Making agric attractive to the youth

Food production has been low for some time now. The performance of the country’s agricultural sector is nothing to write home about, be it the crops or the fisheries sub-sector.

On some occasions over the last decade, the sector recorded negative growth, raising concerns over measures to promote food security.

We import vegetables from Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Togo, while food crops such as cocoyam and plantain, as well as fruits, are sourced from Cote d’Ivoire.

This development is against the background of large tracts of arable land from the south to the north and from the east to the west of the country which are lying fallow, while individuals and investors look for land to cultivate food and cash crops.

In the 1970s, the then National Redemption Council (NRC) government, under the late General I. K. Acheampong, introduced the Operation Feed Yourself programme to encourage Ghanaians to cultivate every available piece of land.

Within two years, the programme became so successful that the country became a net exporter of rice and maize to some countries in Africa. It caught on so well that even Accra was turned into a green field of maize and vegetables.

However, for some inexplicable reasons the programme faced challenges, even during the NRC regime, which threatened food security in the country and the situation has continued till now.

During the 2016 electioneering, all the political parties promised to reverse the decline in agriculture, with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promising to modernise the sector.

It is in fulfilment of this manifesto pledge that the Nana Akufo-Addo administration introduced the Planting for Food and Jobs policy which was launched in Goaso recently.

The idea is to cultivate large tracts of land, growing mostly staple foods to break our dependence on food imports.

We are sceptical, but not cynical, because of the attitude of those officials who are supposed to supervise the policy. When it comes to agriculture, the challenge is herculean because farming is seen to be a vocation for the never-do-wells or rural people who have no choice but to till the land for their upkeep.

Elsewhere, such as in the United States of America, about three per cent of the farmers feed the entire population because agriculture is seen as the mainstay of the economy and it receives utmost support, including subsidies, from the government.

Here in Ghana, governments are not ready to invest in agriculture, while the banks see it as a no-go area because of its high-risk factor.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has introduced the students’ version of the Planting for Food and Jobs policy to project farming as a business to students for them to see it as a profitable venture.

This innovation by the government is commendable, as we think it can help change the mindset of our youth about agriculture and for them to take to it even after their education.

The Daily Graphic thinks that returns from agriculture must change, but this will happen not just because the people want  to take to agriculture. Those who risk their capital regret their decision because credit and incentives are simply non-existent, and even if they are available, they are not motivating enough.

We think that the way forward is for the government to ring-fence some amount of money in its budget that can be channelled through the banks at very concessionary rates for those interested in agriculture to access.

The Planting for Food and Jobs policy must succeed, but that can happen not by accident but by well-calculated strategies and actions.