Business24 Newspaper 16th October, 2020 by Business24 Online

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

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Fitch backs Ghana’s economy to outperform peers amid Covid C

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

No firm decision on Boeing’s presence in Ghana--Yofi Grant clarifies By Patrick Paintsil p_paintsil@hotmail.com

hief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has said that there is no breakthrough in discussions with the global aircraft maker, Boeing, towards its establishment of an aircraft servicing centre in the country. Cont’d on page 3

PEF proposes tiered tax system for businesses By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com

Demand Will Recover In 2020. Ghana - Contribution To Real GDP Growth, ppts

By Nii Annerquaye Abbey annerquaye@gmail.com

redit rating agency Fitch is backing Ghana’s economy to be the best performer in the sub-Saharan region amidst the severe disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fitch, in its latest macroeconomic forecast update issued in September, predicted that the country’s economy will grow at 1.3 percent this year, which will not only beat government’s 0.9 percent projection but make it the best in the region. “Having experienced a mild

ECONOMIC INDICATORS EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

contraction in the second quarter, the economy is likely to gather pace – as evidenced by recent high-frequency data for Q320 – resulting in GDP growth of 1.3 percent, making Ghana an outperformer in the SSA region,” the agency said. Cont’d on page 2 INTERNATIONAL MARKET

USD$1 =GHC 5.7027

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

POLICY RATE

14.5%

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

11.4% OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

0.9% GHC 5.13

n a bid to encourage voluntary compliance and reduce the cost of tax administration, the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) is proposing the adoption of a tiered tax system for businesses.

CORN $/BUSHEL COCOA $/METRIC TON COFFEE $/POUND:

Cont’d on page 3 Follow us online:

$41.26 2.622 1,922.57 329.50 $2,339.27 $109.65

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NEWS/EDITORIAL Editorial / News

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 14 2020 2020 FRIDAY OCTOBER 16,

EDITORIAL Editorial

Pay before boarding order needs a rethink

Wash your hands 2

Cover your cough 3

Protect smallholder farmers The new directive for all passengers to pay for their griculture provides COVID-19 test online before their arrival arguably at Kotoka the International biggest Airportsource has been meet with of livelihood for resentment by airlines the majority of Ghanaians.and At passengers. the heart of this all-important At a timeiswhen are employer the passengers smallholder still coming to terms with the farmer. US$150 � GHC 900� mandatory Much as country payment forthe COVID-19 testwould upon want see the domination arrivalto at KIA, the new directive of efficient large-scale hashighly generated more debate. industrial these Passengers farming, travelling to Ghana smalholder farmers continue will from Tuesday, September 15 be required to make online to hold the fort and provide for payments for the mandatory the food security of this nation. CO V I D 1 9 t e s t a t K otoka Generally, the typical International Airport prior to smallholder farma boarding offarmer their has flight, too d i rsmall e c t i vtoe enjoy b y meaningful Frontier access capital H e a l tto h Ccheaper a r e � t h cost e c of om pany contracted to carry out from financial institutions. the antigen at KIA--to all airlines While test several initiatives have on Friday has revealed. been executed by both private the n e w d i r e c t i vfor e, andB ypublic organisations “Passengers are required to show the benefit of these vulnerable proof of payment to airlines as a farmer groups, they continue to lag behind flirting with poverty. Indeed, while this paper acknowledges the sharp focus

condition for boarding of flights to KIA.” put on the agricultural sector T h e n e w d i re c t ive , h a s by this government through however, been described by its flagship programmestosuch airlines as detrimental the as Plantingefforts for Food Jobs, renewed to and stimulate demand for air travel, given that One Village One Dam, etc, it cash payments remains believes more can we done the for predominant mode of payment this highly vulnerable group. for most Ghanaian travelers. It is for this reason An airline operator Business24 supports the who call wishes to remain anonymous, on government to fashion out told Business24 that “The cost is aalready deliberate policy at too high and aimed now this assisting farmers new policysmallholder is also going to be itom paccess l e m e nmarkets t e d . T hor e r eexport are hundreds of Ghanaian traders channels in the agricultural who travel to buy goods to retail value chain. in the country. The call made by the “Most of them don� t carry Engagement Manager at any the electronic payment cards to be Africa Centre for Economic able to pay online. They should Transformation (ACET), George have the flexibility to pay cash Boateng, when heeded to when they arrive.” could, instance, Protection see to the The for Consumer creation of a dedicated fund Agency � CPA� has also raised improve agricultural markets critical questions about the relatively highfarmers. cost of the for smallholder Speaking at a validation workshop on ACET’s Market Linkages Study, he called for

