It is the peak harvest season for tomatoes and a visit to market centres in especially the urban areas reveal an abundance of tomatoes selling at very cheap prices.
There are heaps of the vegetables everywhere, cartons sitting in the sun and some rotten ones on the ground at the mercy of passersby. The present situation has lead to tomato farmers in the country entertaining fears of the likely repetition of a glut in the system.
“Here it is again, the glut has descended upon us and the situation we thought back last year would not happen is staring at us and we appear helpless,” said Kojo Hammond, a tomato farmer for the past 25 years who said he had promised to be more prudent, and not plant so many tomatoes.
“This year has been a good year; the rains did not fail us. It came in time and the plants yielded more than I and most of the other farmers expected. It could also be because of the good farming practice we observed,” he added.
Patience Boabeng, a tomatoes trader at the Kaneshie market, is happy and says “I wish we would experience that throughout the year.”
For her, the over abundance of tomato is good for her pocket. During the dry season, just two months ago, nobody would have thought the markets would have been inundated with so many tomatoes with no buyers.
Market queens, who are the major buyers of tomatoes are cashing in on the development as they have taken advantage of the peak harvest to lower the price of a crate of tomatoes. Within the past two weeks, the prices of tomatoes have been reduced twice, hitting a rock-bottom price of GH¢75.
Cartons of tomatoes which were selling in the dry season for GH¢ 250 is now going for as low as GH¢75. Farmers and dealers believe it could go down.
Across the country, tomato farmers want the perennial problem of tomato glut which is followed swiftly by a shortage addressed.
A section of them in the Tono, Vea and Pwalugu irrigation areas of the Upper East Region have urgently appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to assist them to get better prices for their produce.
A tomato farmer at Bolgatanga, Odame Adufu, who made a passionate appeal on behalf of his colleagues in the Upper West, said if immediate measures are not taken by government to address the perennial problem of tomato glut, the country’s laudable agricultural policies would be defeated.
In view of the high cost of agro-chemicals, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs, as well as the high cost of land preparation, the high incidence of diseases and unreliable rain fall serve as an impediment to the activities of the farmers.
Though the farmers want government to intervene and ensure that the price of tomatoes are stabilized, especially during the peak season, market queens, who operate in the form of cartels, have expressed their opposition to any significant increase in the farm gate price of a crate of tomatoes.
Esther Ofoi, a market queen at the Agbobloshie market, let the cat out of the bag when she hinted that they plan to create shortages of the vegetable in urban centers if the determination of the price is not left in their hand.
Poor market of produce is also a major problem of the sector as there is usually no ready market to patronize the highly perishable tomatoes.
In most tomato growing areas, ripe tomatoes are left on the farms to rot while in the next few months, the dry season will rear it ugly head and consumers will desperately be in need of the vegetable.
The farmers say they wish they can safely transport their produce to the market centres to market some money, but their greatest impediment is the transportation system.
Just imagine farmers in the Northern part of the country waiting for traders from the south. When the market finally arrives, the usually over ripe tomatoes parked in 90 by 60 wooden boxes are transported down to the south.
The headache over the glut and post harvest loses experienced every year during the peak season can be a problem of the past if more is invested in industries that could process the raw tomato into finished product such as canned tomato paste.
Mr Odame Adufu suggested to the government to speed up with the divestiture programme of the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, which would absorb tomatoes produced in especially the Northern Region.
Kwabena Darko, Farms Operations Manager of the Northern Star Tomato Company at Pwalugu, divulged that the company had so far not been financed to be able to purchase the produce of the farmers in the region.
He however disclosed that the management of the company was liaising with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to source funding for the programme.
If Government spends about $500 million on importing rice, while domestic producers such as the tomato farmers complain of lack of funding, one wonders why money can not be pushed into the improvement of domestic production.
Government have on countless occasions re-iterated its premium on agriculture and keep encouraging farmers to produce for the domestic market and even for export to earn the country some foreign exchange, but not much is being done to empower the farmer to produce enough for subsistence and then for commercial purposes.
Northern Star Tomato Company is expected to be financed to buy all the produce of tomato farmers in especially the three Northern Regions while Trusty Foods Company, a private company, has for some time now been purchasing the farmers produce.
A new company based in Tema has announced its intention of buying from tomato cultivators, and this plan, if executed, is expected to save the farmers from financial constraints and the low prices from especially market queens.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Ahwoi, has therefore appealed to farmers to solidify their existence by forming strong groups so as to firmly fix prices, to avoid always being at the mercies the buyers.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG) has cautioned tomato farmers in the country to be wary of entering into contract with companies with questionable offers for their produce. The association further alerted the farmers about some companies making mouth-watering offers to them in order to lure them into selling their produce to the companies on terms that are “too good to be true”.
Philip Abayori, President of the association, who warned the farmers against the background of an advertisement in the print media by a local tomato processing company based in Tema calling on local farmers to cultivate tomatoes for it to purchase, reminded the farmers of similar offers that were thrown at them during the last season, only for the company to renege on the agreement.
He said the perennial tomato glut over the years, especially in the Upper East Region, resulting from lack of market, was leading companies to take advantage to cheat the farmers.
In May 2008, Mr Abayori alleged that Trusty Foods signed a production agreement with the association to cultivate 5000 hectors of tomatoes that would be purchased by the company. Though under the agreement Trusty Food was suppose to pre-finance land preparation, supply of fertilizer, agro-chemical and hybrid seeds for the farmers, the company failed to comply, leaving the members of the association to use their own resources.
“With the difficulties we encountered with this company, it would be prudent if due diligence is conducted before any farmer enters into any agreement with any company.”
However, as the debate over who farmers are to sell to and whose duty it is to address the perennial glut of tomatoes during the peak harvest season rages on, investors should take note that there is potential money making venture just close to them.
Emy
always happy
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Ghana's Fish Deficit: Aquaculture Comes To Rescue
On countless occasions, experts have encouraged the public to eat more fish than meat since fish is more nutritious and healthy.
