This week and the week after, all attention are on Paris. Global political leaders, corporations, civil societies, NGOs, Trade Unions, scientists, the media and other interest groups shall\u00a0meet on the platform called the Conference of Parties (COP).<\/p>\n
This is the 21st edition since the 1995 agenda to review the implementation of the conventions, otherwise known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).<\/p>\n
They shall discuss ways of reducing green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, how to adapt to the existing\u00a0effects of climate change among other issues. A key issue for discussion among food and\u00a0agriculture interest groups will be how to feed the growing global population in a sustainable manner in light of a changing climate.<\/p>\n
Without going into details of what happens at the\u00a0COP, the purpose of this article is to discuss some of the effects of climate change on\u00a0agriculture in Ghana and proposals made in dealing with the effects.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the article will discuss the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs:basically means laboratory removal of a gene from one organism to improve or change another organism) drought resistivity\u00a0nexus and some recommendations.<\/p>\n
Some of the phenomenon of climate change includes drought, change in rainfall patterns,\u00a0high temperature, excessive rains, to mention but a few.<\/p>\n
These events entirely influence\u00a0agriculture and food production negatively. For example, in the month of June 2015, it was\u00a0reported that drought had hit the Northern region of Ghana, specifically, Bimbilla, Yendi,\u00a0Wulensi and their surroundings. Farmers had planted their roots, tubers, and expecting rains\u00a0but it ceased after a few rains in March. Crops wilted and farmers could not harvest.<\/p>\n
Farmers’ investments just went down the drain. This situation is similar with farmers in the\u00a0Brong Ahafo region who also suffered the same fate. What these situations mean is that, for\u00a0that particular season, income of farmers, and national food supply, will reduce.<\/p>\n
This further\u00a0strains the living conditions of farming families and exacerbates the poverty situation among farmers. In a country with virtually no social protection for farmers, the impact is even\u00a0severe. For workers, high prices of available food places stress on their wages implying that with their available wage, they can only buy less food for themselves and their families.<\/p>\n
Securing a three square meal for the unemployed is far from reach if not impossible. These\u00a0events in Ghana and in other parts of the world have attracted the attention of the various\u00a0stakeholders in the Food and Agriculture, including the Food and Agriculture Organization\u00a0(FAO).<\/p>\n
The vagaries of climate change coupled with the increasing demand for food due to\u00a0increasing population and the global food crises between 2007 and 2008, FAO developed the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) module. The module addresses the challenge of food and\u00a0nutrition security vis a vis climate change.<\/p>\n
It has three main pillars: sustainably increasing\u00a0agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change;\u00a0reducing and (or) removing greenhouse gases emissions, where possible. This framework\u00a0have been discussed at the global and national levels.<\/p>\n
At conferences and workshops in\u00a0countries, it has received massive buy-in. Ghana for example has developed a National\u00a0Climate Smart Agriculture policy to mainstream climate change adaptation and mitigation\u00a0strategies into all agricultural policies and programmes. Within the context of Climate Smart Agriculture and drought resistant crops, GMOs have been cited-some of its products are\u00a0drought resistant. There is however a worrying trend in Ghana concerning GMOs and\u00a0drought resistivity.<\/p>\n
It is touted as a panacea to the challenges posed by climate change as far\u00a0as drought is concerned-an issue that have been hotly debated. I would like to expand the discussions by saying that in a mix of agricultural practices and technologies, and their adaptation and mitigation properties in the FAO document, GMOs are mentioned among other\u00a0practices and technologies as Climate Smart. It mentions its effectiveness as an adaptation\u00a0strategy.<\/p>\n
The document is however quick to admit that it is UNCERTAIN about its mitigation properties. Additionally, and most importantly, it adds the challenge with this technology as far as small holders and peasant agriculture is concerned- it comes with high investment\u00a0costs; high prices of improved varieties, high input costs such as fertilizer, concerns with\u00a0\u00a0long-term potential impacts such as loss of crop biodiversity, health concerns, limited\u00a0enabling environment to support transfer of technology.<\/p>\n
GM seeds often require enormous\u00a0chemical inputs, including fertilizers, which leads to degradation of soil nutrients and further cause climate change. Many GM crops (like maize, soy and cotton) are grown commercially\u00a0for animal feed and (or) export, and as such, require large tracts of land-increasing landless\u00a0peasants.<\/p>\n
In order to increase production, and in order to decrease risk of contaminating GM with non-GM crops, many farmers will mono-crop, only planting one variety-which is also\u00a0bad for the soil and risky for the farmer. If the crop fails, the farmer is without income, and\u00a0without subsistence crops. Lastly, GM seeds cannot be replanted, and thus be repurchased\u00a0every year, placing heavy financial burden on farmers.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, there are other, truly climate resilient modes of agriculture. Agroecology, for\u00a0instance, promotes multi-crop farming and the use of organic fertilizers and manures. This\u00a0mode of agriculture not only helps replenish the soils (by rotating crops which fix nitrate into the ground, as well as using nitrate-rich manure), but also helps reduce risk for the farmer. If one crop fails, there are back-ups.<\/p>\n
Moreover, agroecology promotes the use of reusable seeds, both indigenous and otherwise, and encourages seed saving, banking and exchange. In other words, agroecology encourages building on what a community already has. For instance,\u00a0Ghana is blessed with native drought-resistant seeds, mainly cowpea and millet.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the CSA module mentions some proposals with evidence from countries: No-till\/minimum tillage; cover cropping; mulching; composting; appropriate fertilizer and manure use; precision farming; crop rotations, fallowing (green manures), intercropping with leguminous plants; conservation tillage, system of rice intensification (SRI) and so on.<\/p>\n
In addressing climate change and agriculture and food production, solutions should be\u00a0forward-thinking and productive, not just reactionary. GM crops threaten to erode Ghana\u2019s\u00a0soils further. A climate smart solution would rather build soil resilience.<\/p>\n
By nurturing the soil, establishing community seed banks, and relying on low-input\u00a0agriculture. Ghana\u2019s farmers will be able to contribute to food security at the family,\u00a0community and national levels, and build self-sustaining farms for future generations.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Daniel Oberko<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week and the week after, all attention are on Paris. Global political leaders, corporations, civil societies, NGOs, Trade Unions, scientists, the media and other interest groups shall\u00a0meet on the platform called the Conference of Parties (COP). This is the 21st edition since the 1995 agenda to review the implementation of the conventions, otherwise known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-171853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-akufo-addo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}