Cocoa, the second largest foreign exchange earner for Ghana, is indeed the cash-cow of the Ghanaian economy. But the cocoa industry, a major driver to deforestation, is reeling under the threat of climate change. Increasing production demands expansion of area under cultivation, with the resultant effect of converting forests to farming systems which leads to decline in carbon stocks. To sustain production, there is the call for the country to explore climate-smart cocoa production practices.
PAMACC News reporter,KOFI ADU DOMFEH takes a look at what Ghana is doing to ensure the cocoa economy and local livelihoods are sustained.
The Paradox of Cocoa Production
A drive through Ghana’s cocoa belts, especially during the dry season, reveals a sorry sight of stretches of cocoa withering from the top as though fire had gone through the top part of farms.
Under good weather and improved farming practices, Ghana unprecedentedly produced one million metric tons of cocoa in the 2010/2011 crop year.
But production has since declined, currently hovering around 850,000 tons.
Temperature plays a critical role in Ghana’s cocoa production – whiles climate change affects agriculture, agriculture also affects climate change.
Agroforestry research scientist, Dr. Luke Anglaaere, describes cocoa production as a paradox to Ghana’s forest depletion and restoration.
“Cocoa is the crop that has led to the destruction of Ghana’s forest and it is the only crop within Ghana’s agricultural system that has the potential to help restore the forest, to bring back the forest,” he said.
The Climate Threat to the Prized Bean
Enjoyed by sweet-toothed consumers the world-over, more than half of the world’s chocolate comes from the cocoa plantations of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers supply lucrative fair-trade markets in developed countries.
But the climate threat could transform the cherished chocolate bar into a luxury few can afford.
Ghana, at the turn of the century, had 8.2million hectors of forest reserves.
The policy in forest reservation at the time was to reserve a small portion to create a good micro-climate to support cocoa production and other agricultural activities.
“The reduction in forest, alarming though it may seem, was more or less intentional,” noted Kwabena Nketia of Tropenbos International Ghana. “But with time government realized that was not the best of policies; that is allowing the areas outside the reserves to be converted fully to agriculture”.
Most ecological zones in Ghana are experiencing gradual increase in temperature, longer dry season and reduction of annual rainfall.
Mr. Nketia has observed the dwindling fortunes of cocoa production in some northern parts of the country “because the microclimate there does not support cocoa growing; so if we are not careful with the way we manage our forest resources, as we lose our forest, the environment gets drier and drier and cocoa will no longer be able to survive”.
Seven years ago, climate scientists at the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, CIAT, predicted that the expected increasing temperatures will lead to massive declines in cocoa production in Ghana and other cocoa-growing areas in West Africa by 2030.
Their report also revealed that an expected annual temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius by 2050 will leave the cocoa-producing areas too hot for chocolate.
Warmer conditions mean the heat-sensitive cocoa trees will struggle to get enough water during the growing season, curtailing the development of cocoa pods, containing the prized cocoa bean.
Fatal Cocoa Extension Error
With the exception of the Greater Accra region, cocoa used to be cultivated in all areas of Southern Ghana.
Farmers will clear the forests in these areas to plant their cocoa due to the soil fertility of forest lands.
Initially, some remnant trees were left to provide shade.
With the introduction of hybrid cocoa, however, farmers were advised to remove trees to engender higher yields from the hybrid.
Cocoa extension officers erred in discouraging the cultivation of hybrid cocoa under shade, said Dr. Anglaaere of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
As an open-sun cocoa, the hybrid cocoa yields higher than when under shade. However, the variety draws heavily on soil nutrients through the export of the beans from the system.
“Within a short time, the nutrient pool within the soil gets depleted very fast and yields begin to decline,” observed Dr. Anglaaere.
Nutrient loss and sun scorch, he said, are major challenges to sustainability. With climate change, temperatures are high and the cocoa trees struggle in the heat and limited nutrients in the soil.
The open-sun system practice, therefore, requires external inputs of fertilizers and agrochemicals for the crop to journey beyond the 15-25 year life-span.
