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The NRDS was formulated in 2009 and revised in 2015 by MOFA, in collaboration with the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD).
It has set out strategic intervention areas which when addressed, will lead to the government achieving her mission of increasing rice production by 20 per cent per annum, and attaining self-sufficiency by 2018.
The strategy is also aimed at addressing the challenges of low agriculture production, by focusing on some of the bottlenecks along the rice value chain which hitherto has inhibited the growth of the rice industry.
Some thematic areas to be critically looked at include; seed system, fertilizer marketing and distribution system, harvesting access and maintenance system research and technology dissemination, community mobilization, farmer-based organization and credit management system, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Dr Alhassan said for effective and comprehensive implementation of the strategy and its proposed interventions, it had become necessary to revise the document to include emerging issues facing the sector, so it would be a living or organic document.
He said since it was launched in 2010, it had been one of the documents guiding rice development in Ghana, as many areas identified in the strategy document were being applied by some stakeholders in their operations.
They include NGOs (JAK Foundation) and public sector institutions, thereby giving some level of confidence that the document is useful and already receiving some level of attention.
Rice seed system, fertilizer marketing and distribution, post-harvest and marketing, irrigation and water control investments, equipment access and maintenance, research and technology dissemination, community mobilization, farmer-based organization, and credit management are the main strategic areas highlighted in the...
Other interventions are; West Africa seed program supported USAID/West Africa, Enhanced Access to quality rice seed initiative supported by world bank/WAAPP, EDAIF sponsored rice project, preparation of the rice seed road map, supported by CARD, inland valley rice development project supported by AfDB and the Nerica Ri...
Dr Alhassan, however, noted that the interventions were not fully addressing the issues, and expressed the hope that other partners would provide technical and financial support to pipeline proposals that came out from other thematic areas in this strategy document..
Mr Alhassan Imoro of the Crop Services Directorate, disclosed that domestic production (milled rice) between 2009 and 2014 increased from 235,000MT to 417,000MT and total area cultivated, within the same period also increased from 162,000 to 224,000 hectares.
He said rice consumption in Ghana had seen a tremendous growth in the past six years, from about 542,000MT in 2009 to around 748,000MT in 2014.
Ghana, he said, therefore, relied on imported rice to meet its local consumption, spending an average of about 290M US dollars of its scarce foreign currency annually.
He said rice imports into Ghana over the past six years ranged from 384,000MT in 2009 to 414,000MT in 2014.
With a promised delivery date of September 18, iPhone owners are now impatiently pinging Apple’s servers to see if the latest iOS 7 operating system is available for download. The software will be available for existing iPhone owners today and will ship on September 20th pre-installed on new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sma...
The OS is considered by Apple to be the biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone was introduced initially by late co-founder Steve Jobs in 2007. Featuring a completely revamped aesthetics that eschews the skeuomorphism design of all prior versions of the iOS operating system, famed hardware designer Jony ...
On Twitter, users are posting various comments about waiting for the new iOS 7 to arrive.
However, given that the operating system has been available in beta for developer testing for months now, anticipation for the iOS software isn’t quite as high as it’s been publicly seen and demoed. Contrast that with the iPhone 5c pre-order night when customers were hopeful that Apple may also offer the iPhone 5s for ...
With iOS 7, there are even a few jokes, including users who posted an image of a device that appears to be running a modified version of Windows 95.
And scattered in between jokes and hopeful enthusiasm, others are posting public service announcements stating that the iOS 7 download won’t be available until 10 AM Pacific Time on September 18.
One of Lancaster’s longest-standing businesses is marking a significant milestone this year, having overcome a turbulent period which saw a company reshuffle amid difficult circumstances.
But having got through it, Pinington directors are now confident as they move into a new decade of business that the company can hold its own in an uncertain and changing future.
Since it was launched in Aldrens Lane, not far from the Vale Road home of its founder Victor Ellis Pinington, the construction firm has continually sought to broaden its client base and apply new skills and techniques to its operations in order to meet the needs of its customers.
