GAWU, PEF call for National Agricultural Fund

…Towards food security for Ghanaians

The General Agricultural Worker’s Union (GAWU) in Partnership with the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) has proposed the establishment of a National Agricultural Fund (NAF) to ensure food security in the country.

The two organizations said, having examined the current low investments levels in agriculture by both the public and private sectors in the country they are convinced that the establishment of a fund to address the numerous challenges faced by farmers is the only strategy to reverse the trend. The organizations made the proposal to government at a workshop organized for the media on the theme “The Right to Food”, in Accra.

They justified the proposal taking into consideration the Government’s declared commitment to the development of Agriculture in Ghana.

The general secretary of GAWU Mr. Kingsley-Ofei Nkansah said the proposal is to complement the Five-year development plan yet to be launched by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in June 2009.

He announced that GAWU and PEF in collaboration with other stakeholders are developing a draft bill to back the proposal.

Explaining the rationale behind the proposal for the fund, a Consultant with PEF, Mr. Tawia Akyea said the objective is to raise substantial financial support, to facilitate, loans, and grants as well as provide the appropriate training which would enable farmers to utilize their maximum potential. He said this is important because government’s budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector is inadequate while credit facilities from the financial services industry for the sector are also minimal. This trend, he said can be reversed if government intervenes in the financial industry with such a fund which the banks can access for onward lending to the agric sector.

Mr Tawia suggested that such a fund should also support Non-farm diversification projects and value added agricultural operations beyond the farm gate in addition to supporting the whole agricultural value chain to help it become more meaningful in the socio-economic development of Ghana.

A Representative from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAG), Mr. Charles Ayamdoo, also urged the media not to relent in its efforts to educate the general public to understand their ‘Rights to Food’. According to him, citizens in the country have the right to be free from hunger and malnutrition, but without extensive media campaign, the public remained vulnerable and were therefore denied of their Economic and Social Rights.

“The physical and mental state of the citizenry are very crucial in the socio-economic development of any nation and for this reason adequate balanced dietary food is fundamental in attaining human existence and survival ”, he stressed.

Mr.Ayamdoo further emphasized the need for citizens to have adequate food without discrimination or intimidation, pointing out that food security could only be achieved in the country only when, every family has easy access to adequate food.

“These rights, Mr. Ayamdoo , argued, are inalienable, indivisible, interdependent and universal at all levels”, urging the nation to ensure that its citizenry enjoy basic human rights of respect, promotion, protection and fulfillment of one’s standard of living.

It would be recalled that the National Democratic Congress included the establishment of an Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) in its manifesto on which it was elected to form the current government.

However presenting the 2009 fiscal policy of the government Finance Minister Kwabena Dufuor stated that it had been decided that the proposed ADF be placed under the Export Development Fund (EDIF) since the government had been advised against the establishment of such a fund as there are so many funds in the system already.