“Our cocoa is not growing healthily and yields are also beginning to suffer. So, invariably, we have to, at any cost, try to bring back shades into that system because the hybrid also does well under shade,” said the researcher.
Now, the government’s policy looks at the possibility of managing areas outside the permanent reserves on sustainable basis, including the promotion of agro-forestry and tree planting.
Farmers are now encouraged to integrate trees in their cocoa production.
Promoting a More Beneficial Shade-Loving System
Ghana has lost half of its forests since 2000, and the rate of loss is two percent per year.
Head of the World Bank’s Climate Investment Fund (CIF), Mafalda Duarte, during a recent visit to Ghana, reiterated the country’s risk of losing its total forest cover if the trend of forest loss continued unchecked.
The CIF has over the past decade invested $75.7 million in Ghana’s reforestation program, implemented by the Forestry Commission and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to help reverse forest degradation in reserves and off-reserves.
The Fund’s intervention is driving a paradigm shift in cocoa production from a “sun loving system” to a more beneficial “shade-loving system” for better yields, better soil, better preserved water streams and biodiversity.
“We ask the farmers to combine the cocoa trees with timber trees, high yielding economic trees. Once you have the timber trees on the farm, they will be providing a lot of shade because cocoa is a forest plant and it thrives best when it exists with other trees,” said COCOBOD Chief Executive, Joseph Boahen Aidoo.
Partnerships for Sustainable Cocoa Production
Among challenges affecting productivity levels of cocoa in West Africa are over-aged and diseased farms.
The world’s top cocoa producer, Cote d’Ivoire, which supplies two million tons of cocoa to the world market annually, is joining forces with Ghana to sustainably grow the bean.
The two leading cocoa economies are accessing a $1.2 billion investment facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to rehabilitate cocoa farms and replace forests that were razed to grow cocoa beans.
In Ghana, about 10,000 hectares of diseased cocoa trees will be cut down across the country from August 2018 as the COCOBOD kick-starts series of interventions to increase cocoa yields.
“We are also embarking on irrigation because of the climate effect…to help the farmers harvest all year round,” said Joseph Boahen Aidoo.
The drive to promote sustainable climate-smart cocoa production has been supported by not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations.
SNV Ghana, for instance, has over the years partnered the COCOBOD, the Forestry Commission and some private licensed cocoa buying companies to expose farmers to interventions in climate mitigation and adaptation for sustainable cocoa production.
“Indeed, the negative impact of climate change has become real in virtually all cocoa growing areas across the country and the results are decreasing productivity per unit size of farm,” said Charles Brefo-Nimo of SNV Ghana.
Under the SNV’s Shaded Cocoa Agroforestry Systems (SCAFS), farmers are supplied with tree seedlings to encourage afforestation for improved productivity.
“I received 1,111 cocoa hybrid seedlings, 1,111 pieces of plantain suckers and 30 pieces of economic trees for free, and this means that I have saved a lot of money to make other financial commitments,” said Yaa Ampomah, 60 year old farmer at Essam in the Bia West District of the Western region.
Putting Farmers First to Drive Smart Production
Prior to SNV’s intervention to introduce the farmers to new cocoa farm establishment model, they used to rehabilitate their unproductive farms by using cocoa beans from the disease susceptible Amazon cocoa pod without any planting design.
“Today, we are provided with technical agronomy and extensions support to do lining and pegging as well as using shade system in our farms,” said Christian Nkrumah, a 34 year old farmer from Asuopri Community.
FORIG’s Dr. Anglaaere expects that cocoa farmers would be trained and empowered to plant 15-30 trees on an acre of cocoa farm, more than the 6-7 trees recommended by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG).
“It is just how you manage the trees that determine the level of impact that they have on the cocoa,” he said. “The type of tree species and management of the trees are important for climate smart production”.
He explained that cocoa and coffee are more shade-tolerant than other agricultural products. Therefore, the number of trees that can be put under food crops is not comparable to the number of trees that the cocoa crop can tolerate.
COCOBOD says it is implementing innovations to improve crop yield in order to boost the country’s cocoa production to one million metric tons ahead of a five-year target.
