SUNDAY PUNCH
Ghana: 'Agriculture
Enugu targets food sufficiency b!l 2013
deserves more attention like mining' HANA
is
a
nation wellendowed w ith natural
minerals resources, including gold . T he elIis!ence of these minernls has attracted many foreign investors into the country. which gives the country extra revenue for
developmental projects. Accord ing
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57
Agric-Economy
OCTOBER 23, 2011
WWLU
allafricn.com, the establishment o f mining companies has brought about the creation of jobs for some of the youth. and
revenue derived enables the government 10 create jobs aside mining.
The mining sector is said to generate five per cent of
the tolal Gross Domestic Product of Ihe country, with the exportation of crops as the highest earner. The agriculture sector, despite its being the hig hest earner of GDP, is not well
protected like the mining sector is. The reason might be that the youth of the country, due to education. a re gradually drifting away from the blue coUar job. mainly involves which agriculture, to white collar jobs. T he government, in 3 way. has a point when it tries to dedicate more of its attention to the mining seclor. in the fact that it h3S to make sure it gets more revenue to create jobs for the you th. as Nevertheless. agricu ltu re. for the time being is the highest G OP earner, it can be assumed that the revenue derived fTom the sector can go a long WlIy in creating more jobs for the youth, than the revenue from the mining sector. If is for th is reason that the governmen t mus t make it obligatory to pro tect the larger part of the GOP sedor than the smallest part, which in years time, would be depleted. Agriculture is a great investment. not only does it put food on The table of the citizens of a country, but d oes The same to o ther citizens in the world too. Agricullure brings politi CilI stability,3S it gives the na ti o n food security. A governme nt which Cilnn ot provide (or its citizens, in terms o f food, is considered incompetent, therefore , wha t will become of a govern ment if it is un3ble to provide food for its people, definitely politic31 unrest will arise.
T
HE Enugu State
Governor.
Mr.
SuIliVl\rt Chime. has promised that the state will be totally self-sufficient In food production by 2013. The governor gave the assurance during an interaction wi th news men in Enugu, saying the feat would be 3ccomplished by using the Songhai fa rm initiative to drive the programme. He said the Adani Farm Settlement had been rev italised with improved rice seeds cultivation while the Heneke Lake site for the farm initiative W3S being deve loped.
He said, "We have commenced full production o f rice, cassava, maize and other arable crops that we have comparative advantage in thei r cultivation in the state . "One Songhai farm lvill be established in each of the 21 local government a reas with one zonal farm in each of the three senatorial zones." The News Agency oj Nigeria reported that on the forthcoming local government elections, Chime denied allegations that he handpicked candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship posi ti ons for the Peoples Democratic
Party.
He said The PDP primaries were conducted 1TIl.n5JNIrently in all the local government areas while fresh pnmaries were he ld In areas where compi<'lints of irregularities were reported. The governor said that a new management team ha.d been put in place at the Institute of Management and Technology following the removal of the principal officers and the dissolution of the institution's board. According to him, his adm inistration has begun the process of restoring the accreditation o f academic programmes offered in
the institutio n that were withdrawn by the National Board for Technic31 Education. On the implementation of the national minimum wage, Chime said th3t he had implemented whal the law stipulated, pointing out that the state could not afford to increase the wage for all Ciltegories of civil servants. Enugu State, he noted. was the first in the SouthEast to pay the new lvage in August while the errellrs would be paid in October. The governo r explained th3 t civil servants who were no l paid their full monthly salaries were those who
EU agriculture policy sparks opposition FTER two
A
"a~
of negotiations, the resulting proposal to reform the contentious European Union Common Agricultural Policy unveiled by Agriculture Dacian Commissioner, Ciolos, on October 12 seems to have left nearly everyone dissatisfied, wWUl prag uepost. com reports. In practice, the 56 b illion eum programme provides a system of support for Eu rope's fanners via a combination 01 direct subsidy payments for crops and lands, as we ll as guaranteed minimum prices, import tariffs and caps on imports of certain goods from outside the EU. CAP is also supposed to consider the impact of European agricultural policy on the environment, rural development and global markets. Under the propos.a/. the CAP budget would continue to provide d irect subsidy payments to farmers. but the subsidies would be redistrib uted. with some countries gening more and others less. an d payments would be capped at a maximum of 300,000 eu ros per farm . The payments would be partially dependent on farmers meeting new environmen tal standards. For the Czech Republic and other new EU members that receive signifiCilntly lower su bsidies than o lder members like. France and Germany, the reform addressed their concerns abou t fundJng Inequalities with the indusion of a 17year deadline to switch to 1I system based on lIa t-rate, per-hectare allocation of direct subsidies. "This question, fTom the perspective of the Czech Repub lic, is the most fundamentalandproblematic, especially with regard to the historical area of the Czech agricultural enterprises,
