Some key stakeholders in the agricultural sector are expressing their dissatisfaction towards government’s flagship program; planting for food and jobs and its impact on the economy of the country.
The minister of food and agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, for the past days said in a statement that the program has contributed a massive boost in the agricultural sector, producing a hundred and fifty thousand tons of food stuffs last year (2018).
The minister also stated that the program which was started with about 77,000 farmers, has earned Ghana millions of dollars by supplying some neighboring African countries with food items.
But objecting the statement of the minister is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the chamber of agribusiness, Anthony Morrison, saying it is inaccurate representation made by the minister.
“We do know that an amount of three hundred and twenty seven million plus has been released on last year’s program and we do not know any form of audit that has been done actually to authenticate just as the amount that has gone in, in terms of the year. So the industry what we do know is the fact that the cost of feed for livestock industry keep going up; I’m talking about feed for poultry, aqua culture and other area. From 2016, we do know that 50kg of maize was at forty eight cedis but as I speak today, 50kg of maize is seventy two cedis at delivery”.
Mr. Morrison also explained that the local poultry farmers are also struggling to provide feeds for their livestock.
“What we also do know for a fact now is that the cost for certain feed products on the market have increased. We also realized that poultry industry are struggling to be able to protect enough feed for their livestock and they have to cut off operation. Those that are doing thirty-two thousand, forty-eight thousand are now doing about twenty thousand.
“If you go to Brong Ahafo, unity farm, Wenchi,Techiman, Kumasi where we have bulk of our eggs coming from, most of them have gone into large scale production of maize because they have been supported by Exim bank and the rest with huge support in other areas”.
In same opinion, General Secretary of the general agricultural workers union, Edward Carowell, shares the same view with Mr. Morrison.
“The total amount of investment we have made in this planting for food and jobs will include the input. Particularly, fertilizers never reach the farmers which have been smuggled not to talk of other ways we have not been able to see. For instance the ministry itself said the total amount of twelve million dollars has been lost through fertilizer smuggling which are meant for cocoa farmers. We can see that huge investment has gone waste. So when we are looking at output we should also be looking at how much is invested”. she stressed.
