Friday, October 29, 2010

NDC MEMBERS MST BET ON MILLS — AFRIYIE ANKRAH (PAGE 12, OCT 29, 2010)

Mr Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has urged members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to remain calm, stay united and bet on President John Evans Atta Mills to lead them to a resounding victory in the 2012 general elections.
Addressing party members, assembly members and a cross section of the public at Jasikan and Kadjebi as part of the Ministry’s country-wide monitoring and evaluation tour last Monday, Mr Afriyie Ankrah asked them to bury all their differences and work for the success of the NDC party.
The tour is to find out how the Metropolitan/Municipal/ District Assemblies were utilising resources put at their disposal in furtherance of the decentralisation policy of the government.
He reminded the members that the party leadership had been aware of the way they all worked to get the NDC party into power, adding that “the forces and powers that brought Prof. Mills into power is beyond human understanding”.
The Deputy Minister asked the party faithful not to seize the slightest excuse and run onto the streets under the pretext of staging demonstration, adding that, within 18 months, President Mills had done everything he could to keep the economy on tract.
“ And when you demonstrate, do not expect the government to agree positively to your demands since you could have over-reacted,” he said.
Mr Afriyie Ankrah reminded the members that they should know that the government could not satisfy everybody in just less than two years of winning political power.
He agreed that the 1992 Constitution admitted demonstrations, “but you cannot hold the government to ransom because some few people have been organised to sing a particular song”.
“You should wait patiently for the government to study your grievances in order to come out with an answer which will be in the interest of the nation as a whole,” he cautioned.
On the ex-gratia payment of Assembly Members on completion of their term of office, the Deputy Minister said they should not expect it from the consolidated fund.
This is because Article 171 of the 1992 Constitution clearly spelt out those who can be paid out of the consolidated fund, he pointed out.
At Jasikan, the Deputy Minister ofLands and Forestry and Member of Parliament for Buem Constituency, Mr Ford Henry Kamel noted that the 2012 elections were going to be the turning point in the history of the country.
This is because the party that would win the elections would be sure to rule the country for a very long time, Mr Kamel said.
According to him by then, the country would be on the threshold of entering the middle income group with oil being produced thus raising the per capita earnings of the people in the country.
Because of this, there will be considerable affluence and the government that is in power will be able to satisfy most of the needs of the people so there will be no need to change it.
The MP for Buem therefore called for calm and unity in the camp of the NDC to be able to win those “critical elections” and be sure of a long hold on the governance of the country.
Earlier, Mr Afriyie Ankrah had taken time off his schedule and toured some of the completed and on-going projects in the two districts and commended the District Chief Executives for their efforts.
Mr Afriyie Ankrah noted that he had realised that the biggest challenge facing them were their roads to which they invest the greater part of their resources.

Monday, October 25, 2010

LIONS LOSE AT HOME (BACK PAGE, OCT 25, 2010)

Kessben FC yesterday maintained their lead after handing BA Stars a 3-1 defeat at the Sekondi Stadium amidst rowdy scenes by fans in the stands.
Kessben’s goals were scored by James Boadu in the sixth and 65th minutes and a contentious penalty well executed by Hans Kwofie in the 46th minute.
BA Stars piled pressure on the homesters after the opener and scored their goal on the 27th minute through Daniel Larbi-Coomson.
A 75th minute BA Stars goal disallowed by referee E.R. Biney caused pandemonium in the stands, requiring the intervention of the police to bring things under control.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

GOLOKUATI CELBRATES DODOLEGLIMEZA (SHOWBIZ, PAGE 3, OCT 21, 2010)

