Good performance of agric attracts international attention

Accra, July 11, GNA - The Agriculture Sector contributed 37 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in 2005 attracting international attention due to that good performance, Mr Ernest Kweku Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said on Tuesday. He said the World Food Programme had subsequently approached the Government to establish its Food Depot in Ghana and this involved buying Ghana food items for its emergency food supplies in the West Africa Sub-Region.
Mr Debrah who was speaking at the Ministry's turn of the Meet the Press series, which had been suspended for some time now due to recent Cabinet reshuffle, said the deal was worth at least 10 million dollars per annum, which would create big market for farmers. Apart from this, the Minister, noted that Ghana was chosen out of four countries including Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal to host the Regional office for EMBRAPA, a huge agric research organisation in Brazil.
"Additionally, Ghana had been selected by the Food and Agriculture Organisation to host its Sub-Regional Office" adding that their presence would make available large resources for agriculture research and technologies to develop agriculture.
Touching on food crops, Mr Debrah said real prices of the major staple food showed a decline in 2005 and the first half of this year as compared to 2001.
"This was good for the ordinary worker because by spending less on food, he had more disposable income'' he said.
He said the real price for 100 kilograms of maize was 91,341 cedis in 2001 compared to 71,697 in the first half of this year while 100 kilograms of rice sold at 144,928 cedis in 2001 and 139,673 in 2006. The Minister said this was due to an increase in the production of major agricultural products since 2001 which included cassava; yam; rice; cocoyam; maize; sorghum and millet.
Mr Debrah said the Ministry was pursuing six main objectives to ensure food security including the production of agricultural raw materials for industry, facilitate agricultural commodities for export and effective and efficient input supply and distribution systems. He said the Ministry's policy was to transform the rural economy through agricultural modernization by research for improved planting materials and breeds, irrigation and good agronomic practices. Mr Debrah said the Ministry was directly intervening to make available improved seeds and relevant agro-chemicals for small farmers on credit adding that 20,000 small farmers were supported in 2005 to grow maize.
He said through irrigation, farmers could produce all year round, increase their productivity and enhance their income. The Minister said though the level of employment in the agricultural sector dropped to 57 per cent in 2005 compared to 58 per cent in 2003, the Sector continued to employ most Ghanaians. He projected that Ghana would increase its production of rice from 237,000 tonnes in 2005 to 421,660 tonnes in 2009.
Mr Debrah said in a bid to stop the over reliance of Ghana on Cocoa as the major cash crop, a policy had been designed to develop at least three cash crops, namely cashew, mango and cotton for export. He explained that under the policy, production of cashew and cotton would be increased within the next five years by an additional 100,000 hectares each and mango by 50,000 hectares.
He said a pilot programme on the production of the three crops had already started at Brenem and Ayerede in Brong Ahafo Region, adding that, for the mango production, the year 2006 was being used to prepare the grounds by producing the seedlings for planting to start in 2007. Mr Debrah said the youth were also being considered under the diversification of agriculture programme through which traditional rulers, who showed interest, were being approached by the Ministry to lease contiguous lands for their youth to farm on.
On horticulture, the Minister identified lack of cold chain facilities, access to the right varieties, poor access roads and meeting international standards as major challenges facing its development.
To this end, Mr Debrah said a contract, which had already been awarded for rehabilitation and expansion of a shed at the Tema Port into a modern fruit terminal with cold storage facilities, would be completed by October to allow the exportation of 300,000 tonnes from the Port.