However, Ghana’s marine resources continue to dwindle, resulting in low catch by fishermen. Currently, the country’s total fish requirement stands at 88,000 metric tonnes but only 4, 200 metric tonnes of fish is produced.
Consequently, there is always a deficit as supply cannot meet demand. To make up for the deficit, there have been passionate appeals to Ghanaians to venture into aquaculture to help reduce fish imports into the country. Ghana imports $200,000,000 annually to make up for the annual deficit, and aquaculture could produce enough fish to offset the deficit of about 400,000 metric tons of the country's fish requirements. According to FAO statistics, aquaculture contributes to the global supply of fish, and in Ghana, it is playing a very important role. Aqua Farming is a non resource extractive food sector that is sustainable, renewable and provides safe, high quality food products to consumers while creating considerable benefits for the general population. Based on science and technology, it is a market driven sector that has emerged to provide consumers with value, taste and convenience in consumption of seafood and other aquatic products.
A number of people who have heard this call have ventured into aquaculture, either on fulltime or past time. Ghana can now boast of being the home to the second largest fish farm in Africa, the first is in South Africa.
A study has revealed that in irrigation schemes, fish farming is most likely to grow in Ashanti, Eastern, Northern part of Central Region, and the Greater Accra area.
Mark Amechi, the Managing Director of Tropo Farms Limited, an aqua culture fish farm with 40 acre hatchery and some 170 cages on the Volta Lake which is rated as the second biggest aqua farm in Africa, thinks that marine fish and farmed fish have different tastes, hence, deferent consumers.
However, when one wants fish, though taste is important, availability must be considered.
In Mark’s seven years as a fish farmer, he attest to the fact that the industry has a great potential but is sad that the activities of some unscrupulous group could affect this bright prospect.
In an interview at his cold store facility that has the bold inscription “Volta Catch”, located on the Tema-Akosombo road, Mark complained that the popping up of new farms on the Akosombo Gorge is worrying and that proper regulation needs to be done to ensure the industry achieves its full potential.
Mr. Amechi is afraid such unscrupulous investors in the industry might import faster growing tilapia as a result of the competition and that could lead to the pollution of the Lake.
Aquaculture requires clean growing waters to maintain a good level of production. Therefore, the industry which encourages environmentally-friendly practices on constant basis needs to take practical steps to protect the environment. In fact, without ensuring protection of the environment, the industry would flounder. Such safeguards include government measures controlling the introduction of new species and the transfer of fish, fish health protection, better site selection, and actions to minimize fish escapes and prevent waste discharges.
Complaining about the unregulated farms popping upstream of the Volta-Lake, Mr. Amechi says there are so many farms on the upstream of the Volta Lake and that needs to be regulated.
“Common sense and scientific evidence suggest that the firm spread out rather than pile up in one area,” he says.
He pleaded with the appropriate authorities to do something about the free-for-all happenings on the upstream before it gets out of hand, suggesting that monitoring of the operators in the industry would help but it should be done on a regular basis and not just once.
Concerned about the pollution of the lake, he expresses the fear that they could import faster growing tilapia and that will collapse the business of operators in the downstream basin who are given strict and expensive guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Water Resource Commission (WRC).
It is difficult these days to imagine taking a walk from one end of the street to the other without by-passing a restaurant that serves tilapia and banku with hot pepper. The truth is that there are restaurants scattered on the streets of Accra so much that sometimes one wonders who buys from the other. But the common thing to find on the menus of these restaurants or the local canteens, popularly called “chop bar’, is Tilapia.
The essential role aqua culture is playing is that in addition to providing more jobs, it is generating profit and as such, offering people to live better quality life.
According to the Manager of Tropo Farms, he expects to sell 2500 tonnes of tilapia by the end of this year as against the total yield of 2000 tonnes in 2008 which were all sold on the Ghanaian market.
The government of Ghana, through the then ministry of fisheries, now the fisheries commission, has for sometime now been aggressively pursuing the Aquaculture Development Policy as a profitable business venture and not as a hobby.
With support from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a project in the Volta Basin to develop fast growing specie, the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT), which would make fish farming commercially and economically attractive, has been pursued. GIFT takes about four to six months to mature for harvesting.
However, there are some hurdles that need to be tackled to make the industry attractive. Long procedures one has to go through to register a company, difficulty with acquiring genuine land, the absence of required skilled workforce, lack of finance, among others, are some of the problems involved in aquaculture, and Mark, who studied aqua culture for his Bachelor’s degree in Science in Hawaii, US and also majored in Aquaculture for his Masters of Science in Bangkok, China, experienced these problems when he decided to set up here in Ghana in 1996. Real production began in 2002 after the company was finally registered in 1997.
Mark, who had earlier tried establishing in Nigeria, said he came to Ghana because of the favourable business environment after seeing the big opportunity in the tilapia business here. Now, the company employs 450 casual and full time workers.
Mentioning that the aqua culture industry, just as others, is in difficult times as a result of the global financial crisis, he mentioned that the cost of feed meal is gradually becoming unbearable.
However, optimistic Mark intends to diversify his purely intensive tilapia culture and include catfish at a latter stage. “We can only diversify when there is profit but the cedi is done now,” says the Trop farm Manager.
As he spends about 16 hours a day either on his farm, or doing some administrative work in connection with the operations of Tropo farms, Mr. Amechi confirms that commercial aquaculture requires 200 per cent of commitment of time and effort.
According to the Kwesi Ahwoi, minister of Food and Agriculture the importation of especially frozen tilapia is forbidden while Mr Alfred Tettehbo, director of fisheries encouraged more people to undertake aquaculture as a business.
However, Ghana’s marine resources continue to dwindle, resulting in low catch by fishermen. Currently, the country’s total fish requirement stands at 88,000 metric tonnes but only 4, 200 metric tonnes of fish is produced.
