Politicians told to stop embarrassing Ghana

The architect and promoter of social inclusive farming, a new farming business model being championed in the Western Region, Issa Ouedraogo, has appealed to politicians in the country to stop embarrassing Ghana.

The 2013 Best Farmer in the Western Region, who has worked with various international organisations, including the United Nations, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), German Telecommunication, Saudi Telecommunication, and subsequently the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), said politicians should stop using the Asian tigers, particularly Malaysia, as an example when discussing the underdevelopment of the country, because it was embarrassing.

He was speaking on major challenges confronting agriculture in Ghana.

“If I were a politician, I would be embarrassed using the Malaysia example. It is not only annoying, but insulting to always claim that Malaysia got its first palm seeds from Ghana. What have we been doing all these while?” he asked.

The Chief Executive Officer of B-BOVID Limited, an agrarian company established in the Western Region that is currently engaged in almost everything agriculture, Mr. Ouedraogo, pointed out that the agricultural sector has the potential to unlock the country’s development.

He said anytime the issue of agriculture was mentioned in the media, politicians quickly jumped to mention Malaysia, explaining that they came to Ghana to pick their first palm seedlings, and when they applied it well, eventually they became the world’s highest producer of the commodity.

He said the nation cannot be talking about sustainable agriculture without changing its ways of doing things.

Mr. Ouedraogo, who won the United Nations Social Inclusive Business (SIBA) award within two years after he introduced the social inclusive agricultural model in the Western Region, said many of the policies being introduced for poverty reduction in the country was rather worsening the plight of the poor.