Ghana must adopt new approach to agric & agro-business – B-Bovid CEO

Government has been challenged to adopt new approaches to agriculture if the sector is to be sustained and maintained as the backbone of the country's economy. The Chief Executive Officer of B-Bovid, an agro-business company in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region, wants support for farmers to take a new dimension such that farmers will earn more from their produce and improve on their standards of living.

Mr. Issa Queadreago was speaking at the Western Regional Policy Fair which was on the theme, “Managing Agricultural Development in the face of the Oil and Gas Industry”. His delivery was titled “Private sector initiatives in the agric sector”.

Mr. Queadreago, whose company B-BOVID is promoting a new model of social inclusive commercial farming, which combines innovative agricultural practices, ecological farming and social entrepreneurship to deliver high quality organic products, create jobs and ultimately reduce poverty in rural communities, says the conventional way of farming whereby the farmer produces with very little or no support from Government and paid a paltry sum for his or her product is the reason why many small-holder farmers are still grappling with poverty.

He also bemoaned the practice where some non-governmental organisations, government agencies and civil society groups secure funds from international groups with the aim of supporting such farmers but end up doing virtually nothing. According to him, in most cases, such groups do not provide the essential support that these farmers need to increase their productivity.

“What we are trying to do here is a poverty oriented project. We believe that the current system of doing the agric business is no more sustainable. We also don't believe in the NGO system where people give out money and they don't account for anything. What we are saying is a social entrepreneurship module. We will engage a commercial farming system that includes outgrowers and at the end of the year share profit with them. That is where we believe that the farmer deserves to be more rewarded than the traditional way of business where investors come in and offer some basic support to farmers, buy their produce at low prices and it ends there”.

Mr. Queadreago noted that there was still a huge potential untapped in the agric sector particularly in the Western Region and the country at large, urging Government to improve support for agriculture in the area of funding and inputs and also called for a total change of the mindset towards agriculture.

“Agriculture is the mainstay of the Region's economy, employing about 70% of the economically active population and accounts for about 60 percent of the Regional GDP. About 75 % of the Region's rural population depends directly and indirectly on agriculture and related activities for their livelihood. It has the most favorable climatic conditions for agriculture and abundant arable land and yet produces less food crops”.

“We haven't actually done anything yet looking at what we have and the way our farmers do things. But we need Government support not in the way of dolling out money as they have been doing or brining in some inputs that the farmers do not really need or expensive fertilizers. We can even recycle our waste into organic fertilizer which is even healthier for our environment that the chemicals we import. Our banking system is also not helping us just as the Government's allocation to agriculture is also not helping us. Basically there must be a fundamental shift of attitude towards agriculture” he noted.

B-Bovid's vision is to become a leading medium-sized company that provides organic and biodiversity products, advocates for ecological farming and brings the best science to bear on the needs of decision makers in relation to the links between human development (people), ecosystems (planet), business (profit) and sustainability.

Story by Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/Radio Maxx/Takoradi