GRi Newsreel 11-02-99

Tamale (Northern Region) 11 Feb

Research has revealed that Ghana loses about 40 per cent of its yam production to diseases and pests.

Dr Jeffery Peters, head of the Yam Disease Research team, made this known in Tamale yesterday after a workshop on the control of yam diseases. It was attended by agricultural researchers and farmers.

The participants discussed research findings on yam such as assessment of disease severity on yam foliage and survey of tubers to determine their yields and health.

The research, carried out in the Northern, Upper West and Brong Ahafo regions, identified Anthracnose (fungus), Nematodes and viruses as well as termites and mini-buds as the main diseases and pests which affect yam yields.

Dr. Peters said 10 per cent of farms sampled had labels of Anthracnose while 50 per cent had Nematodes, which reduce the yield, marketability and palatability of the yam.

He said yam yields could be increased by over 300 per cent if farmers use clean seeds or collect seeds from plants that do not have high levels of the diseases.

Dr. Peters said the next phase of the project, when approved, will examine the possibilities of establishing clean yam seed farms.

He said the health of the yam field determines the length of storage of the staple food, adding that infected yam fields can be treated using natural products such as powdered dry leaves of false-yam, neem and teak.

Dr. Peters said research has also revealed that the raised hut storage system is better than the traditional pit storage system because the latter controls rodents and has a better aeration which prevents the yam from rotting early.

Tamale (Northern Region) 11 Feb. 

The National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) has condemned the recent spate of violence against women in the Northern region.

The council has, therefore, called on government to revoke customs, traditions and religious practices, which help, perpetuate violence in line with the International Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Addressing a press conference in Tamale yesterday, Ms Fati Paul, regional co-ordinator of the NCWD, asked the law enforcement agencies to conduct thorough investigations into such incidents.

The conference was in reaction to the latest incident involving the alleged beating to death of a 28-year-old pregnant woman, Fati Abdallah, by her husband, Abdul Rahman Ziblim, 41, in Tamale.

Mrs. Mariama Sumani, chairperson of the regional planning committee of the NCWD, said a number of long-term strategies had been adopted to eliminate violence against women.

These include public education to raise the status of women to gain recognition of their full human rights and lobbying of parliament to reform laws that allow such violence.

Hajia Alima Mahama, a member of the committee, expressed concern about the growing incidence of lynching of old women on suspicion that they are witches, rape, child defilement, assault and female genital mutilation in the region.

Wa (Upper West) 11 Feb.  

The Wa police have arrested a 30-year-old farmer, Samuel Anbanye, for allegedly murdering a 60-year-old woman at Goli, a farming community in the Nadowli District.

Galina Pognyuo was said to have been hit several times on the head by the suspect with a pestle, resulting in her death.

A statement issued by the Upper West Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Police Inspector Daniel Dorkpoh, said the suspect, who lives at Kaborgo, about three kilometres away from Goli, allegedly visited the village on that day.

He was said to have helped some masons undertaking a building project in the village but was later seen hitting the old lady who was sitting alone on a bench with the pestle without any provocation.

The woman's screams for help attracted people in the neighbourhood but she was almost dead by the time help came.

Inspector Dorkpoh said the suspect was arrested by the youth of the village who later handed him over to the police.

Anbanye told the police that he suffers from epilepsy which renders him mentally depressed and attributed his action to the evil spirit of the old lady.

The body of the deceased has since been released to the family for burial after an autopsy at the Wa Hospital while the suspect has been remanded in custody until February 18.