An academic at the Soil and Irrigation Research Centre, University of Ghana, has made a strong case on the need for the country’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Food Security Action Plan to be revised.

According to Professor Dilys Sefakor MacCarthy, a revised action plan of the CSA will not only aid policy planners and implementers to respond more appropriately and effectively to current climate change concerns alone, but also enable Ghana to be in tune with new commitments to tackling climate change that are being adoptedat the global level.

For example, she said the current action plan developed between 2015/16 and launched in 2017, if revised could mean; “making good use of emerging knowledge or newer information that are relevant to addressing current demands.”

Prof. Dilys MacCarthy said this in an interview with Diamond News on the sidelines of a stakeholders’ consultation on the revision of the Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan, which was held in Tamale.

The two-day consultation attracted officers from the Department of Agriculture, representatives from research and academic institutions, NGO partners, farmers among others from the Savanna agro ecological zone and part of the Transition zone, namely the Bono east and Oti Regions.

Prof. MacCarthy, explained that a intended revised action plan, is to respond to current needs and to capturing the various legs in the existing document, more appropriately.

“So the idea is not to discard the old document, but to afford those at the implementation levels, an opportunity to have their insights and perspectives captured. This is in order to bringing on board, hitherto uncovered areas such as the livestock and animal production among other stakes in the face of changing climate,”Prof MacCarthy stated.

“If you take institutional capacity development and the actions that fall in that leg, it include infrastructure, however this also hasn’t be captured appropriately and a revised document will take care of those needs,” she added.

On his part, an Assistant Director at the Food and Agriculture Ministry (MoFA) in Accra, Gibrilla Ahmed, stressed on the lack of co-ordination between Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) and the Department of Agriculture, which is the main Ministry leading the climate change process in terms of food security.

According to him efforts must be made to bridge the co-ordination gap between CSOs and the Department of Agriculture to avoidingsituations of underreporting of activities. Mr. Ahmed welcome the steps being taken by Policy LINK and MoFA to addressingshortfalls that were working against the current CSA and Food Security Action Plan.

Earlier, the Climate Change Lead at Feed the Future, Policy LINK, Dr. Gerald Forkuor who gave a background to the stakeholder engagement noted that “the climate is changing rapidly,” and the gathering therefore was to help updated documentations that are needed in facilitating climate change actions.

Dr. Forkuor added that the inputs of the stakeholders’ at all levels including the sub national consultations will fit into the expected draft to be tabled before the relevant authorities and actors.

In a related development, the Executive Director, Meta Foundation Dr. David Azupogo, has called for home grown solution and strategies to addressing climate smart agricultural funding, since donors cannot do it all alone.

Dr. Azupogo made the call while contributing at a plenary duringtwo-day Policy LINK, MoFA consultation meeting in Tamale, on the revision of the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Food Security Action Plan.

According to him, the Village Loans and Savings and Associations(VLSA), which is common among rural farmers can be harnessed and structured into an apex body that is well regulated to serving the overall needs of farmers in terms of agri-financing and climate change.

“The VLSA is an alternative resources pool that offers a sustainable and more reliable approach in which we can build our development around. Take for example, local groups of farmers raising between 80,000 to 100,000 cedis within six months to a year from their own investments and the multiplying effects of these on their communities, districts and the nation at large? The Apex VLSAs are needed to bridge the funding gap,” Dr. Azupogo explained.

During the two day workshop facilitated by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Feed the Future, Policy LINK, participants explored the current Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan and implementation status, with reference to its success, challenges, lessons learned and how to improve the action plan to enable the country build resilience towards changing climate and attaining food security.

Story By: Nelson Nyadror Adenuti

CDF Canada and META Foundation, Ghana, are pleased to announce their partnership to mutually support co-op communities in Ghana to promote sustainable agricultural practices and resilience, create awareness and support marginalized communities on natural resource management.  

CDF Canada and META Foundation share a mission to build sustainable and prosper co-op communities.  We will collectively work on projects that will help accelerate agriculture, support sustainable livelihoods, and rural enterprise development. 

Dr. David Azupogo, Director, META Foundation, said, ” In this partnership, we see a synergy that will lead to improved livelihoods and building capacities on sustainable agriculture practices, biodiversity conservation, and climate-smart agriculture.  

At META Foundation, our approach has been facilitating a development process that builds on local knowledge through community engagement, community-based research and community-led advocacy actions, using Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) as a strategy for local resource mobilization and for promoting sustainable community-based cooperatives.” 

Commenting on the collaboration Mr. Benoit Andre, Executive Director, CDF Canada, 
said, “We are looking forward to this partnership. Our experience with coop communities, smallholder farmers, and their work on the ground will help to reach wider communities and strengthen the coop movement in Ghana.  

Through this collaboration, we will participate in joint projects and research initiatives, share best practices and lessons learned, and provide training to co-ops in Ghana.  

A research conducted on “Clean and Sustainable Energy for Agribusiness Development” in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region, has revealed that 55 per cent of the population in the area relied on firewood as source of energy.

The users of firewood as energy include the caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) and the Senior High Schools (SHSs), traditional homes, food vendors, pito brewers and shea butter processors.

The research was conducted by Meta Foundation with funding support from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its donor partners, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Union (EU),

The Programme Manager of the Meta Foundation, Mr David Amozebega, who disseminated the findings at a stakeholder’s forum on Thursday, at Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District, explained that the survey was to find out the awareness level of the existence of clean energy technologies.

He said it was also meant to find out the alternative sources of energy available to the people, challenges in the integration of clean energy technologies, identify stakeholders and duty bearers in promoting the use of clean energy as well as make recommendations for further action.

The research revealed that people were aware of the devastating effects of traditional source of energy on health, crop production and the environment, but do not have access to modern source of energy.

“There is enough legislation at the national level to encourage the production, promotion and usage of renewal energy sources, and their various technologies, but this is not being implemented properly to benefit people at the grassroots, particularly the rural women,” the findings indicated.

It warned that the poor rainfall pattern would continue to decline if pragmatic steps were not taken to check the current spate of firewood harvesting and charcoal production.

The research stated that attempts by the past government to develop and promote the use of clean energy technologies in the area did not yield the needed results.

The findings recommended that government authorities at the local level, particularly the municipal and district assemblies should take steps to integrate the country’s renewal energy action plan into their medium term development plans and policies.

“This can be done by ensuring that government’s policies such as the School Feeding Programme (SFP), free Senior High School (SHS) and Community Nutrition Centres use improved cook stoves or renewal energy”, it stressed.

The findings advocated the need for the Ministry of Health to partner local authorities, traditional rulers and landlords to educate residents on the effects of indoor pollution.

It urged Meta Foundation to collaborate with other civil society organisations and community based organisations to advocate knowledge transfer and the mobilisation of local resources for the fabrication of improved cook stoves at the local level at affordable cost.