List of Major Agricultural Domainsand Selected Statistics - IndicatorsCountrySTAT

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AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR NATIONAL AND SUB-NATIONAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURE STATISTICS

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FACILITATES SHARING AMONG DATA OWNERS

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A monthly newsletter of CountrySTAT Ghana

Editor: Assistant Editor:Contributors:

Emmanuel Kpakpo BrownEmmanuel Kpeglah

Francis Dzah Rochester Appiah Kusi

Editorial Team28 February roadMinistries enclaveP. O. Box 1098, Accra, GhanaTel: +233 0244 976646/0208760070E-mail: emmanuel.Brown@statsghana.gov.gh/ kpemal@yahoo.com

Issue 3 May - June, 2010

Hunger is hurting. Those who undergo the ordeals of starvation could testify in dramatic terms how famine could aggressively weaken the body; break its immune system to the point of death.

Hunger could make people rebellious as in Shakespeare's Coriolanus, where citizens of Antium raised staves, clubs and cudgels against Caius Martius to kill him and have corn at their own price. Burdened by emotion the First Citizen declared "For the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge."

The devastations of hunger are deadly and an attempt to avoid hunger is a passion for government, communities and ordinary individuals. The avoidance of hunger among the peopleof Ga led to the institutionalization of the Homowo festival to hoot and jeer at hunger in August each year. This annual ritual started at a time of intense hunger as a result of the lack of statistical framework and apply information systems for seasonal rains the crops needed. analysis and policy-making designed in order to organize,

When the rains recommenced the festival was integrate and disseminate statistical data and metadata on institutionalized to remind them of those difficult days of food and agriculture. It is expected that with the activities of famine and efforts to guard against it. Several communities in Country-STAT Ghana, the food security situation will Ghana including the Ho Asogli state in the Volta Region substantially improve in terms of quality, accessibility, celebrate the Yam festival to hoot at hunger and to thank the relevance and reliability.heavens for releasing the rains in appropriate quantities and As a brain child of the United Nations Food and earth for fertility of the soil. Agriculture Organisation (FAO), CountrySTAT Ghana will

Such festivals are packed with abundant activities: a harmonize national data for analysis and policy making. It also report from Nigeria has it that women dig up the yams and involves the use of meta-data (data about the data). It carry them home. Everyone is proud of the harvest and wants describes and documents the statistical data. It facilitates to be the family with the largest crop. This is a healthy sharing, querying, understanding and use of the data over its competition among the peasant farmers to produce more and lifetime. It indicates the quality of data and helps transform avert the catastrophes of food shortage for their families and data into usable information.the community. Metadata is ever-present in the processes of producing

Villagers come together as the women and young girls and interpreting statistics. Thus, the CountrySTAT system prepare the feast, with the yams as prized food. requires the preparation and publication of good metadata. Today, the system that arguably jeers at hunger the loudest is The databases in the CountrySTAT Ghana are organized under CountrySTAT Ghana. It is now thesentinel, a modern way of not two major groups: CountrySTAT Core and CountrySTAT Sub-only hooting at hunger but also providing whistle blowing national. The core data consists of national data shared with statistical information to crash hunger by all purposes and FAOSTAT database. These arrangements of CountrySTAT Core intent. and Sub-national data provide end-users with the possibility of

Launched in Ghana in 2009, CountrySTAT provide the navigating through the databases from either geographic or thematic paths.

ContrySTAT Ghana - The Contemporary Hub of Agriculture Statistics Information

EASY TO USE AND UPGRADE

AFFORDABLE

A SOUND BASIS FOR POLICY CALCULATIONS

FACILITATES SHARING AMONG DATA OWNERS

Ghana

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.

making investments in agriculture more appealing to farmers. Farmers have no incentive to grow more food if they do not have a market for their surplus."

Agriculture is the main engine of economic growth in Ghana, and smallholder farmers represent 80 percent of farm production. AGRA is working to improve smallholder farming in Ghana through programs and partnerships that focus on improving farmers’ access to good seed, fertilizer and sus-tainable farming practices, while increasing farmers' access to credit, crop storage and markets.

The northern region, which represents 41 percent of Ghana's total land area, has been identified by the Government of Ghana and AGRA as a breadbasket area because of the region's high production potential for staple

Farmers in Northern Ghana food crops such as rice, maize, sorghum and soybeans and program aimed to increase their earning potential. The large rural farming populations. Yet the north is also the program, launched by the Alliance for a Green Revolution poorest region, with nearly two-thirds of the population in Africa (AGRA) and the International Centre for Soil living in poverty.Fertility (IFDC), will create more sustainable markets where Agricultural development projects traditionally focus farmers can sell their produce for a profit. on crop productivity issues such as increasing the use of

The three-year project will focus on easing the flow improved seeds and fertilizers and new farming methods.of produce from farms in Ghana's Northern, Upper East and "Very few projects address the need to ensure that the Upper West regions to commercial buyers and processors of increased production finds its way to the markets without maize, rice, sorghum and soybean in Ghana. As lead imple- adverse effects on prices and incomes of farmers and other menter, IFDC will build alliances with local partners to stakeholders in the value chain," said Mbaabu.provide farmers with skills to improve their farm produc- In Ghana, recent efforts by the private sector, tivity and business and marketing services to ensure donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and relief sustainable supplies of high-quality produce for industrial agencies are now working to address the marketing issues.buyers. In 2005, the Association of Church Development

