NPP will fail if it does not focus on agriculture – Ken Thompson

“Unless the incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration take deliberate steps and policies in creating jobs for the teaming unemployed youth of this country, the government is bound to fail,” the Chief Executive officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Ken Thompson has warned.

According to Mr. Thompson, the NDC Mahama-led administration lost the 2016 election because they failed to address the unemployment situation in the country.

Speaking to asempanews.com, the CEO stressed that, the only means the new government can create jobs and revive the ailing economy is to shift focus to agriculture.

“Cocoa is no longer working, we have played politics with cocoa and the yields have fallen, and there is the need to focus on new crops like Yam and Cassava to turn around the local economy,” Mr Thompson said.

Buttressing his point, he explained that there has been a research to prove that Cassava and Yam could transform Ghana’s economy in short time when it is given maximum attention.

“All we need to do as a country is to set up the Ministry of Agriculture and make sure it’s working properly. Let’s take Yam, it can be used to feed industries, for local consumption and export,” he said.

The Dalex boss, who was clearly not happy about the country’s agricultural system lamented as to why Ghana continues to approach agriculture in the same old way with hoe and cutlass.

“The agric extension services are dead in our country, farmers do not have access to good seeds to grow and they do not get access to market the little that they get from their yields”. He added.

“We cannot continue to do things the old way, what do we do with the numerous research works we conduct in this country? He quarried.

Citing the Ivorian example, Ken Thompson submitted that the new NPP government must make conscious efforts to mechanized agriculture, whilst focusing on crops that can be grown in more regions in the country than cocoa grows.

He also stated that the Presidential Special Initiative introduced by Former President Kufuor’s administration all failed because private sector players were not allowed to lead the initiative.

“The people of this country are not interested in government debts neither are they interested in deficit and figures churn out by politicians. All they are interested in is jobs and the private sector is the only way to go in creating jobs,” he said