Agriculture means to nation’s industrialisation — Dr Akoto
Since the inception of his campaign after making known his intention to be a presidential candidate on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the immediate past Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has centred his message solely on the back of agriculture.
He has elaborated on various ways he plans on using the country’s agricultural machinery to further its socioeconomic growth and development.
However, critics of the 73-year old agricultural economist have repeatedly attacked him wondering why someone who wishes to lead a country facing numerous economic challenges will be focusing on just one sector.
Dr Akoto, who resigned in January this year to contest the flagbearer position of the NPP in its upcoming primary, had responded that agriculture was merely a means to an end and not his only focus.
“I am not doing only agriculture.
All I am saying is that if properly invested in, agriculture holds the potential to generate enough local revenue and foreign exchange to finance our industrialisation agenda and all our debts,” he told the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview.
Dr Akoto, the country’s longest-serving Minister of Food and Agriculture, explained that Ghana was fortunate enough to be located in the tropics and as such, in addition to a wide range of crops, had access to tropical plants such as rubber, oil palm and coconut among others which could earn the country huge sums of money even if exported just as raw materials.
Tree crops
That, he said, was the reason as minister, he played a pivotal role in the creation of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) to regulate and develop in a sustainable environment, the production, processing, and trading of six tree crops, namely; cashew, shea, mango, coconut, rubber, and oil palm.
He added that a feasibility study conducted as part of the establishment of the TCDA revealed that $5 million was needed annually for three years as fund for seeds to properly set up the initiative and deliver successfully by developing seeds and distributing them to farmers for free.
However, the flagbearer hopeful lamented that after the three years, only $1.3 million had been realised for the initiative due to serious financial constraints.
“So if we were to prioritise agriculture and gave the $15 million, by now we would be producing tens of millions of these seedlings, and with a four to five years gestation period of all these crops due to the new varieties, in three to four years, we will start harvesting and making lots of money,” he added.
To those who still doubt him, the former minister said not only was it possible to make billions through agriculture to support all other sectors of the economy, it was already being done by Côte d’Ivoire, our neighbour.
He stated that while Ghana was making just about $1.5 billion from the tree crops including its cocoa, Côte d’Ivoire was exporting produce worth about $8 billion with only five cash crops.
“They maybe at the Internal Monetary Fund (IMF) as well, but that is only because they have overspent in building infrastructure.
You go to Abidjan and the number of bridges, motorways and developments that they are doing; all to create business opportunities for companies”.
Prioritisation
Dr Akoto, who obtained his Master of Science in Agricultural Economics at the Cambridge University, therefore stated optimistically that if the country prioritised agriculture and diverted enough public resources into it, not only would Ghana succeed in generating income, it would be able to finance its debt; both domestic and foreign.
“From my exposure as an international advisor to governments for 18 years in the UN system, I have great belief that if we focus our public resources on the development of our agriculture, it will take care of our development and we will forever be out of the clutches of the IMF,” he said.