But Charles Brefo-Nimo of SNV Ghana, says the future for sustainable cocoa production in Ghana requires a multi-facet approach which should be grounded on strong public and private sector funding.
“Cocoa renovation and rehabilitation with agro-forestry system model is a critical climate change adaptation model but other innovative models such as appropriate cost effective and affordable irrigation scheme should be introduced at smallholder levels,” he said.
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (PAMACC News) - Bujumbura, la capitale burundaise abrite ce lundi 13 août 2018, la 26ème réunion du Conseil des ministres de l’Initiative du Bassin du Nil (IBN).
Neuf sur dix pays membres de cette organisation ont répondu présents à cette assise tenue à l’Hôtel Club du Lac Tanganyika.
« L’IBN est une organisation intergouvernementale des pays riverains. Il revient à nous tous d’assurer sa protection, de faire la bonne gestion de ses ressources et de jouir équitablement de ses biens, qui sont les fruits de nos efforts », a déclaré Joseph Butore, 2ème vice-président de la République du Burundi.
Procédant à l’ouverture de cette réunion, il a précisé que l’eau est, pour aujourd’hui et demain, considérée comme une force motrice de développement socio-économique des peuples du bassin du Nil en générale, et celui du Burundi en particulier.
M.Butore a ainsi souligné que la gestion du secteur eau demeure un défi majeur face à la pollution perpétrée des eaux, de l’air, le gaspillage et la réduction des zones de protection.
« Le Burundi comme d’autres pays est soumis aux défis de changement climatique », a-t-il fait savoir, notant que le déficit pluviométrique s’est traduit notamment par l’aggravation de l’aridité et la réduction significative des principales zones humides et le tarissement de plusieurs rivières et lacs.
D’après lui, les pluies torrentielles, les températures extrêmes sont aussi autant de phénomènes climatiques qui révèlent aujourd’hui la vulnérabilité de plus en plus grandissante. La conséquence étant la recrudescence des maladies liées à la contamination de l’eau et à l’intoxication de l’air.
Et d’interpeller : « En matière de coopération, chaque pays doit reconnaître que le cours d’eau partagé forme un système unique et cohérent à gérer ensemble avec tous les riverains ».
Pour réussir, le 2ème vice-président de la République du Burundi appelle à l’unité : « Nous devrions rester solidaires au sein de notre organisation qui nous unit, et continuer de résoudre ensemble les questions qui hantent notre communauté ».
A l’agenda de cette réunion figure la délibération sur l’état de coopération du Nil et examen des orientations stratégiques sur la gestion et le développement coopératif des ressources en eau de ce bassin.
D’autres points à l’ordre du jour sont : examiner les résultats de l’année précédente et prendre des décisions concernant la stratégie de financement ; le plan d’action pour la mobilisation des ressources et la stratégie de communication et d’engagement des parties prenantes et prendre aussi une décision importante concernant le prochain sommet des Chefs d’Etats.
Et le Burundi, pays hôte va prendre la releve de l’Ethiopie en occupant le poste du président du Conseil des ministres du Nil tandis que le poste de directeur exécutif du secrétariat de l’IBN reviendra au Soudan du Sud. Son siège est à Entebbe, en Ouganda.
Cette 26ème réunion du Conseil des ministres est tenue sous le thème : « Parvenir à un développement socio-économique durable grâce à l’utilisation équitable des ressources communes du Nil et aux avantages qui en découlent ».
Mis à part le Rwanda, des délégations des neuf pays ont répondu au rendez-vous à savoir Burundi, RDC, Egypte, Ethiopie, Kenya, Rwanda, Soudan, Soudan du Sud, Tanzanie et Ouganda.
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (PAMACC News) - Bujumbura, la capitale burundaise abrite ce lundi 13 août 2018, la 26ème réunion du Conseil des ministres de l’Initiative du Bassin du Nil (IBN).
Neuf sur dix pays membres de cette organisation ont répondu présents à cette assise tenue à l’Hôtel Club du Lac Tanganyika.
