A new FAO publication aimed at improving conservation of food crops, many of which are crucial to the world’s food and nutrition security, has been launched The publication, Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, outlines voluntary, international standards for the many repositories -- or genebanks -- around the world that store seeds and other materials used to reproduce plants, as well as living plants in the field. More than 7 million samples of seeds, tissues and other plant-propagating materials from food crops, along with their wild relatives, are safeguarded in about 1,750 gene-banks. The standards are designed to guide users in implementing the most appropriate technologies and procedures for the collection, conservation and documentation of crop diversity. Their wide application also supports research that could stem the loss of biodiversity and boost sustainability in agriculture, both necessary conditions for feeding a world population that is expected to exceed 9 billion by the year 2050. Well-managed gene-banks help to preserve genetic diversity and make it available to breeders and other scientists, who can then use it to develop and share improved varieties -- including those adapted to particular agro-ecological conditions. “As the world’s population grows and continues to face a wide range of climate, environmental and other challenges, maintaining a healthy variety of seeds and other plant genetic resources for the benefit of people in all countries will be essential to keeping agricultural and food systems sustainable and resilient, generation after generation,” said Ren Wang, FAO Assistant Director-General. “Gene-banks help bridge the past and the future by ensuring the continued availability of plant genetic resources for research and for breeding new varieties that meet the consumers’ continually evolving needs and a changing climate. They help us to conserve plant genetic resources and to improve them; they also help countries to share and exchange genetic resources with each other,” said Linda Collette, Secretary of FAO’s intergovernmental Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Wide range of applications The publication was prepared under guidance by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which in 2013 endorsed and urged the universal adoption of international standards for conservation in seed banks, field gene-banks and for in-vitro and cryopreservation of plant tissue. The non-binding standards address a wide range of issues, including techniques for collecting samples; consistent labelling; protection from fungi, bacteria, pests and physical stress factors; viability and genetic integrity testing; and, developing strategies for the rapid multiplication of samples for distribution. The world’s gene-banks differ greatly in the size of their collections and the human and financial resources at their disposal. The Standards will help gene-bank managers strike a balance between scientific objectives, resources available, and the objective conditions under which they work. FAO experts consulted with a wide range of partners, including those at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global partnership whose research is carried out at 15 centres worldwide -- in particular Bioversity International; gene-bank managers; relevant academic and research institutions; and, national focal points for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. The Standards stress the importance of securing and sharing material along with related documentation, in line with national and international regulations. They are important tools in implementing the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture -- both of which support countries in the conservation and sustainable use of crop diversity.

Telecom services in the country have come under attack as the incidence of cable cuts has reached a three-year high, with telecom operators suffering 2,110 cuts last year. Since 2011, the number of cable cuts recorded by operators has risen from 480 to 2,110 – an increase of more than 300 percent. This increase in the rate of damage to underground infrastructure of telecom companies has spurred stakeholders into action. According to the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecoms, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, “three-quarters of the cuts occur during road construction, followed by small-scale illegal mining, which is responsible for 10 percent of cuts. The rest are theft, vandalism and bush-fires.” Network operators say cuts to the fibre-optic networks reduce their reliability and affect customer experience while increasing their cost of operations. This year alone, one operator has suffered at least 50 cuts, with each costing at least GH¢17,000 to repair. Roads and Highways Minister Amadu-Aminu Sulemani, speaking at a forum with the Telecoms Chamber, said the Ministry, being the biggest culprit, will intensify its collaboration with stakeholders to ensure the rate of cable cuts is minimised. “My Ministry is very concerned about these cable cuts and I want to work with all the key stakeholders to address it because it’s a national security issue,” he said. He said the Ministry will ensure that the various roads agencies and telecom operators share their respective plans and technical drawings for new projects to ensure that they are aligned in order to minimise damage to telecom cables. The Minister also advised telecom companies to make sure that their contractors lay cables at the appropriate depths to minimise undue exposure. Last year, the National Security Coordinator issued a set of directives to the Roads and Highways Minister aimed at curbing cable cuts. Among other measures, it called for roads agencies and telecom operators to provide contractors with cable layouts of the project area. The National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT), which comprises roads agencies and utilities including telecom operators, is planning to hold a stakeholders’ meeting in the Western Region, where the incidence of cable cuts is currently most acute. By Richard Annerquaye Abbey

