(GNA Feature) By Ray Ankomah
Accra, Nov. 11, GNA - Ghana has for long treasured agriculture as the livewire of its economy, contributing some 60 per cent of the country's labour force and accounting for 37 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and 35 per cent of its export earnings. This makes agriculture assume a critical and strategic importance in the national economy hence the decision by government to make it the main driving force for economic growth, focussing on promoting rural development through modernised agriculture.
This stems from the belief that increased agricultural productivity holds the key not only to a vibrant industrial activity through a regular and sufficient supply of raw materials but is also capable of increasing the wealth and consequently the well-being of the majority of Ghanaians engaged in that sector.
Unfortunately, Ghana's agriculture is overly dependent on the small-scale farmer whose productivity is measures in terms of how much land or acreage he puts under cultivation and a good amount of rainfall coming at the right time.
But the combination of a rapidly growing population, greater pressure on land, erratic rainfall, and resort to traditional farming practices continue to pose serious threats to sustainable agriculture. This calls for new and appropriate technologies that would promote intensive agriculture to ensure increased productivity, better yields and less post-harvest losses.
This also explains the reason why the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyeremateng, during the inauguration of the ARB Apex Bank branch in Kumasi, in August this year, appealed to the bank to ensure that most lending schemes of rural banks are redirected in favour of agriculture.
The measure, he said, was to enable investors to acquire modern farming implements because the major policy objective of government "is to modernise the sector". He also stressed the need for maximum attention by the banking industry to trade and industry, which play a great role in the quest for the country's rapid socio-economic development.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the inter-dependence of agriculture and industry is a prerequisite for economic growth. While the production of raw materials is required to feed the industries, the latter has the capacity to provide machinery, agro-chemicals and irrigation facilities as inputs for farmers.
With both sectors performing at their maximum capacities, the country stands a better chance of generating more employment opportunities for its teeming youth to meet their educational, health and social needs.
It is for these reasons that the organisers of this year's Farmers Day have chosen the theme "Agricultural Production and Productivity: The Key to Growth and Poverty Reduction". However, Ghanaian farmers do not only lack access to land but also sufficient capital to undertake intensive agriculture to produce enough food and industrial raw materials to meet both demands from both the domestic and export markets.
Place of Nutrition
While getting ready to celebrate this year's Farmers' Day, we must take cognisance of the importance of what we produce and consume to make sure that they are of the highest quality and nutritional value. This is because if what the latest version of the Ghana Demographic Health Survey is saying is anything to go by, then there is cause to worry. The survey says as many as 30 -50 per cent of Ghanaian children are malnourished while the Ministry of Health (MOH) affirms that malnutrition leads to stunted growth. Certainly, such children will grow to become stunted adults with less mental and physical capacities, which have dire consequences for the nation.
Such a development could impact negatively on our socio-economic development, especially if we are to go by the Ministry's research findings that "productivity of physical labour declines by 1.4 per cent for every one per cent reduction in adult height"
.. It states: "With the present levels of stunting, Ghana stands to lose $947 million in future economic production over the next 10 years as a direct result of the poor nutrition of its children." It stands to reason therefore that the nutrition status of Ghanaian children should be raised or improved to make them much healthier, stronger to enable them to grow to be more active and productive. In the same vein, it is only a performing agricultural sector that can ensure national growth and development to reduce poverty at all levels of society.
Agriculture under the GPRS
Ghana's Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) is placing great emphasis on agriculture to make sure that its linkage with industry is further strengthened.
This is where it becomes imperative for our farmers to have access to improved technology and extension, strengthened farmer-based organisations, and improved access to water, enhanced agricultural process in and the provision of the requisite infrastructure. If Ghana intends to achieve its target of achieving a middle-income status with a per capita income of $1,000 by the year 2015, then it ought to pursue sustainable policies that would ensure a fast pace of growth of the various sub-sectors such as crops, livestock and fisheries, just to mention a few. The current rate of growth of the economy at 7.5 per cent would demand a lot of efforts to attain the desired growth of 14 per cent per year or arrive at the middle-income target.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has proposed several measures for its 2006/2008 GPRS to overcome the multiple problems facing the agricultural sector. This includes making the 2006-2009 version of the GPRS employment-focused to provide Ghanaians with better economic opportunities.
The Food Crops Development Project of the Ministry is targeted at increasing the production of maize, sorghum, cowpea, yam, sweet potato, cocoyam, plantain, soya bean and groundnuts, which feature very prominently in the Ghanaian diet.
These efforts could lead to a considerable improvement in the incomes of Ghanaian households, the overall nutrition and food security of small holder farmers, and enhancing foreign exchange earnings, import substitutes, and industrial raw materials, thereby generating employment and incomes of people engaged in the agricultural sector.
The Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (RTIP) is said to have enhanced food security and increased the incomes of resource-poor farmers and facilitated access to new but proven locally adaptable technologies of root and tuber crops such as cassava, yam, cocoyam and sweet potato.
The new Five-Year Livestock Development Project intends to invest more than $20 million over the period 2003-2007 in 25 districts located in seven regions, focussing mainly on breed development and other husbandry support, animal health improvement, provision of credit and strengthening of farmer groups and general capacity building. The most recent initiative to boos agricultural production in the short term involves the provision of credit to selected farmers across the country to bring over 60,000 hectares of land under cultivation to selected crops including maize, soya bean and rice.
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning., while launching this year's National Farmers' Day and appeal for donations towards the event, in August, this year, in Accra, said government had made provision in the 2006 budget to assist cocoa farmers to acquire houses and pick-ups to help improve their livelihoods. Additionally, an amount of 200 million Dollars from the Millennium Challenge Account would be invested to boost agricultural production in the Afram Plains, Awutu-Effutu-Senya District in the Central Region and Savelugu in the Northern Region.
Such moves are necessary and likely to assist in improving agricultural production in this country. The Minister however bemoaned the lack of agricultural data, which impedes effective planning and charged the relevant ministries and agencies to team up with the Ghana Statistical Service to ensure effective data collection for planning purposes.
These are serious concerns that need to be addressed to make any forecasting for food and crop production more meaningful and effective so that our farmers can make adequate and proper preparations towards both cropping and harvesting seasons..
However, the question still remains whether Ghana's agricultural products have the standards that allow them to qualify to gain access to the international markets, particularly as envisaged under the African growth and Opportunities Act.
As we look forward to celebrating this year's National Farmers' Day, we must think of making use of scientific research to improve both our agricultural and industrial products in a manner that would make them penetrate international markets and bring greater wealth to this country and its nationals. This way, we can be said to have enhanced agricultural production and productivity to lead us onto the path of growth and poverty reduction.