Consequently, there is always a deficit as supply cannot meet demand. To make up for the deficit, there have been passionate appeals to Ghanaians to venture into aquaculture to help reduce fish imports into the country. Ghana imports $200,000,000 annually to make up for the annual deficit, and aquaculture could produce enough fish to offset the deficit of about 400,000 metric tons of the country's fish requirements. According to FAO statistics, aquaculture contributes to the global supply of fish, and in Ghana, it is playing a very important role. Aqua Farming is a non resource extractive food sector that is sustainable, renewable and provides safe, high quality food products to consumers while creating considerable benefits for the general population. Based on science and technology, it is a market driven sector that has emerged to provide consumers with value, taste and convenience in consumption of seafood and other aquatic products.
A number of people who have heard this call have ventured into aquaculture, either on fulltime or past time. Ghana can now boast of being the home to the second largest fish farm in Africa, the first is in South Africa.
A study has revealed that in irrigation schemes, fish farming is most likely to grow in Ashanti, Eastern, Northern part of Central Region, and the Greater Accra area.
Mark Amechi, the Managing Director of Tropo Farms Limited, an aqua culture fish farm with 40 acre hatchery and some 170 cages on the Volta Lake which is rated as the second biggest aqua farm in Africa, thinks that marine fish and farmed fish have different tastes, hence, deferent consumers.
However, when one wants fish, though taste is important, availability must be considered.
In Mark’s seven years as a fish farmer, he attest to the fact that the industry has a great potential but is sad that the activities of some unscrupulous group could affect this bright prospect.
In an interview at his cold store facility that has the bold inscription “Volta Catch”, located on the Tema-Akosombo road, Mark complained that the popping up of new farms on the Akosombo Gorge is worrying and that proper regulation needs to be done to ensure the industry achieves its full potential.
Mr. Amechi is afraid such unscrupulous investors in the industry might import faster growing tilapia as a result of the competition and that could lead to the pollution of the Lake.
Aquaculture requires clean growing waters to maintain a good level of production. Therefore, the industry which encourages environmentally-friendly practices on constant basis needs to take practical steps to protect the environment. In fact, without ensuring protection of the environment, the industry would flounder. Such safeguards include government measures controlling the introduction of new species and the transfer of fish, fish health protection, better site selection, and actions to minimize fish escapes and prevent waste discharges.
Complaining about the unregulated farms popping upstream of the Volta-Lake, Mr. Amechi says there are so many farms on the upstream of the Volta Lake and that needs to be regulated.
“Common sense and scientific evidence suggest that the firm spread out rather than pile up in one area,” he says.
He pleaded with the appropriate authorities to do something about the free-for-all happenings on the upstream before it gets out of hand, suggesting that monitoring of the operators in the industry would help but it should be done on a regular basis and not just once.
Concerned about the pollution of the lake, he expresses the fear that they could import faster growing tilapia and that will collapse the business of operators in the downstream basin who are given strict and expensive guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Water Resource Commission (WRC).
It is difficult these days to imagine taking a walk from one end of the street to the other without by-passing a restaurant that serves tilapia and banku with hot pepper. The truth is that there are restaurants scattered on the streets of Accra so much that sometimes one wonders who buys from the other. But the common thing to find on the menus of these restaurants or the local canteens, popularly called “chop bar’, is Tilapia.
The essential role aqua culture is playing is that in addition to providing more jobs, it is generating profit and as such, offering people to live better quality life.
According to the Manager of Tropo Farms, he expects to sell 2500 tonnes of tilapia by the end of this year as against the total yield of 2000 tonnes in 2008 which were all sold on the Ghanaian market.
The government of Ghana, through the then ministry of fisheries, now the fisheries commission, has for sometime now been aggressively pursuing the Aquaculture Development Policy as a profitable business venture and not as a hobby.
With support from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a project in the Volta Basin to develop fast growing specie, the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT), which would make fish farming commercially and economically attractive, has been pursued. GIFT takes about four to six months to mature for harvesting.
However, there are some hurdles that need to be tackled to make the industry attractive. Long procedures one has to go through to register a company, difficulty with acquiring genuine land, the absence of required skilled workforce, lack of finance, among others, are some of the problems involved in aquaculture, and Mark, who studied aqua culture for his Bachelor’s degree in Science in Hawaii, US and also majored in Aquaculture for his Masters of Science in Bangkok, China, experienced these problems when he decided to set up here in Ghana in 1996. Real production began in 2002 after the company was finally registered in 1997.
Mark, who had earlier tried establishing in Nigeria, said he came to Ghana because of the favourable business environment after seeing the big opportunity in the tilapia business here. Now, the company employs 450 casual and full time workers.
Mentioning that the aqua culture industry, just as others, is in difficult times as a result of the global financial crisis, he mentioned that the cost of feed meal is gradually becoming unbearable.
However, optimistic Mark intends to diversify his purely intensive tilapia culture and include catfish at a latter stage. “We can only diversify when there is profit but the cedi is done now,” says the Trop farm Manager.
As he spends about 16 hours a day either on his farm, or doing some administrative work in connection with the operations of Tropo farms, Mr. Amechi confirms that commercial aquaculture requires 200 per cent of commitment of time and effort.
According to the Kwesi Ahwoi, minister of Food and Agriculture the importation of especially frozen tilapia is forbidden while Mr Alfred Tettehbo, director of fisheries encouraged more people to undertake aquaculture as a business.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Biofuel, Threat To Food Security?
The search for alternative source of fuel, in the wake of instable and mostly rising oil prices, has generated intensive discussions about biofuel and one is tempted to inquire when this argument will end.
There are some complaints that the cultivation of crops for biofuels may compete with food production, thereby increasing food insecurity while others have maintained that the practice will not make people go hungry but rather enrich their pocket.
