Insensitive NDC Gov’t Deceives Nation With Propaganda - Pratt

Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, recently stated that the masses are reeling under harsh living conditions and that it appears that the government has become insensitive to the plight of its people.

The international press and international institutions report about a looming food crisis almost on a daily basis. Headlines such as “Climate Change May Cause ‘Massive’ Food Disruptions”, “Africa, Caribbean urged to brace for food price shocks” and “Tariffs on Food Imports Hurt Consumers” appear regularly, yet the government seems to be in denial of the current and looming crisis and harsh conditions Ghanaians are facing.

Instead of addressing the problems from both a short- and long-term perspective, the government by means of Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture, issues propaganda about the state of food security that are full of untruths.

A recent article titled “Ghana’s grain production grew by 6% in 2010 – Ahwoi” was found to contain statements that are very questionable as revealed by industry analysts.

It is a known fact that most Ghanaian farmers, for many reasons, hardly disclose their yields or cost of production. It is just not possible to know how much grains we produce in this country.

During 2010 statements by Kwesi Ahwoi, members of his Ministry and the Vice President indicated that local rice production caters for between 10 and 30 percent of local demand, indicating that nobody really knows what the true situation is.

Mr. Ahwoi further noted that local rice production grew by almost 30 percent in 2010. However, local rice can hardly be found in the market especially in the urban areas as reported widely by the press during the Christmas period. People who wanted to buy local rice for the Christmas could not find it in the market as reported extensively by Metro TV reported during the Christmas period.

It is also a well-known fact that rice production fell dramatically in 2010 both in the Southern and Northern parts of Ghana as a result of a number of factors such as floods, drought, and lately bush fires. Only a month ago Mr Sylvester Adongo, a former Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Tamale was on Metro TV complaining that rice output was very bad as a result of floods and drought respectively. Another factor he attributed the poor output to was late arrival of fertilizer.

In the last quarter of 2010 about 689 hectares of rice farms were destroyed in Afife as a result of severe drought. The Afife Irrigation Dam also went completely dry thereby affecting crop yields severely. There were many media reports that farmers even contemplated suicide because of this situation.

In the article, Mr. Ahwoi also stated, “that the market situation confirms that the figures are real in the sense that prices have not increased astronomically citing the example that maize prices”.

However, the true market situation confirms that Ahwoi does not have his facts right as food prices have increased by an average of 22% since the beginning of this year. The price of fresh tomatoes even increased by more than this percentage as many media networks such as Metro TV, TV3, TV Africa and Joy FM reported in the first week of January 2011.

The cries from consumers and traders about high food prices were also widely reported in the media towards the end of 2010. It is a fact that the majority of grains have to be imported due to local market failure to supply local demand. It is also well recorded that Ghana’s import tariffs on for example rice is 37 percent compared to the 12.5 percent of duties.

The industry and consumers questioned this policy during 2010 in the light of steps taken by countries such as India to help consumers by dropping import duties to 0 percent. Kwesi Ahwoi and the NDC government were adamant that they would not drop these tariffs as it was protecting local producers.

Everybody in Ghana including importers agreed that the promotion of local production is of utmost importance, but that it will take a considerable time to become self-sufficient due to various factors. Industry and policy analysts agreed that a responsible approach would have been to reduce import tariffs on basic foodstuff such as rice and gradually increase it as local production’s contribution grew.

The blunt refusal by Kwesi Ahwoi and the NDC to consider this as the right policy in order to help consumers yet again underlines Kwesi Pratt’s allegations of an increasingly insensitive government.

In 2010 Kwesi Ahwoi claimed that 47,000 new jobs for youth were created mainly via the block farm concept where farmers receive support from government. In the latest statement this figure shot up to 80,000.

In 2010 independent investigations by journalists clearly revealed that the block farms were not only on the verge of collapse due to neglect by government to deliver on its promises.

It was further revealed that all the farmers on the block farms visited by the journalists were existing farmers, and not new youth entrants to the market.

Other problems keeping youth away from the sector include the fact that the extension farmer ratio is still very poor across the country. Media reports are all over that the few extension officers in place cannot even get fuel for their motorbikes to perform their duties hence they have parked the bikes. This fact was even reported by GTV.

Farmers are also still crying for improved seeds claiming that the poor seeds they are using are responsible for their poor yields. Tomato farmers in the Upper East Region are even threatening of abandoning production this year if the government does not intervene to help them with improved seeds to enable them produce at lower cost.

It therefore looks as if the government is using Kwesi Ahwoi and agriculture to deceit the people by claiming that they are making good on pre-election promises in 2008.

Mr Ahwoi also claimed that the Buffer Food Stock System has led to increases in crop output. This seems not to be the truth as the price that the management of the Buffer Food Stock is offering farmers cannot motivate farmers in any way to produce more. Last year the price of a bag of 84kg paddy was sold in the South at GHC60 while the Buffer Food Stock offered GHC27 to farmers for the same 84kg paddy.

The Buffer Food Stock in itself can also not propel farmers to produce enough food, as farmers still generally rely on rainfall to cultivate their crops. If buffer food stocks propel farmers to produce enough food then there would not have been food crises across the globe in 2007/2008 as most countries operate the buffer food stock system.

It is also a fact that Ghana still imports a substantial quantity of yellow maize for the poultry sector. Indeed, in November 2010 there was wide shortage of yellow maize in the market for the local poultry farmers. This was also widely reported in the media. Mr Ahwoi just does not seem to have his facts right.

In his attack on the government Mr. Pratt made the following comment, “But Pratt also cautioned the public to guard against being hoodwinked to join any politician's selfish agitations because they only appear to think properly when out of power.”

Ghana’s democracy and the people of Ghana have showed clearly that Ghanaians will not be hoodwinked anymore. Will the false propaganda by Kwesi Ahwoi and the NDC government’s insensitivities yet again reflect in the 2012 election?