Research for Development (R4D) platform facilitation and climate change sensitization in Africa RISING Ghana sites

United States Agency for International Developmen

Africa RISING scaling opportunities and partners - Ghana

United States Agency for International Developmen

Evaluation of mineral status in feed resources and effects of supplementation to farm animals in northern Ghana

A survey was conducted on the mineral concentration of available feed resources at three locations in the northern Guinea Savannah Zone between 1992 and 1997. The feeds were categorized into cereal crop residues, legume crop residues, grass forages, legume forages, and legume browse and agro-industrial by-products. Experimentscarried out involved balanced groups (age, sex and breed) of sheep using some of such forages and with or without access to commercial mineral licks. The animals were monitored for any changes in their live weightperformance. Dry matter (DM) intake by sheep of supplementary fed rice straw was also determined. Average concentration of calcium (Ca) in the feed samples surveyed was highest in the browse forages (1.21%) andlegume forages (1.13%). The lowest was recorded for the agroindustrialby-product (0.20%). However, phosphorus (P) was highest (1.6%) in the browse forages compared to that recorded in the cereal crop residues(0.06%). Copper (Cu) levels of 2.57, 7.1, and 7.6 mg kg-1 DM were observed for cereal forages, legume crop residues, legume forages and browse forages, respectively. The cereal crop residues contained 40.7 mg kg-1 of zinc (Zn) compared to 24.33 mg kg-1 in the browse forages.Manganese (Mn) concentration was 97.5, 143.3, 163.7, 231.4, 271.2, and 314.4 mg kg-1 DM for agro-industrial by-products, browse forages, grass forages, legume crop residues, forage legumes, and cereal crop residues in that order. Sheep exposed to commercial mineral lick consumed 4.7-8.0 g head-1 day-1. However, total supplementary rice straw intake was 7.0 per cent lower in animals on mineral lick. Sheep in the study generallyconsumed 13.5 per cent more of straw in the dry season (November-February) compared to the wet season (July -October). Sheep on natural grazing in the dry season and supplemented with rice straw with or without mineral lick gained 65.5 and 63.7 g head-1 day-1, respectively. Asignificantly (P< 0.001) lower daily gain of 26.7 g head-1 was recorded for sheep grazing natural pasture without any form of supplementation

National Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan of Ghana (2016-2020)

The policy document – National Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan of Ghana (2016-2020) – provides the implementation framework for an effective development of climate-smart agriculture in the ground. It formulates specific strategies that will contribute developing climate-resilient agriculture and food systems for all agro-ecological zones, as well as the human resource capacity required for a climate-resilient agriculture promotion in Ghana. The action plan is therefore an effort to translate to the ground level the broad national goals and objectives in climate-smart agriculture. Its development has been made possible through the active engagement of various public and private institutions and organizations in Ghana. The methodology comprised desk research, data collection through interviews and participatory workshops and small group meetings. A review of relevant agricultural policy documents such as the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP), the METASIP and the Agriculture Sustainable Land Management Strategy and Action Plan was done to analyse the current national agricultural policy environment. Participatory workshops were organized to bring representatives of stakeholder organizations together to discuss various components of the action plans and prepare inputs. These stakeholder consultation workshops were used to carry out prioritization of the action areas by the agro-ecological groupings. The stakeholders included farmers, small-scale agro-entrepreneurs, women groups and local government authorities. In addition, a validation workshop was held to provide a platform for a final discussion of the draft Action Plan with key stakeholders. It brought together representatives from the relevant ministries and public institutions including MoFA, MESTI, NDPC, private sector entities and farmer-based organizations. The Action Plan defined implementation programmes in the respective agro- ecological zones and in the various districts. Activities defined in the action plan have been developed on the premise that the eight programme areas of the Agriculture and Food Security focus area of the NCCP, provide a useful framework for detailing the specific activities and their corresponding implementing agencies. Other key components discussed the cross-cutting issues in the implementation of the plan and the monitoring and evaluation system. What remains crucial now is the allocation of resources to effectively implement the plan. In this regards, the lessons from the prioritization of the action areas by the stakeholders are instructive. Each of the three agro-ecological zones has action areas of emphasis. However, the development and promotion of climate-resilient cropping systems is important for all three zones and national efforts to focus on this since it is at the foundation of food security. More specifically, for the Savannah Zone, water conservation and irrigation systems are critical. For the Transition Zone, the development of livestock production system is important whilst for the Forest Zone, capacity development is a priority. The key message from the prioritization is that, it guides the formulation of the location-specific activities to address climate change and therefore engenders effective allocation of national resources. What needs to be underscored is the fact that, it is not the formulation of plans that creates impact. It is the dedicated implementation and commitment to the ideals and principles undergirding the plans that bring results. The earnest hope is to have commitment manifested with this national action plan

A comparison of six treatments for controlling mortality of keets in the wet season of the Northern Region of Ghana

