The government of President John Dramani Mahama will introduce two new agricultural programmes, namely Feed Ghana and Feed The Industry, as direct measures to achieve food sufficiency in the country, the sector minister-designate, Eric Opoku, told the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
The two programmes are intended to transform the agricultural landscape by addressing food security and supporting industrial growth, as the government seeks to make the sector the engine and fulcrum of the economy.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture-designate explained that the Feed Ghana programme would focus on ensuring domestic food availability, improving crop productivity, supporting farmers and agricultural investments, and employing sustainable farming practices to drive “the nation towards food sufficiency.”
The Feed The Industry programme, on the other hand, he said, would prioritise the development of agro-industrial value chains to encourage the production of raw materials for processing to support industrial growth and job creation.
“We want to establish a strong relationship between agriculture and industry, a symbiotic relationship in nature, so that as agriculture provides the raw materials, industry would be adding value, and in so doing, we will generate a lot of jobs and increase productivity,” Mr. Opoku said at his vetting last Monday.
He made this statement in response to a question by the former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, who asked how he intended to deal with the myriad of challenges outlined in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto to enhance agriculture in the country.
Land Banks
Mr. Opoku stated that, per the NDC’s 2024 manifesto, the government would acquire large parcels of land to serve as land banks for farming purposes.
He explained that the government acknowledged the difficulties associated with accessing lands for agricultural purposes due to the traditional land tenure system.
“Normally, people encounter a lot of difficulties accessing land for agricultural purposes. We want to make agriculture attractive. So we would want to acquire the land, prepare and hand it over to prospective investors so we can increase production and drive our nation towards food sufficiency,” Mr. Opoku explained.
Insurance Scheme
The minister-designate further announced that the government would roll out an insurance scheme to encourage financial institutions to lend credit facilities to farmers to bolster food security in the country.
Mr. Opoku said under the initiative, dubbed the Ghana Agriculture Insurance Scheme, the government would subsidise agricultural insurance to enable farmers to secure insurance coverage for their farms.
“Once you have the insurance, the banks are ready to advance loans to you, knowing very well that whatever amount they give you can be repaid, so long as it falls within the limit of the insurance,” he stated.
Food Losses
The MP for Asunafo South acknowledged that post-harvest losses were a significant challenge confronting agriculture in the country.
To reduce food losses, he indicated that the current administration would introduce agribusiness to encourage the private sector to set up mini-processing plants close to farms across the country.
According to him, this initiative would ensure that harvested farm produce is purchased and processed before being sold to larger companies that need them as raw materials, significantly reducing food losses.
Making Agriculture Attractive
Mr. Opoku lamented the lack of interest by the youth in agriculture, citing a 2021 report by a US-based organisation focused on ending hunger and poverty while protecting the environment.
The report, he said, suggested that only about five per cent of the youth were engaged in farming. He described this as “unacceptable” and pledged to put in place measures to make agriculture attractive to the youth.
The government, he added, would create vast markets for agricultural produce to boost farmers’ confidence, assuring them of financial gains from their hard work.
“The marriage between agriculture and industry will serve as a huge market to buy from agriculture. Industry, again, because of the 24-hour economy policy, will have to employ a lot of people,” Mr. Opoku noted.
Cocoa Pricing and Farmer Support
During the confirmation hearing, Mr. Opoku accused the previous government of shortchanging cocoa farmers by paying them as low as GH¢3,100 for a bag of cocoa. He assured that the current government would ensure better payments.
He proposed to the previous administration under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that Ghanaian cocoa farmers should receive a minimum of GH¢6,000 for the 2024/2025 cocoa season.
Explaining the cocoa pricing dynamics, Mr. Opoku highlighted that in 2016, the world market price of cocoa was $2,950 per tonne when the exchange rate was $1 to GH¢3.90.
“In 2016, every bag of cocoa sold from Ghana in the world market attracted GH¢719, and out of this, the Mahama administration gave cocoa farmers GH¢475, which constituted 66.06 per cent, and kept GH¢244, which was just around 34 per cent,” he said.
He further explained that part of the retained GH¢244 was used to procure fertilisers and chemicals to support cocoa farmers free of charge.
Shortchanging Farmers
Mr. Opoku argued that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) had traditionally adhered to the principle of giving cocoa farmers 70 per cent of the cocoa price, but this practice had not been followed by the previous government.
For the 2024/2025 season, he noted that the world market price of cocoa had soared to an average of $10,711 per tonne, with the exchange rate at $1 to GH¢15.
“So, when you multiply the per tonne price by the exchange rate, Ghana was earning the cedi equivalent of GH¢160,665. Dividing this by GH¢16 gives a per bag value of GH¢10,042.
“But being mindful of the debt in the cocoa sector, I was charitable to use 60 per cent, which was the GH¢6,000 we proposed for consideration. However, the government initially decided to give cocoa farmers GH¢3,000, constituting only 30 per cent of the cocoa price,” Mr. Opoku pointed out.
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