Zakari Musah

Food, like the water we drink and the air we breathe, is an essential commodity, without which, life could be unbearable. In most countries, agricultural sector is the eye of the economy. Every step, therefore, ought to be taken to avoid any eventuality that could result in famine or any catastrophy. In Ghana, agricultural sector contributes 36-40 per cent of the GDP. This is an attestation that any short fall at the agric sector could lead to serious disaster in the country.

There was an anxiety in some sections of the public that the country could experience food shortage because of the droughts and floods that hit the three northern regions last year. This is because the three northern regions are the largest producers of food crops such as yam, rice, sorghum, millet, wheat and others in the country.

However, the Sector Minister, Mr. Ernest Debrah at the usual media encounter this week, dispelled the notion and assured Ghanaians of enough food until the next harvest season. In fact, the revelation by the Minister is very crucial to all since Ghanaians would not want to experience the 1983 situation.

With the global climate change which is now in Ghana, shows that Ghana must sit up and put proper measures in place to avert the situation.

For this reason, the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority prepared a National Irrigation Policy, Strategy and Regulatory Measures to guide irrigation development in the country.

For instance, in 2007, under the small scale Irrigation Project, an area of 100 hectres was developed and handed over to farmers for cropping while 2,365.5 hectres are still being developed.

In addition, about 53 hectres of valley bottom sites were developed for the production of 5,670 tonnes of paddy rice under the inland Valley Rice Development Project.

To consolidate the agricultural sector to ensure adequate food supply in the country, the Ministry of Food and Agricultural has put some measures in place. These are food security and emergency preparedness, improved growth in income and stability, increased competitiveness and enhanced integration into domestic and international markets, application of science and technology in food and agriculture development and enhanced institutional coordination and sustainable management of land and environment.

During the usual questions and answers time after the Minister presented his statement, a journalist asked the Minister to give a brief about the Aveyime project. In answering the question, Mr. Debrah said negotiations had gone far, adding that the issue was at the Attorney General’s Department to sort out some figures matters.

Another journalist also asked what the government was doing about subsidising farming imports. In response, the Minister said nobody had imposed a subsidy on farming imports. He said all farming imports were duty free and challenged the journalist to find out from the farmers. The Minister added that subsidy in itself was not a solution but the most important thing was the productivity.

Further, a journalist wanted to know what the Minister was doing to help farmers to access loan from the banks. In response, he said the farmers did not see farming as business, which was a problem. He advised farmers to try to link up with banks for negotiations for loans. But the Minister gave the assurance that his ministry would step in for some intervention.

Again, a journalist wanted to know what the Minister was doing to help farmers preserve their produce. The Minister responded by saying it was time Ghanaians patronised their own local produce, otherwise, it would get to a time farmers would stop producing food in the country, he cautioned.

SOURCE: ISD

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