Small growers 'big role' in hunger reduction

Small-scale producers, local production and consumption circuits and recovering traditional crops have a major part to play in reducing hunger, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told professors and students at the University of Gastronomic Sciences recently, also noting the many possibilities of cooperation between FAO and the university to fulfil the vision of a hunger-free and sustainable world.

He said that the Green Revolution of the 1960s had increased per capita availability of food by over 40 percent, but at the cost of a loss of food diversity because of a focus on a few crops and significant impact on the environment from intensive use of chemical inputs.

Italy to support Ghanaian SMEs with €20m

The government of Italy will support Ghanaian Small and Medium and Enterprises (SMEs) with 20 million Euros, under the Ghana Private Sector Development Facility (GPSDF).

The two countries have also pledged to deepen economic ties between them, and to remove all outstanding bottlenecks to ensure rapid disbursement of the amount to beneficiary SMEs.

India to Invest in Ghana Sugar Factory

The Indian government, through the EXIM Bank of India, last year agreed to grant a loan of US$35 million to Ghana to fund the construction of a new sugar factory at Komenda in the Central Region of Ghana.

The project, which is expected to create around 400 jobs as well as benefiting more than 2,000 farmers, is due to commence in July.

Rakinder Bhagat, the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, during a visit to Trade and Industry Minister Haruna Iddrisu in Accra recently said that an initial 30% of the funds would be released as soon as the contract is finalized. Mr. Bhagat said that India was committed to strengthening bilateral relations with Ghana.

Foreigners Confident to Invest in Ghana

Confidence is high among foreign investors looking to invest in Ghana. The country’s economy is showing strong growth, and the number of registered investments grew by 6.42% in the first three quarters of last year, totaling 305 projects valued at $4.97 billion.

VP Calls on Italians to Invest in Ghana

Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, 61, the vice president of Ghana since 2012, last week called on Italian businesses to invest in Ghana, saying that the country’s economic prospects are high.

The economist and politician, who has previously worked as Governor of the Bank of Ghana, made the call as Laura Carpini, the new Italian Ambassador to Ghana visited him at the Flagstaff House in the capital Accra to introduce herself.

Ukraine increases agricultural export by 40%

In 2012, Ukrainian agricultural export increased by nearly 40 percent, reaching USD 17 billion, according to the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Prysyazhnyuk. Additionally, he noted that Ukrainian agricultural industry produces twice as much as is consumed by the domestic market. Comparably, the UK produces only 60 percent of the food consumed in the country.

Ukrainian agricultural export in January – October 2012 included meat, fish, dairy, poultry, vegetables, vegetable oils, sugar, wine, nuts, apples, as well as 6.7 million tons of wheat worth nearly USD 1.8 billion, according toukrstat.gov.ua. Major buyers of Ukrainian agricultural products in 2012 were the EU and CIS countries.

Ghana - a successful African nation

Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains somewhat dependent on international financial and technical assistance as well as the activities of the large number of Ghanaians living and working abroad. Gold, timber, cocoa, diamond, bauxite, and manganese exports are major sources of foreign exchange. An oilfield which is reported to contain up to three billion barrels of light oil was discovered in 2007.This discovery may not only help offset the current high cost of oil imports but may in time generate large revenues for the country.

The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 50% of GDP and employs 85% of the work force, mainly small landholders.

Ghana has made good economic progress under a three-year structural adjustment program in cooperation with the IMF. Ghana remains one of the more economically sound countries in all of Africa.

Agricultural Commodities Looking Strong

Agricultural commodities can be strong in both the short and long run, and are currently being driven by a rash of bad weather. This comes as a stark contrast to the likes of base and precious metals, which are relying heavily on QE3. Corn and soybean prices, as well as other commodities, have spiked due to a record drought, and forecasts look bleak for the remainder of the year. If the drought persists into 2013, supplies will remain strained, and prices could go even higher. The S&P GSCI Agriculture Commodity Index is up 18% year to date.

For fiscal year 2012, the USDA projects U.S. agricultural exports to decline 1% from 2011, and imports to be up as much as 13%; resulting in a decline of 30% in the favorable trade balance in 2012, to $30 billion.

Investing in Agriculture can Help Feed the World

As food prices soar in response to growing demand and crops fail in the US after the worst drought since the 1930s, investing in agriculture, or agribusiness if you want to diversify along the value chain, is becoming more and more popular.

There is plenty of scope for the money to be usefully invested. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, “it is estimated that net investments of $83bn a year must be made in the agriculture sector of developing countries if there is to be enough food to feed the world population of 9.1bn in 2050”.

Agriculture Looking Increasingly Attractive

The global financial markets have experienced significant growth and expansion in recent times, both in terms of total trading volume and the choice of financial instruments available to investors. This evolution cannot be ignored, as it enhances the liquidity of the market while also increasing the subsequent range of risk management products available. 

Despite this influx of new options, however, some long-standing investment opportunities remain enduringly popular among traders. Take agriculture, for example. Agricultural investments are offering an increasingly attractive proposition to investors against the back drop of global warming and significant climate change. In particular, there has been a surge among American farm exports during the last three years, with the outlook forecasted to be even brighter for fiscal year 2013.

Wheat production enjoys growth in 2013

First forecasts for the 2013 wheat harvest point to production increasing to 690 million tonnes - 4.3 percent up on 2012. This would be the second largest crop on record, according to the latest issue of FAO's quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.

EU, FAO support food security in Malawi

EU Commissioner Piebalgs and FAO Director-General Graziano da Silva in high-level visit

5 March 2013, Brussels/Rome/Lilongwe - During a high level visit to Malawi, EU Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, and José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will meet today with President Joyce Banda to discuss the country's challenges on nutrition and food security, and to underline ongoing EU and FAO support in this area.