AbstractA study was conducted to assess ways of controlling guinea keet mortality in the wet season in the Northern Region of Ghana. Seven hundred and twenty day-old local guinea keets were randomly assigned to six treatments namely, antibiotics &amp; standard diet (AS), dewormer and standard diet (DS), antibiotics, dewormer and standard diet (ADS), antibiotics and by-product diet (ABp), dewormer and by-product diet (DBp) and antibiotics, dewormer and by-product diet (ADBp), and monitored for up to 8 weeks. Statistical Analytical System 9.3 was used to analyse the data as a general linear model. Mean keet mortality was 12.6 per cent. ABp recorded the lowest mortalities (6.6%) and ADBp recorded the highest mortalities (15.7%). However, the differences were not statistically significant. Average feed intake per keet for the 8 weeks was 1.91 kg, and the corresponding mean growth rate was 7.4 g day-1. An average profit of 11 US cents was realised on each keet sold with treatment AS recording the highest profit of 21 US cents per keet sold, and ADS recording the lowest profit of -0.08 US cents per keet sold. Treatments AS and ABp were the most preferred for brooding in the wet season because they gave the highest benefits

Assessment of climate change policy and institutional context: The case of Ghana

Mainstreaming climate change strategies on the basis of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) into agricultural food security policies demands multi-dimensional approaches. In sub-Saharan Africa, the demand is made more complex by the socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, unstable markets, limited opportunities for employment and livelihoods. Mainstreaming therefore has to be done on the basis of informed strategies formulated on comprehensive studies. This study was conducted to inform the strategies for science-based and climate-smart agriculture in Ghana, especially with reference to the policy and institutional framework. The methodology comprised desk research of policy documents and related publications and Key Informant Interviews (KII). The study was based on the CCAFS Platform areas in Upper West Region. The research shows that though some efforts were made in the specific case of the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), inclusion in the process did not reach the grassroots. Thus there were weaknesses in harnessing societal grassroots’ inputs for the policy formulation process. Still the policy has been well formulated and successfully launched. However, there is lack of awareness and knowledge about the policy especially in the decentralized levels of society in the districts and policy literacy is very low. The situation poses a challenge to effective implementation of the NCCP. To address some of the key challenges identified, it is vital to strengthen the vertical and horizontal channels of policy communication. The communication from the national sources to the districts must be improved through more frequent interaction. In the regions and districts, horizontal communication to reach out to all stakeholders can be greatly facilitated by the use of the electronic media

Evaluating the utilisation of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices among smallholder farmers in The Lawra, Jirapa and Nandom districts of Ghana

Climate change is posing threat to agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is proposed to solve climate change impacts on agriculture. Smallholder farmers are adopting various strategies to be resilient to climate change effects. Empirical research is required to evaluate CSA utilisation in Ghana. Lawra, Jirapa and Nandom districts in the climate-risk areas of Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone were chosen and Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) tools were used. Farm budget analysis and market price methods were employed; key financial decision-making tools were net returns, profit margins and benefit-cost ratio. Soft systems content analysis, frequencies, means, ranking and data aggregation were employed to generate results. CSA use in the study districts was smallholder driven and male dominated. CSA was mainly used for staples including cereals and legumes and small ruminants under livestock. Crop-livestock integration and crop rotation were the common CSA practices with the highest costs (GH¢6,370.00) and highest revenues (GH¢9,460.00) respectively. Utilisation of CSA in the districts is beneficial and investments are profitable and financially viable. All actors and stakeholders must join forces to promote CSA in the districts. Rigorous promotional campaigns, capacity building and funding at all levels are crucial for CSA adoption in Ghana

Science-policy interfaces for sustainable climate-smart agriculture uptake: lessons learnt from national science-policy dialogue platforms in West Africa

Connecting science with policy has always been challenging for both scientists and policymakers. In Ghana, Mali and Senegal, multi-stakeholder national science-policy dialogue platforms on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) were setup to use scientific evidence to create awareness of climate change impacts on agriculture and advocate for the mainstreaming of climate change and CSA into agricultural development plans. Based on the platforms’ operations and achievements, we used semi-structured questionnaire interviews and reviewed technical reports produced by the platforms to analyse how their modes of operation and achievements improve understanding of the science-policy interfaces between agricultural and climate change decision making. Results showed that these platforms constitute an innovative approach to effectively engaging decision-makers and sustainably mainstreaming climate change into development plans. Effective science-policy interaction requires: (a) institutionalizing dialogue platforms by embedding them within national institutions, which improves their credibility, relevance and legitimacy among policymakers; (b) two-way communication, which contributes substantially to the co-development of solutions that address climate change vulnerabilities and impacts; and (c) relevant communication products and packaging of evidence that aligns with country priorities, which facilitates its uptake in policy-making processes. We conclude with a framework of sustainable operation for such platforms based on lessons learnt in the three countries