country� s COVID-19 testing regime. a form of hybrid processing of The CPA� s Chief Executive agricultural producesaid involving Officer, Kofi Kapito, in as smallholder farmers. want to much as the government Thisimported paper would like the to curb cases of respiratory disease, it must not lend its support to the call by burden passenger but furtherthesuggesting thatcharge this what is enough to cover their fund should also provide the cost and not to profit from the means for these farmers to, at passenger. least, add some value to their “Look around Africa and you produce. see that what is paid in Ghana for value farmers theWithout test isadding the highest. Why will continue should that be� ”to receive lower prices forraised theirquestions produceabout and He also pittance especially when they why the Noguchi Memorial happen for to produce even when Institute Medical Research of the University there is a glut.of Ghana, was not made to handle the testing for a In addressing the incidence reasonable fee but rather a of farmer poverty, this paper contract given to a foreign believes that ensure company to is docrucial what to Noguchi that farmers are not exploited could adequately handle. byBusiness24 being mere pricelike takers. would to urge And in supporting these a flexible approach that allows farmers to toadd value, will passengers either paywe online or becash ableontoarrival. protect the jobs of these smallholder farmers by providing the right incentive for them to remain in business.

COVID-19: Banks deferred GH¢3bn in loan repayments CONTINUED FROM COVER

that the desired outcomes are outbreak had transformed their team structures to the new way of Fitch backs Ghana’s economy toworking outperform achieved and the economy operations, the bank chiefs in order to maximise brought back on track.” responded that the immediate efficiencies of digital banking, performance and ensure less-paper operations peers amid Mr. Awuah� s remarksCovid were response was to enforce remote than-anticipated key sectors the working while realigning workers� from and some requirements for ofsocial

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reinforced by majority of the top Continued from cover bank executives who responded to the survey. The respondents advised Bank of Ghana Ghana’sthe economy shrankto increase stakeholder consultation by 3.2 percent in the second in order to propose more quarter of this year, reflecting beneficial policies. the effects of restrictions This, they will help imposed to haltsaid, the spread of estimate the timelines and extent COVID-19. The heavily impacted to which the policies the sectors included tourismof and regulator will remain available. hospitality as well as aspects of Some respondents simply the consumer retail sector. thought that there was the need with the easing of many forBut detailed guidelines from the

distancing. In the long run, these economy. measures resultprojection in possible Goldmanmay Sachs’ layoffs for some whose jobs was a revision to its initial become that automated,” the report forecast said the Ghanaian said. economy would see a 1.3 Commenting on the findings of percent contraction on the the survey, which was on the back of the damaging impact of theme “The new normal� banks� the pandemic. response to COVID-19”, PwC� s The sub-sector, Countryhospitality Senior Partner, Vish as widely anticipated, Ashiagbor, cautioned saw that the for biggest slump in output in the workers that survive the digital second recording p ro g re squarter, s i o n , t hey h ave anto almost 80 their percent fall.to remain upgrade skills relevant. Fitch said it expects Ghana’s economic growth to expand to as much as 4.8 percent in 2021, buoyed by rising demand for the country’s commodity exports and supportive macroeconomic conditions, which will facilitate higher investment and private consumption. The agency said it was confident ADVERTISE WITH that US regardless of the outcome TEL: +233 024 212 2742of the general election in December, there would not be a significant shift in policy www.thebusiness24online.net direction by Ghana.

roles. of the restrictions imposed by the majority, 69 percent, theWhile government to deal with of respondents indicated the pandemic, the economythat is remote working will become a seen making a quicker-thanpermanent option going forward, anticipated recovery from the there was general consensus that shock. the new norm will ultimately lead projection follows a toFitch’s the shedding of workers whose similar forecast by Goldman jobs have become automated. Sachs, “ M o sthe t binvestment a n k s i n t e nbank, d to which last month projected a permanently incorporate remote 2020 growth of 1.2 percentto working as anrate option available staff basedfollowing on their roles. 12.5� of for Ghana a strongerbanks confirmed that they have government and Bank of Ghana already begun and will continue on the implement ation of to realign the job roles and work measures put in place to curb the impact of the pandemic.

