The District Chief Executive for Ahafo Ano South/East , Mr.Joseph Dapaah, says his tenure of office together with the president of the republic, over the last three years and ten months, has seen to the creation of a vibrant agricultural sector in Ghana, with the country, during the period, Ghana’s agriculture has been transformed into a net-exporter of foodstuffs.
Speaking at the 36th Farmers’ Day celebration, which was held on Friday, 6th November 2020, at Potrikrom near Adugyama, capital of the Ahafo Ano South/ East District of the Ashanti region, the DCE noted that, in the immediate years before his assumption of office, the performance of the agricultural sector was nothing short of abysmal.
He said in order to remedy the situation, he told the gathering that the NPP Government took the bold decision to embark on a well-thought through programme for the modernisation and transformation of Ghana’s agriculture, which included increasing productivity on smallholding farms; enhancing food security; diversifying agricultural export earnings; promoting agro-industrialisation and import substitution; and creating jobs for the youth.
This he said led to the birth of the programme for “Planting for Food and Jobs” (PFJ), in April 2017, which provided strategic direction for realising the stated objectives.
The initial focus of the programme was to support the productivity and output of selected food crops, through the provision of heavily subsidised improved seeds and fertilizers by President Akufo-Addo .
He continued, “The PFJ has since evolved, over the years, to reflect the comprehensive nature of Government’s strategy to improve agriculture with the introduction of five modules, i.e. food crops, Planting for Export and Rural Development (Tree Crops Module), Rearing for Food and Jobs (Livestock Module), Greenhouse Villages (Horticulture Module), and Farm Mechanisation and Agro-processing (Mechanisation Module)”
All five modules, the he explained, have contributed to the creation of the vibrant agriculture we are experiencing in Ghana, albeit with some of the modules yet to be fully implemented.
He announced that today, Ahafo Ano South/East and Ghana at large have banished the disgraceful spectre of importing tomatoes and plantain from nearby towns and Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire respectively.Adding that people buy farm produce from Ahafo Ano South East District to the extent of exporting food to nearby countries this he said has gingered the youth in the area area who are now venturing into fulltime agriculture.
According to Hon.Joseph Dapaah, food crops module has resulted in an appreciable increase in yields of selected staples, with those of maize and rice, for example, increasing by 110% and 48% respectively from 2016 to 2019, whilst local production of rice accounts for 50% of domestic demand, up from 32% as at 2017.
All of this he stressed, has been made possible by the substantial increase in the distribution of improved seeds to farmers, from 4,400 metric tons in 2016, to 18,333 metric tons in 2019, and 29,000 metric tons in 2020, Of which his district has benefited.
In all ,49 year old Musah Mohammed from Sabronum -Nyamebekyere took the district best farmer award with a prize of double decker refrigerator, bicycle, Wallington boot,Napsack spraying machine, Cutlass and was later promised to be given a motorbike by the DCE.
In latest development ,the president of the republic,Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo addressing farmers at Takyiman during the farmers day cerebration last Friday made it known that ,with Ghana making considerable strides in its efforts to increase the use of fertilizer, from 8kg per hectare in 2016 to 20kg per hectare at the end of 2019, he indicated that Government has, since 2017, recruited 2,700 extension officers, translating into an improved extension officer to farmer ratio, from 1:1,908 in 2016, to 1:706
Another major intervention under the food crop module, according to President Akufo-Addo, has been the construction of 80 one-thousand-metric ton capacity warehouses throughout the country.
Tree Crops Module
Touching on the tree crops module of PFJ, popularly referred to as “Planting for Export and Rural Development” (PERD), which he launched in April 2019, President Akufo-Addo stated that Government has taken the decision to develop cashew, coffee, shea, mango, coconut, rubber and oil palm into cash crops, in addition to cocoa.
“The target for each of these selected crops is to earn a minimum of US$2billion each year from 2028. This target translates to a total of some US$14 billion annually, compared to the US$2.3 billion from cocoa today,” he added.
This added focus, he stressed, “does not mean turning our back on the crop that has been the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy for over a hundred years – cocoa”, evidenced in the establishment of the $600 million National Cocoa Rehabilitation programme, and increase in the producer price for a bag of cocoa from GH¢415 to GH¢660, the highest ever in the nation’s history.
Livestock Module
Explaining the rationale for the establishment of this module, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the purpose of the module is to scale up local production of poultry and livestock, as well as to reduce the country’s dependence on meat imports, valued annually at US$340million.
“Commencing in 2019, with the distribution of improved breeds of small ruminants, pigs and cockerels to farmers throughout the country, Government is currently facilitating access to concessionary loans for value chain actors to support production, processing and marketing of meat products. At full-scale, it is projected to reduce progressively the importation of meat products in the country by up to 70% by the year 2025”, he said.
Green Villages
Government, President Akufo-Addo said, is promoting the greenhouse village concept to ensure the production of high value vegetables for local consumption, and to enhance the competitiveness of Ghana’s horticulture products on the international market.
“I have, thus far, commissioned three (3) greenhouse villages at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region, Akumadan in the Ashanti Region, and Bawjiase in Central Region. Two hundred and ninety-six (296) university graduates and diploma holders have been trained, with one hundred and ninety (190) of them benefiting from an eleven (11) month paid internship in the Kibbutzim in Israel,” he added.
Mechanisation
In order to move away from the dependence on manual labour that smallholder farmers have become accustomed to, President Akufo-Addo stated that Government, through the More Food Programme, has supplied 230 tractors and 11,450 assorted machinery and equipment from Brazil, since 2017.
Additionally, concessionary agreements have been concluded with India and the Czech Republic for the supply of a large consignment of farm and processing machinery, including hand-held farm implements to be sold at a subsidised rate.
“From 2021, the Exim Bank of India will facilitate the supply of farm machinery, agro-processing and other value-adding machines to the tune of one hundred and fifty million United States dollars (US$150 million),” he said.
Chairperson, let me also give an account of some of the other interventions put in place by Government to boost the development of agriculture.
Irrigation
With Ghana having, since independence, put only 3.2% of its arable land under irrigation, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that “since 2017, the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) has completed 10 out of 14 small dams.”
Additionally, he added that the rehabilitation of the Kpong Left and Right bank irrigation schemes and the Tono irrigation scheme is ongoing, and, once completed, 7,690 hectares of land will be put under irrigation.
“Government has also initiated the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam, which will put an additional 24,000 hectares of land under irrigation. Additionally, the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives has constructed some 500 small dams in the Northern Regions of Ghana,” he added.
Source: Ayisah Foster/Broadcastergh.com