By Emmanuel Modey

THE annual Lukusi festival dubbed Dodoleglimeza by the Chiefs and people of Ve Traditional Area in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region was last weekend celebrated with pomp and pageantry at Golokuati.
Originally linked with the escape from the brutalities of King Agorkoli at Nortsie about three centuries ago, the festival has gradually taken on a traditional tone.
The week-long celebration under the theme Education: Key to Youth Employment for Accelerated Rural Development attracted eminent traditional and opinion leaders from all walks of life including Members of Parliament, District Chief Executives, Chinese investors and tourists.
It was a memorable afternoon as crowds gathered at the Roman Catholic Junior High School park where the grand durbar which climaxed the celebrations was held.
In his welcome address, Togbe Delume VII, Paramount Chief of Ve Traditional Area called for the conversion of the Ve Golokuati ICCES centre into a technical institution to train the youth in employable skills.
Togbe Delume VII also used the occasion to appeal to citizens and friends who have the clout to come to their assistance and contribute towards the development of the area which abounds with various natural resources to promote employment avenues for the youth.
Speaking at the durbar, Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Hohoe -South Constituency who was the guest of honour said the theme was very relevant since education was the key to the success of the youth.
Mr Amenowode said for that matter, the government was transforming the local Ve Community Senior High School to a reputable standard to enable the school admit as many of the youth who are desirous of improving themselves.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Joseph Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways underscored the importance of good roads to the socio-economic development of the country and said the ministry was re-shaping about 50 kilometres of roads in and around Ve Traditional Area.
Mr Victor Herman Condobery, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive urged the youth to take education very seriously since it was the only tool that will empower them for the future.
Other activities which marked the celebration were bicycle race, football gala and a state dance at which Miss Patricia Donkor, a 21 year-old student was crowned Miss Lukusi 2010. For her prize, she took home a cooker, gas cylinder and a set of cooking utensils.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

TORRENTIAL RAINS COLLAPSE BRIDGE, CUT OFF BODADA (PAGE 46, OCT 20, 2010)

Recent torrential rains have washed away a bridge at Bodada, a farming community and the Paramount seat of the Buem Traditional Area, which links that part of the Jasikan District to the district capital in the Volta Region.
In view of this, commuters between Bodada and Jasikan have to make a detour of about 48 kilometres through Hohoe instead of the 17 kilometres between the district capital and traditional capital.
Some of the communities which have been cut off from the district capital are Bodada, Teteman, Baika and part of Bowiri which constitute the largest cocoa growing area in the Volta Region.
A sizeable quantity of cocoa produced in the area has been lockedup and farmers may be compelled to travel to Hohoe to market their produce.
The Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency, Mr Henry Ford Kamel, told the Daily Graphic at Jasikan that the Bodada- Tetema –Baika road was “in its worst state and an embarrassment to the people”.
Mr Kamel, who is also the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said the situation was worrying and that the affected communities and commuters were not happy with the state of the road.
He has, therefore, appealed to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to quickly come to the aid of the people under its road reconstruction programme and expressed the fear that farmers in the affected communities would take advantage of the situation to smuggle their produce across the borders.
The Volta Regional Principal Monitoring Officer of the Produce Buying Company (PBC), Mr Prosper Zegbla, asked the farmers not to smuggle their produce across the borders but to sell to their usual buying agents. He gave the assurance that the PBC would evacuate the produce to Hohoe.
For his part, Barima Bonsi II, the Jasikan District Chief Executive, said he would soon visit the area to assess the extent of damage.
He also appealed to the COCOBOD to respond quickly and install a bailey bridge to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services.
He further called on the cocoa farmers to continue sending their produce to the nearest buying centres and leave the problem of evacuation to the COCOBOD.
A Cocoa Purchasing Agent based at Bodada, Mr Alex Adom, said the people were not happy with the situation since it cost them several times more to travel on the safer routes.
Apart from that, Mr Adom said, they spent more time on the route than necessary.
He called for something to be done immediately since it was an important road in the district.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

SAND WINNING THREATENS POWER SUPPLY TO PARTS OF VOLTA (PAGE 46, OCT 14, 2010)

