At a press conference held today [Thursday] to congratulate farmers and fisher folks on the occasion of farmers’ day to be marked on Friday November 4, 2016, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, and Minority spokesperson on Agriculture, said the sector is not performing at all.

[contextly_sidebar id=”EgPUysXwGUIU7U9rbYUzAaWgGYI0ND9A”]“By the measure of annual growth performance, Ghana’s agriculture has been sliding or, at best, sluggish. From 7.4% in 2008, and 7.2% in 2009, agricultural growth slowed to 5.3% in 2010, hitting the bottom of 0.8% in 2011. It then stayed down at 2.3% in 2012, recovering somewhat to 5.7% in 2013 and then 4.6% in 2014.”

The NPP has over the years accused government of not investing in agriculture hence depriving farmers of their due.

Dr. Afriyie Akoto however said that an Akufo-Addo led NPP administration, will restore budgetary cuts suffered by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, recruit more extension officers, and invest heavily in agric research.

“The NPP will restore the budgetary cuts suffered by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture under the NDC administration. Extension officers will be recruited from our Agricultural Colleges, for the first time in eight years, to boost extension services, thereby strengthening the link between research and the farmers and fishers.”

“We shall replenish the financial allocations to our research institutions in order to revive active agricultural research. We shall involve District Assemblies in supporting farmers and fishers in on-farm production, and in the marketing and processing of produce. In this regard, the link between the decentralized Ministry of Food and Agriculture staff, and the District Assemblies, will be strengthened to ensure effective delivery of inputs and services to farmers,” he added.

Below are excerpts of what Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said:

The growth registered in the two years – 2013 and 2014, was in large part, on account of unprecedented growth in forestry and logging activities.”

If logging activities are dramatically increasing without commensurate growth in reaforestation, the obvious implication is that, we are further degrading our forest cover and opening the country up to the invasion of savanna and sahelian conditions.

The crop sub-sector, which engages most of the 4.5 million farmers in this country, recorded growth of only 3.6% in 2014.

The 2015 Budget Statement expected a 5.8% growth in the agriculture sector.  In the event, the recorded growth of only 2.4% in 2015, was not even half of the targeted growth.

The poor annual growth (3.5% average in the last six years from 2010) in agriculture, is just above half of the Malabo Declaration minimum target of 6.0% per-annum for all African Countries.

With population growth rate of 2.7% per annum, this means that, Ghanaian agriculture is growing at a net rate of only 0.8% per capita per annum. If account is taken of rapid urbanization typified by the Kayayei phenomenon, then agricultural growth per capita drops into negative value.

The average annual growth of 3.5% in the past six years, compares unfavourably with an oil-driven average annual growth of 6.7% in the economy as a whole during the same period.

The fact that agriculture is growing at less than half of that of the economy in general signals the onset of the “Dutch Disease.”

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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