By Abdul-Kudus Fuseini, Tamale Wild bush fires have destroyed Foadaan Farms, a 50-acre commercial farm at Gungolgu near Kpantinga in the Gushegu district of the Northern Region. The GHȼ26,000-worth private farm, made up of 25 acres of maize and 25 acres of rice, was destroyed by fire on Friday, December 7 2012.   Briefing the B&FT in Tamale, Managing Director of the farm, Mr. Yambor Edwin Benjua, said that workers on the farm had started harvesting rice on the field, but had to suspend work on Wednesday December 5 to enable them travel to their various destinations to participate in the national elections. “Workers returned to work on the farm on December 8 only to find it completely burnt to ashes,” he lamented. Foadaan Farms, a subsidiary of Foadaan Consult Ltd, was established to examine the viability of establishing nucleus farms to cultivate quality maize, rice and soya bean in commercial quantities at Gungolgu. Mr. Benjua noted that for the 2011/2012 farming season, the company raised a total of GH¢25,275 from banks and personal savings to invest in the farm project, “all of which have now gone up in flames.” He explained that the farm was structured to support smallholder farmers to increase food production, gain access to finance and good markets, thereby creating jobs and alleviating poverty in the north. Even though he could not ascertain the cause of the fire, he lamented that the activities of Fulani herdsmen in the eastern corridor of Ghana, especially Gushiegu and Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo districts, pose a serious threat to all farming activities. He said the predominantly known threat is the cattle grazing on food crops during the farming season; but even more serious is the starting of bushfires by these herdsmen, particularly from the month of November onwards, in an attempt to create routes to water sources and accelerate the germination of fresh grass to feed their cattle. He said information from Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo suggests that due to the destructive nature of these herdsmen, cattle ranching laws have been passed to control the movement of animals in these countries, forcing them to drift into a free country such as Ghana, where there are no such laws. He therefore appealed to government to act swiftly by promulgating laws that will control the activities of these destructive herdsmen to protect the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA)’s agricultural projects and other noble programmes that aim at ensuring food security, creating jobs and reducing poverty in Northern Ghana. He also appealed for financial and material support to enable the management of Foadaan Farms to continue with its dream of establishing a viable nucleus farm project in the SADA operational area.

Fourteen institutions across the country have benefitted from Access Bank’s charity initiative. The initiative is part of the bank’s Employee Volunteering Programme which allows employees to offer their time, expertise and other resources to support projects of real value to communities in which the bank operates. Speaking to the media on the success of these projects, Matilda Asante-Asiedu, Head of Corporate Communications, said the bank has been overwhelmed by the massive response and participation rate of its staff this past year. “The impact was phenomenal as the various projects touched the lives of more than 1,000 individuals, families and institutions across the country.” According to Matilda, about 790 staff from all 39 office locations of the bank were constituted into 14 clusters to embark on the various community investments and social intervention programmes across the country during the Christmas and New Year festivities. The institutions included the Komfo Anokye Teaching hospital in Kumasi – refurbishment of children’s ward and donation of equipment; Efia Nkwanta Regional Hospital – donation of equipment and bills settlement at the paediatric ward; La General Hospital – donation of equipment and a clean-up of the Surgical and Recovery Wards as well as the Out-Patient Department; National Blood Bank – blood donation exercise; NHIS – registration of 169 children to access quality healthcare at Amasaman. Education-wise, the bank supported Tuobodom Secondary and Technical School ICT Centre by supplying building materials for its refurbishment; James Town Sempe Primary School – refurbishment of computer laboratory, supply of computers and printer; and Salvation Army School for Street Girls – donation of classroom furniture. Other institutions were Noyuini Orphanage Tamale – donation of a refrigerator, sanitary and food items; Royal Seed Orphanage, Central Region – donation of sanitary and food items; Save Them Young Orphanage, Bethlehem, near Ashaiman – refurbishment of canteen, donation of food items, clothing, toys and sanitary supplies; and Ghana Federation of the Disabled – painting the administration block, clean-up and donation of food items. The bank also donated and held mentoring sessions at the following institutions: the Junior Girls’ Correctional and Boys’ Remand Home, Shelter for Abused Children, and South Labone Girls’ Vocation Training Centre, all in La, Accra. Over the last three years, Access Bank has continuously demonstrated a strong commitment to social sector investments in line with its strategy of contributing to the long-term sustainable development of its operating environment. In 2012, the bank donated over US$87,000 to the National Hajj Committee to ensure smooth housing and logistics planning for the pilgrims. These social sector investments contributed to its being adjudged the Most Socially Responsible Bank in Ghana in 2010.