Biofuel sources depend on natural vegetation, on crops grown specifically for energy, or on agricultural or other forms of wastes and residues. Some of these crops such as cotton seed, maize, sun flower, soy, sugar cane, oil palm and sorghum, among others, have been described as first generation biofuels whilst second-generation biofuel production processes and Jatropha is one of them.
Ghana, last week, hosted the World Jatropha Summit, a two-day programme that solicited more investors into the biofuel industry.
Themed; “Towards Higher Yields, Large-Scale Production & Exports for the International Market”, the two-day summit, held in Accra between May 28 and 29 May 2009 which brought together experts and investors from across the globe, offered unique insights and experience of planting thousands of hectares in some parts of Africa, Asia, America and Russia.
Biofuel is the hot topic in many of these countries where there are large plantations and also in Europe where the market is these days. Politicians, business leaders and activists are talking about sustainability, and whether producing biofuel displaces food production and so bumps up prices. There were riots in some poorer countries last year over exactly that issue. But given the worries over climate change, investors from the U.S. and Europe are looking at Africa as a place to grow them.
In Ghana however, the cultivation of crops for biofuel has received criticisms, especially from Civil Society Organisation and other non-governmental organisations or non-political groups advocating food security.
Farmers in some parts of the country are loosing their livelihood to the use of their lands for the cultivation of biofuel crops.
Meanwhile, it would be prudent to mention that these groups have stated categorically that they do not oppose biofuel production or investment in that sector by either local or foreign investors in the country.
What raises brows about the operations of these foreign multinational companies in the biofuel industry is acquisition of fertile and productive agricultural land which is feared would affect the food production of Ghana and incidentally make the effort of reducing poverty as required by the United Nations Millennium Development Goal I (MDG) to no avail.
MDG 1 states that developing countries should work towards eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
Food Security Policy Advocacy Network (FoodSpan), a pro-poor policies advocate in Ghana which has been campaigning for physical and economic access to adequate nutrition in term of quantity and quality has hinted that it is apprehensive of the danger associated with the spate and rate of land acquisitions for large-scale plantation, especially Jatropha, for biofuel production in the country.
To verify their concerns regarding the implication of livelihoods, food security and environment, FoodSpan, in partnership with Action aid Ghana, conducted a study from various locations where biofuel plantations are predominant such as the three Northern regions- Upper-East, Northern and Upper-West.
The findings of the study which covered the Volta, Eastern, Central and Ashanti regions have been disseminated to policy markers. Media personnel revealed that there were serious threats to livelihoods and food security, resulting from the land acquisition by the multinational companies for Jatropha cultivation.
The international companies export their products to Norway, Sweden, Singapore, the Americas and mostly to Europe.
“We are witnessing environmental destruction of biodiversity from the whole destruction of ecosystems and massive application of agro-chemicals for biofuels,” said David Eli, Chair of FoodSpan.
The major source of concern of those who have criticized biofuel production in Ghana is the absence of a comprehensive national policy on biofuel production to regulate and clearly point out the linkages among important sectors such as the environment, agriculture, industry, and energy.
In Ghana, Jatropha cannot be discussed without mentioning the late Onua Amoah who pushed biofuel production to the national limelight, which led to the establishment of a National Jatropha Project (NJP). NJP targets to cultivate one million hectares (1mha) of Jatropha plantations on available idle and degraded lands across the country over the period of 5 to 6 years.
To date, about 50,000 ha of land have been cultivated by 7 private companies.
The nonexistence of a clearly defined policy direction, they think, could seriously interfere with development processes and priorities “with far damaging consequences for our match to liberate ourselves from the shackles of underdevelopment, poverty, and deprivation that has often resulted from economic dominance of foreign interest,” said FoodSpan.
Kinsley Ofei Nkansah, General Secretary of the Ghana Agricultural workers union of the Ghana Trade Union Congress, is worried that Ghana and many other African countries have become targets and are currently experiencing enormous rush for land for biofuel production. “This trend is not healthy for the fight against food security, environmental degradation and poverty in the country.”
Ohene Akoto, country Director of Jatropha Africa which has about 120,000 hectors plantation at Kadelso near Kintampo in Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, in an interview shortly after the summit said, “The plant has been in existence for sometime but people do not know the economic value”.
Jatropha Africa which is three years old uses its improved seeds instead of the traditional seeds as the former has 40 per cent oil content and yields 2,5 tonnes of dry seeds per hectar whiles the later yields 0.8 tonnes.
Mr Akoto said Jatropha Africa wish it could operate in areas that has a well distributed rainfall throughout the year. however such places are meant for Ghana’s cash crop. In some parts of the central region and the Northern region, economic trees such as shea-nut and Dawadawa have been destroyed for biofuel plantation.
Another investor, Jack Holden of Gold Star Biofuel, said many countries have rejected his seeds, adding, “In Chile, we had our seeds destroyed but we have planted here and it is doing well; in three months, you have results.”
Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of Crop Research Institute at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), when asked if there were any known negative effect on the environment, explained that though his outfit has done some form of study, “we have not done extensive research” as a result of lack of funding.
It has been stated in some circles that Jatropha poses a threat to the soil as the soil cannot be used for the cultivation of other crops in later years, but Frank Ata Owusu of KITE, a non-profit-making development organisation leading in the energy, technology and environment sector said the perception is as a result of a lack of agronomic facts.
Diligent Energy, a biofuel company that uses out growers in Tanzania, says it is putting up all the best practices in the industry as buyers in Europe will not buy from them if they do otherwise.
The company supplies 20,000 tonnes of jatropha to Boeing for the production of jet fuel, in addition to the producing vegetable oil, biogas, charcoal and other by products from Jatropha.
According to Ruud van Eck, Chief Executive Officer of Diligent Energy, the company pays 10 cent in dollar terms per kilo of dry seed to the out growers in Tanzania but Ohene Akoto, of Jatropha Africa says his company pays between 1.5 and 3 pesewas per kilo “ but we will gradually increase it and have a floor price.”
