particularly if they were gradual. However, these communities he indicated were more vulnerable and less adaptable to changes in the frequency and magnitude of conditions other than average.

He acknowledged that Northern Ghana was not new to adaptations to climate change, saying the methodologies might not be very helpful thus the need for the Harmattan School to adopt new strategies.

Meanwhile, Prof. Yakubu was hopeful that the Harmattan School would present a very scientific working document that could be used to remedy the negative effects of climate change on accelerated development of Northern Ghana.