In their view, clear guidance was missing, and though this could be shared during stakeholder consultation, they could not fully embed the new policies in operational strategy without a detailed documented directive. Post-pandemic banking When asked by the audit firm about how the pandemic� s

Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

No firm decision on Boeing’s presence in Ghana--Yofi Grant clarifies Continued from cover He was reacting to news quoting him as saying that the aircrafts manufacturer had indicated its intention to set up a servicing facility locally to serve the sub-region and beyond. “We haven’t spoken with them for a while because many things have changed; but I’m hopeful that we can go back and attract not just Boeing but other firms in the aerospace and aviation industry to Ghana.” “It was actually a question that was asked big players that have looked at our market and I cited that as an example; and of course there are other big players that are actually here,” he told Business24 in an interview. According to the GIPC boss, there was a prior discussion

Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC)

about the possibility of Boeing entering the local market as Ghana positions itself as the aviation hub for the sub-region and the continent as a whole for which that conversation may

have to be revisited. To Mr. Grant, the workings of the GIPC to attract global giants to the domestic market was to forge partnerships and build local expertise across various

sectors. “We have Bosch, GE Capital and other big players on the market and we have seen Google set up their AI Africa facility here [in Ghana]. For us at GIPC, so far as we can attract global players to come to this market, we are also giving room for local industry players to learn, partner and create linkages with them,” he indicated. Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As the top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries. Boeing employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and leverages the talents of a global supplier base.

PEF proposes tiered tax system for businesses Continued from cover The President of PEF, Nana Osei-Bonsu, at the launch of a research report on tax reforms for MSMEs, said: “Ghana needs to adopt a tiered tax system which reduces the tax burden on businesses, especially Micro, Small and MediumSized Enterprises (MSMEs), to encourage voluntary compliance and reduce the cost of tax administration.” Findings from the report indicated that a tiered system of taxation would result in an increase in the taxpayer population. “Issues about the segregation of taxpayers are still outstanding and need to be addressed to provide certainty for business planning and continuity. The scenario analysis provides good options for policy makers to choose from, considering their potential impact on tax revenue mobilisation,” the report said.

Nana Osei-Bonsu, President, PEF

The report further noted that MSMEs are willing to pay tax if they understand what is expected of them under the tax laws and if the cost of compliance is minimal. Increased compliance would lead to an increase

in the taxpayer population and consequently boost tax revenue, the report stated. Nevertheless, PEF noted that the success of the recommendations proposed in its study depends on the ability of the Ghana Revenue

Authority (GRA) to reform its administrative systems effectively, and to innovatively embark on tax education and awareness creation in partnership with business associations and other civil society groups.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

SMEs to benefit from GH¢2bn COVID-19 guarantee scheme By Sani Abdul-Rahman

overnment has unveiled a guarantee scheme to worth about GH¢2 billion to support Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) under its COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) Programme. The Ghana CARES Guarantee Scheme (GCGS) will cover 80 percent risks on new loans issued by participating banks to SMEs to enhance lenders’ ability to provide more funding support. The guarantee fund will allow viable SMEs under severe strain from the covid-19 pandemic to access vital funding to revive and grow their businesses. Targeted industries include agribusiness, manufacturing, fintechs, tourism and hospitality. “This guarantee scheme under the Ghana CARES programme would go a long way to reduce risk perception of these SMEs, help reduce their cost of borrowing and increase their access to appropriate financing,” First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari

said at the launch of the scheme in Accra. More than 150,000 SMEs have accessed the government’s GHS600 million stimulus package under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme. SMEs are the lifeblood of the Ghanaian economy, constituting about 85 percent of businesses and 80 percent of total employment.

The sector contributes about 70 percent to Ghana’s GDP. According to the World Bank, “access to finance is the second most cited obstacle stifling SME growth in emerging markets and developing countries, despite the vital role it plays to sustain their economies.” Commenting on the initiative, Minister for Planning, Professor Yaw Gyan-Baffuor said, “SME

development is a priority for this government therefore we will continue to find innovative ways to improve their access to ideal financing. The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Seth Twum Akwaboah prayed that the reduced risk should reflect in the cost of credit else it will be business as usual.

