68 years, still more to do: A piece to the Minister of Agriculture

Dear Minister,

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate you officially on your assumption of this great but sensitive office for and on behalf of the good people of Ghana. I watched your vetting on live Television, I must say you are among the very few (3 nominees) who got me convinced to a level of hope.

You seems to have abreast yourself well in the field and scope of agriculture in this country. If you are not only doing so for the optics, I am sure you can reach a positive level of restoring hope in our agriculture sector.

Hon. Minister, since you assumed office, you have engaged certain key stakeholders, including both local and foreign players. All these are aimed at repositioning our agriculture sector to a robust level by building on what previous governments, especially the immediate past administration has done.

Inasmuch as there were some minuses, there are actually, also, some positives to build on from the past Akufo-Addo government and that is a good start.

Hon. Minister, from ancients, no country has developed without first, achieving self-sufficiency with regards to food. It is the bane of any nation or kingdom that has survived all levels of development.

Successive governments and Ministers have made strides but after 68 years, we still depend much on food imports to survive as a country. China, Malaysia, and Singapore are key testimonies. If we cannot have enough food to eat, we are then at the mercy of others. There is a saying that, he who feed you, controls you.

To be food sufficient require huge but right policies and initiatives. In the previous administration, initiatives like Planting for Food and Jobs, Rearing for Food and Jobs, Aquaculture for Food and Jobs, the Tree Crop Diversification Programme, among many others were just right policies but for poor implementations, failed to achieve their full intended purpose.

Sir, a country at 68 years of independence and still relying much on import of food and agro-proructs for survival is not only shameful but it exposes us to the world how we have incompetently run our national Agriculture policies and initiatives. Ghana has abundant arable lands, water bodies and human resources which are very key in our quest to achieving food sufficiency.

From Aflao to Paga, Osei Kwadwokrom to Southern Coasts, from the coastal zones of Axim to banks of the Volta river at Wechiaw in the upper north, we have enough to farm and feed our nation and even others.

For centuries, we have accorded ourselves to be an agrarian country with almost 70 percent of our working force engaged in farming and related activities. The question then is, why is a sector with about 70 percent of our labor force not able to feed us? USA has only 3 percent of its population into farming but they are able to feed themselves and many countries across the world. The reason is what we must look for and follow suite as a country.

Mr. Minister, to cut a long story short, let me go straight to the reason behind my long talk. I thought I should share my little knowledge in promoting agriculture, food sufficiency, industrialization and Youth Employment with you.

The right investment

I think, in a country that lacks basic food supply, I want to suggest that, your government's "Nkokɔ Nkentenkete" initiative is not the way to go. It doesn't sound ambitious enough. Of course, we can do the opposite, an "Nkokɔ Dodoɔ'' initiative. As an industry player, I think doing the same thing as practiced since independence has proven not to have any good results for us.

Why would government want to use public funds to invest in peasant farmers who hardly can afford basic local agricultural technologies? This is not to say, peasant farmers must not be supported to grow. They can be supported to supplement local and family food needs.

Why would we want to bank our full investment in a 70 percent group of people who have shown they are unable to get us to achieve food sufficiency?

Maybe, I need more answers to make sense out of this. It is time government made conscious efforts to engaged multilaterals such as mining companies, Financial Institutions, Oil and Gas Companies, and others to invest in large scale commercial agriculture going forward as part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities.

Can we imagine Newmont Ghana Limited or Goldfields, Eni, MTN, Telecel, Anglogold Ashanti, and their pals venturing into large-scale commercial farming? Have we thought of an initiative to empower Lancaster Hotels, Royal Senchi, Kempinski, Rock City and these large hotels venturing into commercial vegetable and cereal production to facilitate their own operations?

Have we thought of GNPC, Ghana Gas, Goil, and other fat State Owned Enterprises partnering with private sector leads to venture into commercial farming of any sort? Have thought of the government commiting to investing in agriculture research - imagine if the Council for Scientific Research Institute (CSIR) is very well resourced and positioned to venture into large scale farming and setting up research centres across various zones of Ghana?

Not to say more, these entities can be supported to make Ghana achieve food sufficiency and security in next short to medium term scope. We can cut the over 400 thousand metric tons of poultry products we import into this country annually.

We can save the billions of dollars we spend on importing rice, sugar, oil, tomato paste, maize, "yamuadie", and others into the country. Honorable, I think if government has any money, a deliberate investment in a few who can produce more for us is non-negotiable.

The Right Industrialization Agenda

Ghana in its current state need a serious and consciously planned industrialization agenda. Thankfully, the previous administration started on a good note with regards to setting up factories through the 1D1F initiative. It is not easy but highly achievable.

Industries thrive on resources availability-- raw materials and the right human resource expertise. When we have succeeded in a policy direction to woe our big organizations and institutions into venturing large-scale commercial farming, raw materials shall abound. Industries would then be needed to process the surpluses into finished goods to increase their value and shelf life.

Other stakeholders or even these multilaterals may take interest in adding value to what they produce. When these multilaterals are woepd into commercial farming, they would employ the youth, the industries associated would require manpower and marketing these products could also create hundreds of thousands jobs.

Researchers would be encouraged to do more by breeding new species that meet current dynamics and trends of human consumption needs. These breeders and other scientists would get their innovations patronized and they may also create jobs for the youth.

An Agenda to Cut Food Wastage

Honourable Minister, the alarming nature of food wastage in Ghana is heartbreaking. Food Wastage is different from Food Losses but let stick to wastage since that is more of anthropogenic. It is like we virtually waste more than half of the food we produce and import into this country annually.

A lot of scholars have written and researched on this issue and why there is a need to institute intentional measures to cure this. Sir, you may commission few surveys or a team at your ministry to visit our local restaurants, chop bars and food joints and take a periodic weighing of the quantity of food we waste in Ghanaian eateries per day.

You would be surprised than what I'm portraying. It is annoying that food wastage has become some form of 'classy' thing in Ghana. We go to restaurants, chop bars, parties and events and when we are given or buy food, we tend to eat barely half and leave the rest. We call that as "classy" but this is another huge blow to the nation's coffers.

This nonsense must stop! As for domestic food wastage, only the gods can imagine. As a matter of fact, for every grain of rice or maize wasted, others are rendered hungry and monies are wasted. We cannot continue this way and we must find an end to deal with food wastage in our country.

A serious food wastage campaign and sensitization is needed now more than ever. There can also be deliberate legal framework to control food waste. It would be tough but with determination, we will surely get there.

Other issues like illegal mining, spatial development, transport, climate change and others that threatens our desire to food sufficiency. Maybe, I will discuss them in subsequent pieces to you. Let's ponder over these and if it makes some good inputs to you, we shall delve into other serious issues threatening of agricultural sector and it's development.

I wish you well in your new office. I shall be back.

Best regards!