By Doreen Ampofo
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has raised alarm about the excessive use of agrochemicals such as glyphosate in controlling weeds and pests in farms. The widely used herbicide and during planting is known to contain chemicals which are not only harmful to human health but also destroys soil quality and fertility.
According to the Ministry, although climate change is affecting the country’s food systems and leading to the near extinction of some indigenous foods, the excessive use of glyphosate demands extensive research for policy action.
This came to light during a post COP28 dialogue on agriculture and food ecosystems organized by the International Water Management Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
It discussed, among other things, declarations Ghana signed on to at COP28 as well as strategic and actionable mechanisms to achieve a climate-resilient agriculture sector.
With climate change impacting crop yield, many countries have resorted to the use of pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate to improve yield. However, questions have been raised about its safety following a wave of lawsuits in the US over claims that glyphosate causes cancer and other neurological diseases.
In Ghana, the chemical is widely used by farmers for maize and grain production. According to the Director of Crop
Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Kingsley Kwaku Amoako, excessive use of the chemical is seriously affecting the country’s food system.
He wants either the Ghana Standards Authority or Food and Drugs Authority to visit markets across the country, take samples of food produced and sold on the market and analyze the agrochemicals content especially glyphosate which is used in the production of maize, rice and other grains.
He said field visits to many farms in Ghana show an alarming rate at which glyphosate is used and the situation is more worrying as many counties have started banning the use of glyphosate in farming.
“If you go to the field and see how farmers are using glyphosate, it is very very serious. You go to farms that are using glyphosate and the soil biodiversity is gone. You see the vegetation structure has changed. All the grasses have become dwarfs. They are not growing. The soils have become that hard. That is what is driving them to go and open new areas to cultivate because the land is spoiled. It is not fertile any longer. It rains and there are no pores for the rains to go into the root zone and that is why we are having a lot of floods”
According to Mr Amoako If the US with its stringent measures were able to trace glyphosate beyond the MRLs on their shelves, then as a country, Ghana needs to be very careful.
Among the declarations signed by Ghana and 133 countries in the UAE was for agriculture and food systems to adapt and transform to respond to the urgency of climate change. Head of the West Africa Office of the International Water Management Institute, Dr Olufunke Cofie called for coordination of efforts and setting priorities to achieve the 2025 targets set for the declarations.
“As a country, we need to define which of the targets we want to meet especially because these are declarations which are very broad that Ghana has signed on to. On this particular declaration, we need to define and agree together on what we should be doing and which one we should prioritize”
Dr Cofie said once that has been done the many stakeholders will deliberate and share ideas and experiences on how the nation should coordinate its activities to achieve maximum results.
“I think in terms of the knowledge, we have the capital, financial capital, and all that in the system. Quite a lot is going on by different organizations, but I think coordination is what is missing. That’s where we need to pay some attention to so that we can have more coordinated actions”
The participants drawn from civil society, academia and the Ministry called for financing to implement priority actions.