The Volta Regional capital, Ho and the northern part of the region risk being thrown into total black out with the disruption of economic activities if the indiscriminate sand winning activities close to electricity pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality are not checked immediately.
The Volta Regional Director of the ECG, Mr William Hutton-Mensah, expressed this worry when he conducted a team of journalists round to see the menace caused by the activities of the illegal sand winners. During the tour reporters saw that deep pits had been dug very close to the pylons by the sand winners.
Mr Hutton –Mensah noted that sand winning within a radius of 50 square feet radius to the pylons was very dangerous since it could facilitate the collapse of the pylons.
“Should the pylons collapse, it would lead to the disruption of almost all economic activities, including the supply of potable water to Ho and the northern part of the region for some months, he said”.
According to Mr Hutton-Mensah, sand winning had become an economic activity in the area which was being carried out with the collaboration of the land owners who often granted permits to the contractors in the community to win sand.
He, therefore, called on the general public to alert the ECG of any sand winning activities close to the pylons because if such illegal activities were not checked, they would go a long way to disrupt economic activities in the area.
The Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr David Ampah Bennin, warned that it was illegal for chiefs and landowners to grant permits to sand winning contractors without considering the dangers such activities could pose to the pylons.
He gave a promise that the police would make their presence felt in the area if the sand winning activities continued.
He stressed that sand winning contractors needed to obtain licences from the Ho Municipal Assembly to operate so that their activities could be monitored.
He expressed concern about the trend which he attributed to the failure of the landowners to collaborate with the Ho Municipal Assembly before allocating land for winning of sand.
The regional police commander stressed that all illegal contractors who did not have permits would be arrested.
A technician of GRIDCo, Mr Johnson Ilupeju, said most of the sand winning activities took place at odd hours and those who engaged in them were well-armed.
He said “controlling them is very difficult because they work at night and in the early hours of the day”.
As part of measures to control the menace, the Volta Regional branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) has mounted an intensive campaign to check the massive winning of sand under their pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region.
The family head of the land on which the pylons were erected (name withheld) is assisting the police in their investigations.

Monday, October 11, 2010

POOR RAINFALL UNDERMINES AGRIC PROGRAMME (SPREAD, OCT 11, 2010)

BENEFICIARIES of the Youth-In-Agriculture module of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) have been hit by crop failure as a result of poor rainfall during the major season in the Akatsi South and North districts of the Volta Region.
The 350 young farmers under the module, who were supported by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and their respective district assemblies with GH¢42,000.00, have been grieving as they could not harvest enough to pay back the financial assistance extended to them.
While the farmers in South Tongu cultivated 200 acres of maize, those in North Tongu and Akatsi planted 83 acres and 96 acres of rice respectively.
A visit to some of the maize and rice farms in the South and North Tongu districts during which the Daily Graphic interacted with some of the farmers revealed a sorrowful sight.
Apart from the Youth-in-Agriculture farms, there were other individual maize and rice fields such as the agricultural component of the Millennium Challenge Account being managed by MiDA also having been affected by poor rains.
The farmers under this pilot project were given training in good agricultural practices in addition to special interventions to increase their yields.
Some of the affected farms under the Youth-in-Agriculture programme are in Kpotame, Sondo, Hodzadzi, Ahlihakpe, Kpodzadzi, Dabala Junction, Agbakofe, Dekpoa, Hikpo, Dordoekope, Tsavanya and Agbagorme.
Mr Steven Dzorkah, 47, leader of the Young Farmers League at Kpodzadzi in the South Tongu District, said his group began the season in May, 2010, with 16 acres of maize but not even two maxi bags were realised at the end of the season.
According to Mr Seth Adu-Wadie, South Tongu District Agriculture Officer in charge of Extension, the assembly ploughed the land while MoFA gave them the seeds, fertiliser and technical advice.
After the first application of fertiliser, Mr Adu-Wadie said, the rains ceased, leading to the withering of the crops.
Mr Gabriel Amezah, one of the rice farmers who has been cultivating rice for the past four years at Dabala Junction in the South Tongu District, said the season had left them in despair.
According to Mr Ignatius Klu Wetsu, MoFA Extension Officer in charge of Dabala Junction Area, the failed rice has dampened the spirit of the farmers who were trying to operate under one umbrella to be able to solicit for credit.
In the North Tongu District, when the youth realised that the maize was failing, they quickly introduced Chili pepper which they are harvesting now, said Mr Agbo Halloway of the South Tongu District Assembly. Mr Halloway said through this they hoped to recoup some of their losses.
The Volta Regional Director of MoFA, Mr John R. Tsrakasu, bemoaned the losses of the farmers involved in the programme, which was to open up the area and offer jobs for the youth.
To offset the cost, Mr Tsrakasu said MoFA had acquired water pumping machines which would be given to the farmers on credit basis.
The Regional Director appealed for support for the Chili project, which has been found to be doing well in the area. To make the youth able to pay back what has been invested in them, he called on the government and various district assemblies to re-invest in them during the next farming season.

