List of Major Agricultural Domainsand Selected Statistics - IndicatorsCountrySTAT

Ghana

AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR NATIONAL AND SUB-NATIONAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURE STATISTICS

EASY TO USE AND UPGRADE

AFFORDABLE

A SOUND BASIS FOR POLICY CALCULATIONS

FACILITATES SHARING AMONG DATA OWNERS

Ghana

www.countrystat.org

Issue 2 April - May, 2010 A monthly newsletter of CountrySTAT Ghana

Editor: Assistant Editor:Contributors:

Emmanuel Kpakpo BrownEmmanuel Kpeglah

Francis Dzah, Samuel Oku

Editorial Team28 February roadMinistries enclaveP. O. Box 1098, Accra, GhanaTel: +233 0244 976646/0208760070E-mail: emmanuel.Brown@statsghana.gov.gh/ kpemal@yahoo.com

CountrySTAT Ghana, a web-based information system that delivers improved access to better quality statistics on food and agriculture at national and sub-national levels was launched in December, 2009.The information system is developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and implemented by the Ghana Statistical Service together with the Ministry of Food & Agriculture and other key stakeholder organisations.With Ghana’s estimated population at 22.9 million people and a child underweight rate of 14%, CountrySTAT Ghana is a new and valuable tool in the hands of policy-makers and analysts to combat hunger and poverty across the country.Key statistical areas of focus for the new CountrySTAT imports (types, volume and country of origin); they also Ghana includes production, consumption, prices and undertake some surveys of livestock movements and trade. markets.CountrySTAT Ghana has harmonized and integrated The Plant Protection Regulatory Services Directorate national and sub-national data and metadata on food and (PPRSD) collects, compiles and disseminates statistics agriculture within the country and with other countries via on type and volume of certified seed production, the implementation of a centralized and standardized number of registered farmers and distributors, and database framework, data exchange platform, and set of certified seed prices. Until recently, when the Fisheriesanalytical tools. Directorate (FD) was upgraded to become the Ministry Prior to the launch of the CountrySTAT, there were multiple of Fisheries, the directorate collected, compiled and Directorates of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture disseminated statistics on volumes of inland waters and collecting, compiling, releasing and disseminating marine fish catches, fish imports and exports, and statistics. The main responsibility of statistics production of estimated volume of domestic fish consumption and that Ministry is the Statistics Research and Information the surplus/deficit. These statistical activities continue Directorate (SRID) which collects, compiles and to be carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries.disseminates statistical data, primarily on crops. Many people who need statistics on Agriculture find it However, the Crop Services Directorate (CSD) also collects, very difficult in knowing which directorate of the compiles and disseminates statistics, but mainly on types Ministry of Food and Agriculture to address it to; this and volumes of fertilizer imports and the export prices. The and other concerns are what CountrySTAT Ghana is Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) collects, compiles launched to address. It is a one-stop platform for all and disseminates statistics on population of selected food and agriculture data needs or enquiries.livestock species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry). CountrySTAT is actually complementing the initiative of The Livestock Planning Information Unit (LPIU) of the Policy the Ghana Statistical Service’s Ghana Statistics Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (PPMED) Development Plan (GSDP) 2009-2013.collects compiles and disseminates statistics on meat The GSDP seeks to resolve the following in the Ministry

CountrySTAT Ghana: One-Stop-Shop for Accessing Better Quality Food & Agriculture Statistics

EASY TO USE AND UPGRADE

AFFORDABLE

A SOUND BASIS FOR POLICY CALCULATIONS

FACILITATES SHARING AMONG DATA OWNERS

Ghana

www.countrystat.org

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry

which was now called Northern Star Tomato Factory in the Kasina Nankana district to assist tomatoes farmers get value for their produce.“This is done by retooling, rehabilitating and refur-bishing the building plant and equipment at the factory,” she said.She said this year the Ministry of Trade and Industry provided the factory with the necessary working capital which enabled it purchase tomatoes from farmers for processing, making farmers not to go through the unfortunate situation where tomatoes got rotten as it was in the past.She noted that her Ministry was in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to increase tomatoes production to feed the factory during the next crop season.