While Diligent Energy pays that much “to make the business attractive to the local farmers” who are constantly being encouraged to practice intercropping, Ulrich B Riemann, an investor with 160 hectors plantation near Accra says, “I can’t pay that much, how will I pay my other workers.”
To Riemann, the “Jatropha industry is ailing. Investors are being misled. The time for digging for gold in Jatropha is definitely over.”
Explaining that Jatropha enriches the soil and therefore helps other crops such as maize, beans, among other to crops, he hinted that “Jatropha is not viable when it is cultivated as a monocrop but when intercropping is practiced one stands to gain.”
For a fuller optimization of the benefits of biofuel production in Ghana, the government is being called on to “urgently set up an institution of a policy framework to regulate biofuel production in Ghana,” said Anna Antwi, Cordinator of FoodSpan.
The Ministry of food and agriculture said for a better legal and environmental regulation, there will be the need to amend National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Act 691 to accommodate.
Energy Commission in August 2005 set up a Bio fuel Committee to prepare a National Bio-fuel Policy to guide the development of the bio-fuel industry.
“I must say with all sadness that for about three and half years, this document has not been turned into a workable document,” said the deputy minister of Food and Agriculture.
some are of the view that since we have large tracks of land lying fallow, " why not use it for cultivation of biofuel crops?" said one of such advocates.
However, Frank Ata Owusu of KITE, who shares the same view with Ulrich, says Africa needs both food and energy and not one over the other, as farmers can combine food production with energy production with innovative technology coming into play or if energy crops are targeted to more marginal lands.
There are some complaints that the cultivation of crops for biofuels may compete with food production, thereby increasing food insecurity while others have maintained that the practice will not make people go hungry but rather enrich their pocket.
Biofuel sources depend on natural vegetation, on crops grown specifically for energy, or on agricultural or other forms of wastes and residues. Some of these crops such as cotton seed, maize, sun flower, soy, sugar cane, oil palm and sorghum, among others, have been described as first generation biofuels whilst second-generation biofuel production processes and Jatropha is one of them.
Ghana, last week, hosted the World Jatropha Summit, a two-day programme that solicited more investors into the biofuel industry.
Themed; “Towards Higher Yields, Large-Scale Production & Exports for the International Market”, the two-day summit, held in Accra between May 28 and 29 May 2009 which brought together experts and investors from across the globe, offered unique insights and experience of planting thousands of hectares in some parts of Africa, Asia, America and Russia.
Biofuel is the hot topic in many of these countries where there are large plantations and also in Europe where the market is these days. Politicians, business leaders and activists are talking about sustainability, and whether producing biofuel displaces food production and so bumps up prices. There were riots in some poorer countries last year over exactly that issue. But given the worries over climate change, investors from the U.S. and Europe are looking at Africa as a place to grow them.
In Ghana however, the cultivation of crops for biofuel has received criticisms, especially from Civil Society Organisation and other non-governmental organisations or non-political groups advocating food security.
Farmers in some parts of the country are loosing their livelihood to the use of their lands for the cultivation of biofuel crops.
Meanwhile, it would be prudent to mention that these groups have stated categorically that they do not oppose biofuel production or investment in that sector by either local or foreign investors in the country.
What raises brows about the operations of these foreign multinational companies in the biofuel industry is acquisition of fertile and productive agricultural land which is feared would affect the food production of Ghana and incidentally make the effort of reducing poverty as required by the United Nations Millennium Development Goal I (MDG) to no avail.
MDG 1 states that developing countries should work towards eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
Food Security Policy Advocacy Network (FoodSpan), a pro-poor policies advocate in Ghana which has been campaigning for physical and economic access to adequate nutrition in term of quantity and quality has hinted that it is apprehensive of the danger associated with the spate and rate of land acquisitions for large-scale plantation, especially Jatropha, for biofuel production in the country.
To verify their concerns regarding the implication of livelihoods, food security and environment, FoodSpan, in partnership with Action aid Ghana, conducted a study from various locations where biofuel plantations are predominant such as the three Northern regions- Upper-East, Northern and Upper-West.
The findings of the study which covered the Volta, Eastern, Central and Ashanti regions have been disseminated to policy markers. Media personnel revealed that there were serious threats to livelihoods and food security, resulting from the land acquisition by the multinational companies for Jatropha cultivation.
The international companies export their products to Norway, Sweden, Singapore, the Americas and mostly to Europe.
“We are witnessing environmental destruction of biodiversity from the whole destruction of ecosystems and massive application of agro-chemicals for biofuels,” said David Eli, Chair of FoodSpan.
The major source of concern of those who have criticized biofuel production in Ghana is the absence of a comprehensive national policy on biofuel production to regulate and clearly point out the linkages among important sectors such as the environment, agriculture, industry, and energy.
In Ghana, Jatropha cannot be discussed without mentioning the late Onua Amoah who pushed biofuel production to the national limelight, which led to the establishment of a National Jatropha Project (NJP). NJP targets to cultivate one million hectares (1mha) of Jatropha plantations on available idle and degraded lands across the country over the period of 5 to 6 years.
To date, about 50,000 ha of land have been cultivated by 7 private companies.
The nonexistence of a clearly defined policy direction, they think, could seriously interfere with development processes and priorities “with far damaging consequences for our match to liberate ourselves from the shackles of underdevelopment, poverty, and deprivation that has often resulted from economic dominance of foreign interest,” said FoodSpan.
Kinsley Ofei Nkansah, General Secretary of the Ghana Agricultural workers union of the Ghana Trade Union Congress, is worried that Ghana and many other African countries have become targets and are currently experiencing enormous rush for land for biofuel production. “This trend is not healthy for the fight against food security, environmental degradation and poverty in the country.”
Ohene Akoto, country Director of Jatropha Africa which has about 120,000 hectors plantation at Kadelso near Kintampo in Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, in an interview shortly after the summit said, “The plant has been in existence for sometime but people do not know the economic value”.
