Women and youth-led agri-enterprises (WYE) (which may also be operating as family businesses) in agricultural value chains have been identified as catalysts for rural transformation given their potential for creating employment and stimulating value addition both on and off-farm. Given that agriculture and food systems are likely to remain the...

Mike Abaka-Edu, President of the Western Region branch of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC), makes a compelling case for banning ‘saiko’ fishing in this interview with Peter Adjei, a Member of ICSF. The Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) was formed in 1982 with the objective of promoting the...

The impact of COVID 19 on food security in Africa has been among the most widely discussed subjects since the first cases of COVID-19 in Africa broke in February 2020. Most of the narratives were alarming. The headlines put Africa at the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis caused by...

This practice describes a local innovation used by a local farmer to address the major constraints in the production of mango in Ghana, such as low productivity resulting in high cost of production, inadequate control of insect pests and diseases, poor post-harvest management relating to the handling, grading and packaging,...

It’s a simple matter to play a soundtrack about farming on the radio. The tricky part is making sure that the program connects with the audience, as I learned recently from Gideon Kwame Sarkodie Osei at ADARS FM, a commercial station in Kintampo, a town in central Ghana.

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit was designed to create a path towards transforming the global food system so that it feeds the world sustainably, equitably, and inclusively. Small-scale farmers and other rural people must play an essential role in doing that. They are the backbone of the global...

Ghana signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union in 2009, as part of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan to address illegal logging.     In this context, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme partnered with Kumasi Wood Cluster (KWC) through two consecutive projects to assist Small...

Ghana’s work to promote the legal timber trade, in partnership with the European Union (EU), strongly emphasizes involving local communities who live in or near forests. Yet many farmers and communities don’t understand their rights, which means that illegal activity by loggers has gone unchecked in Ghana’s off-reserve forests. The...

In March 2020, a regional inception workshop was held in Ghana a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) entitled Enhancing the contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security and sustainable livelihoods through better policies, strategies and...

Half of the 1.5 billion people globally who rely on forest landscapes for subsistence and cash income are women. Many see the benefits of participating in various forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs). These include both general community, smallholder farmer and indigenous people’s organisations and more specific women-only groups –...

The solar maize dryer is a construction that dries maize through solar energy. It is a construction that resembles a greenhouse. It takes three days to reduce the moisture content of maize from 24 to 14 percent. Drying maize reduces the risk of mould and aflotoxins and helps farmers to...

The implementation of the SSF Guidelines should be based on human-rights principles and standards, factoring in local conditions. In June 2014, the 31st session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in...

The ahotor oven represents an improvement on the widely used chorkor smoker, and is an energy- and time-efficient fish smoking technology. My recent tours in some coastal communities in the Central, Western and Volta Regions of Ghana exposed me to a daily reality of fishmongers in the region. As part of...

We cannot talk about food sovereignty without mentioning the role of mass markets on which the majority of people depend on their income and food. These markets have demonstrated their relevance during the COVID-19 era by strengthening rural-urban linkages. Mass markets have been the main avenue through which rural people...

Inland fisheries based on lakes and rivers are difficult to assess and data on catch and effort, often from subsistence fisheries, is lacking. Predictive models based on simple and multiple linear regressions enable estimates of fish yield that can be used in planning for management and development in the absence...

In Ghana, increased population pressure and the need to cultivate greater land area have resulted in reduced fallow periods. As a consequence, the restoration of soil fertility is insufficient to allow recovery of secondary forest and rejuvenation of exhausted soils. Fallows are of ecological, economic and social importance to rural...

High-quality cassava flour (HQCF) is an attractive alternative to cassava starch that can form the starting point for a cassava based industry. HQCF production is less capital intensive and requires lower levels of inputs for success, compared to cassava starch. HQCF can be used as an alternative to starch and...

In Ghana, processing of cassava was limited to traditional food products such as gari, kokonte, agbelima and tapioca, and minimal amounts of low-grade starch and starch biscuits. Cassava farmers can improve their livelihoods by expanding the range of market opportunities available for cassava-based products and promoting the use of cassava...

High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) is an attractive alternative to cassava starch that can form the starting point for a cassava-based industry. HQCF production is less capital intensive and requires lower levels of inputs for success, compared to cassava starch. HQCF can be used as an alternative to starch and other...

Rice is economically very important in Ghana and West Africa. The lack of improved rice varieties, particularly upland varieties, is recognized as a constraint. The main purpose of the work reported here was to test and evaluate new drought-and weed-tolerant rice varieties. Farmers use participatory techniques and formal replicated yield...