The company’s multi-skilled workforce has achieved remarkable results in recent years, and has been rewarded for its efforts with a North West SME Construction Company of the Year award in 2016, as well as this year being named Construction Business of the Year in the Lancashire BIBAs.
Established in 1948, Pinington remains a family business with the third generation now in the directors’ seat.
Initially trading as heating and plumbing engineers, Pinington gradually moved into main contracting works where it progressively expanded into being the highly respected multi-faceted building company that it is today.
During the early 1980s the company was involved in the refurbishment of council housing stock, providing plumbing and heating services.
The move into the construction sector came about as a result of the previous experience of one of the founder members.
John Ayrton’s building management background helped the company to both develop its construction arm and then go on to succeed in winning numerous key projects in and around Lancashire and Cumbria.
The company has grown steadily ever since.
In 2004, John’s son Mark, along with Steve Black, Nick Pinington and Tom Pinington, joined the board of directors as the third generation of the family.
Shortly after these appointments John retired from his position as managing director and was replaced by Mark.
However, in March 2017, Mark sadly and unexpectedly passed away at the age of 48.
His untimely passing coincided with the planned retirement of Steve Black from his role as commercial director and as a result in mid 2017 Tom Pinington took up the position of managing director and Jeremy Hackett replaced Steve Black as commercial director.
It was a steep learning curve, but one that has seen the firm come out the other side strongly.
As a sign of the company’s recent resurgence, Pinington was voted Construction Business of the Year in the 2018 BIBAs – Lancashire’s prestigious business awards.
“We entered the awards not really expecting to win,” commercial manager Peter Heskine said, “but it’s testament to us that we are on the right track.
Jeremy said: “The construction industry is not good at the moment but to do what we have done and complete what projects we had on when Mark died was a tall order.
“None of us had been an MD before, but Mark’s father John came in and advised on how to take the company forward because he wanted to see the company continue, and that family tie helped a lot.
John’s grandson Ben is now an apprentice at Pinington, bringing the company its fourth generation.
Pinington now, as they have for many years, embrace the industry in both building and mechanical and electrical services, and continue to evolve their integrated services to suit the ever-changing market.
“You have always got to evolve,” Jeremy said. “We are now looking to build the electrical and new technologies side of the business.
At its peak in the 1970s Pinington was the biggest mechanical firm in the north west, employing more than 100 people.
The firm currently employs 35 people in a range of roles, including joiners, bricklayers, labourers, plumbers and electricians, as well as 10 office staff. Several employees can boast more than 40 years’ service.
The firm has extensive experience in numerous projects across a variety of public and private sector schemes throughout Lancashire and Cumbria, including new builds, electrical and mechanical, extensions, refurbishments and alteration work within a value range of £50,000 to £2.5m.
Previous work has included the education, health, hotels and leisure and social housing sectors.
Other projects include commercial offices, retail, commercial industrial units, nursing and care homes, residential, listed buildings, private developments and community projects.
However, the construction industry – along with many others – faces an uncertain future as Brexit looms large on the horizon.
In the meantime, the company is focusing on its loyal customers, which include both Lancashire and Cumbria County Councils, Lancaster University, University of Cumbria, Myerscough College and Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust.
Indeed, work has just started on a large £1.8m A&E extension at Furness General Hospital in Barrow, which is due for completion in May 2019.
Notable Pinington construction jobs around the district from recent years include the Knight’s Bridge apartments in Aldcliffe Road, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary education centre, Lancaster bus station, refurbishment of Hillcroft nursing homes, Lancaster market, refurbishment work at Lancaster & Morecambe College and M...
After a traumatic period for all connected with the company, a focus on keeping business local in recent times means Pinington bosses can tentatively look forward to a brighter future.
The audience for the Aug. 6 Atlanta Board of Education meeting, which included a fourth and final public hearing about the school property tax rate and votes to deny the petitions of two charter schoosl.
Next year, Atlanta will have two new charter schools, but they won’t be part of Atlanta Public Schools.
It’s the result of two events: a decision by voters in 2012 to create a state-level charter school agency, and the Atlanta school system’s apparent decision to tap the brakes on new charter schools.
