With the launch of the agriculture flagship initiative, the Feed Ghana Programme (FGP), the intention is to resolve the country’s continuous search for food sustainability and security.
The FGP initiative, a well-thought out programme, is an integrated agriculture acceleration programme to boost agriculture production to feed Ghanaians and provide raw material for agro-industry and create jobs, ultimately to ensure food security, alleviate inflationary pressures on food prices, increase export potential and support sustained economic growth in the long-term.
To signal the importance government attaches to the agriculture sector President John Dramani Mahama last month launched the FGP in Techiman in the Bono East Region.
The launch brings to two initiatives since this government assumed office. The first was the launch of the "Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA)" with a GH¢1.5 billion allocation, which seeks to modernise the agricultural sector, boost food security and create jobs, aligning with the government's broader vision of a robust economy that leverages agriculture.
The two initiatives come on the back of the fact that the country's agriculture sector continues to grapple with daunting challenges that jeopardise food security, economic stability and overall national progress.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku expressed concern that even though Ghana could boast of all the resources required for agricultural activities to ensure food sufficiency, the country continued to rely heavily on food imports, totaling over $2 billion per year.
“Although blessed with abundant agricultural resources, Ghana has struggled over the years with production inefficiencies, lack of infrastructure, limited access to essential inputs and weak integration within the agricultural value chain,” he told journalists.
The initiatives, coming on the heels of a similar initiative by the previous government, it is anticipated that the government would have learnt useful lessons from the previous one for a better outcome.
PFJ initiative
The immediate past government, with a burning desire to increase food production, promote farming as a business, reduce food imports, create jobs and improve food security by supporting farmers with subsidised inputs, market access and extension services, introduced the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.
The programme caught up well with Ghanaians, with promising potentials of permanently solving food production, reducing imports and generally ensuring food security, but alas, unpatriotic elements best described as ‘enemies within,’ took advantage of the situation, and diverted subsidised inputs onto the open markets, leaving the real beneficiaries poorer.
A lot of the PFJ subsidies such as fertiliser and improved subsidies were found in our neighbouring countries’ open markets. Also bedeviled the PFJ was the inability of the government to promptly pay suppliers of input subsidies.
PFJ 2.0
So, on August 28, 2023, then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the second phase of the PFJ programme, dubbed Planting for Food and Jobs Phase II (PFJ 2.0), in Tamale, aimed at righting the wrongs identified in the earlier one, but little was achieved.
Even though the PFJ 2.0 equally meant well, it was also not without challenges. The registration exercise of interested farmers on the Ghana Agriculture and Agribusiness Platform (GhAAP) frustrated not only the farmers, but also the Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) and other technical officers trained to handle the GhAAP.
It was not surprising that the PFJ 2.0 encountered equally frustrating challenges, including the supplying of inputs at a very late hour.
For instance, some of the inputs were still being distributed in July and August 2024 when the major farming season was over and the plating for the minor one too was almost over.
The question was, whether the inputs supplied at that time were meant for the 2024 cropping season or that of 2025.
Pitfalls
So, as the government rolls out these lofty initiatives, it has to guard against potential setbacks, learning from past mistakes and also, be firm against doling out support and cash to party loyalists, who might be waiting in the wings to descend on the initiatives and make nonsense of otherwise good intentions.
It is a fact that the implementation of the initiatives will be led by the MoFA, but in collaboration with other ministries such as Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Finance, Local Governments, Parliament, Local Government Services, other departments and agencies, farmer organisations and private enterprises.
That is where the real issue is, particularly so, since it would not be solely handled by the MoFA.
There would be the need for real commitment on the part of the collaborators for these initiatives to succeed.
This was clear during the implementation of the PFJ, where extension officers were not under the MoFA and the successful rollout of the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) was basically under the commitment of the district assemblies.
Additionally, the initiatives should not be allowed to be hijacked by party loyalists, who are only out to line up their pockets, leaving the poor farmer worse off, and yet, are untouchable because of their strong links at the helm of affairs.
During monitoring, the ministry should be given the free hand to enforce the law to the letter without fear or favour.
These are some of the pitfalls the government and particularly the sector Minister, Mr Opoku, who is supposed to lead the charge, needs to avoid falling into.
Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh