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry said the revamped Northern Star Tomato Factory had the capacity to fully run and process tomatoes throughout the tomatoes seasons at a minimum production capacity of 250 metric tonnes per day.She said it was in line with the government objective of promoting value addition and agroprocessing to address the problem of post harvest losses and perennial glut of tomatoes.Ms Tetteh who was answering questions on the floor of parliament added that the effort was not limited to tomatoes but other vegetables, fruits and food items to ensure suitable prices and incomes for the farmers.She said, government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry had revamped the Pwalugu Tomato Factory

Continued from page 1

processing and analysis

CountrySTAT Ghana is part of an FAO initiative supported by a US$5.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the quality, accessibility, relevance and reliability of food and agriculture statistics in 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).The grant to FAO for its CountrySTAT initiative is part of the foundation’s agricultural development initiative, which is working with a wide range of partners to provide millions of small farmers in the developing

of Food & Agriculture: world with tools and opportunities to boost their 1) Improve quality of agricultural data yields, increase their incomes, and build better lives for 2) Quality of statistical products and services improved themselves and their families. The foundation is 3) Train statisticians to upgrade knowledge of statistical surveys working to strengthen the entire agricultural value 4) Statisticians trained in survey methodology and procedures chain—from seeds and soil to5) Introduce improved survey technologies e.g. remote sensing farm management and market access—so that techniques such as Geographical Positioning System (GIS) progress against hunger and poverty is6) Train field staff and supervisors in data collection, handling sustainable over the long term.of questionnaire and data management CountrySTAT will facilitate planning and decision-7) Design policy to motivate field staff and supervisors making by policy-makers and analysts,8) Educate and motivate farmers/respondents to reduce particularly in the fight against hunger and poverty.surveys non-response rates9) To improve timeliness in data collection, production,

Northern Star Tomato Factory Revamped

EASY TO USE AND UPGRADE

AFFORDABLE

A SOUND BASIS FOR POLICY CALCULATIONS

FACILITATES SHARING AMONG DATA OWNERS

Ghana

www.countrystat.org

The Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPF) has appealed to the government to discourage what it calls the “dumping of cheap imported poultry products into the country”and create fair competition for the local poultry industry.It said that could be achieved by the government reducing permits for the importation of poultry products.The National Chairman of the association, Mr Kwadwo Asante, made the call after a three-day regional workshop in Accra.The workshop, organised by the Expanded Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (E-ATP) project, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was to evaluate the organisational capacity of the Union des Organisations de la Filiere Avicole (UOFA),with the view to enhancing effective management and increasing efficiency.The UOFA is a regional professional organisation for poultry value chain actors.The Partner Institutional Viability Assessment (PIVA) workshop, which was attended by more than 20 participants from Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo, reviewed the UOFA’s international capacity and operation.Mr Asante explained that the local poultry industry was collapsing and unless the government did something urgent, actors in the industry would be thrown out of their jobs and that would seriously affect their

“The ability to dump products on the local market at prices livelihoods.below local cost is the result of various instruments used to “Even as we speak, the industry is only seasonal. It subsidise agriculture and, in many cases, the poultry becomes vibrant during the Christmas, the Ramadan and sector,” he said.the Easter seasons, but for the rest of year it is left idle,” “The massive sums of dollars that are used to subsidise he added.agriculture, particularly in the Organisation for Economic He said the annual imports of subsidised dressed poultry Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, put localhad risen from approximately 42,000 tonnes in 2005 to agriculture in general and the poultry industry in particular an estimated 130,000 tonnes in 2009, adding that the at a great disadvantage, not just in price competitiveness increase demonstrated the market potential of poultry but also in its ability to attract the necessary investment to products in the country and pointed out that the increase enable it to develop and grow,” he lamented.had been achieved with little or no promotion or special He cited a policy change in Cote d’Ivoire which was helping marketing efforts by importers.to revive the local poultry industry, explaining that Ivorian He said the rising volume of highly subsidised imported poultry producers were enjoying strong growth because of chicken, which sold below the price of local products, had the imposition of a tax on poultry product imports from the resulted in unfair competition.European Union and South America.He stressed that the situation attested to the position Mr Asante wondered why the same policy could not be held by the GNAPF that price, and not marketing, was the adopted in Ghana, stressing that it was the only solution to overwhelming cause of the demise of the local broiler sustain the poultry industry in the country.industry.

Poultry Farmers Cry Out