The State Charter Schools Commission can authorize schools that don’t win approval at the local level, and last month it did just that, approving Ethos Classical Charter School and Harriet Tubman School of Science and Tech as elementary schools to open in the fall of 2019.
Both say they offer unusual content, a focus on the classics at one and on the use of data at the other. They have something else in common though: both were denied an APS charter last year.
The school system rejected Ethos over environmental concerns about the proposed facility and a “lack of community support;” the Harriet Tubman school was rejected over concerns about its funding model, organizational structure, recruitment strategy and leaders’ knowledge of education law.
Both tried again this year, but gave up. The district wanted more time to make a decision — time these schools were unwilling to give.
Emily White, the lead founder and head of school for Ethos, said a delay would have pushed back the opening date, which would have been unfair to parents and students.
“After three years of making promises to families, it was just time to make it happen,” she said.
APS has generally been seen as receptive to charters: it’s hired charter operators to run some of its poorest-performing schools and eight months ago allowed one of its existing charter school operators, KIPP, to add 1,100 students.
When asked for details about that nascent strategy, a spokesman sent a statement that said the district is trying to develop a “clear vision” to create a “system of excellent schools” for all students, along with a plan to “operationalize” it. But they’ve a ways to go: the school board still hasn’t defined their “visio...
The spokesman added this: “We wouldn’t describe this process as ‘APS tapping the brakes on charter schools as it figures out its strategy’ as you mentioned,” adding that charter schools “are one component and may be a critical part” of a system of excellent schools.
The school board rejected the Ethos and Tubman petitions on Aug. 6, but it was a formality. These schools had moved on, securing charters from the state commission along with two other metro Atlanta schools on July 25.
Charter schools typically must offer something the neighborhood schools do not. Tubman will serve students in west Atlanta, and will have an online component, plus a a “data-driven model” with “real-time” analysis. Ethos will focus on the classics, “conceptual and procedural math” and the arts; it will staff two teache...
Becoming a state charter school is more appealing now that lawmakers have increased their funding.
White attended the legislative hearings earlier this year, and is familiar enough with the new funding formula to know that her school will do better than it would have prior to the new law. Still, her school will get less money per student than it would have under Atlanta, schools, a top spender on a per pupil basis.
Even with a funding gap, White is confident her students will outperform comparable APS schools, which will be necessary to maintain her charter. She noted that the nearby public schools have just 30 percent of students reading on grade level by third grade, a crucial year for literacy.
Conor McPherson’s play The Weir finds the playwright in a contemplative mood as he deals with themes of memory and myth, life and death, light and dark. On its première in 1997 the drama won the Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle and Olivier Award for Best New Play, and established Conor McPherson’s eerie tale as a mast...
Set in a pub in sparsely populated Co Leitrim on a dark, windswept night, the play interrogates the value of myth-making, story telling and the allure of the supernatural in today’s sceptical world.
It features stoical barman Brendan, wise-cracking garage-owner Jack, shy handyman Jim and show-off businessman Finbar who all meet regularly in the pub to sup pints. As the group exchange stories a beautiful and enigmatic woman named Valerie arrives causing a gear-shift as the punters try to impress her with tall tales...
Valerie, here played by Belfast actress Kerri Quinn, becomes increasingly absorbed in their stories and proceeds to deliver a public confessional about the death of her child.
The Weir moves deftly from pub banter to something closer to Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of the supernatural and this production at the Lyric Theatre directed by Andrew Flynn carefully unpacks the complexity of McPherson’s script.
The new production by Decadent Theatre marks the first major Irish revival and national tour of The Weir, rebooting its haunting storyline of spectres and lost souls.
Mixing barstool banter and tales of faeries the ensemble cast - which also features Frankie McCafferty, Garrett Keogh, Patrick Ryan and Marty Maguire - engage in that most Irish of occupations - sharing imaginative flights of fancy over a few drinks.
