Peasant farmers demand aggressive commitment to transform agriculture

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has emphasised the need for commitment backed by adequate funding to help transform the country’s agricultural sector for the benefit of all.

Madam Victoria Adongo, Executive Director of PFAG, who made the call, said “unless there is really aggressive commitment to transform agriculture, there will not be much change in the next five years,” adding “It has taken us decades but we have not really made it in agriculture”.

Madam Adongo was speaking at a forum in Tamale as part of the ongoing Pre-harvest Agribusiness Exhibitions and Conference to connect players in the agricultural sector to improve their operations.

Her topic was: “What will Ghana’s agricultural sector look like in 2023? What collective roles can stakeholders play to change the face of the agricultural sector with focus on input, production, processing, finance, branding, packaging and market accessibility?

Madam Adongo said in spite of the numerous initiatives and policies being implemented in the agricultural sector, smallholder farmers, especially, continued to grapple with challenges of access to inputs, quality seeds, credit, mechanisation, and extension services, which affected food production and incomes of farmers.

She said to transform agriculture within the next five years, “We should be looking to see whether or not our smallholder farmers are making any significant income and progress as producers, the need to improve the agricultural value chain as it drives production and align our policies to international trends”.

Madam Adongo proposed the linking of the country’s agricultural policies to the Sustainable Development Goals and other international commitments such as the Malabo Declaration to increase budgetary allocation to the sector to transform it to increase food production.

She called for inter sectoral linkages in policy design and implementation to help transform the agricultural sector.

Source: GNA