« L’IBN est une organisation intergouvernementale des pays riverains. Il revient à nous tous d’assurer sa protection, de faire la bonne gestion de ses ressources et de jouir équitablement de ses biens, qui sont les fruits de nos efforts », a déclaré Joseph Butore, 2ème vice-président de la République du Burundi.
Procédant à l’ouverture de cette réunion, il a précisé que l’eau est, pour aujourd’hui et demain, considérée comme une force motrice de développement socio-économique des peuples du bassin du Nil en générale, et celui du Burundi en particulier.
M.Butore a ainsi souligné que la gestion du secteur eau demeure un défi majeur face à la pollution perpétrée des eaux, de l’air, le gaspillage et la réduction des zones de protection.
« Le Burundi comme d’autres pays est soumis aux défis de changement climatique », a-t-il fait savoir, notant que le déficit pluviométrique s’est traduit notamment par l’aggravation de l’aridité et la réduction significative des principales zones humides et le tarissement de plusieurs rivières et lacs.
D’après lui, les pluies torrentielles, les températures extrêmes sont aussi autant de phénomènes climatiques qui révèlent aujourd’hui la vulnérabilité de plus en plus grandissante. La conséquence étant la recrudescence des maladies liées à la contamination de l’eau et à l’intoxication de l’air.
Et d’interpeller : « En matière de coopération, chaque pays doit reconnaître que le cours d’eau partagé forme un système unique et cohérent à gérer ensemble avec tous les riverains ».
Pour réussir, le 2ème vice-président de la République du Burundi appelle à l’unité : « Nous devrions rester solidaires au sein de notre organisation qui nous unit, et continuer de résoudre ensemble les questions qui hantent notre communauté ».
A l’agenda de cette réunion figure la délibération sur l’état de coopération du Nil et examen des orientations stratégiques sur la gestion et le développement coopératif des ressources en eau de ce bassin.
D’autres points à l’ordre du jour sont : examiner les résultats de l’année précédente et prendre des décisions concernant la stratégie de financement ; le plan d’action pour la mobilisation des ressources et la stratégie de communication et d’engagement des parties prenantes et prendre aussi une décision importante concernant le prochain sommet des Chefs d’Etats.
Et le Burundi, pays hôte va prendre la releve de l’Ethiopie en occupant le poste du président du Conseil des ministres du Nil tandis que le poste de directeur exécutif du secrétariat de l’IBN reviendra au Soudan du Sud. Son siège est à Entebbe, en Ouganda.
Cette 26ème réunion du Conseil des ministres est tenue sous le thème : « Parvenir à un développement socio-économique durable grâce à l’utilisation équitable des ressources communes du Nil et aux avantages qui en découlent ».
Mis à part le Rwanda, des délégations des neuf pays ont répondu au rendez-vous à savoir Burundi, RDC, Egypte, Ethiopie, Kenya, Rwanda, Soudan, Soudan du Sud, Tanzanie et Ouganda.
ELDORET, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Peter Kinywa 47, was born and raised in Uasin Gishu County more than a decade ago by his late grandparents.
For the period he has been a life, Kinywa confessed that he has never seen such raging floods like the one that swept what he has known as his home for 20 years leaving him homeless man.
Kinywa residents in Kamukunji estate, which is located in the outskirts of Eldoret town, one among the many centers that was recently hit badly by the raging floods that caused havoc to not only the residents of Eldoret but also to residents of the neigbouring counties of Elgeyo- Marakwet and Baringo.
Kinywa has now been left a homeless man venting over is family of seven children.
He said they have been forced to seek accommodation from friends and relatives even as fears loom over a disease outbreak.
According to Kinywa, most dams and rivers have been filled to capacity and crops have been washed away.
“ We do not have any food and roof over our head as this rain continue to rain havoc.” He said.
The father of seven accused the county government of Uasin Gishu for doing little in preparation such extreme weather condition.
“ The metrological departments had warned that the region was going to experience extreme weather pattern such as flooding but the county government did not move with speed to clear drainages.”
