Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Food-sufficiency can be game changer in country’s development

We wish to call attention to a statement made by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheam­pong, at the official opening of the National Farmers’ Day exhibition in Accra on Mon­day that the government had set a five-year target to make the country self-sufficient in food production through the implementation of the Phase Two of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ 2) program.

Any country self-sufficient in food provides certain advantages for the citizens such as cheap food prices.

When this happens, the people spend just a small percentage of their incomes on food and can use what is left for other things like healthcare, education, decent housing, decent clothing, and entertainment, including tourism.

Currently, some Ghanaians go to bed hungry or with half-full stomachs because of their inability to afford food at all or enough of it due to its ever-soaring price.

With this in the background of our minds, we consider the minister’s statement very significant because the benefits of food sufficiency in the country would mean half of the country’s problems are solved.

It is, therefore, our prayer that the expectation of the government would not be cut off and if that is actually going to be the case, then the government should uphold everything it has planned under the PFJ 2.

The PFJ 2, launched in October by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is aimed at increasing agri­cultural productivity, creating jobs, and reducing food imports.

These are lofty objectives that can advance the development of the country.

As an agrarian country, Ghana must have these benefits as a given rather than things being hoped for.

We know the country produces some agricultural products and provides a lot of jobs in the agricultural sector but obviously not enough, so anything to increase produc­tivity and jobs there must be hailed.

This is because it will take the production of sufficient food to reduce food imports by particularly stopping totally the importation of staples like rice or putting heavy duties on their imports.

Some of us wonder why the country must allow its scanty foreign exchange to be used in importing food that can be produced locally.

Imagine that in 2020 alone, over $2.7 billion was used to import food, including fish, into the country and the amount is close to the $3 bil­lion IMF bailout the country is receiving in $600-million tranches.

The sad aspect of it all is that the bulk of the imports were cereals and cereal prepa­rations, amounting to over $ 1 billion, followed by meat at $362 million.

A report on the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review put together by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Eco­nomic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, Legon, among other points, has it that Ghana remains highly dependent on imports, including staple foods like grains, meat, and poultry.

This means the country loves importing food, which in turn means there are fundamental causes that are being ignored for scapegoats in the COVID-19 and Rus­sia-Ukraine war.

The PFJ 2 therefore means we should abandon the excuses and work hard to achieve the government’s target of food sufficiency for all the benefits it holds for the country.