Ghana needs effective Agriculture policy framework - Dr. Otokunor

Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor

Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, an Agricultural Economist and a member of the NDC Manifesto Committee, emphasized the urgent need for a comprehensive and effective agriculture policy framework in Ghana.

Speaking on JoyNews' AM Show, on the topic "The Agric Manifesto," shed light on several critical issues plaguing the country's agricultural sector ranging from issues of production, cost of production, proper programming of subsidy regimes, and misalignment of agriculture production to food.

He specifically criticized the input distribution system for the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative, explaining, "The entire input distribution system for a policy like the Planting for Food and Jobs was given to two or three companies. They bring in all the agrochemicals, control the agrochemical market, and do the supply. There are no means to check if the subsidy is being responsive or whether the farmers are benefiting from the subsidy, so the subsidy does not go to the farmers."

One of the major challenges Dr. Otokunor discussed was the access to markets for farmers. He stressed that the policy framework must include robust marketing structures to ensure farmers can efficiently sell their produce. "Now we are in tomato season already, and farmers are complaining that their tomatoes are ready and are getting spoiled because the transportation systems are poor, the aggregation systems are poor, and access to the market is poor so they harvest the tomatoes, and post-harvest management becomes a problem." he lamented.

Additionally, Dr. Otokunor bemoaned the misalignment between agriculture production and food systems. He explained that these two components are often treated as separate entities, leading to policy inefficiencies. "We have misaligned the food system and the agriculture production systems, and these are two different things. Mostly, we focus on agriculture production, which fails because of policy inefficiencies and how it is not linked to food," he stated.

To enhance the sector's effectiveness, Dr. Otokunor emphasized the need for agro-processing or value-addition programs that would lead to agro-industrialization. He illustrated the importance of convenience in food security, drawing attention to how quick-to-prepare foods like Indomie have gained popularity. "The thing about food security is that it has four legs, and convenience is one of them. People will eat because it is convenient for them. For example, Indomie has become popular because people can prepare it within three minutes, unlike banku or fufu, which takes two hours to prepare. So, our agro-industrialization or agro-processing regime should target how to make our food more convenient in terms of processing," he explained.