  The influx of pirated textile designs into the country has cost Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) about 75 percent of its business since 2009 and threatens to push the once profitable company over the edge, Mr. Stephen Dutton, ATL’s Sales and Marketing Manager, has said. Mr. Dutton, who stopped shop of quantifying the loss in monetary terms, said: “ATL’s business has gone down by 75 percent since 2009, costing the company millions of Ghana cedis. It has affected our cash flow and it’s affecting our ability to operate properly. We have people complaining that we don’t supply the market. This is because we are short of working capital. When you have a hit on your business like that from fake, copied, smuggled goods, it becomes difficult to take it and carry on normally.” Dutton added: “We would welcome any reduction in taxes and every incentive that makes us competitive. We are producing quality goods, employing designers to create new designs, investing money in our brand, advertising and promotion. What gives people the right to bring in goods that bear our designs? It’s wrong and it needs to be stopped.” He spoke to the B&FT at a stakeholders’ forum on the National Crusade Against Trade in Pirated Ghanaian Textile Designs and Trademarks, held in Accra. Mr. Mosses Zizer, the General Manager of Administration of Printex, a local textile producer, also said: “The industry is collapsing. Our main problem is not the importation itself, but the importation of pirated designs to sell at cheaper prices. “There is a vetting committee which everyone is supposed to channel whatever they intend to import through to be verified and approval given. But knowing very well they will be found out, the pirates don’t go there; they just pirate and import.” The issue of pirated textiles has been bugging the textile industry over the last five years. Coupled with high taxes and production costs, the industry is strained and increasingly becoming unprofitable. From over 40 textile firms that employed more than 30,000 people, the country now has only four textile factories employing less than 4,000 people. The Takoradi port was in 2006 designated as the only entry point for the importation of textiles. However, due to revenue concerns raised by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the entry points were expanded to include the Kotoka International Airport and the Tema harbour. This was later reviewed to allow entry via all borders in the country. This, the anti-piracy taskforce contends, opened the floodgates for the influx of pirated textiles. The taskforce was created by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) in 2008 and reconstituted in June 2013. A vetting committee was also instituted to vet any design that an importer intends to import for sale in Ghana. Mr. Appiah Donyina, chairman of the taskforce, said the team has increased its surveillance and will continue with its education across major markets in the country. With the assistance of the police, the taskforce has seized and destroyed hundreds of pirated textiles from retailers. B&FT investigations last year revealed that the Aflao border remains one of the major entry routes for smugglers of pirated textiles. The many entry points along the border make it difficult for security operatives in the area to check the menace. “If there is evidence to suggest that restricting important to designated ports has been very effective, then they need to re-institute that. The free port in Lome might be encouraging people to bring goods that way,” Mr. Dutton said. By Dominick Andoh

  The Bank of Ghana (BoG) must do more to shore-up the cedi, say market players -- who predict that the local currency will remain under pressure as importers continue to seek scarce dollars to pay for goods procured on credit during the holidays as well as buy fresh stocks for the New Year. Last week the BoG, which has been cautious about using its international reserves too quickly to ease the shortage of dollars, said it had injected US$20million to meet demand in selected sectors. But the amount was seen as paltry, with banks saying the central bank must intervene more vigorously lest the cedi, which fell by 3.1 percent against the dollar in January, gives up further ground to not just the greenback, but also the euro, pound and CFA. At the start of the year, the exchange rate was 2.335 cedis to the dollar, but it slipped to 2.45 cedis by the end of January, according to data from Bloomberg. By mid-morning on Monday, the currency was at 2.4650 to the dollar. “Basically, what we have seen from the beginning of this year is that the currency has come under pressure mainly from strong demand on both the corporate and retail side,” said Inusah Musah, Head, Global Markets, at Stanbic Bank in Accra. “We are also experiencing a supply issue because the mining sector, which is one of the key forex providers in the country, is going through some price challenges. And once you have more demand than supply, naturally, you expect the push.” He added that “from where we sit in the market, [the central bank] needs to do more in terms of supply to ease off the pressure”. Though the BoG has supplied dollars to aid the import of oil, non-oil demand -- which is also strong -- has not been met sufficiently,” he said. Another banker who keeps his eye on the currency market -- but asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak -- said the remainder of the first quarter is a critical period for the