By: Hannah Dadzie
Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Charles Nyaaba says the agriculture sector is bedeviled with so much challenges that must be tackled head on. He believes the sector determines the robustness in other sectors of the economy, therefore it must be given priority in the International Monetary Fund, IMF programme.
Speaking at a Media Interface on Ghana’s IMF Bailout, Dr. Nyaaba said he expects the mid-year budget review that will be presented next week to address among others tax waivers for supply inputs, heavy investment in irrigation development and also subsidizing agro products which will help reduce expenditure in the sector.
“Many farmers who plough are not able to plough their lands. Many farmers who plough are not able procure weedicide, herbicide to control weeds. What will happen is that if this trend should continue, it means that next year the coat will continue to go up. And there is no hope that government is going to do anything to help us, so we are still hoping that as the Finance Minister presents the Mid-year budget, we want to see practical investment for the sector, especially in the area of tax waivers for agro inputs and then credit support for aggregators. We also want the Mid-year budget to make concrete allocation for irrigation development” Mr Nyaaba said.
Dr. Nyaaba asked government to put measures in place to increase food production to meet the demands of the people. He described as disappointing food shortages and increase in inflation.
“Food prices have sky rocketed. Ghana Statistical Service data in June 2023 inflation shows that food price inflation is leading the inflation basket by 54%. This is one of the highest inflation in Africa. In you take Nigeria in June their inflation figure rose from 24% in May and 25.5%. President Tinibu declared a state of emergency because of that and put in place a lot of different measures to ensure that food become affordable and available to the people of Nigeria. We are surprised that with this increase in inflation, we are not seeing any measures being put in place by our government to address this issue. As we speak we are in the third quarter, farmers have not received any support. Fertilizer subsidy that farmers use to benefit previously has been taken out, seed subsidy has been taken out. As a result cost of production has more than 100% increased” the Executive Director indicated.