Friday, October 8, 2010

WEAVER, DRIVER JAILED 8 YEARS FOR THEFT (PAGE 61, OCT 11, 2010)

A Ho Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Ernest Yao Obimpe has sentenced Atsu Gafa, 30, a weaver and Richard Agbodoe, 32, a driver, to four years imprisonment in hard labour each for breaking into a store and stealing a quantity of Kente cloth and GH¢ 700.00 cash at Kpetoe in the Volta Region.
One other suspect, Amidu Musa, was acquitted and discharged by the court whilst the fourth suspect, Anani, alias Anas is at large.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Sampson Agboado said Mr Israel Kporku, the owner of the store and the complainant, together with the accused persons were all from Kpetoe.
Chief Inspector Agboado said on February 28, last year at about 7.30 a.m., Mr Kporku realised that his store had been broken into and 21 male and eight female Kente cloths as well as GH¢ 700.00 cash, all totalling GH¢ 9,900.00 had been stolen the previous night.
He said police investigations led to the arrest of the four persons and they were charged with unlawful entry and stealing and subsequently arraigned.
Although, they pleaded not guilty to the charges, the court found Gafa and Agbodoe guilty and sentenced them accordingly.
Mr Obimpe ordered the suspects to return the stolen items and cash after serving their sentences.

FOUR JAILED FOR RAIDING ROYAL HOUSE (PAGE 51, OCT 7, 2010)

FOUR elders of the Katanga Division of the Krachi Traditional Area have been jailed six months each with hard labour for breaking into the royal house and taking away some stool regalia.
The four, including a woman, were convicted by the Hohoe Circuit Court on four counts of conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful damage, unlawful entry and stealing.
They are Opanyin Kwadwo Oduni, 76, a farmer; Opanyin Osafo, 64, a driver; Benjamin Owusu, alias Kwaku Kuru, 74, a farmer, and Beatrice Boame, 56, a trader.
According to the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ben Dadzie of Hohoe, Opanyin Yaw Donkor, a farmer, who is the complainant and the four convicts are all elders to Nana Diawuo Bediako II, the chief of Katanga.
According to ASP Dadzie, about 3.15 p.m. on December 7, 2007, the convicts entered the stool room and came out holding the stool sword, a black stool and other royal regalia.
The prosecutor said when Opanyin Donkor confronted them, the convicts ignored him and left with the items.
He said Opanyin Donkor reported the matter to the stool father, who later detected that the door to the stool room had been forced open.
Upon further search, the prosecutor said the following items were found missing: the black stool, two other stools, a walking stick, a sword and some traditional stones.
When the matter was reported to Nana Bediako, he referred it to the police at Katanga.
Sentencing the convicts, the presiding judge, Justice Edward Bosompim-Apenkwa, said he was being lenient because he took into consideration their ages and status, adding, however, that their behaviour was not the proper way to register their disapproval of the chief.
He sentenced them to six months each on every count to run concurrently. He also asked them to return the regalia to the chief.