market, with more depreciation pressure on the cedi expected from multinationals that will be buying dollars to repatriate dividends to shareholders. “I don’t see the demand [for dollars] easing in the coming months. So the solution is to increase the supply, because this is purely a demand and supply issue,” he said. The BoG seems in a quandary, however: its reserves, which stood at US$5.6billion in November, are enough for only 2.9 months of imports compared to its target of 3 months -- and not all of it is liquid, which limits the extent of its intervention. Consumers feel the pain While bankers urge on their regulator, ordinary consumers -- in whose pockets the pain of depreciation is felt -- are also counting on the central bank to support the cedi to prevent further cost-of-living rises. In the past year the currency has lost 21 percent of its value against the dollar, pushing up the price of almost everything: fuel at the pumps, cooking gas, frozen chicken, clothing, furniture, footwear and the wigs that women use for their hair. Two years ago, when the cedi weakened by 18 percent, the government shielded consumers from much of the impact by subsidising petrol, electricity and water -- a decision that contributed to a record budget deficit worth 12 percent of GDP. This year, however, subsidies have been cancelled, leaving consumers to bear the brunt of the currency’s misfortune. From 8.8 percent in December 2012, inflation picked up to 13.5 percent last month, and the persistently weak cedi threatens to force it higher. Petroleum products have become especially expensive given their double exposure to the vagaries of the international price of crude oil and the local currency’s exchange rate. Petrol and diesel prices are up 41 percent and 45 percent respectively from a year ago, while liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene have jumped by 112 percent and 169 percent in the same period. Fundamental problem At the root of the currency debacle is the country’s sizeable import demand, with much of the boost to incomes from the brisk economic growth rates of the past decade fuelling the craving for tastier goods from abroad. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that Ghana’s trade deficit widened to 13.1 percent of GDP last year, while the current account deficit -- a broader measure that adds net foreign transfers due to dividends, remittances and other forms of income -- rose to 12.9 percent of GDP from 12.2 percent in 2012. Stanbic Bank’s Musah said excess dollar demand is the “immediate driver” of the cedi’s depreciation, but the more fundamental reason for its sustained weakness is that “structurally, we tend to have more imports than exports”. This view is widely shared and, according to most critical observers, the permanent way to fix the cedi’s vulnerabilities is to bolster and diversify exports as well as curb import demand by boosting the quantity and quality of home-based production. Meantime, the fire-fighting is on In the short-term, however, the central bank -- nervous about the danger that depreciation poses to already stubborn inflation -- has been mulling additional measures to defend the currency. One central banker hinted last week that the monetary authorities may limit the number of forex accounts that non-traders can maintain with a bank, an idea apparently intended to curtail the hoarding of dollars. Already, in a bid to promote transparent pricing of foreign exchange and bring the market into greater exchange-rate harmony, the regulator has instructed banks to quote both their “buy” and “sell” positions when dealing with counterparties, and to limit the spread between the rates to 25 basis points in inter-bank transactions and 200 basis points in transactions with customers. One senior currency trader at a major regional bank said the central bank’s new directive will narrow banks’ margins, and that traders may find a way to circumvent the restrictions. The BoG could also raise interest rates on Thursday, after it brought forward its February monetary-policy meeting by two weeks to consider early action to save the declining situation. An interest-rate hike (the rate is currently at 16 percent) will increase the returns on cedi assets, but could further slow already lacklustre growth that registered 4.1 percent in the first nine months of 2013, compared to 8.7 percent in the same period of 2012. By Leslie Dwight MENSAH & Bernard Yaw ASHIADEY

  By Edward Adjei FRIMPONG, Sunyani The prevalence of fruit-fly infestation continues to thwart the potential of mango production as one of the promising leading non-traditional export crops; this because total eradication or extreme reduction of the impact from fruit-fly invasion is not in sight. The invasive insect pest, fruit-fly, detected in Ghana from February 2005, attacks several commercially produced fruit and vegetables with mango as one of the preferred hosts. Other host crops include citrus, banana, papaya, water melon, tomatoes, garden eggs, Indian almond, cashew among others. The growing fruit-fly infestation and other plant-diseases are really dragging Ghana’s horticulture economic potential into a ditch. Ghana among other sub-Saharan countries has been bracketed as a fruit-fly endemic zone, thereby making it very difficult for fruit like mango from the country to penetrate international markets including Europe, USA and South Africa. Mango production is gradually becoming an alternative livelihood source for many in the morthern-belt of the BrongAhafo Region -- particularly Kintampo and its environs. But it appears the farmers are not getting value for money as they are losing the battle in fighting fruit-flies on their farms. The pervasiveness of the fruit-fly population in other host-prone crops -- especially in the wild -- has made mango-farmers ’quarantine