Inflation falls for second straight month By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com

ollowing months of higher inflationary pressures amid COVID-19, consumer price inflation fell for a second straight month in September, latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) have shown. The year-on-year consumer inflation rate was 10.4 percent in September compared with 10.5 percent in August. The rate stood at 11.4 percent in July. Government Statistician Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim said at the release of the data that a return to single-digit inflation is dependent on a diversity of factors, such as demand and supply, as well as the country’s external market. The central bank said last month that underlying inflationary pressures in the economy were easing.

Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim

“Inflation expectations of businesses, consumers and the financial sector, derived from the bank’s latest round of surveys, have moderated. The bank’s core inflation measure, which excludes energy and utility, also declined marginally,” it said in

its monetary policy committee press statement. “The month-on-month inflation rate of negative 0.2 percent indicates that, on average, prices actually decreased slightly for the second consecutive month. This trend is visible across the

different regions and driven by negative food inflation,” the Government Statistician said. Food inflation was 11.2 percent in September, 0.2 percentage points lower than in August. Within the food subgroups, vegetables recorded an inflation rate of 18.9 percent, which was higher than the group’s average rate of 13.7 percent. Non-food inflation was 9.8 percent in September, 0.1 percentage points lower than the 9.9 percent recorded in August. At the regional level, the September inflation rate ranged from 1.3 percent in the Upper West to 14.3 percent in the Greater Accra Region. Ashanti, Western and Eastern Regions recorded 11.1 percent, 10.9 percent and 11.9 percent inflation rates, respectively, above the national average of 10.4 percent.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

Tema-Akosombo railway project will boost transit trade -- GSA

he Head of Freight and Logistics at the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), Mr. Fred Asiedu-Dartey has said the completion of the TemaAkosombo railway project will boost transit trade. He said, the project, which is a component of the 1,000 km Ghana-Burkina railway interconnectivity project, will fast-track key requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the GSA and the shippers’ councils of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to facilitate inter-country trade. Mr. Asiedu-Dartey added that the project will also relatively reduce the cost of transportation of goods and serve the interest of transit shippers and shippers in the northern part of the country. He said this during a tour to monitor the state of progress of the railway project on 14th October, 2020 by members of the Port Infrastructure Committee (PIC) of the Governing Board of the GSA. The project falls in line with the GSA’s vision of ensuring a quick, safe and reliable delivery

of import and export cargo by all modes of transport at an optimum cost for shippers in Ghana. The 97 km railway stretches from Tema to Mpakadan and is being funded by the Indian EXIMBANK at $447 million. The project, which comes with the construction of six passenger stations and a freight terminal in the Tema Port, is part of the national railway plan to construct over 4,500 km railways across the country. The Director of Tema Port, Mrs. Sandra Opoku who is also a Member of the Board of GSA, said the construction of the Tema-Akosombo railway will significantly reduce the movement of cargo by road, particularly to the northern part of the country. With the Tema Port alone handling 17 million metric tonnes of cargo in 2019 which was transported by road to various destinations, the completion of the railway project will be a game changer. The construction, she said, will reduce pressure on the roads and address other axle load related challenges associated with the transportation of goods to the

landlocked countries. According to Mr. Asim Kumar Gupta, Head of Legal and Contract Management of AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, contractors for the project, 75 km of the railway has been completed but final completion is scheduled for July 2021. The Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) and member of the PIC, Dr. Michael Adjei-Anyetei said plans are far advanced for Ghana to take over the management of the project after its completion.

He disclosed parliament has given approval of $230 million for the purchase of rolling stock. Rolling stock are vehicles that move on a railway, including both powered and unpowered vehicles, such as locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons. The tour by the PIC members took them to the office and factory of AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, site for the construction of a 300-metre bridge across the Volta River,final site of the railway project at Mpakadan and other places .

Burkina Shippers’ Council lauds GSA’s commitment to transit trade

he Director General of the Burkina Shippers’ Council (CBC), Erve Sebastien Ilboudo, has lauded the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) for its commitment towards the promotion and facilitation of transit trade. He expressed gratitude to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GSA, Ms. Benonita Bismarck for her inspiring leadership in

deepening collaboration with the CBC and other stakeholders in addressing concerns of transit shippers along the Ghana corridor. Mr. Ilboudo gave the commendation when he paid a courtesy call on the GSA boss on Monday to introduce the new representative of the CBC in Ghana, Mr. Jean Noël Kabore. Mr. Kabore is taking over from