INVEST IN COCOA INDUSTRY, YOUTH TOLD (PAGE 3, OCT 7, 2010)

THE Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Anthony Fofie, has urged the youth to consider the numerous opportunities in the cocoa industry and invest their resources in the sector to improve their livelihoods.
Mr Fofie said with the producer price of cocoa now at GH¢200.00, the youth would have much to gain if they invested in cocoa farming.
Addressing the 2010 Buem Congress at Teteman in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region last Saturday, he said COCOBOD was ready to assist the youth with all the resources at its disposal.
The Buem Congress, which is held on a rotational basis among the 23 communities in the Jasikan Traditional Area, was on the theme; “Revamping the cocoa industry in Buem — An Agenda for the Youth”.
To encourage the youth to venture into cocoa farming, the chief executive said seed gardens would be established at vantage points to sell hybrid seeds and seedlings to the youth at subsidised rates .
Mr Fofie said that Buem was once a vibrant cocoa producing area but due to bush fires and degradation of the soil, farmers had moved to other regions, leaving their lands behind.
On smuggling, he said it was a stumbling block in the country’s quest to attain the one million metric tonnes per annum target.
He said smuggling cocoa out made the country to lose a significant amount of foreign exchange, while the reverse of that compromised the premium quality of cocoa beans.
The chief executive, therefore, called for a collaborative effort to curb the menace, since several interventions put forward by the government and COCOBOD had failed.
Mr Barima Bonsi II, the Jasikan District Chief Executive, expressed satisfaction at the peaceful resolution of the long-standing chieftaincy dispute that hindered development in Buem.
He urged the youth to disabuse their minds of the perception that farming was the work of the uneducated, since both the educated and the uneducated could equally reap the benefits associated with farming.
Mr Isaka Buraima, the Chairman of the Coalition of Buem Congress, said the theme was premised on the fact that Buem had long lost its pride of place as a renowned cocoa-growing area, leading to poverty.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

PEOPLE OF LIATE-WOTE OBSERVE TSIKEKE FESTIVAL (PAGE 19, OCT 5, 2010)

THE chiefs and people of Liati-Wote in the Hohoe Municipality, have held a durbar to celebrate their annual Afadjato/Tagbo Tsikeke Festival at Wote at the weekend.
The climax of the week-long festival, which had as its theme; “Promoting Community Development and Well-being through Eco-tourism”, was the inauguration of a GH¢12, 000.00 tourist reception centre built by the people.
The centre is meant to receive guests who want to climb the Afadjato, the highest mountain in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Joseph Amenowode, the Volta Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Hohoe South, said the region was blessed with several historical and tourist sites, which should be capitalised to generate revenue for development.
Mr Amenowode, who is a citizen of the area, said the region was blessed with many tourist attractions and asked the people to put up hospitality centres to provide accommodation and catering services to promote the development of the industry.
The minister was accompanied by seven other ministers, including Mr Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Local Government and his deputy Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, as well as the various regional co-ordinating directors.
In a speech read on her behalf, Ms Zita Okaikoe, Minister of Tourism, called on Ghanaians to show interest in domestic tourism.
On the conditions of the poor road network in the area, she said the ministry was trying to get the Ministry of Finance to provide funds for such roads so that they could force the Ministry of Roads and Highway to work on them.
That, she said, was on the realisation that tourism had become a major foreign exchange earner to the country.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Joseph Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways, said the ministry was gradually working to improve roads in the area.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Togbe Kodadza V, Chief of Liati Wote, commended the government for the provision of infrastructural facilities and social amenities in the area and made an appeal that the road network in the area be given a facelift.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

GOVERNANCE TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN ENDS (PAGE 13, OCT 2, 2010)

