Accra, Ghana, March 12, 2019//-For the first time in many years Ghana has exported certain types of food stuffs to neighbouring countries.
This feat according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was the result of prudent policies put in place by his administration.
At a recent media encounter at the Jubilee House he said: “For the first time in many years, there is an abundance of food. And I notice that the prices of foodstuff are low and in some cases, there is clout. We are currently exporting plantain to some of our neighbours, quite a turnaround from when I was lamenting two years ago that we were importing plantain from Cote d’Ivoire.”
He pointed out: “We also did not import a single grain of maize this year. It is not often we have such good news and it must mean if you invest in agriculture, you get results. Planting for Food and Jobs is working and I look forward to rice joining the list of foods stuff we are no longer importing”.
As part of the Planting for Food and Jobs(PFJs) Programme launched last year by the President to halt the declining growth of agriculture, Ghanaians were admonished to take up agriculture as a full-time business to enable the country produce enough to feed itself and for export.
The Finance Ministry is also on record to have told Ghanaians some measures taken and to be taken to make agriculture take its expected role in the country’s economy.
Presenting the 2019 Budget to parliament, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta said: “Following a year of implementation of the PFJs Programme, the sector witnessed a growth rate of 8.4 percent in 2017. Significant yield increases were recorded in 2017 compared to 2016 levels for selected crops; maize yield increased by 67 percent from 1.8mt/ha to 3.0mt/ha; rice yield increased by 48 percent from 2.7mt/ha to 4.0mt/ha and soya yield increased by 150 percent from 1mt/ha to 2.5mt/ha”.
He disclosed that a total of 577,000 farmers were supplied with subsidised fertilisers and seeds for the 2018 cropping season, compared to a target of 500,000 farmers.
“In 2018, a total of 183,000mt of fertilizers, 7,600mt of seeds and cassava planting materials were distributed across the country. In 2019, 13,000mt of subsidised seeds for priority crops (cereals, legumes and vegetables) and 200,000 bundles of cassava planting materials; 438,900mt subsidised inorganic fertiliser and 30,000mt of organic fertilisers will be distributed. This is expected to translate into a total of 1.2 million metric tonnes of additional production of cereals and legumes”, he said
The Minister explained that, “To improve extension service delivery, the Ministry facilitated the recruitment of 2,700 extension agents, procured and distributed 3,000 motorbikes to extension agents and also distributed 216 brand new pickups to Departments of Agriculture of District Assemblies.”
“The Ministry continued the irrigation development projects initiated in 2017. These included Tamne Phase I dam which is 84 percent complete and the fully completed Zakpalsi, Kornorkle, Uwasi, Atidzive-Ayiteykorfe and Aka Basin dams, making available 83 hectares of land for irrigation. Government will in 2019, rehabilitate the Guo, Kpong left and right banks, Tono, Ohawu, Weta and Ashaiman irrigation schemes, which will make available a total of 9,850 hectares”, he noted.
“In order to establish strong agribusinesses to attract Ghanaian youth, the Ministry introduced the concept of greenhouse villages in 2017. The greenhouse villages will each house 13 commercial greenhouses of 5,000 square meters with additional facilities such as nursery, post-harvest packing houses among others.
To date, a total of 143 graduates have been trained, of which 51 are currently undergoing eleven months hands on training in Israel to sharpen their skills”, and added that the “Government will in 2019, launch the livestock model of Planting for Food and Jobs called “Rearing for Food and Jobs” to increase the production of selected livestock, especially poultry”, he said.
According to him the Ministry would also launch the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) model of the Planting for Food and Jobs. The model will promote selected tree crops including coconut, cashew, coffee, rubber, mango and oil palm, and diversifying away from the dominant cocoa crop.
He stated that the Government was establishing cattle ranches in selected locations to address the persistent conflict between th Fulani herdsmen and food crop farmers’. A model ranche with a carrying capacity of 6,000 animals was established at Wawase in the Afram Plains while in anticipation of increased production from PFJ, the Ministry completed the rehabilitation of five warehouses at Yendi, Tamale, Wenchi, Sunyani and Kumasi. In 2019, the Ministry will construct additional 30 new warehouses equipped with seed cleaners, dryers and weighing scales to minimise losses along the supply chain.
“To support the National Agenda for Jobs, Government will roll out the “Aquaculture for Food and Jobs” (AFJ) flagship Programme in 2019 to complement the ongoing “Planting for Food and Jobs” (PFJ) initiative. The AFJ Programme will mobilise and train 10,200 unemployed youth in modern aquaculture production technique, and supported with inputs such as fish feed, fingerlings, tanks and cages to engage in commercial fish farming. The programme will be implemented in collaboration with “Feed Ghana’ and Enterprise Ghana modules of the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) Secretariat”, he announced.
Additionally he said the Ministry facilitated the construction of Anloga fish landing site to enhance the productivity of fishers. In addition, detailed construction designs and Environmental Impact Assessment studies were completed for landing sites at Teshie, Axim, Winneba, Mumford and a fishing harbour complex at James Town. Actual construction on these landing sites will commence in 2019 as well as Phase II of the Anomabo Fisheries College.
Expressing the concerns of farmers, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) expressed regret that over 80% of the seeds supplied were imported due to the inability of local seed producers to meet demand and stated apart from the incompatibility of foreign seeds to the local environment, reliance on imports creates jobs for foreigners and kills the performance of Ghana seed industry.
PFAG proposed that there should be increased public investment in the seed sector for Ghanaian seed growers to increase their seed production. This will create more jobs, increase crop productivity and contribute to achieving the vision of “Ghana beyond aid”.
The Association noted that whiles investing in fertiliser and seeds are not entirely bad, postharvest losses pose more threat to food security campaign than low production. Available statistics indicate that as much as 60% of yam produced in Ghana loss through postharvest losses and called for the provision or subsidising appropriate postharvest management equipment such as small harvesters, processors, cold vans and appropriate storage and marketing facilities.
While the government cannot be denied touting its achievement so far it should not lose sight of the World Bank’s warning that there is an ever increasing need to invest in agriculture due to a drastic rise in global population and changing dietary preferences of the growing middle class in emerging markets towards higher value agricultural products. In addition, climate risks increase the need for investments to make agriculture more resilient to such risks.
“Estimates suggest that demand for food will increase by 70% by 2050 and at least $80 billion annual investments will be needed to meet this demand, most of which needs to come from the private sector. Financial sector institutions in developing countries lend a disproportionately lower share of their loan portfolios to agriculture compared to agriculture sector’s share of GDP”, the Bank warned.
“On the other side, the growth and deepening of agriculture finance markets is constrained by a variety of factors which include: i) inadequate or ineffective policies, ii) high transaction costs to reach remote rural populations, iii) covariance of production, market, and price risks, and iv) absence of adequate instruments to manage risks, v) low levels of demand due to fragmentation and incipient development of value chains, and vi) lack of expertise of financial institutions in managing agricultural loan portfolios.”
“The development of agriculture requires financial services that can support: larger agriculture investments and agriculture-related infrastructure that require long-term funding (given that currently transportation and logistics costs are too high, especially for landlocked countries), a greater inclusion of youth and women in the sector, and advancements in technology (both in terms of mechanising the agricultural processes and leveraging mobile phones and electronic payment platforms to enhance access and reduce transaction costs)”.
“An important challenge is to address systemic risks through insurance and other risk management mechanisms and lower operating costs in dealing with smallholder farmers”, it said.
By Oppong Baah, African Eye Report
