Ghana agriculture sector asked to contribute $1b investment gap
The national challenges in the agriculture sector has impacted on the perception of the people leading to investment gap of $1 billion, Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru Limuna, the Minister of Food and Agriculture.
These challenges, according to the Minister included inadequate knowledge and skills in commercial farming, inadequate market-based risk mitigating interventions such as crop insurance, relatively high cost of profit, infrastructure and access to market.
“The consequences have been a slow achievement of high productivity of sub-sectors,” the sector minister made this known when he addressed the seventh national farmers’ forum of the 32nd national farmers’ day in Sunyani.
Attended by award winners, Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, and Directors of Agriculture, the event is organised annually by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture preceding the national farmers’ day celebration.
Hosted in the Kintampo Municipality in the Brong-Ahafo Region, the 2016 farmers’ day celebration has the theme: “Agriculture: A business response to economic growth,” and the ultimate best farmer is expected to receive a $100,000 three-bedroom house.
Notwithstanding these challenges, Alhaji Limuna said agriculture had continued to support the economy on a sustainable basis, saying it had currently employed 42.2 per cent of the active labour force directly and created more jobs indirectly for the actors along the various commodity value chain.
Agriculture also provides staples to feed the teeming population and has made Ghana food secure as well as sustained raw material supply to many agribusiness, he added.
He said it was fully aware of the potential of agriculture to generate economic growth and explained that the government, had through his ministry developed appropriate policies, programmes and project to realise the fortunes of the sector.
He said the ministry had signed a $200 million Memorandum of Understanding with the South Korean Rural Development Corporation for the development of the West bank of the Accra plains.
In addition, the government is supporting cocoa farmers with free fertilizer programme to improve upon soil fertility, mass spraying of farms and extension services in the cocoa growing communities.
Alhaji Limuna said the cocoa roads programme had also witnessed investment by the government.
This huge investment by the public funding requires complementary support by the private sector investment in order to realise the noble objective of sustainable investment in the sector.
Dr Daniel Asiedu, the Managing Director of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), the major sponsor of the national farmers’ day said the bank had since 2001 built and handed over 14 houses to award winners in various location in the country.
He emphasized that the bank continued to support activities in the industrial crops, fishing and aqua-culture, livestock and poultry, agro-processing, agro-marketing, agribusiness, agro input supply and distribution, veterinary services and other agriculture related projects.
Some of the projects the bank is currently working on include lines of credit, managed funds, nucleus-outgrower schemes, value chain financing and institutionally managed farmers’ loan, Dr Asiedu added.
Mr Gustav Annor, one of the award winners from Anum Apapam in the Ayensuano District of the Eastern region lauded the forum, and appealed to corporate bodies to support.
He told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the agriculture sector held potential to create more jobs for the teeming youth, and control high unemployment as well and appealed to the government to make the sector more attractive.
Mr Annor said support ought to be provided for the youth to go into commercial farming activities as a means to enhance their livelihood and ensure food security as well.
Source: GNA