Mr. Bationo Rakissiwende who served the Council for over four years in championing the cause of transit trade between Burkina Faso and Ghana. For her part, the GSA CEO thanked her sister Burkinabe counterpart for its continuous collaboration in facilitating trade between the two countries. She, among others, commended Mr. Bationo for the

instrumental role he played in the signing of a Memoradum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organisations in 2018. The MoU defines a bilateral cooperation between the two parties aimed at strengthening their roles in the promotion and implementation of policies geared towards the continued improvement of the efficiency of the transport chain between Ghana and Burkina Faso. Ms. Bismarck assured the visiting delegation of the GSA’s continuous support to the CBC in Ghana, particularly its new representative, in advancing the interest of transit shippers and stakeholders. The GSA and CBC are members of the Union of African Shippers’ Councils (UASC). Formed in 1977, the UASC is the umbrella body of Shippers’ Councils in the West and Central African sub-regions with the aim of contributing to sub-regional economic integration policies, simplifying administrative formalities in international maritime traffic, among others.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

Gov’t urged to create market access fund for smallholder farmers By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com

he Engagement Manager at the Africa Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), George Boateng, has called on government to fashion out a deliberate policy aimed at assisting smallholder farmers to access markets or export channels in the agricultural value chain. According to him, the policy could be creation of a dedicated fund to improve agricultural markets for smallholder farmers. Speaking at a virtual validation workshop on ACET’s Market Linkages Study, he called for a form of hybrid processing of agricultural produce involving smallholder farmers. “On the field, we realised that farmers sometimes undertake some home processing to increase prices of their produce. Farmers always want to upgrade; they have this idea that they can add something to their produce to make more money—and the more you try to do a little processing; you get more money. “With this model, we are not expecting the farmers to be processors, but rather

there should be some form of processing that the farmer can do. They are already doing it; it can be upgraded where other firms and SMEs could come in and they will pick this bulk processed product and go and add further value to it and raise the standard of it. By doing this, they can supply to export markets or supermarkets; that is the form of hybrid processing [we’re proposing],” he said Additionally, he said that innovative business models can help rural-based artisanal processors, which tend to be owned by women farmers, become suppliers of supermarkets. For instance, he explained, an artisanal processor would source raw materials and supply bulk products to an SME, which would concentrate on product development by way of packaging and marketing to supply to supermarkets. Other policies geared at improving market access for smallholders that were proposed at the workshop include facilitation of contractual relationships through contract design, awareness creation and education on the ethics of

A woman farmer treks to her farm.

contracting, as well as promotion of demand-driven research and development (R&D) and innovation. The head of programmes and advocacy of the Peasant Farmers Association (PFA), Charles Nyaaba, also urged government to address market challenges in rural areas. ACET’s Market Linkages Study is a project to analyse food systems and market challenges

and weaknesses, and to propose recommendations for improving agricultural markets. The study identified challenges smallholder farmers face in accessing markets and identified innovations being deployed to improve farmers’ access to markets. The final report of the study is expected to be completed and launched next year.

U.S. launches university partnerships initiative with two inaugural projects at KNUST

he U.S. Embassy in Accra and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) formally launched the U.S. State Department Bureau of African Affairs’ University Partnerships Initiative (UPI) at an in-person and virtual launch ceremony on the KNUST campus on Wednesday October 14, 2020. The event was presided over by Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, PhD, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, attended the event virtually from Washington, DC and delivered remarks. U.S. Embassy officials attended the event at KNUST and virtually from Accra to support the launch of the UPI which seeks to strengthen existing ties and foster new collaboration between U.S. and African universities through faculty and student exchanges, joint research, administrative capacity-building and publicprivate partnerships. Representatives from the Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC) and Iowa State University (ISU) also participated in the virtual launch, with each institution providing an

KNUST VC- Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson together with U.S. Embassy officials and other partners at the launch of the UPI

overview of the projects they are undertaking at KNUST. TIEC, in collaboration with the KNUST Business School, is implementing “Flexible Learning: Responding and Reimagining Education in Ghana.” In response to the urgent need for virtual education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TIEC staff has assembled higher education professionals from several universities in Texas to train 30 administrators and faculty to produce quality online and flexible learning. Participants will go on to train other faculty and administrators within KNUST and throughout Ghana. Please visit www.tiec.org/

university-partnerships for more information on TIEC’s university partnerships. ISU is partnering with the KNUST College of Engineering to implement “Institutional Capacity Building through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Collaboration.” ISU and KNUST faculty and students will partner with the Ullo Traditional Area in the Upper West Region to collaborate on small-scale community development. These projects will promote research-driven solutions to address food security, potable water security, sustainable agriculture, and improved economic opportunity. This

