Women in shea nut trade back to business

Mma Azara and her sister drying shea nuts

WOMEN who collect and sell shea nuts in Tamaligu, a farming village in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region, are back to active business.

Their business slowed down drastically for several years when the road they use to transport the nuts to market centres deteriorated and virtually became impassable during the rains.

That particular stretch of road is a 4.5km feeder road that links the community to Kukuobila, another town in the district that is located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Luckily for the women and the entire village, the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) intervened and awarded the road on contract for rehabilitation.

14,000 farmers benefit from AGRA-DANIDA project

A smallholder farmer in Jirapa

FOURTEEN-THOUSAND farmers in the Northern Region have so far benefited from an agricultural project initiated by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

The Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) seeks to transform agriculture in the Northern Region through three main approaches: intensifying the adoption of integrated soil fertility management technologies, enhancing farmers' access to inputs and linking farmers to markets.
It is in line with a broader strategy to contribute to the government's objective of achieving food security and developing the region's agricultural sector into an agro-industrial economy.
The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Nyankpala is implementing the soil fertility component of the project, whilst the International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre (GAABIC) are implementing the two other components.

Tamale Government Secretarial School facing infrastructure challenges

THE Government Secretarial School in Tamale is facing a huge infrastructure deficit which is crippling efforts by the school to expand its programmes and admissions.

For over 60 years since the school was established, no additional infrastructure has been constructed for the school.

The entire school is still housed in a single storey block. Whilst the ground floor is used as a hostel to accommodate some of the students, the rooms at the upper floor serve as the lecture halls, administration and other departments of the school.

Maize yields increase...following application of organic 'biochar' fertilizer

Some of the farmers on their maize farms

THE application of a type of organic fertilizer introduced by soil scientists to smallholder farmers in the Northern Region has led to significant increases in the yields of maize.

Maize produced from the use of this organic fertilizer appeared much bigger as compared to those produced on farms where only chemical fertilizer were applied.

An international organisation, the Abokobi Society of Switzerland (ASS) is distributing this organic fertilizer to farmers in the Northern Region to help them improve the soils on their farmlands and consequently increase their yields.

It is produced through a combination of fine-grained charcoal, known as biochar, and organic waste, such as chicken manure, shea butter waste and household organic waste.

Dagomba movies have come of age - Jehanfo

A scene in Torbu-Nyango

ONE of the popular movie producers and directors in Tamale, Alhassan Yushawu Jehanfo believes that Dagomba movies have come off age and needs a shot in the arm to reach the next level.

“We have come a long way in spite of the difficulties and I think we deserve some recognition for surpassing numerous hurdles to keep the industry alive,” is what he said when the Graphic Showbiz interviewed him in Tamale.

“It is not easy to finance the production of movies, but we have managed to keep producing more and more movies each year,” Jehanfo, who is the Vice Presdient of the Northern Drama and Film Makers Association (NODRAFIM), stated.

TaMA to decongest Tamale Central Market

A section of the market

THE Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) is to demolish structures that have blocked pathways in the Tamale Central Market as part of efforts to decongest the market.

This is to reduce the congestion in the market and also allow for easy passage of all vehicles, especially a fire tender in the event of a fire.

Over the past few days, there have been announcements on radio warning traders who have impeded on the right of way in the market to evacuate before the end of May.

United States to increase development assistance to the north

Freshly harvested rice

THE United States (US) government is increasing its development assistance to Northern Ghana over the next five years.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gene Cretz, who made this known, said this gesture was part of a broader strategy by the US government to contribute significantly to poverty reduction and to create economic opportunities for communities in the north.

He however cautioned that in the long term, trade, and not aid, was the more sustainable path to economic transformation in the north due to what he termed as the north’s “strategic opportunities for economic growth and investment.”

Water extended to three communities in Tamale

WATERAID, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in the water and sanitation sector, has extended pipe-borne water to three deprived communities in the Tamale, metropolis.

They are Nyohini South-West, Nyohini South-East and Dungu.

For several years, many households in these communities had no access to potable water although situated in an urban area.

In Nyohini South-East, for instance, the residents relied on a dam in the area, which also serves animals in the area.

