Open Letter to the President on Agriculture Sector as the Major Engine for Economy Improvement and inclusive Growth- Part One

Dear His Excellency JD Mahama, the President of Ghana,

One of the Holy Books of God, precisely the Holy Bible at Romans 13:1 states that: “All authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God and every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Also, 1 Peter 2:13-14 declares: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the

Punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.”

These two Biblical messages imply that God has a purpose for humanity herein the people of Ghana, a purpose for current and future affairs, and He will accomplishes that purpose through the leadership that He either puts in place or allows.

So, Sir, I can comfortable say that you and Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman as your immediate Deputy have been appointed by God to be the President of Ghana and Vice President respectively, among other Contestants including a sitting Vice President as Presidential candidates in the 2024 Presidential Election. It is envisaged that this may be with the view to efficiently and effectively navigate Ghana’s affairs towards the Promised Land for Ghana, which one may say Ghana Beyond Aid.

So, Sir, the huge challenges confronting Ghana rather offers great opportunities for home grown solutions by your administration and the citizenry at large for Ghana to attain your vision of ‘24 Hour Economy’, through massive changes in the Goggisburg/Nana Addo’s Economy, Social and Political templates to modern/better templates.

Mr President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the Founder and first President of this great Nation namely Ghana on the onset of his political career made a famous declaration that ‘Organization Decides Everything’ this mantra was valid yesterday and is valid today and tomorrow.

So. Mr President Ghana is therefore standing at the Crossroads for thoughtful decisions on the Organizational Structures of Ghana for a major shift in her Economy, Social and Political Trajectories under your Presidency to facilitate the navigation of Ghana towards the Promised Land.

Mr President the Agricultural Sector is and in Ghana must be the Major National Engine for Economic growth or Improvement and Inclusive Growth. So, please. Mr President, the Agric Sector should not share her functions with a parallel institution under the Ministry of Trade nor with the Ministry of Fisheries. It should rather be well organized/oiled as one Unit with the relevant subsections as Departments under an able Sector Minister and provided with massive resources and with your guidance to navigate Ghana towards the Promised Land of the 24 Hour Economy.

Accepting of these recommendations, may ensure food Security/Poverty Reduction, Generation of more Employments, and Wealth Creations. The Agric Sector will also act as an instrument for Import Substitutions (production of Rice, Maize, Sugar, Onion, Tubers, Tomatoes or Vegetable productions, Fruits, Meat, Fish, Snails, and the Poultry industry’s products,) and exporting of surpluses to the sub region to generate more and conserve foreign exchange, thus towards Economic Improvement and Inclusive Growth.

So, Mr President please take a second look into the Ministries you have just created for the development of Ghana. Please, I recommend that you combine the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with Ministry of Fisheries or Aquaculture. Please note fish is a living producible creature which is a food item, hence it is an Agribusiness product must be under the Ministry of Agric and Food Security.

Sir, Agribusiness is the network of Agric businesses thus involves the productions of crops, livestock, poultry etc from start to finish. So it involves seed productions, production of eggs and chicks, the Production of Fingerlings, or Aquaculture, Agric Chemicals, the Management, Transportation, Storage, and Marketing. So it involves a lot including physical Agric Infrastructures and Social Infrastructures and the necessary Support Services of Agric Mechanization and Modernization and other ancillary services. .

Mr President, I beg, remove please Agribusiness from under the Ministry of Trade and Industry otherwise if we go by the definition of Agribusiness (Please Google for Agribusiness and Agribusiness in USA and or Agribusiness in India, and you will be informed that Agribusiness is synonymous with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, hence you are creating parallel Institutions with the associated bureaucracies, wastages, indecisions or tug of war etc.

Please note that the problems, Ghana is facing with the Komenda Sugar Productions Series, because the Ministry of Trade and Industry was wrongly made responsible for the three Standalone Sugar Production Series. These Series are made up of the initial or primary Sugar Plantation and Irrigation systems and the associated friendly Sugarcane Farmers/Aggregators etc with the associated secondary industry of Sugar Mills for crashing and Milling of the Sugarcane to produce raw Sugar for the final or tertiary or third Standalone Industry namely the Sugar Refinery for the production of consumable sugar, ethanol and molasses.

The Sugar Plantation to be driven by the Sugar Mills should be put under the Ministry of Agric and Food Security whilst we may consider putting the Sugar Refinery for the final product under the Ministry of Trade and Industry so that the Refinery may import raw sugar to keep it running 24/7 as part of 24hour economy.

So, a person with a critical mindset may be right to conclude that there was an alienation of major Stakeholders including the Ministry of Agric and Food Security, Cargill International and associates, the intelligentsia Community or Agric Scholars especially from the nearby University of Cape Coast and the National Development Planning Commission from the decision making on the plan, the establishment and management of the Komenda Sugar Production Series. Otherwise, the technical personnel of Ghana failed the Country by not doing viability studies or failing to do research work or liaison with Cargill International or the Brazilian Government (report of Embrampa research work in Ghana etc) for ideas on areas in Ghana with better Comparative Advantage than Komenda if the aimed was for import substitution industry then those who established were incompetent.

Sir, the Komenda Sugar Production Series is a financial loss to Ghana. But, we can salvage the situation by handing over the Refinery to a strategy partner under the Ministry of Trade and Industry to help import raw sugar for the refinery, whilst we get the Ministry of Agric with the help of the Agric Institutions to come out with sugar hybrids and areas capable of providing a yield of not less 70 metric tons per hectare (Salaga enclave is the best in Ghana, followed by the BUI enclave, Pwalugu and Tito in the Volta Region since sugarcane is a savannah grass Plant or C4 plant need enough sunshine for fixing Carbon).

Sir, I shall return to this topic on the Agricultural Sector to be regarded as the Major Engine for Economic Improvement and Inclusive Growth, with very good recommendations, so please expect more series.

Best regards Sir.

Signed

MAJOR MOHAMMED BOGOBIRI (RTD)

0244166045

KUMASI