A FIVE-DAY governance training workshop on women participation in governmental processes has ended at Kpetoe in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District of the Volta Region.
The workshop which attracted 28 participants formed part of the three year governance project in 20 districts being undertaken by Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) with support from European Union.
It was dubbed “we know politics: good governance through increasing women’s participation in Ghana’s processes”. The workshop will also lead to the formation of a Coalition of Women in Governance (COWIG).
Closing the ceremony, Mr Michael Kobla Adzaho, Adaklu-Anyigbe District Chief Executive (DCE) hoped that the workshop would put women in the right perspective to participate in the democratic process.
Mr Adzaho expressed the hope that the COWIG so formed would continue to train women to attain leadership position in the district assemblies and parliament.
“ I am sure the workshop will equip you with the requisite knowledge and skill and sharpen you in politics,” he noted.
Topics treated included gender, women participation and representative in politics, governance, local government system, power and governance and team-building.

CHANGING FORTUNES OF HOHOE RICE FARMERS (PAGE 27, OCT 2, 2010)

“Harvesting, threshing and winnowing of paddy rice by small scale rice farmers in the Hohoe Municipality has become more laborious and time consuming, leading to massive post-harvest losses, which reduces our incomes as well. Because of the obsolete way it is harvested and threshed before reaching the market, the amount lost in the process is phenomenal,” says Mr George Agbemavor, a rice farmer based at Gbi Wegbe in the Hohoe Municipality.
Mr Agbemavor, who cultivated 50 acres of rice last year, observed that labour was what took most of the resources and time of rice farmers.
“ I will be happy if the government could bring in more farm equipment to reduce the tedium and expense in using manual labour in order to attract the youth into agriculture, ” Agbemavor said.
He said the bumper harvest recorded by rice farmers had been eroded by the laborious harvesting and threshing processes they had to undertake to bring their produce to the market.
The government of Ghana spends a lot of money on the importation of rice for local consumption. This is against the background that the country has the capacity and resources to be self-reliant in rice production.
Past and present governments have realised this all along and have been taking steps to ameliorate the situation but to no avail. An example of the steps is the establishment of irrigation projects for large scale rice production at such places as Dawhenya, Afife, Kpong and Asutsuare.
But these projects, which were undertaken under various governments, could not survive the demise of the regimes that established them.
During the rice farming season in July, Madam Adzo Kemetse, a rice farmer based at Santrokofi-Benua, near Hohoe, and her family migrated from their home to communities where they could find swampy fields on lease for rice cultivation.
Madam Kemetse said even though the peasant farmer could produce enough rice, most Ghanaians preferred buying the imported one.
“Go to a rice field and you will find trees and other objects which will make it very difficult to use tractor services. As such, manual labour is employed. So a job which can be done in a few hours takes days to complete, ” she lamented.
And because sometimes the labour is not available or very difficult to obtain, there are problems that affect the crops during harvesting.
Harvesting, threshing and winnowing are the most problematic because if they are not done at a specific time, there is the likelihood one could experience post-harvest losses, she said.
For this reason, she said, rice farmers travelled as far as the northern part of the region to look for labour. The labour comes with a problem. The men come with their wives and children and the farmers have to look for accommodation for them, feed them three times a day and provide them with medical care when they get sick.
