Day: April 15, 2023

The latest report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reveals that during the month of February, more than 82 civilians were kidnapped by unidentified armed groups in the Logone and Chari divisions of the Far North region.

According to the UN, these people were kidnapped for ransom and this demand highlights the economic motivations and financing needs that would largely underline this phenomenon.

“If several people were released often after the ransom payment, several others would still be in captivity. Young boys and girls were also missing. Sound sources suspect forced recruitment,“ they stated.

They highlighted that activities of non-state armed groups marked by violence and abduction of people continue to create panic in the Mayo Sava, Mayo Tsanaga, and Lagone and Chari divisions of the Far North region as a result of clashes between the non-state armed group fighters and defense and security forces. This has continued to negatively affect the daily lives of the population.

The report noted that at least 83 incidents related to the activities of non-state armed groups and confrontations with defense and security forces have been reported in February within the localities near the Mandara Mountains (Mayo-Sava and Mayo-Tsanaga), as well as those in and around Lake Chad been the most affected.

This marked a sharp increase as compared to 53 incidents accumulated between December 2022 and January 2023.

It also stated that at least least 23 civilians were killed and 24 injured during these incidents, with people’s properties looted and destroyed.

Due to this insecurity, over 1,652 persons have been displaced. “This brings to more than 6,000, the number of internally displaced persons registered in the region since January 2023,” says OCHA.

Globally, the UN noted that 1.6 million people are in need of aid, 385,000 are internally displaced, 47,000 people are refugees in rural areas, 76,000 people are in camps, 138,000 have returned to their villages while 962,000 are targeted in the Far North region.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Regardless of good rain pattern and agriculture yield, the inability to manage farm produce after harvest, including bad storage practices, in most communities affect food adequacy in families and communities.

Farmers, after every harvest, expect fair prices in the market for their produce, so that they can sell some of the produce for cash and store the rest for the future. Therefore, from the small holder farmer to commercial farmers, the phenomenon of good storage to ensure zero post – harvest loss is important.

However, the challenge is that the mode of storage from the homestead, communities, districts and regions and the nation at large calls for improvement if farmers will continue to feed the nation.

Farmers dry produce on the bare floor in a corner, ranging from a kitchen to the top of a roof, and this practice often affects grain quality. If not well done, it brings about insect infestations and mold, among others.

Through the usual drying, de-hulling, shelling, winnowing and transportation of food produce such as rice, beans and maize among others, massive quantities of get lost in the fields.

Effective grain storage therefore with reduced losses contributes towards reducing overall food losses for the small holder farmer and have impact on livelihoods for all.

Government Warehousing Policy

The efforts of the government of Ghana, to handle anticipated food surpluses under the One District, One Warehouse policy is one of the plans to reduce post-harvest losses, reduce food imports and rural migration.

Since the introduction of the policy, many of the warehouses have been left unutilized, and ineffective because of poor management structures.

At the President’s recent state of the nation address, he stated that, ‘To address post-harvest losses some 55 warehouses were built, with 15 more at advanced stages of completion’. The intervention, he said, would add 80,000 metric tonnes to the national grain storage capacity.

One product considered among others in ensuring good storage, is rice. If that is well executed, it will also impact positively on the One District, One Factory objective and reduce import bills which presently stand at US$13.7 billion.

Current Storage Processes

Dr Issah Sugri, a Research specialist at CSIR /Savanna Agricultural Station at Manga in the Bawku Municipality explains that storage at the homestead, are processes that should be taken seriously.

He noted that, after harvest, an aggregator mops the grains from a homestead or a farmer to a small warehouse. Similarly, at the national level, the system needs an aggregator to mop the grains from the farmer to a bigger warehouse for storage or further to either the district, regional or the national level.

According to him, the process of mopping grains for storage is bereft with lots of operational deficiencies, including poor maintenance culture of the warehouses, hence affecting the warehousing system.

‘Farmers especially in Northern parts of the country store their rice in paddy forms, but for purposes of the warehouse policy and implications on food security, the method cannot immediately address emergencies though the policy is a good one.

Dr Issah advised that to respond to food supplies emergencies, paddy rice must be processed and kept in a warehouse so that it could easily be relied on when urgently needed.

‘In Warehousing certain things must make it work: they include the design of warehouse, equipment and key accessories, drying platform, quality assurance system and technical capacity of those managing it need to be ensured.’

Financing

Apart from a receipt system being implemented by some private entities, a farmer’s aspiration is cash for his produce when she or he tends it in. However, financial challenges have bedeviled the current warehousing programme, and this is creating disinterest by most farmers to present their produce to a warehouse.

Before a farmer sends grains to the warehouse, he needs money to solve some personal or family problems. So when that is not available, they find it difficult to send their only source of income for storage somewhere.