TECH Girls Club celebrate 'Girls in ICT Day'

Some members of the Club busy on the computer

A GROUP of hundred primary school girls, known as the TECH Girls Club, have celebrated this year’s ‘Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day’ to reiterate the message that girls are equally good in the use of ICT.

The day, which falls on the last Thursday of April every year, was set aside by the International Telecom Union (ITU) to raise global awareness and prompt action towards encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in ICTs.

Farmers in tears as rice farms razed down

FORTY (40) rice farmers in the Northern Region were thrown into a state of anguish over the weekend as fire razed down their rice farms, totaling over 350 acres.

Each year, farmers lose their farms to bush fires

A spark of fire from the engine of a rickety combine harvester that was being used at a rice farm lighted the rice plants and due to the intensity of the winds, it degenerated into an uncontrollable blaze and spread to other farms.

Attempts to stop the fire proved futile as it continued to raze down farm after farm over a two-day period, until it brought was under control in another community, by which time it had already caused unimaginable damage.

The farms were situated in three communities in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region. They are Malgi-Naayili, Nakpanzoo and Nobogu, which are located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Tamale women farmers get recognition

WOMEN have been deeply involved in various aspects of agriculture, be it land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, processing, animal rearing or marketing.

Some of the proud women farmers

In spite of this, they have often not been given due recognition for their contribution to food production, apparently because the men always take the credit for the productivity of their wives and sisters.

It was therefore heart-warming to see a number of women receive awards at this year’s farmers’ day awards ceremony in Tamale, which was held at Kogni.

Mma Hamza Hadija, a beans farmer from Jarigu, a community located off the Tamale-Salaga road, was adjudged the best female farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

Apart from her, four other women were rewarded for beating their male counterparts in the cultivation of some crops and the rearing of livestock.

Isreali International Percussionist, Gilad Dobrecky performs in northern Ghana

Gilad in action with local drum

 A DURBAR has been held in Saakuba, a small farming community in the Tolon/Kumbungu district of the Northern Region, in honour of an International percussionist from Israel, Gilad Dobrecky.

Mr Dobrecky, who is considered one of the world’s top 12 percussionists by the JAZZIZ magazine, visited the community courtesy the Embassy of Israel in Ghana and the Paabinaa Meriga Peace Initiative (PAMEPI), a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation.

Using his percussion instruments and local Dagomba drums, Mr Dobrecky produced interesting rhythms and compositions that delighted both the young and old people of Saakuba and nearby villages who had converged at the durbar grounds upon hearing of his arrival.

Northern Farmers receive 319 Tonnes of Fertilizer

THE Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is distributing 12, 760 bags of fertilizer to farmers in 34 communities in the Northern and Upper East regions.

This is to enable each household in these communities have access to fertilizer in order to increase their yield per acre, record higher earnings and consequently reduce the incidence of poverty in these areas.

The fertilizer, estimated at US$276, 943, was donated to the MVP by one of the world’s largest suppliers of phosphate and potash, Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC of Florida.

Israeli Ambassdor relishes Northern Hospitality

Ambassador Bar-li and Chief Alhassan

ISRAEL’s Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sharon Barl-li was in the Northern Region last week and one thing she will never forget is the hospitality of the people of the region.

The treatment she received from all the people she met whilst in the region led her to the ultimate conclusion that the hospitality in the north was incomparable.

“I can feel the hospitality of the people and how truly genuine the people are,” she said, at a meeting at the office of the Tamale mayor, Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday.

CCFC donates medical equipment to deprived Zogu Clinic

Some of the items

THE Zogu Health Centre, a clinic that serves a number of rural communities in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, has received a quantity of medical equipment to enable it offer healthcare services to the large number of people who depend on it.

The items, which were provided by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) and its local collaborator, Tuma Kavi, included BP apparatus, thermometers, drip stands, weighing scales, a wheel chair and bed sheets.

Although the clinic is located in Zogu, it also serves inhabitants of other communities, such as Jegong, Saandu, Jegong Kukuo, Zokuga, Tigu and Nyeko.

The clinic is therefore under constant pressure to meet the health needs of the people, particularly in attending to people suffering from malaria and women in labour.