He said with disappointment.
The heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in the country causing death of over hundred people and displacing more than 10,000 others.
In the neighbouring counties of Baringo and Elgeyo – Marakwet the situation is no different. Kenya Red Cross reported that two school had been shut down with over 500 houses destroyed.
The Iten-Kabarnet which connect the two counties was also cut off by landslides following heavy rains in parts of the North Rift region.
“ Heavy rocks and mud rolled down the escarpments in Kerio Valley and blocked the road at Kamok near Kolol center thus paralyzing transport along the route that links Elgeyo Marakwet with Baringo counties.” Said Amos Ole Mpaka, a resident of Baringo county.
Ole Mpaka noted that a significant number of motorists ferrying people and goods between the two counties remained stranded at the areas that were cut off with no movement on both sides.
More than 1,500 families in areas prone to mudslides in Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu and Nandi Counties have been asked to move to safer areas with the rains expected to increase.
Public health officials ordered closure of the Kapseret and Arbuch primary schools in Uasin Gishu after toilets were submerged and destroyed by floods.
Headteacher at Kapseret primary in Uasin Gishu County Daniel Shongoi is appealed for assistance to construct new toilets at the school.
“We cannot put the lives of the children at risk and so we have decided to close the schools indefinitely so that repairs are done”, said Shongoi.
Floods have displaced several families in Eldoret where hundreds of houses were partly submerged by water.
Most affected are residents of Kidiwa, Kamkunji and Eeistleigh estates where more than 500 houses were damaged by water.
Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Abdi Hassan said they were monitoring the situation in the region where rains have been on the increase.
“We have our disaster management teams in place and we are asking those in risky areas to take extra precaution and move once they detect increasing volumes of water”, said Hassan.
Five dams in Uasin Gishu have also been classified as dangerous and engineers have been deployed to carry out repairs in order to avert disasters like the one in Solai two weeks ago.
County executive for environment Mary Njogu says the region has 300 dams and already they have been inspected for safety.
She says 18 of the dams put up during colonial times have undergone major repairs by the county to ensure they are safe because they are being used to store huge volumes of water.
According to Njogu, the extreme weather condition being witnessed recently in Eldoret and the neigbouring counties of the North Rift has never been witnessed before.
“ We as county we are being re –awaken that the hazard of climate change is here with us.” She said.
The CEC said they will push for legislation that shall ensure that proper policies and sufficient resources is set aside to mitigate climate change.
Even as the county government seek to find redress on the matter, trader in Eldoret are counting losses following a heavy downpour that has caused extensive damage to their buildings and properties.
The downpour increased rapidly destroying property, sweeping away parked vehicles and breaking electricity posts.
Business owners tried to salvaged valuables in the wake of what many called some of the worst floods to hit the region.
“The situation is pathetic. I have never seen it this bad. The county government should do something because at end of the day the landlord will come knocking our doors asking for rent,” said Anne Kirui, 55, a businesswoman.
Mrs Kirui and her grandson were stuck for three hours in her cosmetics shop waiting for help from the fire brigade that never came.
“Imagine I had to put my grandson on my shoulder for three hours as I called the fire department to come, but they never picked my calls. I have lost almost half a million in the floods,” she added
Uasin Gishu District Hospital was also not spared either. The floods destroyed the drug store, according to Wilson Kemei, the chief officer for Health.
“The most affected place is the drug store. Patients had to wait for long hours to be served by medics who were removing water from the building,” said Mr. Kemei.
Residents of the town blamed the county government, saying it was not maintaining drainage systems near business premises and roads.
“We are using generator pumps to drain off water from our premises. If only the county government could have done their work in terms of drainage systems we couldn’t be wasting our resources now,” said one official of a Khetia supermarket who could not ascertain his losses in the floods.
Uasin Gishu Land and Planning minister Eng. Nelson Maritim said the county government was working on drainage systems to avoid such floods in future.
“We need to have waterways because the drainage is not proper. Some people are living on land where drainage systems are supposed to be and we will be giving them notice to vacate so that we can improve the drainages,” said Maritim
