• Association calls for coordinating body
• Expert advises cocoa states to mobilise youths, forests for production
Apart from neglect of agricultural infrastructure by the government, non-availability of improved high-yielding cocoa seedlings, scarcity of other inputs such as agro-chemicals, old production technologies and climate change have been identified as impediments to increasing cocoa productivity in the country. Production of cocoa beans was around 300,000 metric tonnes in 2013/2014, but reduced to about 245,000 metric tonnes in the 2019/2020 session.
However, in the 2019/2020 cocoa season, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) aggregated 742,725 tonnes as of June 4, according to International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO). And, Côte d’Ivoire, as of August 3, 2020, aggregated 2.043 million tonnes.
Scientists reveal the hybrid origin of the white Guinea yam
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18 December 2020
An international team of scientists has revealed the origin of the most popular food staple in Africa, the white Guinea yam.
Yam is a major staple widely consumed in West Africa. This starchy tuber is an important food crop that contributes to the sustenance and sociocultural lives of over 300 million people in the region. Many species of yam are grown in Africa, of which white Guinea yam (
Dioscorea rotundata Poir) is indigenous to West Africa. Despite its importance, relatively little is known about the white Guinea yam, especially at the genetic level, leading to its being branded as an “orphan crop.”