The Daily Graphic learnt that the construction and furnishing of the Zogu Health Centre was funded by the CCFC and commissioned on November 23rd, 2006.

“The CCFC provided this facility to the people of Zogu because it realised that the old building that was being used as a clinic was in a very deplorable state,” the Programme Officer of Tuma Kavi in the Zogu area, Ms Vivian Awabu Sumani, mentioned during the presentation of the medical equipment.

She said her organisation had since then been collaborating with the CCFC to provide logistics to the clinic and also support health promotion activities in the Zogu area.

“We provide support for the immunisation of children against childhood illnesses and the provision of Vitamin A supplements. We also organise periodic de-worming exercises in the area,” she noted.

Officials of the District Health Directorate commended the CCFC and Tuma Kavi for extending support to the Zogu clinic, explaining that the cost of healthcare was too expensive for government alone to bear.

The programmes manager for the CCFC, Mr Paul Twene said the CCFC was working towards improving the welfare of children.

“But children do not leave in isolation, they live in families and communities. That is why we work to improve general living standards in communities by improving access to potable water, healthcare and quality education, as well enhance the capacity of families to make income,” he stated.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic of February 13, 2012, page 23)

VALENTINE SPIRIT DYING SLOWING IN TAMALE

THE hype of Valentine celebrations in the Tamale metropolis is at its lowest point this year.

Tamale Central Business District

Many people seem to be unaware that Tuesday, February 14, is St Valentine’s Day, and not much has been heard so far in terms of events to mark the day.

“Nobody is talking about Valentine. It is like people have lost interest in it. So if not because you mentioned it, it would have come to pass without I knowing,” Esther Awudu, a Public Relations personnel at the Tamale Teaching Hospital told the Daily Graphic.

Mr Issah Murtala, a presenter on Radio Savannah in Tamale, said he had not come across any announcements on Valentine events, adding that he was not surprised about this development.

St. Valentine (Wikipedia)

“I think that over the years, there have been criticisms that the youth use Valentine celebrations to engage in acts of promiscuity, so this condemnation has dumped the Valentine spirit,” he said, adding that he had even posted a message on his Facebook wall about Valentine, but people were not commenting on it as expected.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kudus, a dealer in gift cards at the Central Business District, said only two girls had so far come to buy Valentine cards from his shop.

“This year, we brought only a few Valentine cards to sell because last year, sales were poor and we run into losses,” he noted.

TAMALE GOES DEAD QUITE - As Black Stars fail to reach AFCON finals

THE streets of Tamale became dead quite this evening as the failure of the Black Stars to make it to the finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations left a bitter pill in the mouths of many Ghanaians in the area.

An aura of despair cast its shadow over the sprawling city as many of the residents could not hide their disappointment.“Boss, it’s bad. I am totally speechless,” Abdul-Wahab Jebreel, a journalist said, adding that this is probably the last time he is going to invest his heart in the Black Stars.

“Never again would I watch Ghana’s match because they always disappoint us at the last minute,” Jebreel stated.

For Mr Mohammed Umar, an accountant at the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Tamale, the defeat was too painful to accept.

“I still do not believe it. We were so close to the final and all of a sudden, pew. A team of no match to our team has kicked us out. How can we accept this,” he lamented.

Indeed, many Ghanaians had harboured high expectations that the Black Stars would qualify to the finale of the 2012 AFCON and lift the cup once again.

All of a sudden, they had to accept the reality that the dream of qualifying to the final and possibly lifting the cup had suddenly evaporated.

What probably caused more anguish to some of these football loving Ghanaians was the repeated failure of Asamoah Gyan to give Ghana victory at the times it matter most.

“Why is it that every time, it is he (Gyan) who fails us? Aaa...ba,” Aisha Issah, the owner of Ayi’s Special Dishes at the Tamale Central Business district complained.

In her opinion, this should be the last tournament of Asamoah Gyan and the other senior places.

“Next time, the coach should send only Dede Ayew and the other young guys,” Aisha suggested, may be confirming the cliché that we have 22 million coaches in Ghana.

Ghana lost by a loan goal to Zambia and by so doing has been relegated to fight for the third or fourth place.