"The project will directly benefit smallholder Projects (ACDEP) helped create the Savanna Farmers farmers, buyers and consumers," said Kofi Debrah of IFDC. Marketing Company Ltd (SFMC), whose principal objective is "By linking with buyers before production, farmers can be to pool participating farmers’ produce of such crops as assured of regular farm incomes. Traders, processors and sorghum, groundnut, soybeans and cashews for large large retailers will also benefit because they will be able to industrial buyers. Between 2005 and 2008, SFMC supported obtain reliable and regular supplies of quality produce." approximately 5,000 smallholder farmers in the three During the project, AGRA and IFDC will partner with several northern regions of Ghana to sell a total of 4,307 metric tons local organizations to strengthen capacity of farmer (mt) of sorghum, soybeans, cashews and shea-butter, valued organizations. The aggregating organizations will serve as an at GHC 1,672,920 (US $1,394,100).intermediary between farmer groups and buyers at the top "By focusing on breadbasket areas, Ghana has the of the supply chain. These include the Savanna Farmers' potential to transform its smallholder farming into a Marketing Company, Ltd (SFMC), a farmer-owned marketing profitable and sustainable enterprise," said Namanga company with a network of 8000 farmers, OFRAM Ngongi, president of AGRA.Enterprises and nearly 50 community women's rice "Strong partnerships and strategic planning that processing groups bring improved seeds, access to finance and farm in the region. management skills to farmers could increase yields

"Many Ghanaian farmers lack access to reliable significantly," said Ngongi. "If you couple these productivity markets where they can sell their produce at a profit," improvements with greater market access for farmers, said Anne Mbaabu, director of AGRA's Market Access Ghana could transform itself into an exporter of a crop like Program. rice, and free up US$500 million now spent on imports." "This makes farming an unattractive investment for most farmers. Functional markets are absolutely essential to

will benefit from a new

Farmers in Northern Ghana to Benefit from AGRA & IFDC Programme

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Continued from page 1

getting stuck in the mud, it will be best finding a different route," said a farmer to his colleagues on phone. The statement fully strayed into my ears. I grieved in my lungs.Bad road is a jinx that plunges the farmer's efforts into the ditch. The truck in question was loaded with tubers of yam but got buried in the mire preventing the yam from reaching the Dambai market and for that matter Agbogbloshie market in Accra.

The product of countrySTAT is not only relevant to the This phenomenon which confronts the farmer policy makers but also to the peasant farmer in its yearly marked the genesis and the cradle of his poverty minutest details. making it difficult for him to get successors in his trade. This will help farmers regulate their farming Cell phone revolution could open the bowels of activities and plan ahead. They need to apply themselves CountrySTAT to the farmer to dissect. However, without well to the rubrics of agrochemicals application - serious improvement in the road network to convey insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers the over use of which produce to where they are most needed, CountrySTAT could degrade the soil and create health threats. How will just sound as an earsplitting cymbal that will signify could a farmer access information to increase produce? nothing.Cell phone revolution will be incredibly helpful. The handsome fertilizer policy which puts Currently in Ghana, most towns and villages make use of fertilizer currently at a cost of GHC26 for 50kg bag ofcell phone including the peasant farmers who used to sell NPK 15-15-15 with government absorbing GHC 26 instead their produce by calling to compare prices at different of the farmer paying for the full cost of GHC 52, will locations. With the help of the mobile phone, farmers are rather be the Achilles' Heel to the farmer's intent of able to link up with their extension officers for commensurable returns on his abundant produce that instructions. Though a great number of the farmers might could accrue from the subsidized manure.not have formal education, a little introduction to the CountrySTAT beckons government and individuals web-pages of CountrySTAT using the mobile phone will to its metadata gates to access transformational help them a great deal since they are used to it. information that could alter the agricultural sector of

Eavesdropping could be a vengeful crime but all Ghana. Just clicks away, navigate to the website of the phone users provide a good platform for people to snoop Ghana Statistical Service or google CountrySTAT and land and get them accused of espionage. "My brother, the on a shoal of agricultural data that will quench your thirst road from Kparekpare to Dambai is very bad; cars are for credible information.

Ghana. Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of Ghana Women farmers dominate post-harvest management in Trades Union Congress, (GTUC) said women constitute Ghana, according to a research by Ghana Agricultural about 50 per cent of active labour force in the agricultural Union Workers (GAWU) assisted by the Canadian sector, which indicated an equal gender representation in International Development Agency (CIDA). the sector. He said food producers, and particularly

It said women considered destruction by rodents women's roles, in the sector were further challenged by and birds of produce during drying as the most important their inability to access productive resources including post-harvest challenge while men thought spoilage during fertile land, labour and inputs for their farming activities, transportation was the most important post-harvest thereby threatening national and household food security. challenge. He noted that developing the agriculture sector

The research recommended that women should was, therefore, critical for poverty reduction.be encouraged to participate in discussions on issues Mr Asamoah explained that the sector also contributed concerning post-harvest management; while policies on immensely to ensuring food security and provided post-harvest management should incorporate gender incomes to majority of Ghanaians, especially the rural roles and needs into agricultural training programmes population. He said GTUC and its support partners were offered to extension workers to minimise losses, working with men and women in at least five rural especially to women. communities in each district to promote economic

It said more women were involved in food crop empowerment of rural women through various post-production and post-harvest management of crops, harvest losses control measures. making agriculture a critical sector for women in Ghana; and, therefore, called for special initiatives for women processors, traders and increase in women extension workers, especially in areas where cultural practices prevented men from communicating directly with women.

The research was released at a sensitisation seminar organised for the media on post-harvest management of food crops and women empowerment in

Women Farmers Dominate Post-harvest Management in Ghana