‘learning by doing’ approach will bolster the students’ realworld problem-solving abilities and globalize the undergraduate engineering curriculum at both universities. For more information on this project, please visit the EWB chapter at ISU: www.ewb.stuorg.iastate. edu. In her welcome remarks, Professor Dickson noted that the TIEC-KNUST project “propels us in our pursuit of building the needed capacity for the establishment of a more resilient and robust e-learning system that ensures seamless academic work all year round and also offer us the opportunity to transfer knowledge to individuals less privileged to access in-person learning experience from our University.” The Vice-Chancellor also endorsed the ISU-KNUST project, saying it “will strengthen our institutional capacity towards achieving our mission as it will position KNUST in an era where academia-community engagement for the socioeconomic development of our less privileged communities is paramount.”

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

NSMQ 2020 Winner Daniel Kekeli Gakpetor receives full scholarship from Academic City

cademic City College has presented a full scholarship to Daniel Kekeli Gakpetor, a student of the Presbyterian Boys Senior High School, Legon and winner of the 2020 National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ). The Academic City Presidential Scholarship Award worth US$ 40,000 is awarded to students for their distinctive academic excellence and devotion to affect society through creative innovations. The scholarship covers tuition, accommodation, meals, a laptop, monthly allowance, and transportation to and from the student’s hometown (twice a year). Mr. Daniel Kekeli Gakpetor will pursue a 4-year undergraduate programme BSc. Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Academic City in Accra. Beyond meeting the criteria for the scholarship, Mr Gakpetor’s sterling performance in the NSMQ 2020 contributed significantly to his alma mater, PRESEC winning the coveted NSMQ trophy a sixth time. Presenting the scholarship on behalf of Academic City were Dr. Lucy Agyepong, Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Ms. Shannan Akosua Magee, Director of Admissions. Dr. Agyepong remarked “At Academic City, we believe

Dr. Lucy Agyepong (right) and Ms. Shannan Akosua Magee of Academic City presenting the scholarship to Mr. Daniel Kekeli Gakpetor (middle)

in helping to build a great nation through education. This scholarship scheme is part of our initiative to identify talents and nurture them to become the transformational leaders that will go a long way to support the development of the African continent.” “We hope Mr. Gakpetor will study tirelessly to justify the scholarship awarded him. Academic City will expect nothing but high level of commitment and excellence performance in his

academic responsibilities,” she noted. Mr. Gakpetor receiving the award expressed excitement about the unique opportunity offered him to study at Academic City College. According to him, studying at Academic City would be a great opening for him to hone his entrepreneurial skill. “I look forward to receiving the necessary training in the field of engineering at Academic City to enable me join the many mark makers working to

remould Africa’s fortunes through technology”. Mr. Gakpetor is one of many students across the country to receive a full scholarship to study at Academic City for the 2020 Academic year. Academic City is a fast developing premium STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and Entrepreneurial tertiary institution set to define modern tertiary education in Ghana and throughout the African continent.

MTN Group named most valuable African brand, worth US$3,3 billion

TN Group has been named the most valuable African brand in the Brand Finance Africa 150

2020 ranking, which ascribes a brand value of US$3,3 billion to MTN. Brand value is the net

economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. In its survey, Brand Finance said: “Over the last year, Africa’s largest mobile operator has

celebrated solid profits and impressive subscriber growth.” The survey assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the enterprise value of all brands in its survey, compared to their values on 1 January 2020. It categorised the telecoms sector as ‘limited impact’, which it said meant “minimal brand value loss or potential brand value growth”. This was due to the increasingly important role that mobile operators have played in keeping people connected in the time of the pandemic. In July, Brand Finance named MTN Group the most valuable South African brand, a result of the group’s focus on improving the customer experience for subscribers, as well as uniting 19 000 employees around a shared belief, which is that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