“All the action takes place in a very isolated community somewhere between Sligo and Leitrim,” explains Andrew. “This is set during a time when the area had been hit very significantly by immigration. On this particular night rumours abound that a young woman will arrive from Dublin. Among the men bantering in the pub ...
Andrew is particularly enthused by the brilliance of McPherson’s writing which manages to find dynamism in word power rather than physical movement on stage; some of the characters don’t leave their bar stool over the course of the action.
In its depiction of story telling and rural pub talk The Weir says much about the particularities of the Irish psyche.
The Weir, which McPherson penned at the age of 25, opened at the Royal Court before transferring to the West End and Broadway. Here the playwright has managed to charge a confined and static situation in a bar with the dynamism of his characterisation and word play. These elegant dramatic exchanges hinges on the playwr...
“This is an intimate and naturalistic play,” adds Andrew. “It’s about relationships, it’s about humanity, it’s very funny as well as eerie and the stories that each of the characters tell are just so well crafted that they completely reel the audience in. It touches on rural isolation - three of the men are bachelors a...
The Weir by Conor McPherson runs at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast until September 30. Visit www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/ or call the box office on 02890 381 081.
This week’s episode of Bringing Up Bates takes a little break from the baby and pregnancy news and puts the focus on one of the Bates most eligible bachelors—Lawson! In this episode, we’ll see him pursuing his music career in Nashville as he works on new songs with his co-writer and producer. He already has released a ...
PHOTOS: Erin and Chad Paine Reveal They’re Pregnant Again!
Watch the clips below of Lawson in Nashville, plus find out what the Bates have planned for their new home garden!
OK! Exclusive: Find Out The Name and Gender of Alyssa Bates’ First Baby!
Bringing Up Bates airs Thursdays at 9pm on UP! Will you watch this week’s episode? Do you support Lawson pursuing music? Tweet us @OKMagazine.
Trump doesn’t need to assert executive privilege to keep Robert Mueller’s findings hidden.
Trump doesn’t need to assert it to keep Robert Mueller’s findings hidden.
Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.
Heartburn spread across Washington after the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that the White House might assert executive privilege as a way to bury at least parts of special counsel Robert Mueller’s much-anticipated report at the end of his investigation. The way ahead for that report is, to be sure, uncerta...
A recent New Yorker piece told us that Giuliani anticipates President Trump will invoke executive privilege to prevent full public disclosure by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of Mueller’s final report. But something is wrong with this picture. A presidential executive-privilege claim should play no part in the...
Rather, when the question of whether to release Mueller’s report to the public eventually arises, Rosenstein will have to decide if such a disclosure is “in the public interest” and consistent with law. That determination would clearly appear to be something that the attorney general’s boss, the president, could weigh ...
To understand this point and to realize why executive privilege should have practically no relevance, it is necessary to look first at the carefully crafted Justice Department regulations governing the appointment and operation of a special counsel such as Mueller.
Attorney General Janet Reno promulgated these regulations in 1999, during the Clinton administration. They came about after Congress let lapse the statutory authority that had set up an independent-counsel scheme. That scheme (under which various independent counsels, such as Ken Starr, operated) had become highly cont...
It is important to keep in mind that the Reno special-counsel regulations were not promulgated under a specific instruction and authorization by Congress to implement regulations governing special counsels appointed to investigate conduct by high-level executive-branch officials. They were instead issued under the gene...
Whether Mueller’s report is hidden from the public is, simply put, a choice for the president to make.
Unsurprisingly, the special-counsel regulations nowhere mention or discuss the president and thus say nothing about the relationship between the president and his attorney general or any special counsel. They do provide that the attorney general may appoint a special counsel and that such an officer has the power and i...
Of particular relevance to Giuliani’s remarks, the DOJ regulations provide that at the conclusion of his work, a special counsel shall deliver to the attorney general a confidential report explaining his prosecutorial decisions. The attorney general may then determine that public release of a special counsel’s report i...
Finally, there’s the question of how these regulations interact with potential judicial review of these procedural decisions. The DOJ regulations state that they do not create, and cannot be relied upon to create, any rights for any person or entity enforceable in court in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceed...

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