which is well above. the EU average, said Agriculture Minisby spokesm an , Radek Lelatlta. "Current negotiations brought partial su ccess," though overall, the ministry found the reforms "mther d isappointing" and ineffective at improving ~competitiveness of European enterprises toward third countries," he added. Some mino r parts of the reform won widespread approval. like measures to help you ng farmers and small farms, and new la nguage clarifying which fa rmers 3re eligible for the subsidies. However, critical voices continue to dominate the d iscussion. The reform arails 10 provide a long-sighted perspective for food production in Europe." said Aurele Destrj!!e, head of the development and food policy programme at Glopolis, an independent think-tank in Prague. ~The beginning of this century, with its load of finandal. economic. food price and envi ronmental crises. calis for thinking out of the box and renewing our approaches to markets." European farm associations say the cut in subsidies In some countries like Ireland and Italy will devastate farmers, and that some mechanisms to stabilise the market will be weakened. En vironmentalists say the ~greenH part of the policy is far too weak, while farmers say it is overly burdensom e. The reform links 30 per cent o f payments to environmental criteria. Those criteria include growing a t le<lS t threi! crops on amble land, none accounting for more than 70 per cent or less than five percent, main taining permanent pasture areas afte r 2014, an d leaving seven per cent of farmland uncu ltivated. Organic farms will automatically qualify. The need to set <lSide land M
is unreasonable at a "time of growing demands for food sources and renewable energy. Hl.et.atka said. But to environmentalists. the reform is not enough. as according to an environmental organisation Campesina, it does not do enough to promote crop diversi ty or require the planting of legumes, which contribut e to soil fertility. Food security lobbyists are either outraged by th e preservation of export
subsidies that they say undercut deve lo ping countri es o r reject the policy as an outdated program that doesn' t 3ddress global food d emands. Head of communications at the Europe3n Corpor3tion Protection Association in Brussels, Phil Newlon, called the policy "out of touch wilh reality, ~ and said it contained no new ideas on ~grappling with The issues and challenges agriculture has to face lod3Y. H
emhi1rked on strike as he implemented the -no wo rk no pa!'- polic:y in the payment of September salaries. He said, ~ Labour leaders toc k l\IOrlie.rs on strike for no mason: the earnings we ou:Jhl to get we did not get. so ,Vlere do you Ivant me to get tl e money to pay th ose th~1 embarked on strike? -No responsib le go' /emmellt will pay you for not doing any work. We warned them but they did no' lis ten an d wasted one mcnrh for nothing.- If they like. let them go ba,:k but t" m happy they saw reClS(,ns and came back. ~ he added Chime said that on completion of the Mary La,d Estate, the governmen t would acquire more land to deo /elop low income houses fOI its dvi l serva.nts. He threatened to revoke th£ certificate o f occupancy of an!, un developed p.lol of Land and those with abandoned or uncompleted structures and alloce te them to serious deo/e lopers. On privatisation of ailing industries owned by the state 90' 'emment, the governor sai i it was negotiating with pre speclJVe Investors as Ihey had been offered favourable te r TtS for the privalisation.
I •
I ANIMAL CAJill I~,/ l:l:IIM:EffiillTI~i j ;jIBE f1l:liTIilllililllliD[ffi1
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Invites All Pig Farmers
~~~~~~to~a~!
I jl
H!:l
5EMIN~R ~N ;;~[i ~O~lJIUION In . me:
Improving Pig Management Practices for bettell' Performance and Prof ill Gllest Speaker
Prof. Sylvan Obolt (Professor of AninEl Science)
Ambrose Alii Un:';ersit'j Ek;lC T-3
othe r topics to be dis cu ssed 1. laboratory Screening ror early deteclio n and conlrol of diseases in pigs with emphasis o n African swine fever
2. Innovative solutions to health and managemenl problems in s wine production in Nigeria - ANIM IX PIG · IMMUNO·OP PLUS · ZODEX • FOSFOTRIM (IN JECTABLE)
- Dr Tunde Ifemade Mr Chimere Jo s~ph
An imal Care Se1v io::es Ko nsult
VenU6
L~a t ion
tBAOAN WARRI
Or Dotun O ladele Animiil care serVice! I:or.s u lt
Date
JORGOR CENTRE
T im e
25TH OCT 2011
MOTHER OF REDEEME R'S 27TH OCT 2011 CATHOU C CHURCH AIRPORT JUNCTTON
10A.M PROMPT 10J\.M P RO MPT
Enquiries: Chimere: 08056290351 , Niran: 08056290749
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