Feature

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

How the green revolution is harming Africa

By Jayati Ghosh

he Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations World Food Programme, declaring that it wanted “to turn the eyes of the world toward the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.” Those numbers are now greater than ever – and the dysfunctional global food system is largely to blame. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, around two billion people globally were experiencing food insecurity, and close to 750 million faced chronic or severe hunger. The health and economic crises that erupted in 2020 have made matters much worse, partly because of their impact on food supplies, but even more so because of increasing inequality and the loss of livelihoods among already vulnerable people. This situation was, and is, preventable. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include the eradication of hunger by 2030. This goal – SDG2 – is genuinely attainable: the world already produces enough food to meet the basic nutritional requirements of everyone on the planet. But the global food system was badly broken well before the pandemic. Much food production is unsustainable. Both food and monetary incomes are so unequally distributed that billions of people cannot afford a healthy and balanced diet. And global food corporations have skewed both production and distribution to the detriment of small farmers and final consumers. Inequalities in food access are evident across and within countries, even as irrationalities abound in food supply chains. All too often, a region’s raw products are shipped around the world to be processed with

chemical preservatives, and then transported back for consumption in or near their place of origin. One reason why the world is currently not on track to achieve SDG2 is because policymakers have misdiagnosed the problem. Instead of emphasizing sustainable (and more local and diversified) food production and equitable distribution, they have focused on increasing agricultural productivity and making supply chains more “efficient” by reducing costs. That has led to an overemphasis on yields, insufficient attention to agro-ecological contexts and local nutritional requirements, and strong incentives for chemicalbased agriculture. This approach is exemplified by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an initiative launched in 2006 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. AGRA’s programs support the use of high-yielding commercial seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and chemical pesticides in a monocropping model to increase yields per acre. Surprisingly, advocates of this approach seem largely unaware that similar projects in many Asian developing countries previously produced mediumterm results that were mixed at best and were often associated with major ecological problems. AGRA initially aimed to double the household incomes of 20 million small-scale African farmers by 2020, and halve food insecurity in 20 countries through productivity improvements. It then adopted the more ambitious targets of doubling yields and incomes for 30 million farming households by 2020. But with the deadline approaching, AGRA has shifted the goalposts, and is now promising, much more modestly, to increase incomes (by an unspecified amount) and improve food security for 30 million smallholder

farm households in 11 African countries by 2021. In a recent response to criticism, AGRA was even more circumspect, claiming that its goal is to reach only nine million farmers directly and the remaining 21 million indirectly (though what that means is not clear). Despite scaling back its targets, AGRA has not provided data regarding its progress so far. So, there are no reliable estimates of the increase in farmers’ yields, net incomes, and food security. But independent researchers reached some disturbing conclusions in a recent study that used nationallevel data on production, yields, and harvested areas for the most important food crops in AGRA’s 13 main target countries. The report found scant evidence of significant increases in small producers’ incomes or food security; instead, it concluded that the number of hungry people in AGRA countries had increased by 30%. (AGRA calls this analysis “deeply flawed,” but has not provided data to counter it.) Regarding productivity, the study found that yields of staple crops in AGRA countries increased by only 1.5% per year on average in the first 12 years of the organization’s operations – virtually the same rate as in the 12 years prior to its founding. Productivity growth declined in eight of the 13 countries; in three countries, yields actually fell. Even in countries where staple-food production increased substantially – such as Zambia, where maize output more than doubled, owing mainly to an increase in sown area – poverty and hunger among small producers remained very high. Moreover, the report showed how the adverse outcomes associated with Green Revolution practices elsewhere were also evident in AGRA countries. Land use shifted away from more nutritious and climate-resilient traditional crops like sorghum

and millet toward “high-yielding” maize that required farmers to buy more expensive seeds, often causing indebtedness. Monoculture and heavy use of chemicals (such as petroleumbased fertilizers) led to soil acidification and other ecological problems affecting future cultivation. Monoculture has also made diets less diversified and nutritious by reducing production of staple root crops like cassava and sweet potato. As Jomo Kwame Sundaram has argued, such Green Revolution programs are fundamentally flawed because they view nutrition only in terms of total calorie consumption, and fail to recognize the superior nutritional value of a diverse diet. The latter requires a variety of crops best suited to the location and climate. But the headlong rush to promote supposedly “new” practices rules this out. The pandemic and ongoing climate change should have taught us the importance of building resilience. Unfortunately, wellintentioned efforts to improve food security in Africa and elsewhere are instead increasing small farmers’ dependence on global agribusinesses without raising their incomes, and making farming systems more fragile and less resilient. About the author

Jayati Ghosh is Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates and a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

