Report on agric contribution to economic transformation launched

A comprehensive report on how agriculture can set a foundation for Ghana’s economic transformation has been launched in Accra.

The report titled: “Promoting Sustainable Rural Transformation” shows how the country can raise the standard of living of rural farmers to meet the food needs of the nation.

It was authored by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Presenting the report to stakeholders, a Senior Policy Advisor at ACET, Dr. Julius Gatune said the research focused on new approaches to cultivating cassava, coca, poultry and rice to meet international standards.

He indicated that they identified policy measures, institutional reforms, and potential public investments that could help increase the productivity of small, medium large scale modern commercial farmers.

“Take cassava for example, most of the local production is geared towards varieties that make good fufu but local industries are in desperate need of varieties that make good beer and starch.”

Dr. Gatune who is the principal author of the report noted that though there is cheap labour in Ghana, their survey revealed that labour is one of the biggest constraints to farmers.

“To overcome the labour constraint, the report calls for a big shift towards mechanization because the agric industry is dominated by ageing, illiterate farmers who cannot use the new technologies,” he added.

Dr. Gatune believes Ghana’s agric sector has great prospects since according to him, middle class sharecroppers who have capital and can use new technologies are showing interest.

Launching the report, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Yakubu Alhassan bemoaned the subsistent nature of agriculture in the country in spite of the numerous technologies available.

He maintained that agriculture remains a natural pathway for transformation therefore farmers must embrace new ways of doing things.

“The markets are really the king and therefore product development that can deliver food products demanded by the dynamic and rapidly changing urban food markets is paramount. More than anything, urban markets will increasingly shape agricultural landscape. Indeed the huge food imports that we see can be attributed to emergence of huge urban market which has demands that local suppliers cannot meet in terms of quality, variety, convenience and packaging.”

Dr. Alhassan commended ACET for the laudable initiative and assured government’s support in its implementation.

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Story by Ghana/Adomonline.com/Adwoa Gyasiwaa