Journalistic Works - News Articles, Features And More of P. ATOGEWE WEDAM

Ghanaian caterers and other players in the food and beverage industry have been called upon to become ardent ambassadors and change agents in the country’s fight against plastic pollution as the menace has very dire consequences for both today’s generation and those coming after.   Dr. Afriyie delivering his address The Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, made the call in his address to the caterers’ association in Accra yesterday at a meeting called by his office to brainstorm with the group, on plastic waste management and the way forward. He noted that a vast majority of food vendors, eateries and chop bars not excluding some restaurants, often packaged food in plastic bags which then get discarded indiscriminately after meals are consumed causing huge pollution across the country, especially in big cities like Accra. He therefore charged the caterers to switch to other options of packing their services that were heal...

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation’s [MESTI] Chief Director, Mrs. Cynthia Asare Bediako and the Special Advisor to the Minister, Mr. Oliver Boakye, hosted a five-member delegation from the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] in Accra last Friday, August 19, 2022 for talks on a youth entrepreneurial support intervention. Chief Director, Mrs. Bediako [middle] The deliberations   centred on the Timbuktoo Initiative under the auspices of the UNDP which focuses on supporting and growing ideas that are impactful and scalable as well as, viable projects by young African entrepreneurs from selected countries including Ghana. This will be done in collaboration with MESTI and other Agencies. Following brief welcome remarks by the Chief Director to open the discussions, leader of the UNDP delegation, Dr. Edward Ampratwum, Head of Innovation and Accountable Governance at the UNDP indicated that the purpose of the meeting was to formally introduce the Timb...

  The Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. ​Kwaku Afriyie (MP) has stressed the need for Ghana to create the needed awareness as well as build the capacity of key stakeholders, on the provisions of the Nagoya Protocol. He said this in his speech to open a day’s sensitization workshop on Monday 9th August,2022 in Accra, for the Focal Point and Competent National Authorities (CNA) whose mandate is to ensure that genetic and biological resources of the country do not get out for various uses without due recourse to laid down procedures and statutes.     The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for the Sefwi-Wiawso Constituency in the Western North Region indicated that, the purpose of the workshop was to present to stakeholders and the public, what the Protocol actually entails, in order to educate them on the procedures to follow when one needs to utilise any of the genetic resources which originates from the country. Dr. Kwaku ...

  A newly constituted board of directors for the Irrigation Company of Upper Region [ICUOR], has been sworn into office at a ceremony held in Accra, at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture this Friday afternoon. Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto who administered both the Official Oath and the Oath of Secrecy to formalise the mandate of the eight-member board, charged the board to exercise an effective oversight over the management of the irrigation company which he described as “a very significant investment” so that, the Ghanaian tax payer can derive maximum benefits from it. Hon. Akoto [Centre] Administering the Oaths   Dr. Akoto reminisced that, the Tono Irrigation Scheme located in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region and operated by ICOUR, started in the 1970s and also included the Vea Irrigation Scheme in the Bongo District of the region. He noted that, the Tono Scheme was doing well until along the line, “bad manageme...

  The National Planning Committee for the 2021 National Farmers’ Day [NFD] celebrations continues to attract some goodwill and support from corporate Ghana as some three companies, converged at the Agric Ministry late Wednesday afternoon and made various donations to the committee including cash and items. The donors included Broadspectrum Ltd. – a communications technologies company, K. Badu Agrochemicals Company Ltd. and UPL Callighana Ltd., agrochemical and bio-solutions technology developers. Broadspectrum and Callighana both made cash donations of 80,000.00 Ghana Cedis and 10,000.00 Ghana Cedis to the committee respectively, while the K. Badu company presented 15 pieces of motorized sprayers in aid of the pending event.   Hon. Addo Receiving Cheque from Broadspectrum  This year’s edition of the NFD which is the 37 th in the series is themed “Planting for Food and Jobs – Consolidating Food Systems in Ghana”. The national event is scheduled to take place on December...

The final National Dissemination and Policy workshop on productivity, profitability and sustainability of organic farming in Ghana has taken place in Accra with a call on policy makers to play active and lead roles in the acceptance and expansion agenda for organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological process, biodiversity and cycles and also adapts to local conditions rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Professor Wole Fatunbi of ProEco Nac-FARA, a partner to the intervention made the call in his remarks to other key partners and stakeholders comprising the media, some regional directors of the department of agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the academia including the University of Ghana and agro-centered organisations. The workshop was under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and its leading partner, ProEco Africa. He noted that, or...

  Ghana’s Cabinet has given approval for the release of 43,984,017.70 Ghana Cedis to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in its efforts geared at combating the current outbreaks of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza [HPAI] in the country. The Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who announced this at a press briefing held this Monday at the ministry, added that the approval came on the back of a proposal his ministry submitted to Cabinet on the subject matter. He said the approval also empowered the ministry to recruit 1,100 veterinary professionals to augment the staff numbers of the Veterinary Services Directorate [VSD] across the country so as to ensure the effective containment of the influenza. Dr. Akoto, Agric Minister making his presention   According to Dr. Akoto, Cabinet additionally directed that 50 percent of the 1,100 professionals representing 550 of them, should be recruited immediately whilst the remaining 50 percent is to be recruite...