Mahama speaks highly of agric sector in New York

President John Mahama has been touting his government's achievement in improving food production at a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme event.

Speaking as the co-host of the event themed, “Pathways to Zero Hunger” in New York, USA, alongside Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbe, President Mahama was keen to note the strides Ghana had made in crop production over the last eight years.

During his address he said, “I have made a lot of progress in increasing crop production. In all the sectors; cereals, tubers crops, we have seen significant instances in production. Rice production has doubled over the last eight years from slightly above 300,000 metric tonnes to 641,000 metric tonnes.”

He also noted that Ghana produces about “60 percent of our total meat requirement and about 40 percent is imported from elsewhere.”

Ghana is one of the heights consumers of fish products and one of the many problems that we face is over-fishing in our waters thus he said “we are supplementing production by investing in a strong aqua culture industry.”

Addressing some challenges in the agriculture sector however, President Mahama highlighted the threat of dumping from Europe and South America where he said some products were brought in and sold at “ridiculously cheap prices,” making it difficult for local poultry farmers to compete.

He thus suggested that, “opening up the market in West Africa will give a boost to agriculture where we are able to exchange agric products so that our farmers have a bigger market than they currently have.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana