Gov't neglect smallholder farmers

as it fails to roll out fertilizer subsidy programme for 2014

The poverty situation of smallholder farmers across the country seems to have been compounded as a result of failure on the part of government to distribute a total of 180,000 metric tonnes of subsidised fertilizer to farmers as mentioned in the 2014 budget statement.

Government in the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the year 2014 pledged to scale up the subsidy programme in order to increase food crop production.

The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Seth Terkper, submitted while reading the Budget last year that: “Mr. Speaker, to increase productivity of food crops as well as selected cash Crops, the Ministry developed the National Fertilizer Policy to distribute subsidised fertilizers to farmers. As at the end of September, the Ministry had distributed 142,000mt of fertilizer. In 2014, it will continue the policy by distributing 180,000mt of subsidized fertilizer.”

However, as the year gradually gets to a close, not even a half bag of fertilizer has been supplied to the targeted farmers. The situation has thus left many farmers asking questions on whether or not the fertilizer subsidy programme has been cancelled.

“It is simply an issue of government neglecting smallholder farmers. Government has failed woefully to supply the smallholder farmers with the subsidized fertilizer. Even as at now, we are not sure whether government has cancelled the programme,” submitted Mr Daniel Adotey, Programme Officer in- charge of Trade and Agriculture at SEND-GHANA.

Mr Adotey spoke to Public Agenda on the sidelines of a seminar in Accra on Tuesday to observe the 2014 year of Agriculture, organised by the Peasant Farmers Association in collaboration with SEND-Ghana and supported by Trust Africa.

The seminar, held on the theme, 2014 Year of Agriculture: What does it mean for Food Security, Nutrition and National growth in Ghana, brought together farmers from near and far, policy makers, researchers, civil society groups and the media to deliberate among other things the contribution of Civil society towards the achievement of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Mr Adotey said it had to do with the commitment of government to fulfill its promises and pledges to farmers as contained in the 2014 budget.

He said the failure had deepened the woes of majority of the farmers and must not be repeated in 2015.

He suggested that the 2015 budget should not only indicate the quantum of fertilizer subsidy that would be provided, but the corresponding amount so that civil society could track and monitor it.

“We are saying that 2015 provides a unique opportunity for government to correct some of the mistakes it did in respect of the 2014 budget. And for us in Civil society, we are also making the commitment to track the implementation of the 2015 budget as soon as it is read and Parliament approves it,” he said.

He advised government to improve how it does its targeting so that those who were directly affected could benefit. He added: “And when we improve targeting, we will be able to reach out to majority of our women farmers who are currently been constrained to aspect and services of running small scale agriculture in this country.”

The President of the of the PFAG, Mr Abdul -Rahman Mohammed, also called on government to as a matter of urgency restore the fertilizer subsidy programme as soon as practicable.

Mr Mohammed said government must have a secondly look at the programme and bring it back on stream to increase food productivity.

He noted: “We cannot do away with fertilizer now because our lands have become familiar with it and we cannot survive without it.” He appealed to the government to consider channeling the subsidized fertilizer to the PFAG so it could distribute to its members. Mr Charles Adams who represented the Minister for Food and Agriculture, at the seminar said Food was one of the basic needs for human survival hence, its security must be pursued vigorously.

According to Mr Adam, the Ministry had fought a good fight in its bid to improve the capacity of the farmers to increase productivity. To that effect, several training programmes had been organised for Farmer Based Organisation (FBOs) to enhance their capacity. He assured ministry would work assiduously to improve the plight of farmers.

The fertilizer subsidy programme was established in 2008 to help farmers increase their rate of fertilizer application as a means of increasing crop productivity as well as increase the country's fertilizer application.