By Patrick PAINTSIL Corporate businesses in the country must pay attention to communication in order to project their brands and sustain the growth of their companies, Mrs. Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive of Stratcomm Africa, has said. “Communication is an art and therefore corporate businesses require skilled persons in that field to effectively brand and communicate with their publics,” she said when her outfit hosted a 25-member student delegation from Cornell University at the company’s head office in Accra. The delegation, predominantly business students from Cornell Business School, was in the country to familiarise with the business environment and identify opportunities in the emerging sectors of the economy. Mrs. Cobbah, an alumna of Cornell University, said though some companies are gradually recognising the significant role communication plays, there is still the need for them to make it an essential part of their operations. She said communication is dynamic, hence the need for corporate entities to engage the services of people who are experienced and well informed on current trends in the field.“Some years back, companies considered people who were eloquent to handle communication services on their behalf; but these days the art goes beyond mere eloquence. “It has now become a tool which, when well implemented, can be used to cause social change,” she said, stressing “good governance in any country is directly linked to effective communication.” Mrs. Cobbah said Stratcomm Africa has facilitated the arrival of investors to the country as the company’s way of promoting business opportunities. Mr. Derrick Appia-Kubi, leader of the delegation, said the country’s economy has potentials that must be well utilised for socio-economic advancement. “The prospects are bright but there is more to be done in the area of infrastructure. It has an abundance of natural resources—including the emerging oil and gas industry—which must be used to develop the country,” he said. Cornell alumni in the country were at the event to enlighten the delegation on business opportunities and the need for them to come and invest in the economy.

By Abdul-Kudus Fuseini, Tamale The Ghana Grains Council (GGC) has issued the first regulated warehouse receipt to a grain aggregator and member of the Council in Tamale.   The GGC Warehouse Receipts System (WRS) allows members of the Council, including farmers and traders, to deposit grains in a GGC-certified warehouse and be issued a receipt which could be transferred to other members of the Council or used as collateral against loans from GGC partner financial institutions. The implementation of Ghana’s first regulated Warehouse Receipt System has been made possible by technical and financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) and Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP) projects. The GGC has developed its own set of rules and regulations to see to the functioning of the system and the proper conduct of members using the receipts. CEO of GGC, Dr. Kadri Alfah, explained that this will discourage stockpiling as well as protect the warehouse operator from financial losses due to weight loss from moisture – as the warehouse operator is expected to deliver the grain according to the quantity and quality of the warehouse receipt. Dr. Alfah added that the Council has taken steps to integrate smallholders into the WRS so they could benefit from direct linkage to more diversified markets, including buyers who are looking for standardised grains. “The Warehouse Receipt System will enable the farmer to evolve from just selling at the farm gate and integrate to a much more diversified market system; through GGC warehouse receipts, the farmers will have their grains cleaned, graded and sold by weight. “This will ensure that the farmer benefits from premium prices from grading and prevent them from being cheated on weight; as at now, the farmers are price takers, not price setters. Warehouse receipts can prevent distress among farmers by empowering them to sell their grains later when prices are better,” he said. It is initially expected that over 10,000 farmers in farmer-based organisations will benefit from the scheme. The GGC is already supporting these farmers through a programme supported by USAID-ADVANCE, including educating them on grain standards set by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA); grain quality assurance; use of formal contracts; and proper warehousing management practices. By taking the lead role to organise the grain industry, the GGC is paving the way to support a future Ghana Commodity Exchange, Dr. Alfah said.

By Konrad Kodjo Djaisi The second phase of the Land Administration Project (LAP-2) is giving greater emphasis to decentralisation and demand-driven service orientation, having had the benefit of experiences of the first phase of the Project. The first phase of the reforms under LAP-1, implemented from 2003 to 2010, laid the foundation by reviewing the statutes on land, carrying out institutional reforms and undertaking pilots on a number of initiatives such as Customary Boundary Demarcation, establishment of Customary Lands Secretariats, digitising land records, establishment of Lands Courts, and systematic title registration among others. The second phase aims to consolidate the gains made under LAP-1 by deepening the reforms, enabling the land sector agencies to be more responsive to clients, and cutting down the cost and time of doing business. This was revealed by the National Project Coordinator of LAP-2, Dr. Isaac Bonsu Karikari, at a day’s orientation workshop for staff of all land sector and project implementing agencies in the Greater Accra Region on Wednesday. Dr. Karikari emphasised that though LAP 2 is designed for all the ten regions of the country, mapping under the second phase will be carried out in four regions: Greater Accra, Western, Ashanti and Northern Regions. He explained that Greater Accra was selected for purposes of reducing land litigation and enhancing security of investment. Western was picked primarily due to the discovery of oil in the area and the likelihood of emergence of land disputes. The Northern Region was selected for its poverty focus and high potential for large-scale commercial agriculture, whereas Ashanti was chosen on the basis of having a fairly cohesive single traditional authority, making it an advantageous area for scaling up the development of traditional land administration systems. Dilating further, Dr. Karikari said LAP-2 has the following four inter-related components: Strengthening the Policy, Legal and Regulatory Framework for Land Administration (US$5 million), Decentralisation and Improving Business and Service Delivery Processes (US$23.27 million), Improved Maps and Spatial Data for Land Administration (US$31.51 million) and Human Resource Development and Project Management (US$10.78 million). He stressed that LAP-2 would require an implementation approach which includes public and private institutions for effective execution of the project activities in order to attain the development objectives.