Jatropha Africa which is three years old uses its improved seeds instead of the traditional seeds as the former has 40 per cent oil content and yields 2,5 tonnes of dry seeds per hectar whiles the later yields 0.8 tonnes.
Mr Akoto said Jatropha Africa wish it could operate in areas that has a well distributed rainfall throughout the year. however such places are meant for Ghana’s cash crop. In some parts of the central region and the Northern region, economic trees such as shea-nut and Dawadawa have been destroyed for biofuel plantation.
Another investor, Jack Holden of Gold Star Biofuel, said many countries have rejected his seeds, adding, “In Chile, we had our seeds destroyed but we have planted here and it is doing well; in three months, you have results.”
Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of Crop Research Institute at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), when asked if there were any known negative effect on the environment, explained that though his outfit has done some form of study, “we have not done extensive research” as a result of lack of funding.
It has been stated in some circles that Jatropha poses a threat to the soil as the soil cannot be used for the cultivation of other crops in later years, but Frank Ata Owusu of KITE, a non-profit-making development organisation leading in the energy, technology and environment sector said the perception is as a result of a lack of agronomic facts.
Diligent Energy, a biofuel company that uses out growers in Tanzania, says it is putting up all the best practices in the industry as buyers in Europe will not buy from them if they do otherwise.
The company supplies 20,000 tonnes of jatropha to Boeing for the production of jet fuel, in addition to the producing vegetable oil, biogas, charcoal and other by products from Jatropha.
According to Ruud van Eck, Chief Executive Officer of Diligent Energy, the company pays 10 cent in dollar terms per kilo of dry seed to the out growers in Tanzania but Ohene Akoto, of Jatropha Africa says his company pays between 1.5 and 3 pesewas per kilo “ but we will gradually increase it and have a floor price.”
While Diligent Energy pays that much “to make the business attractive to the local farmers” who are constantly being encouraged to practice intercropping, Ulrich B Riemann, an investor with 160 hectors plantation near Accra says, “I can’t pay that much, how will I pay my other workers.”
To Riemann, the “Jatropha industry is ailing. Investors are being misled. The time for digging for gold in Jatropha is definitely over.”
Explaining that Jatropha enriches the soil and therefore helps other crops such as maize, beans, among other to crops, he hinted that “Jatropha is not viable when it is cultivated as a monocrop but when intercropping is practiced one stands to gain.”
For a fuller optimization of the benefits of biofuel production in Ghana, the government is being called on to “urgently set up an institution of a policy framework to regulate biofuel production in Ghana,” said Anna Antwi, Cordinator of FoodSpan.
The Ministry of food and agriculture said for a better legal and environmental regulation, there will be the need to amend National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Act 691 to accommodate.
Energy Commission in August 2005 set up a Bio fuel Committee to prepare a National Bio-fuel Policy to guide the development of the bio-fuel industry.
“I must say with all sadness that for about three and half years, this document has not been turned into a workable document,” said the deputy minister of Food and Agriculture.
some are of the view that since we have large tracks of land lying fallow, " why not use it for cultivation of biofuel crops?" said one of such advocates.
However, Frank Ata Owusu of KITE, who shares the same view with Ulrich, says Africa needs both food and energy and not one over the other, as farmers can combine food production with energy production with innovative technology coming into play or if energy crops are targeted to more marginal lands.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
If The IMF Needs Money
THE MANAGING Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has warned that the Fund will in the near future need more money if the global financial crisis continuous to heighten.
He said,“IMF has sufficient resources to cope with the crisis but if the crisis goes on, then six months from now, we will need more money.”
Before the crisis erupted, the IMF had around $200 billion in available resources and access to a further $50 billion. Since then, Japan has offered to lend the IMF an additional $100 billion but Strauss-Kahn has indicated that the IMF may need an extra $150 billion to help emerging markets and low-income countries get through the crisis.
But my question is if an international financial institution like the IMf that would bail small econmoies like Ghana out is saying it needs more money that where can we turn to when we need help.
According to the IMF Boss, 2009 will not be a good year for the world economy, “even if we see recovery at the beginning of 2010".
An IMF report has indicated that prospects were worse than expected not just in the United States and Europe but also in major emerging market economies such as China, India, and Brazil, which would experience very low growth compared with recent historical trends.
The IMF has proposed that governments in a position to do so should act together to inject a global fiscal equivalent to about 2 percent of world GDP—$1.2 trillion.
“The world faces a deepening economic crisis”, the IMF Managing Director warned.
Strauss-Kahn said that the crisis highlighted the need for better regulation and supervision of the banking sector, especially in countries such as the United States.
He said IMF would significantly adjust downward its forecast for world growth for 2009 when the 185-member international institution announces a revised assessment of the global economy on January 29.
But Strauss-Kahn said in an interview with the BBC's Hardtalk program, that economic prospects had worsened over the past few months and his outfit would announce lower numbers at the January 29 press conference in Washington DC.
A number of governments around the world have announced stimulus plans, including in the United States, Japan, Europe, China, and India.
But Strauss-Kahn said he did not think enough had been done so far. "In Europe especially, they are still behind the curve," he said.
Strauss-Kahn warned of the risk of social upheaval and unrest in some countries worst affected by the downturn and said he expected additional countries to seek IMF help, not just in Eastern Europe, but elsewhere in the world, including Latin America where some countries were "just on the edge."
The IMF has so far committed $47.9 billion in lending to a number of economies affected by the crisis, including Belarus, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Pakistan, Serbia, and Ukraine. It announced a precautionary loan for El Salvador this month and an IMF team is also in negotiations with Turkey.
He said,“IMF has sufficient resources to cope with the crisis but if the crisis goes on, then six months from now, we will need more money.”
