The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Clement Kofi Humado has called on rich Ghanaians to invest in various areas of agriculture across Africa, especially in the fertilizer sector to help achieve a hunger-free and poverty-free Africa.
According to him, governments all over the world are working hard to develop regulatory frameworks to control the fertilizer industry, the Ghana government cannot do it alone without active engagement with the private sector.
“Nothing can be more rewarding to our farmers than providing them with the opportunity to increase their yields and incomes to be able to improve their general well being. One of the ways we can do this is by working together to ensure quality standards in the inputs that are made available to these farmers.”
Clement Kofi Humado made the call at a fertilizer quality control workshop organized by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa AGRA.
About 50 AGRA partners from some 13 African countries participated in the workshop that discussed issues relating to quality standards and control in the fertilizer value chain across African countries.
The workshop was to help streamline the fertilizer industry which presently is going through many challenges of quality standards that erode the confidence and trust of farmers.
Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the workshop, Director of AGRA’s Soil Health Program, Bashir Jama said AGRA was committed to promoting the work of farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, by working with many governments across Africa on fertilizer-related policy issues to cushion them.
“If farmers are to derive full benefits from their toil, and be able to increase productivity to feed millions on the continent, then stakeholders have no choice but consciously address the pertinent challenges confronting these farmers,” he said.
By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citimonline.com/Ghana