10 November 2008
editorial
Last Friday marked the celebration of the National Farmers Day, an occasion where a proud nation recognized the efforts of her sons and daughters dedicated to working the earth to provide food for all.
Agriculture is the backbone of Ghana's economy as it continues to contribute over 40 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it employs over 60 percent of the nation's labour force and provides raw materials for the local industry among many others. Agriculture potentially remains the lubricant to oil the wheels of Ghana's quest for an industrialization drive.
After the attainment of independence by Ghana, there was an attempt to use agricultural wealth as a springboard for the country's overall economic development. However, Ghanaian agricultural output has consistently fallen since the 1960s, according to Wikipedia.
Beginning with the drop in commodity prices in the late 1960s, farmers have been faced with fewer incentives to produce as well as with a general deterioration of necessary infrastructure and services. By 1983, when drought hit Ghana, food shortages were widespread, and export crop production reached an all-time low.
Ghana then had no option than to initiate the first phase of the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in 1984, with agriculture identified as the economic sector that could rescue Ghana from financial ruin. Accordingly, since that time, successive governments have invested significant funds in the rehabilitation of agriculture.
Primarily through the use of loans and grants, the government has directed capital toward repairing and improving the transportation and distribution infrastructure serving export crops. In addition, specific projects aimed at increasing cocoa yields and at developing the timber industry have been initiated.
Despite statements concerning the importance of food crops, however, programmes and policies were still heavily oriented toward market production, improvement of Ghana's balance-of-payments position, and provision of materials for local industrial production.
Furthermore, following World Bank guidelines, we have tended to rely more heavily on the private sector for needed services and to reduce the role of the public sector, a clear disadvantage for subsistence producers. In particular, industrial tree crops such as cocoa, coffee, and oil palm seedlings were singled out for assistance. Clearly, agricultural sectors that could not produce foreign exchange earnings were assigned a lower priority status.
The Chronicle is however, glad about the fresh wave of pragmatic policies and programmes introduced by the current government which has gone a long way to consolidate the gains of the agriculture sector. The way ahead is long and tortuous but our courageous farmers have resolved to walk the long journey, all they want from the government is to provide them the necessary conditions.
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