efforts extremely difficult. In the interim, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has instituted a fruit-fly awareness campaign, including a management plan aimed at reducing the population of the pests on susceptible crop farms at the beginning of farming seasons. Briefing the B&FT, Brong Ahafo Regional Plant Protection Officer Ebenezer Aboagye mentioned field sanitation as one of the management mechanisms. “Field Sanitation is a very important suppression method for two reasons: an infected fruit may hold 100s of larvae and/or eggs, and by getting rid of that one fruit you are eliminating future fruit-fly swarms. Pesticides applied to fruits don’t kill larvae and eggs, hence sanitation is the best option,” he said. Key among the sanitation techniques he pointed out is included: farmers picking up all the dropped fruit and harvesting all the punctured fruit and then burying them (at least 60cm below soil surface). Tying collected infected-fruit in thick black plastic bags and exposing them to the heat of sun for a few days until the fruit is rotten and all the maggots are dead. The collected fruit, he said, can also be destroyed by burning. Touching on market sanitation, he said: “Rejected and rotten fruit in the market centres and other bulk storage points should be properly disposed of. Traders need to store or display their fruit in appropriate environment to prevent the flies from infesting them”. Mr. Aboagye further mentioned baiting as one of the techniques under which farmers install poisonous protein baits on their farms. As fruit-flies need sugar for energy and protein food to mature and reproduce, female flies that feed on the attractive baits will then lay infertile eggs, he explained. Trapping male adult flies using recommended pheromone traps has also been adopted as one of the fighting mechanisms to reduce the population of male flies in the orchard. It has been recommended that trapping continue throughout the year. Should a farmer lose sight of the control measures, he/she is likely to have the farm ‘engulfed’ by the pests. Mango farmers say the practice is very demanding and are of the opinion that “combatting” the fruit-fly menace in isolation is not the answer to the problem. The Secretary of the Kintampo Mango Farmers Association, Samuel Effah-Nimo, in an interview with B&FT repeated a call on governments in the sub-Region to find a holistic approach to defeat the growing canker. “I want the government of Ghana to show more commitment to the cause and champion the crusade to bring sister-countries onboard,” he stressed. FIN

  Investors want government to encourage more foreign investment into the country and develop the newly-touted Ghana Infrastructural Fund (GIF), rather than play with interest rates and money supply as a way of curbing the cedi’s depreciation. The local currency fell by 3.1 percent in January against the dollar, and is down 21 percent from a year ago amid pressure from high import demand. Analysts fear the Bank of Ghana (BoG), whose monetary-policy committee meets this week, could be tempted to raise interest rates to stem the slide. “The biggest thing the Finance Ministry needs to do is to encourage foreign investments into the country and develop the infrastructure fund. Trying to manage interest rates and money supply and improving banking regulations will not be good,” Kenny Hearn, a fund manager at Coro Capital, a South African-based investment house, said. Mr. Hearn noted that increasing already high interest rates will have an adverse effect on the economy, because “if you go any higher it will eventually have an impact on the country and foreign investment is going to leave anyway, and then the currency will depreciate further”. Speaking yesterday at the second Stanbic Bank Investor Conference in Accra, the fund manager said educating local companies on the benefits of foreign investment can be crucial to the development of the country. The conference brought together listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and investors from the USA, Europe, Asia and other parts of Africa. It presented a one-on-one platform for the investors to get information on the outlook of the Ghanaian economy, particularly the securities industry, to help them make informed decisions. Director in charge of the financial sector division at the Ministry of Finance, Joseph D. Chognuru, said one factor contributing to low growth rates in developing countries is insufficient, inappropriate and poorly maintained physical infrastructure.“Improving the investment climate will encourage more infrastructure investors to take full advantage of the opportunity. This in turn will make infrastructure services more widely available and encourage other types of investments.” Mr. Chognuru noted that there is an increasing number of SMEs seeking to penetrate often complex global markets. “Investors providing SME-friendly services can play the role of effective business partners for these SMEs in the expansion programme.”Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Adu Anane Antwi said the commission has played and will continue to play a key role in the integration of West African capital markets. He added that the SEC has also forged international cooperation with other securities market regulators outside the West African sub-region for information-sharing and effective regulation of capital markets. “The capital market has assumed increasing importance in the financial markets in Ghana. Creating prosperity has largely been a matter of bringing together people who are prepared to invest capital with people who are able to use it to create wealth.” Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Bank Alhassan Andani said the economy’s current challenges, such as tax hikes and the removal of subsidies, should also be seen as necessary actions that will create a better future. By Bernard Yaw ASHIADEY

