NEWS IN GHANA

A center of excellence for research and training to link climate change with biodiversity and biotic stresses was launched this week in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) campus in the Republic of Benin. This follows a major conference on Biotic stresses, climate change and agricultural production in Cotonou, Bénin, held on 5-7 May.      The Center, which comes under the auspices of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) has IITA, the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Bénin (INRAB), AfricaRice, Bioversity, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), and the University of Abomey Calavi (UAC) as partners but is also open to other national agricultural research systems in the West and Central African bloc.      The Center was inaugurated by the Republic of Bénin’s Minister of Agriculture, Madame Fatouma Amadou Djibril; COR...

Drs Dashiel,Sanginga and Mr. Ulvmoen The Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Dr Nteranya Sanginga has called on Governments to make use of the potential in agriculture to create wealth and jobs. In his address delivered to stakeholders at the Oyo State Economic Summit, Dr Sanginga said there were opportunities for the youth to start small businesses in seed production, input supply, weed control, and processing, among others. Represented by Dr Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General for Partnerships & Capacity Development, Dr Sanginga further explained that the youth could also be farmers and use modern methods that reduce the labor required, raise   yields, and increase income. Citing the example of the IITA Youth Agripreneurs model, Dr Sanginga said that there was the need to change the mindset of the youth. He explained that the Youth Agripreneurs project – the first of its kind in the CGIAR—engages young people ...

H.E. Mr. Hans Docter delivering a speech during the launch The program dubbed “GhanaVeg on the theme: Investing in Ghana’s Vegetable Boom” is an initiative of the Netherlands Government and the Ghanaian counterparts which seeks to commercialize vegetable production in Ghana has been launched at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra on the 8 th April, 2014 The four million Euros program which runs for three years is geared towards helping farmers produce quality and healthy vegetables from Ghana through new improved methods. Speaking during a press conference to launch the program, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana His Excellency Mr. Hans Docter emphasized the changing relations between the Netherlands and Ghana. In his speech he noted Ghana’s economy is growing rapidly and has already reached lower middle income status  “We are moving away from a traditional aid relationship, towards a regular trade partner” he said. The GhanaVeg program is a case in point for ...

Margaret Appiah PHD reseacher interacting with the media The Regional Institute of Population Studies, University of Ghana in attempt to improve awareness on addressing the challenges of climate change which has become a global phenomenon bedeviling Africa for that matter Ghana has initiated a project aimed at creating awareness on the climate change and its negative impact on the country. The initiative according to the Director for RIPS Samuel Nii Codjoe has benefited over 70 pupils drawn from three schools within Agbogbloshie, James Town and Usher Town, which includes the Adedeinkpo Primary School in James Town, Richard Akwei Memorial School in Agbogbloshie and St. Mary’s Anglican Primary School in Ussher Town who underwent one month awareness training on climate change made up of the three selected fishing communities tipped as beneficiary communities under the project. In a speech delivered by Prof. John Anarfi on behalf of the RIPS director, during a climate change durb...

"Police on Tuesday 18 th March, 2014 retrieved chopped body parts of a woman allegedly murdered last year by her fetish priest husband in a bush near the scene of the murder at Laklevikope, near Denu in the Volta Region. The dry body parts which were found in a sack were however without the head. The victim was Agbodugbe Alorwoyi, a trader, 46 and a mother of four. In the company of the police for the collection was Hunor Tsani Baniba, 42, alias Togbi Agbogada Gidzi, victim's husband and main suspect. He is now in police custody in Ho, alongside three others. Thousands of people, who thronged the area to observe the collection of the parts, booed at the suspect. A police source said the suspect admitted cutting the body into pieces for easy preservation for use in future rituals. He however maintained that the head of the murdered woman was buried elsewhere, in a room, and an idol erected at the spot to erase suspicion. Baniba's accomplices are Zikpi Agbahode, ...

Airtel Ghana the leading telecommunications network in Mobile Banking has up-graded and expanded its mobile money platform by making it simpler for its customers to transact business. Launching the  platform in Accra, the CEO of Airtel Ghana Philip Sowah stated Ghanaians live in a world where time is becoming an essential commodity and people  spend long hours in queues just to access goods and services, make payments or in traffic trying to move from one place to another. All these he believes is done at the expense of productivity and stress on the body. In his speech, he noted since the introduction of Airtel Money on the Ghanaian market, Airtel customers have enjoyed a variety of services nevertheless Airtel kept expanding the eco-system by working with numerous partners to bring convenience to the doorstep of consumers. “As the leader in mobile banking our platform allows customers to transfer money from their bank accounts to their mWallets and vice versa, ...

The Allied Atlantic Distilleries Limited (AADL), Africa’s biggest maker of ethanol from cassava, says improved varieties and best-bet agronomic practices in the production of cassava, which it obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and passed on to farmers have almost doubled the yield of the root crop, making it possible for farmers to supply more of this raw material to the industry than earlier expected. Commissioned on 30 January (Thursday) in Lasada, Igbese community in Ogun State, the ethanol factory will produce 9 million liters per annum of extra neutral alcohol, requiring approximately 250 tons of cassava per day. Already over 8,000 farmers located within 70-km radius of Igbesa covering Ogun and Oyo states, southwest Nigeria, have been engaged and the factory is providing more than 40,000 indirect jobs to people in the area, Mr Ola Rosiji, Chairman of AADL said.  “With the support of IITA, our farmers have doubled their yields fro...