Creating fuel from thin air with artificial leaves

The artificial leaf contains a panel which reacts with sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to make fuel

he sun produces more than enough energy for human activities, but we still can’t capture enough of it, points out Erwin Reisner, energy and sustainability professor at Cambridge University. He heads a team of researchers trying to capture more of that free energy. While solar panels have made big advances in recent years, becoming cheaper and more efficient, they just provide electricity, not storable liquid fuels, which are still in great demand. “If you look at the global energy portfolio and what’s needed, electricity only covers maybe 2025%. So the question is when we have covered that 25%, what do we do next?” asks Prof Reisner. His answer is to look to nature: “Plants are a huge inspiration, because they have learned over millions of years how to take up sunlight and store the energy in energy carriers. “I really believe that artificial photosynthesis will be one part of that energy portfolio over the next two decades.” When plants photosynthesise, they take up water and carbon dioxide, and use light from the sun to convert these raw materials into the carbohydrates they need for growth. “We want to replicate this, but we don’t really want to make carbohydrates because they make a lousy fuel, so instead of making carbohydrates we try to make something that can be more readily used,” says Prof Reisner. An added problem is that plants aren’t actually terribly good at photosynthesis, converting only around one or two per

cent of solar energy into fuel. The US Department of Energy has concluded that for artificial photosynthesis to be viable economically, efficiency needs to rise to between five and 10%. Prof Reisner’s team has worked on a number of approaches, including a system that mimics natural photosynthesis, using enzymes to split water and create hydrogen for fuel. However, efficiency is still low and, as a gas, hydrogen is difficult to store. Perhaps more promising in the long term is his team’s recent development of a small device that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and formic acid, a liquid fuel that has a high energy density. The device contains a panel which sits in a bath of water and carbon dioxide. Under sunlight the panel releases electrons which combine with the carbon dioxide and the protons in the water to make formic acid. “These systems are like panels or sheets. It’s a very thin device you can almost think of it as like a sheet of paper,” says Prof Reisner. Perhaps the biggest step forward with the device is the fact that it is standalone. It doesn’t require an external power source, nor any top-ups of additional catalysts. Despite the challenges artificial photosynthesis is attracting heavyweight investment. In the US, the Department of Energy recently announced funding of $100m (£76m) over five years. The money is going to two separate projects: the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (Chase) and the Liquid Sunlight Alliance

(Lisa). Chase, led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), is working on practical applications similar to the Cambridge device by developing systems that, like solar panels, use semiconductors to absorb light, and then use various different catalysts to convert the carbon dioxide to fuel. A particular focus of research, says Chase deputy director Prof Jillian Dempsey, is the concept of cascade catalysts. Turning carbon dioxide into a usable fuel involves making more than one chemical transformation - and catalysts can handle only one at a time. “The first one does the first step, and then passes its product off to the next catalyst,” she says. “Each one would be operating a very highly selective process, and handing off after that individual step to the partner down the road.” The Lisa project is taking a more theoretical approach, focused on improving every stage and component of artificial photosynthesis. Potential catalysts and processes are modelled by computer before they’re tried out. “We have a vigorous theory effort, and the theory and the experiment go hand in hand,” says project leader, Prof Harry Atwater of Caltech. “We now have what’s actually the world’s largest database, full stop.” The bad news is that we’re not likely to see fields full of photosynthesis panels any time soon. According to Prof Dempsey, there are still major stumbling blocks. Bringing together all the technology into one bundle is a

problem. “There’s been some incredible science in terms of light harvesting, in terms of the catalysis that makes the fuel and in terms of managing systems,” she says. “But the integration of these individual components into a system capable of artificial photosynthesis is a huge challenge.” It’s also difficult to ensure that the reactions produce a commercially-viable fuel, with many of the catalysts that can achieve this being too expensive or too inefficient for large-scale use. Finally, says Prof Dempsey, durability is a problem: “When you’re dealing with constant radiation [sunlight] that can cause a reaction that can be highly detrimental and corrosive.” As a result, artificial photosynthesis still can’t produce liquid fuel cheaply enough to compete with fossil fuels. “But the dynamic can change very quickly,” says Prof Reisner. “The oil price can change, taxation can change. And when things start shifting, at some point in the future the price of artificial photosynthesis will go down and the price of fossil fuels will go up. The question is just when these lines cross. “If you go back 10 years, even the most optimistic predictions for the cost of photovoltaicderived electricity did not match what happened. The cost came down by 85%, which is incredible. Once economy of scale comes in, a lot is possible. So I’m very optimistic.” BBC

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 2020

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