“After the harvesting, the farmer looks for another set of labourers to come and pick the harvested rice from the ground and prepare it for threshing. This is a critical part of the process because if not picked quickly, they might germinate because the ground is wet and marshy, ” she said.
This accounts for the high cost of labour and drudgery leading to post-harvest losses of about 30 per cent annually.
It was no wonder that the farmers were happy when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with FINATRADE, procured a combined harvester, a planter and a seeder worth $ 40,000 for them.
Being a big boost, this will really assist the rice farmers a lot in their farming activities.
With the seeder, the rice seeds will be made to germinate before being transferred to the planter which plants in lines. When the plants are ready for harvesting, the combined harvester comes in handy to harvest and bag the produce.
This gesture was facilitated last year by ADCI/VOCA, which organised the farmers in the Hohoe Municipality into groups on a pilot basis, gave them training in good agricultural practices and supported them to increase their yield with credit facilities from a local rural bank and supplied them with agricultural inputs.
The organisation did not only support the farmers but also introduced them to new varieties of rice, which are comparable to what is imported and sold on the market.
Apart from this, FINATRADE, a Ghanaian trading firm, assured the farmers of ready market for their produce.
According to the firm, they were ready to buy any quantity of rice the farmers could produce provided the quality was good and met the requirement of the Ghanaian consumer.
Mr Ben Dadzie, a senior agronomist and a consultant with ACDI/VOCA, says the biggest problem facing rice production in the country is getting the best varieties such as the Togo Marshal and Viwonor and improving on efficiency in the cultivation process.
The Togo Marshal is white rice and popular on the market whilst Viwonor is red.
“If these two can be tackled, Ghana will have no problems, ” he said.
As a result of the initiative, “84 rice farmers, comprising 75 out-growers and nine nucleus farmers with farm sizes ranging from two to 50 acres were mobilised to cultivate 438 acres of low land rice in the Hohoe Municipality last year, ” he said.
Out of a target of 2,000 tonnes of rice earmarked for the season, he said, an initial total of 1,604 tonnes of paddy rice harvested had been transported to the Praire Volta Ltd at Aveyime for milling and onward delivery to FINATRADE.
“This season, in July, the project has increased the number of farmers and the area under cultivation to 2,500 acres in support of the government’s policy of increasing local rice production and reducing rice importation”, Mr Dadzie said.
“I have always been advising these farmers to see agriculture as a big venture and am happy that the region has witnessed a boost in rice production, ” said Bessa Akpalu, an official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
Mr Akpalu said very soon the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would facilitate the cultivation of rice in the municipality by removing the stumps to enable the farmers to fulfil their promise of feeding half of the nation with rice.
Efo Kumah Ameyibor, Operation Manager of Green Shield Agro-Chemicals, expressed optimism that the troubles faced by these farmers would one day be over.
He wondered whether the prices of the local varieties would be the same as the imported rice even if the municipality could put the same varieties of rice on the market. He was so concerned because the mode of producing the local rice was not efficient.
He said the only way forward after the introduction of the right varieties was to remove all the stumps in the rice fields to ensure that those tractors, planters and harvesters could be used to facilitate production.
With the provision of the seeder, combine harvester and other equipment, if the stumps are removed and the right varieties of rice are provided Ghana can achieve efficiency in production, attract competitive prices, and then talk of reducing the importation of rice.