  The Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel YawAdusei, has cut the tape to officially open a new GOIL service station at Boete in the Obuasi Municipality of the Ashanti Region. Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Minister called on Ghanaians to promote and support indigenous companies. He advised that this could be accomplished if every citizen develops the need to patronise locally-made goods and services. He noted that GOIL ranks among renowned companies in the country which seek to better the people’s welfare, having engaged the services of many Ghanaians and also contributed in diverse ways to support growth of the petroleum industry. He commended GOIL for its immense contribution and achievements since its establishment in the country some 54 years ago.Kojo Bonsu, Mayor of Kumasi Metropolitan who also doubles as a member of the board of directors and chairman of GOIL’s rebranding committee, expressed happiness about the move to fortify its presence in the Obuasi Municipality. He called on Obuasi residents to patronie the services and products being offered. GOIL embarked on a rebranding programme in 2012, and as part of the rebranding activities existing stations are being rehabilitated to portray the new brand while new stations are also being established to extend GOILs products and services closer to its numerous customers. The Obuasi Station is the third of such stations in Ashanti Region.       By Kizito CUDJOE, Obuasi

Komos Energy has announced plans to spend about US$575million on capital projects this year, underpinning the company’s commitment to advance its development projects in the country. Last year, the company’s capital spending came in under budget at US$425million, primarily due to the postponement of certain development and appraisal activities into 2014. As a result, the company's overall liquidity position at year-end 2013 was stronger than expected with cash and cash equivalents of US$598million and total available liquidity of US$1.2billion. In a statement issued yesterday, Kosmos said its oil and gas reserve replacement ratio of 140% -- that is, the growth in reserves as a share of volume produced in a year is supported by increased oil reserves in the Jubilee Field. “Our foundation as a self-funded explorer underlies our capital programme for the year as we continue the momentum we have created to deliver new, meaningful value for our shareholders," stated Brian F. Maxted, chief executive officer and chief exploration officer at Kosmos. “In addition to advancing our development projects in Ghana, we are highly focused on our upcoming exploration drilling campaign. Further, we are continuing to build and mature our potentially transformational exploration portfolio.” Ghana-related development and appraisal capital spending comprises approximately two-thirds of the 2014 forecast programme, with around US$70million of the Ghana expenditure ascribed to spending deferred from 2013. The remaining one-third is allocated for exploration activities and reflects the benefits of last year's farm-out initiatives in Morocco. The company's 2014 Ghana development and appraisal activity is targetted at around US$400million, about equally divided between the Greater Jubilee and TEN (Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme) projects. This includes funds for further development at Jubilee, including the remaining activities associated with the Phase 1A development, facility upgrades, and long-lead equipment and engineering for the next phase of development -- as well as additional appraisal activities for the Mahogany, Teak and Akasa discoveries. The capital programme also provides funds for continued development at TEN. As part of the company's planned exploration activities, which total approximately US$175million for the year, Kosmos expects to participate in the drilling of two offshore exploration wells. The company's proved net reserves at the end of 2013 were 46.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 3.3 million barrels of oil equivalent from year-end 2012. The year-end 2013 volumes include natural gas reserves of 1.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, essentially unchanged from the previous year -- which represents only the gas anticipated to be used for power generation on the Jubilee floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. A reserve replacement ratio of 140%, on a net proved basis, was realised in the Jubilee Field at the end of last year. The increase in reserves was largely related to observed field performance and Phase 1A well results.

Fan Milk Ltd’s profit fell 21.4 percent in 2013 from the previous year to GH¢21.375 million (US$9million) on higher utility rates and lower consumer confidence, the company said in a statement on Friday. Revenue fell to 138.799 million cedis from 147.212 million cedis, while earnings per share declined 0.18 cedis against 0.23 cedis for the full year in 2012, the company said in a filing with the Ghana Stock Exchange. Dubai private equity group Abraaj said last June it would acquire Fan Milk International, which is based in Ghana, tapping into fast-rising consumer spending in six West African countries. "Electricity load-shedding, higher utility rates and a general lower consumer confidence for most parts of the year resulted in a scale-back in the activities of our agents and distributors," the company said in a statement. Much of the company's yoghurt-based drink products are sold by street vendors on bicycles. It was not immediately possible to reach the company. The government slashed fuel and utility subsidies last year in a bid to bring down a budget deficit that is provisionally forecast at 10.2 percent for 2013. Reuters