Agric Minister calls for agricultural revolution

Accra, April 29, GNA - Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) on Friday said Ghana could only revolutionalise agriculture if Ghanaian farmers refrained from subsistence farming and embraced modernity.

"Ghana must change and change drastically and radically from the old cutlass and hoe or slash and burn method of agriculture and adopt scientific methods of agriculture," he added. Mr Ahwoi made the observation when speaking on the topic: "Assessing Ghana's Efforts Towards Agricultural Revolution," at the on-going Ghana Policy Fair in Accra.

He said: 93The NDC (National Democratic Congress) Government since assumption of power in 2009 has pursued this agenda which has brought giant transformation to the agriculture sector.

We have not gone to the extreme but we are in the process of moving away from the slash and burn method to total mechanisation." Mr Ahwoi said for Ghana to move into total mechanisation of agriculture land for farming was critical since one or two acres were not economically viable for farmers to make enough profit and cater for themselves and family.

"Farmers must have realistic land sizes to be able to revolutionalise agriculture," he stressed. He noted that though past governments put some premium on agriculture, before the NDC Government came into office, farmers had no access to viable seeds and the irrigation system in the country was totally collapsed.

Mr Ahwoi stressed that the system of keeping part of harvest as seeds for planting during the next season was not the best practice. He said government had made more effort in fixing these problems by repairing all irrigation facilities in the country, provided farmers with improved seeds, established agriculture mechanisation centres in about 85 districts and liberalised fertiliser access to farmers.

The Sector Minister said fertiliser allocation for 2008 was 43,000 metric tonnes at a cost of GH¢20 million, in 2009 it was 72,000 metric tonnes at a cost of GH¢34 million.

He said government also invigorated the Youth in Agriculture Programme, an incubation programme weaning young farmers to venture into farming.

Mr Ahwoi said prices of food had been stabilised and that Ghana had food sufficiency which had stabilise prices on the local market. He noted that rice industry in the North had absorbed about 5,000 women who boil the product for milling and arranged and brought back about 300 Kayaye (head porters) from Accra and Kumasi to be employed. He announced that interest in agricultural education waned to its lowest ebb as most facilities at the agricultural-based institutions were left without attention until the advent of the NDC Government, which rehabilitated the facilities to revive and keep them afloat. Mr Ahwoi pointed out that the best incentive to the farmer was the Farmers Day which honoured them for their good work annually. Mr Philip Abayori, President of National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association said government must set up an Agricultural Authority that would move agriculture from the grips of government while MOFA concentrated on policy formulation and implementation. He said MOFA must develop three crops from each region and promote them vigorously.

Mr Augustus Goosie Tanoh, Former Presidential Candidate for National Reform Party said there should be efforts to improve on education for farmers and called on farmers to change their old ways of practicing their farming methods.