Before the crisis erupted, the IMF had around $200 billion in available resources and access to a further $50 billion. Since then, Japan has offered to lend the IMF an additional $100 billion but Strauss-Kahn has indicated that the IMF may need an extra $150 billion to help emerging markets and low-income countries get through the crisis.
But my question is if an international financial institution like the IMf that would bail small econmoies like Ghana out is saying it needs more money that where can we turn to when we need help.
According to the IMF Boss, 2009 will not be a good year for the world economy, “even if we see recovery at the beginning of 2010".
An IMF report has indicated that prospects were worse than expected not just in the United States and Europe but also in major emerging market economies such as China, India, and Brazil, which would experience very low growth compared with recent historical trends.
The IMF has proposed that governments in a position to do so should act together to inject a global fiscal equivalent to about 2 percent of world GDP—$1.2 trillion.
“The world faces a deepening economic crisis”, the IMF Managing Director warned.
Strauss-Kahn said that the crisis highlighted the need for better regulation and supervision of the banking sector, especially in countries such as the United States.
He said IMF would significantly adjust downward its forecast for world growth for 2009 when the 185-member international institution announces a revised assessment of the global economy on January 29.
But Strauss-Kahn said in an interview with the BBC's Hardtalk program, that economic prospects had worsened over the past few months and his outfit would announce lower numbers at the January 29 press conference in Washington DC.
A number of governments around the world have announced stimulus plans, including in the United States, Japan, Europe, China, and India.
But Strauss-Kahn said he did not think enough had been done so far. "In Europe especially, they are still behind the curve," he said.
Strauss-Kahn warned of the risk of social upheaval and unrest in some countries worst affected by the downturn and said he expected additional countries to seek IMF help, not just in Eastern Europe, but elsewhere in the world, including Latin America where some countries were "just on the edge."
The IMF has so far committed $47.9 billion in lending to a number of economies affected by the crisis, including Belarus, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Pakistan, Serbia, and Ukraine. It announced a precautionary loan for El Salvador this month and an IMF team is also in negotiations with Turkey.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Will Ghana hit World Oil Map?
Ghana is expected to hit the world oil map by 2010 when it start drilling about 120 million barrels oil a day.
Komos Energy, a giant in the exploration of oil in Ghana, has disclosed that Ghana would hit the world oil map by 2010 when it starts drilling about 120 million barrels of oil a day.
It also disclosed that more reservoir under the Jubilee Field had been discovered which when drilled could give Ghana about 2.5 billion barrels a day.
A delegation from Kosmos Energy led by James Musslema, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) yesterday called on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle in Accra to congratulate him for his election and also to give him up-to-date report on their exploration.
The CEO described President Mills triumph and the success of the elections as a testimony for growth in democracy on the African continent and the world at large.
Mr. Musslema informed President Mills of his intention of regularly visiting him to brief him of any development in the oil exploration industry.
For his part, Prof. Mills commended Kosmos Energy for their discovery and hard work.
He called for a well coordinated effort from the government and the oil company to ensure the full benefit of the oil.
President Mills reminded the oil exploration firm of the need to develop their areas of operations and providing jobs for the people in the area.
He also urged Kosmos Energy to work within the confines of the laws of the country, pledging his support to the company to ensure that they work to the benefit of Ghanaians.
The crude oil was discovered after years of exploration at the Cape Three Point area in the Western Region of Ghana.
Kosmos Energy, a UK oil and gas exploration company made the discovery in June 2007.
The company obtained an exploratory license in 2003 and has been conducting exploration works for some time now.
meanwhile Tullow Oil Plc.the second company after Kosmos to announce the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in Ghana last year has indicated it intends to raise about £400 million to strengthen its balance sheet and fast track the development of major oil finds in Ghana and Uganda.
Chief Executive Aidan Heavey, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the oil exploration and production company will effect this through placing new stock shares equivalent to almost 10 percent of its existing capital.
According to him, Tullow is ready to refinance existing debt facilities and expand them further from $1.4 billion currently to around $2 billion by next month.
Mr Heavey added that the share placing is not a condition for the refinancing exercise to be embarked upon.
A trading statement of the company also revealed it had abandoned the planned $435million sale of its 11 percent stake in the M’Boundi field in the Republic of Congo to the Korea National Oil Company.
Also it noted it was writing off about £235million mostly for reductions in the value of assets in countries such as Mauritania and Tanzania.
The placing of 66.9 million shares was set at 600p a share and this has received wide support from Tullow’s shareholders.
Tullow’s largest investors include BlackRock, M&G, Legal & General, Standard Life and Threadneedle Asset Management. Its brokers are RBS and Merrill Lynch.
It would be recalled that a day after President John Evans Atta-Mills’ inauguration, Tullow Oil announced it has found more oil at its Mahogany-3 well under the Jubilee field.
It further indicated that the results had raised its expectations for the field, although it did not specify new reserves estimates.
At least one billion barrels of high grade oil are expected to be drilled from an offshore rig the company has contracted for a period of five years and by the latter part of next year, Tullow hopes to start producing oil.
Komos Energy, a giant in the exploration of oil in Ghana, has disclosed that Ghana would hit the world oil map by 2010 when it starts drilling about 120 million barrels of oil a day.
It also disclosed that more reservoir under the Jubilee Field had been discovered which when drilled could give Ghana about 2.5 billion barrels a day.
A delegation from Kosmos Energy led by James Musslema, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) yesterday called on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle in Accra to congratulate him for his election and also to give him up-to-date report on their exploration.
The CEO described President Mills triumph and the success of the elections as a testimony for growth in democracy on the African continent and the world at large.
Mr. Musslema informed President Mills of his intention of regularly visiting him to brief him of any development in the oil exploration industry.
For his part, Prof. Mills commended Kosmos Energy for their discovery and hard work.
He called for a well coordinated effort from the government and the oil company to ensure the full benefit of the oil.
President Mills reminded the oil exploration firm of the need to develop their areas of operations and providing jobs for the people in the area.
