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The General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) has called on the government to prioritize agribusiness in transitioning Ghana from traditional to commercial agriculture.
This, they say, involved enhancing value addition, improving farmers’ access to markets, and creating an environment that encouraged private sector investment in agriculture. Dr. Pascal Kaba, the Deputy General Secretary of GAWU, expressed these views in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, emphasizing the sector’s potential to drive economic growth and sustainability.
“We must commercialize agriculture such that it becomes a business, where we produce not just for consumption, but to also feed our industries and increase our export.
“If we want our produce to get to the customer and to the industry, then there must be accessible roads to prevent post-harvest losses and do a mix of rain-fed and irrigation farming,” he said. Dr. Kaba called for a stronger partnership between agribusinesses, the Ministry of Trade, and agriculture unions to ensure that production, marketing, storage, and distribution are carried out in a more sustainable manner.
“There should be broader stakeholder involvement at the level of policy formulation and implementation because when you’re bringing in policies and the people who will see to the roll out are not involved in the process, then when it gets to implementation, the people will not participate,” he said. Dr. Kaba also urged the urgent employment and retooling of extension officers across the country by improving the current farmer-extension ratio from one-to-1,500 to one-to-500. He emphasized that this would enhance farmer knowledge and increase productivity.
This call from GAWU comes in light of the government’s plan to implement the ‘Feed Ghana and Feed Industry’ Programmes, aimed at ensuring food security. The two programmes aim to promote smart agriculture to boost local food production for consumption and ensure a steady and sufficient supply of agricultural produce for industrial use.
As part of these initiatives, farmer service centers will be established in all districts to provide farmers with modern agricultural equipment, technologies, and inputs. The government also plans to create farm banks in agricultural zones to facilitate land access and irrigation facilities for farming, as well as to encourage young people to venture into agriculture.
Source: GNA
