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Vegetables For Food And Jobs – GhanaVeg Shows The Way

By Hanson Arthur || GhanaVeg International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)
Agriculture Vegetables For Food And Jobs – GhanaVeg Shows The Way
APR 20, 2017 LISTEN

This week, the Government has launched its flagship agricultural programme, ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’. The location of the programme launch is not just coincidental, but very much symbolic.

Goaso, within the Asunafo District of the Brong Ahafo Region is a major food production enclave in a region that has been described at various times as the “breadbasket of Ghana”.

So a symbolism of a breadbasket should portray clearly the intentions of the programme: Food must not be scarce in a country blessed with rich agricultural lands. As stated by the Minster, the Programme focuses on crops such as maize, rice, soybean, sorghum and vegetables. The importance of these crops in daily Ghanaian diets, perhaps except vegetables, is well known to Ghanaians. Incidentally all these crops, again with the exception of vegetables, have been part of major agricultural programmes since the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) was established. And yes, this has been so for good reason.

Apart from the ‘strong three’ – comprising tomatoes, peppers and onions – which without doubt are used daily in almost every Ghanaian home, Ghana has not been traditionally characterized as a vegetable-consuming nation. An FAO study in 2009 revealed Ghana had one of the lowest global prevalence of fruits and vegetable consumption, out of 52 countries surveyed. Less than 39 % of our population then did the recommended intake of 400 g of vegetables and fruits per day.

Given our fertile agricultural lands, our burgeoning population with a bulging middle class and a bloating youthful segment looking for jobs, increased local consumption of vegetables will certainly create a domestic surge in vegetable production. This is the equation that will unlock the potential of the vegetable sector for “food and jobs”. Yet we must not take for granted the traditional and (agri)-cultural contexts that place Ghana at the bottom of the league of vegetable-consuming nations. We must find the means to address inherent bottlenecks to make an upward transition happen.

Finding such ways to make Ghana produce healthy and quality vegetables (thereby creating the food and jobs in its wake) is the raison d’etre of GhanaVeg – a Programme funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Accra, which is being implemented jointly by the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) of Wageningen University, and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).

GhanaVeg takes a welcome notice of the key pillars on which ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ is anchored. These are indeed clear entry points to addressing the challenges in the vegetable (and indeed the general agricultural) sector. These include the provision of improved seeds, supply of fertilizers, provision of extension support, marketing arrangements and monitoring (using ICT). Since its inception in 2014, GhanaVeg has provided grants to input dealers for the supply of improved seeds and soil enhancers to farmers; supported extension and agricultural advisory service providers to work with farmers; and directly funded market actors who would then work with farmers to produce the desired vegetables demanded by consumers – in both local and export markets. GhanaVeg is working with MoFA and other partners to address issues of vegetable safety and quality in order to bolster consumer confidence in Ghanaian vegetables. Additionally, GhanaVeg runs an ongoing national public education show on national TV (TV3 Network) that brings information on the health benefits of consuming vegetables to the general populace.

This holistic approach, which clearly aligns with the key pillars of ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, creates a generic pathway to guide the Government. However, an almost imperceptible point of departure between the rollout of ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, so far, and what GhanaVeg has been doing is the inclusion of the private sector.

While an initial government intervention could involve the wholesale distribution of improved seeds and fertilizers to farmers, there must be investments in local production of improved seeds in the medium to long term, to create more jobs within the value chain. Again, an immediate recruitment of extension service providers, placed on Government payroll appears to be a pragmatic answer to an urgent problem. The long-term vision however should see Ghanaian farmers paying for specialized advisory services and knowledge - that of course must tell on farmer outputs at the end of the day.

Finally, direct involvement of market actors at the start of production planning, not after harvest, will ensure we don’t only plant for food, but also for jobs.

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