Maintenance Culture

The warehouses are at the mercy of the weather and need systems to be put in place to ensure routine maintenance of the facilities. Three years ago, some warehouses in the Upper East Region were ripped up and it has taken a long time to fix them.

There are also more facilities that have not gone into full operation, and this alone justifies that if some food produces were kept there, it would have suffered some depreciation because no technical persons have visited these faulted warehouses to correct the damages.

The technical capacity of managers of the warehouses is absent and some patrons of the facilities have complained that management is left in the hands of assembly members or political party boys and community opinion leaders among others who have no idea or the technical efficiency and know-how in the operations of these facilities.

Role of the National Buffer Stock Company

Interconnectivity between the warehouses and the National Buffer Stock Company, the Ministry of food and Agriculture, research and business processing companies remain wide.

Agricultural Scientists abound in the country with reputable research institutions whose contributions to agriculture cannot be over emphasized and these scientists need to be involved in the design of the facilities, to ensure the facilities are fit for purpose.

There is also a need for a secretariat, to link these farmers to the market. Therefore, leaving out key stakeholders, involving square pegs in round holes could be a way of ruining a good policy.

The weak linkage with the buffer stock company and these warehouses is not good enough and therefore there is the need to relook at it again. It is recommended that the facilities should be an appendage of the National Buffer Stock Company (BSC) and should be addressed as such.

All these warehouses need to relate to the processing companies that will absorb the produce particularly fruits among others, to add value to them and by so doing the youth in rural communities will find jobs in the companies and factories.

Recommendations

The government needs to provide an enabling environment for the policy of one district one factory to work and achieve its stated objectives.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture should be equipped to provide appropriate technologies and good seed to enable farmers produce more and store it well.

The ability to produce, store and add value is the way to go, provision of affordable farm inputs and mechanization services is key if farmers are to improve their performance in agricultural production.

There is the need for a national stakeholder engagement with agricultural researchers in the country to advise on the warehouse policy.

Farmers can produce and store, but as a nation, the processing aspect is weak.

The policy is a good one and so funds should be made available to absorb all grains that reach the warehouse and on time.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Henry Quartey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, has commended the Rotary International District 9102 for its good works and efforts in identifying and implementing initiatives that support government’s developmental agenda.

He said Rotary Clubs had improved the lives of Ghanaians in areas of health, education, sanitation, and economic development.

He said this at the 10th District Assembly and Conference held in Accra on the theme: ‘Beyond Imagination’, to drive the Clubs work to achieve its goals.

He said Rotary Clubs in Ghana took upon themselves the initiative to end polio and on World Polio Day last year they held a three-day walk in Accra and Takoradi to educate people on clean water, hygiene and sanitation practices.

The Clubs, in partnership with the Forestry Commission, embarked on promoting Green Ghana, with over 1,000 trees planted to protect the banks of the Weija Dam, the major water production source that services the more significant population of the capital city of Accra.

‘Protecting the environment with trees to ensure a constant supply of water to households and industrial usage for products is a must for us all,’ he added.

This initiative has direct implications on child and maternal health, disease prevention and control, and poverty eradication for the growth of the Country.

He said Rotarians over the world had united and took action to create lasting change across the globe, in communities and in ourselves to ensure socio-economic well-being of humanity in general.

He said over the years Rotarians had provided humanitarian services across the world by taking actions on the world’s most persistent issues such as promoting peace, provision of clean water, sanitation and hygiene, economic and community development.

He called on Ghanaian Rotarians to rally their support behind the efforts of the government to make the ‘Let’s Make Greater Accra Work’ agenda, which aims at re-orienting the citizenry to understand and participate in the process of making the region function as an engine of growth in an environmentally and socially friendly manner.

He urged all Clubs to take advantage of the major tourist attractions and investments in the Region to visit cultural sites such as the National Museum and W.E.B. Du Bois Centre for Pan-African Culture, beaches and resorts and a Game Production Reserve, the Shai Hills Resource Reserve, close to the capital city.

Mr Victor Yaw Asante, Director Governor of Rotary International District 9102, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the Rotary had seven areas of focus, including basic education, maternal and child health care, environment, peacekeeping and conflict resolution, water and sanitation.

These areas are key factors that contribute towards improving socio-economic development in Ghana.

He said there were 62 rotary clubs in Ghana, which aimed to find issues in rural areas and provide solutions for community members.

He said the Clubs would continue to work for citizens by constructing more social amenities for the betterment of people.

‘As humans living, there would definitely be issues occurring even though we continue to solve them’, so we hope for the better,’ he said.

The focus for this year is to increase impacts by continuing to empower girls not to be seen as inferior and second decision makers, expand women in rotary clubs to 30 per cent and also increase the ability to adapt by focusing on Diversity Equality and Inclusion.

