Equal attention be given to health, education and agriculture - Minister

By A.B. Kafui Kanyi, GNA
Ho, July 28, GNA - Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Lemuna, Minister of Food and Agriculture, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives to desist from prioritizing education and health to neglect of agriculture.

He said this is because, 'there is a link between high performance in the agricultural sector and its benefits on the health and educational sector.'

'When farmers can provide three square meals for their families, malnutrition will be a history. When farmers increase their income, they can afford to send their children for higher education,' he said.

Alhaji Lemuna, who said this at the launch of the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP), in Ho, said conversely, 'when agriculture is not doing well, children are withdrawn from school to do all kinds of work for survival,' with hospitals choked with malnutrition related sicknesses.

He said he was not against the attention given to health and education but was advocating for equal funding for the agriculture by the assemblies.

Alhaji Lemuna said it was quite prudent that as the assemblies removed schools under trees and constructed clinics, they should 'at least' provide basic logistics for staff of the Department of Agriculture to do their work.

He said the disinterest of the Assemblies' Chief Executives was so loud that, some have refused to recognize the Department of Agriculture as part of their decentralized institutions adding that this attitude has to change.

Alhaji Lemuna said for instance tractors and their accessories and combine harvesters have been cleared with many more expected for farmers in the country this shows that government was interested in the progress of the agricultural sector.

He urged farmers to register with extension officers to benefit from the fertilizer subsidy programme.

Alhaji Lemuna said GASIP, designed to be private sector led initiative, would facilitate and promote agribusiness and help address challenges in the sector.

Mr Sauel Kofi Larbi, Volta Regional Director, Department of Agriculture, expressed worry about the absence of Municipal and District Chief Executives at the forum and urged them to prioritise agriculture.

He said the region has a vast potential for rice, cassava, vegetables and fish production and recorded surpluses in rice and cassava production last year.

Mr Larbi said the region was hoping to develop inclusive business modules that would bring small holder actors and large agri-business enterprises together to facilitate small holder farmers' access to credit and market.

The Minister is scheduled to visit CALTECH, an enterprise at Hodzo, near Ho, which produces cassava into high quality cassava flour for breweries, ethanol for Kasapreko and carbon dioxide for L'air Liquide.

He is also expected to interact with some farmers.
GNA