He also urged Kosmos Energy to work within the confines of the laws of the country, pledging his support to the company to ensure that they work to the benefit of Ghanaians.
The crude oil was discovered after years of exploration at the Cape Three Point area in the Western Region of Ghana.
Kosmos Energy, a UK oil and gas exploration company made the discovery in June 2007.
The company obtained an exploratory license in 2003 and has been conducting exploration works for some time now.
meanwhile Tullow Oil Plc.the second company after Kosmos to announce the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in Ghana last year has indicated it intends to raise about £400 million to strengthen its balance sheet and fast track the development of major oil finds in Ghana and Uganda.
Chief Executive Aidan Heavey, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the oil exploration and production company will effect this through placing new stock shares equivalent to almost 10 percent of its existing capital.
According to him, Tullow is ready to refinance existing debt facilities and expand them further from $1.4 billion currently to around $2 billion by next month.
Mr Heavey added that the share placing is not a condition for the refinancing exercise to be embarked upon.
A trading statement of the company also revealed it had abandoned the planned $435million sale of its 11 percent stake in the M’Boundi field in the Republic of Congo to the Korea National Oil Company.
Also it noted it was writing off about £235million mostly for reductions in the value of assets in countries such as Mauritania and Tanzania.
The placing of 66.9 million shares was set at 600p a share and this has received wide support from Tullow’s shareholders.
Tullow’s largest investors include BlackRock, M&G, Legal & General, Standard Life and Threadneedle Asset Management. Its brokers are RBS and Merrill Lynch.
It would be recalled that a day after President John Evans Atta-Mills’ inauguration, Tullow Oil announced it has found more oil at its Mahogany-3 well under the Jubilee field.
It further indicated that the results had raised its expectations for the field, although it did not specify new reserves estimates.
At least one billion barrels of high grade oil are expected to be drilled from an offshore rig the company has contracted for a period of five years and by the latter part of next year, Tullow hopes to start producing oil.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Ghana's Depleting Natural Resourse
Depletion of Ghana's Natural Resources Alarming
10 per cent of the Ghana's Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is lost annually through annually through unsustainable management of natural resources.
Though the country is well endowed with natural resources, Gold, and timber, Ghana has twice the per ca pita output of the poorer countries in West Africa and remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange.
Much of the country's economic activities and the livelihood of the people depend on the country's natural resources but a study has indicated that it is being depleted at an alarming rate.
many concerns have been expressed with experts and stakeholders expressing diverse views on how to sustain Ghana's resource.
civil society organisations (CSO) have also been called upon to partner government to find lasting solution to the challenges that confront the conservation and sustainability of the natural resources.
An official of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) which sponsored the study on the cost of environmental degradation thinks strengthening environmental environmental governance is fundamental to ensuring that a greater benefit is derived from Ghana's natural resources.
How will this be done? he is queried and he states that a more efficient utilisation of natural resources, better collection of revenue and a greater equity in the distribution of the benefits from resource exploitation would safe the nation a great deal.
Nana Juabeng-Boateng Sireboe who is the Chief Director at the MoFEP also mentioned that it would require better regulation and management.
Institutions like the Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission and the Mines Commission have been tasked to undertake Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (NREG) and members of these institutions held a civil society consultative Forum on Tuesday January 19, 2009.
The NREG which started in 2008 and has its first phase expiring by 2012 focuses on key aspects of governance reforms in forestry, mining and environmental management. it is also to ensure improved environmental governance , reduce poverty and contribute to sustainable economic growth.
At the forum, the participants who were mostly stakeholders involved in the natural resource and environmental industry indicated how they could facilitate new research and advocacy initiatives for the achievement of NREG priorities and progress.
Lidi Remmelzwaal, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana announced that her country is providing 1.6 million pounds as its contribution towards the creation of a Multi Donor funded civil society facility that would assist building capacity of CSO.
" no institution can solve the environmental degradation problem alone," she said and called for a common approach and a combined effort by all stakeholders " for the good of the Ghanaian society."
10 per cent of the Ghana's Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is lost annually through annually through unsustainable management of natural resources.
Though the country is well endowed with natural resources, Gold, and timber, Ghana has twice the per ca pita output of the poorer countries in West Africa and remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange.
Much of the country's economic activities and the livelihood of the people depend on the country's natural resources but a study has indicated that it is being depleted at an alarming rate.
many concerns have been expressed with experts and stakeholders expressing diverse views on how to sustain Ghana's resource.
civil society organisations (CSO) have also been called upon to partner government to find lasting solution to the challenges that confront the conservation and sustainability of the natural resources.
An official of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) which sponsored the study on the cost of environmental degradation thinks strengthening environmental environmental governance is fundamental to ensuring that a greater benefit is derived from Ghana's natural resources.
How will this be done? he is queried and he states that a more efficient utilisation of natural resources, better collection of revenue and a greater equity in the distribution of the benefits from resource exploitation would safe the nation a great deal.
Nana Juabeng-Boateng Sireboe who is the Chief Director at the MoFEP also mentioned that it would require better regulation and management.
Institutions like the Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission and the Mines Commission have been tasked to undertake Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (NREG) and members of these institutions held a civil society consultative Forum on Tuesday January 19, 2009.
The NREG which started in 2008 and has its first phase expiring by 2012 focuses on key aspects of governance reforms in forestry, mining and environmental management. it is also to ensure improved environmental governance , reduce poverty and contribute to sustainable economic growth.
At the forum, the participants who were mostly stakeholders involved in the natural resource and environmental industry indicated how they could facilitate new research and advocacy initiatives for the achievement of NREG priorities and progress.
Lidi Remmelzwaal, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana announced that her country is providing 1.6 million pounds as its contribution towards the creation of a Multi Donor funded civil society facility that would assist building capacity of CSO.
" no institution can solve the environmental degradation problem alone," she said and called for a common approach and a combined effort by all stakeholders " for the good of the Ghanaian society."
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