‘This year’s theme should drive us to serve towards a world without polio, a world with clean water for everyone, a world free of disease, a world where every child learns to read and a world full of kindness, hope, love, and peace,’ he said.

Rotary International District 9102 is geared to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

It comprises 14 West African Countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Bawah Ankoh, a scrap dealer, has been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court for stealing five laptops worth GHS36,000.

Ankoh broke into the offices of Synlab Ghana Limited and made away with the five computers, according to prosecutors.

Ankoh was sentenced to 15 months on the charge of unlawful entry and 20 months on the charge of stealing. Sentences will however run concurrently. Ankoh pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah convicted Ankoh on his own plea.

An accomplice, Godwin Nyame, a 47-year-old trader, who dishonestly received the five laptop computers, has been admitted to bail in the sum of GHS70,000 with two sureties.

Nyame denied the charge of dishonestly receiving.

The matter has been adjourned to May 5, 2023.

Prosecution led by Chief Inspector Clement Takyi, said the complainant, name withheld, was an Administrative Manager of Synlab Ghana. Ankoh and Nyame reside at Achimota and Abofu, respectively in Accra.

Prosecution said on or before February 13, 2023, at midnight, Ankoh unlawfully entered the offices of the complainant at Shaishie and stole five Del Laptop computers valued at GHS36,000.

It said during the operation, Ankoh was captured by the CCTV at the offices.

The Prosecution said the complainant reported the matter to the Airport Police.

On March 4, 2023, one Michael Awitor who is alleged to be known for breaking into offices at Airport and its surrounding, was arrested.

The Prosecution said the video of the stealing incident at the complainant’s office was shown to him and he identified Ankoh as the one in the video.

It said the Police through intelligence nabbed Ankoh ‘who is notorious for breaking into people’s residence and sold the booty to second accused person (Nyame) at Vergas Achimota.’

Ankoh led the Police to arrest Nyame. When a search was conducted in Nyame’s room and one MacBook Laptop computer was retrieved, he could not prove ownership.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Kalthum Foundation for Peace ( KFP), a charity organisation, has appealed to armed groups to release the remaining Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu and others that are still in their custody in the spirit of the Holy month of Ramadan.

The Chairperson of KFP, Amb. Ummu Kalthum Rabiu, made the appeal in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

Rabiu also called upon the families of the victims whose wards are now in their 14th year of captivity to keep hope alive and surrender to the will of Allah.

She also called upon the Federal Government of Nigeria to live up to its responsibility of ensuring security of lives and property, especially for innocent school girls.

“We are all witnesses to how governments and opposition armed groups in countries like Chad, Yemen, Niger and Ethiopia have used dialogue and mediation to negotiate for peace and the cessation of hostilities.

“It is against this backdrop that we are pleading with Boko Haram militants, ISWAP, and the federal government of Nigeria to come to the negotiation table and dialogue for peace.

“We call upon the 19 state governments in Northern Nigeria to provide adequate security for schools across their states,” she said.

KFP is a registered charity organisation based in Maiduguri that is in the forefront of using non-kinetic efforts to bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Imam Muh’Qosim Olagunju of Al-Fatiul Quareeb Society of Nigeria on Friday advised the Muslim Community in Mushin, Lagos State, to imbibe the spirit of forgiveness during and beyond the Ramadan period.

The Imam Muh’Qosim Olagunju, delivering a Ramadan lecture on Friday at Imoru Street in Mushin, said that the month of Ramadan was a month of forgiveness.

He said: “The month of Ramadan is a month of forgiveness; We must try to do good at all time and be clean during and after this period.

“Almighty Allah said that there are those whose fasting will be accepted while some will just be wasting their time fasting because Allah will not accept their fasting.

“Most of our wealthy people are sponsoring calls to prayer on electronic media with big money while thousands of people need money to feed themselves

“This act has no value in the sight of almighty Allah,” he said.

He added that wealthy ones must give to the needy.

According to him, for Almighty Allah to forgive us in this holy month, we must see to the well-being of the people around us by providing food and other items for them.

The Imam said that another way of seeking forgiveness in the holy month was to forgive those who did wrong to us.

The cleric said that the three basic things Almighty Allah expected of Muslims in Ramadan included: “The recitation of the holy Quran for those who could read and listen to Islamic lectures for those who could not.

“Other expectations of Allah are cautioning their speeches to ensure sinful words don’t come from their mouths and they must be mindful of what their eyes see.

“The last is the feeding of the needy as being done by the Council Chairman of Odiolowo Ojuwoye LCDA, Mr Rasaq Ajala.

“I call on those who have the resources to ensure they give to the needy because the best way to do good in this Ramadan is to feed those who are hungry,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria