Mr. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, National President of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has called for commitment by politicians to agricultural transformation to improve the livelihood of peasant farmers.
He said research had shown that there were communities in the northern part of the country suffering from abject poverty, hunger and malnutrition just because they are small-scale farmers without governmental support.
Mr. Nashiru was addressing a zonal consultative meeting on farmers manifesto read on his behalf by Mr. Charles Nyaabaa, programmes officer of the Association in Techiman.
The meeting, jointly organised by the PFAG and OXFAM GB– Ghana, an NGO, was attended by 60 small-scale farmers in the municipality.
It was aimed at brainstorming over the manifestoes of the various political parties, particularly as applicable to small-scale farmers.
Mr. Nashiru said the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report of 2008 showed that, about 963 million people representing nearly 15% of the world’s population were not well fed.
He said the numerous international expert predictions of hunger and food crisis in view of climate change, population increase and shrinking access to farm land; as well as conflicts in most parts of sub-Sahara Africa, were enough to suggest to political leadership in Ghana to adopt policies that would bring sharp transformation in agricultural.
Mr. Nashiru said small-scale or peasant farmers were the poorest in the country due to challenges that hampered their progress.
Insecure and fragmented land holding, high cost of inputs, declining soil fertility, low access to financial services, high interest rates, market liberalization and removal of subsidies are some challenges that confront peasant farmers in the country, he said.
He appealed to supporters of political parties, and for that matter Ghanaians to exercise restraint before, during and after the December 7 elections.
Mr. Samuel Boadum, Techiman Municipal Chief Technical Officer of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), appealed to the government to ensure graduates of agricultural institutions were employed in the Agricultural Extension Division of the Ministry to boost staff strength.
Madam Victoria Adongo, Programmes Coordinator of PFAG, said about 1,300 farmers were being managed by one extension officer, which she said was not the best in the farming industry.
She said peasant farmers and co-operative bodies were very important in agricultural transformation and must be supported to increase production, enhance profitability and gain access to inputs, fertilizer and modern equipment.**