GOVT WON'T ABANDON COCOA SECTOR (1C, OCT 2, 2010)

President John Evans Atta Mills has assured cocoa farmers that the government will not abandon the cocoa sector because of the discovery of oil in the country.
“We have learnt from the mistakes of our sister countries that have discovered oil and will never repeat those mistakes in our dear country,” Prof Atta Mills said.
The President said that in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Forestry at the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Cocoa Day celebration at Hohoe in the Volta Region yesterday.
The day brought together cocoa farmers from all over the country. An exhibition was mounted to showcase the various products that could be obtained from the cocoa plant, including cocoa butter, chocolates, beverages, cocoa pomade, brandy and soap.
President Mills said cocoa was so dear to his heart that he would ensure that the sector continued to play a critical role in the ‘Better Ghana’ agenda set by his administration.
The President said that the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had implemented various measures and policies to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda was reflected in the cocoa sector.
Those measures and policies, Prof. Mills said, were geared towards achieving the target of producing one million tonnes of cocoa annually.
Some of the measures and policies, he said, were the re-introduction of cocoa extension services, the rehabilitation of the old unproductive farms, hi-tech cocoa seeds and mass spraying programmes.
The President said research had shown that the weakest link between the country’s drive to achieve the one million-tonne target was the lack of cocoa extension services.
He commended the cocoa farmers and informed them that the government had listened to their cries and had as such decided to introduce a pension scheme for them.
“The technocrats are currently working on the modalities to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable scheme,” he said.
He added that the government was fine-tuning the farmers housing scheme to expand it to cover more farmers.
The President assured the management of COCOBOD that the government would continue to support them in their effort to raise the per capita consumption of cocoa in the country.
“We should eat what we grow and grow what we eat” and for that reason, he called on Ghanaians to make conscious effort to substitute tea breaks with cocoa breaks.
Mr Anthony Fofie, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, noted that the celebration of the Cocoa Day in Hohoe, and for that matter the Volta Region, was to re-awaken the people in the region to redouble up their efforts at cocoa production.
Mr Fofie said the region, which used to produce an average of 20,000 tonnes per annum in the 1970s, was currently producing an average of 1,000 tonnes.
“We need to reverse this trend since the region has the potential to bounce back to assume its rightly position as a major cocoa-producing region,” the Chief Executive said.
He said in a bid to rejuvenate the cocoa production in the region, COCOBOD had established a seed garden at Saviefe in the Ho Municipality to provide interested farmers with improved planting materials.
On cocoa consumption, Mr Fofie reiterated that the per capita consumption was still low, about half a kilogramme per head.
COCOBOD, he said, had targeted to attain at least a kilo per head in the medium term.
“To this end, COCOBOD will soon embark on a massive campaign programme, which includes conference for researchers to share ideas on the health benefits of cocoa consumption and the inauguration of cocoa drink dispensing joints,” he said.
He said that the surest way of ensuring the sustainable local consumption was to have children inculcate the habit as they would not only develop the taste for cocoa products but also stay healthier to contribute their quota toward the Better Ghana agenda.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to consider incorporating cocoa consumption into the School Feeding Programme.

Friday, October 1, 2010

CAR-JACKERS TO DIE BY HANGING (MIRROR, PAGE 20, OCT 2, 2010)

From Emmanuel Modey, Ho

A HO High Court, presided over by Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah has sentenced two persons, Benjamin Deble alias Haruna Yakubu and Raymond Agbeve alias Ahiane to death by hanging for murdering a taxi driver at Takuve in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.
The two, Deble and Agbeve, who pleaded not guilty on three counts of conspiracy, robbery and murder were found guilty by a five-member jury for murdering Shalif Abu, a taxi cab driver.
Presenting the facts of the case, a State Attorney, Mr Kwaku Mensah Akude, said on July 10, 2000, the convicts hired Abu, the murdered driver of an Opel taxi with registration number GW 3464 Q, from the Tetteh Quarshie roundabout in Accra to convey some building materials to Takuve, near Ziope , the hometown of Agbeve.
After dropping the items, Mr Akude said, Deble and Agbeve asked Abu to drive them to Aflao for a business transaction and on the way, they requested the driver to stop for them to attend to call of nature.
He said, as soon as Abu stopped, Agbeve fired a pistol at him but the bullet missed him narrowly, resulting in a fierce struggle.
During the struggle, the State Attorney said, Deble took a hammer lying in the car and hit Abu on the head resulting in his instant death in cold blood.
He said, Agbeve then rushed to Takuve and returned with a pickaxe and a shovel with which they dug a trench in a nearby okro farm and buried the deceased. After their heinous act, the two then pushed the vehicle to the house of Agbeve and left for Aflao.
Unknown to them, Akude said, a school boy had seen them in the act and narrated it to his mother who alerted one, Kofi Attah, the father of Agbeve, who is now at large.
He said, sensing danger, Attah chased his son, Agbeve and Deble to Aflao to come and remove the taxi immediately from the village since the cat was out of the bag. They, therefore, responded and came back in the early hours of the following day at about 3.00am.
But just as they set off, they had a punctured tyre which was mended. Soon after that, another tyre also got burst, compelling Agbeve to travel to Aflao to buy new tyres, the prosecutor said.
This, he said, led to the information leaking to the police and their subsequent arrest and prosecution.