Efforts by the government to boost the agricultural industry in the country have not yielded the desired results because commercial banks have failed to play their expected roles by giving out substantial loans to farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture,
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said although the government was doing its best to
boost food production by subsidizing the prices of agricultural inputs, such as
chemicals, the banks had failed to give enough loans to complement that effort.
That, according to the minister,
had made the prices of foodstuffs and other agricultural produce high on the
market.
Consequently, the government would soon get Parliament to
come up with legislation to compel commercial banks in the country to allocate
20 per cent of their loan portfolio to farmers, he said.
Dr Akoto gave the hint when he
visited some areas in the Eastern Region to interact with farmers to find out
the challenges they went through and whether there had been shortage of
foodstuffs in those areas.
The minister was accompanied by his deputy, Yaw Frimpong
Addo, high officials of the ministry and regional and district directors of
Agriculture on the tour.
The delegation visited, among
other facilities, the Legacy Seed Processing Company at Otareso, near
Koforidua, where seeds are stored, processed and treated; the Idros Farms at
Kwame Duodu; the Pinora Zonal Enterprise near Adeiso, which produces fruit
juice for export only, and TQ Farms, Akim Krodua near Asamankese, producers of
cereals, cassava and coconut.
They also visited Sahmen Farms
at Mepom near Asamankese, which produces hybrid coconut seedlings, as well as
coconut fruits and poultry products.
Legislation
Dr Akoto said to resolve the
issue of financial challenges farmers faced, legislation was being sought to compel
commercial banks to give out at least 20 per cent of their loan portfolio to
farmers.
That, he said, would boost food production and at the same
time make the prices of food affordable to Ghanaians.
The minister, who spoke
passionately about the issue, emphasised that in India, for instance, over the
last 30 years, it had been mandatory for banks to allocate a certain amount of
their lending money to farmers to support agriculture in that country.
"What we need to do as a
country is force commercial banks, through legislation, to allocate resources
towards supporting farmers and agriculture as a whole," he advocated.
Economy will suffer
The minister stressed that if
that was not done, agriculture, which is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy,
would continue to suffer, adding that the ministry was not a financial
institution but a policy-making one.
Dr Akoto, who indicated that
there was no shortage of farm produce in the country, however, pointed out that
the prices of food items had increased.
He attributed the high cost of food items to the high cost
of inputs, such as chemicals, poultry feed and the increasing price of fuel
which had also affected the transportation of food items from the farm gate to
the market centres.
He explained that the factors
that had led to the increase in the prices of food items were beyond the
control of the government, which was doing its best to ensure that the prices
would be affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian.
"This situation can be
reversed if the banks start giving farmers loans because most of the farmers,
especially poultry farmers who normally produce birds up to 150,000, have now
reduced the number drastically because of lack of funds," the minister
said.
With regard to the global
shortage of fertilizer, the minister said Ghanaian farmers had now resorted to
the application of organic fertilizer, which had addressed such a situation.
At the Idros Farms, the owner,
Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, who was the Best National Crop Farmer in 2021, told
the Daily Graphic that his outfit was putting up a food processing factory for
the area, in line with the government's One-District, One-Factory initiative,
explaining that he had vast land for that purpose.
Stakeholders on seeds
Earlier, a meeting involving
regional and district agricultural directors, agric extension officers, seed
growers and input seed dealers was held at the Eastern Regional Coordinating
Council, where a presentation was done by the Regional Director of Agriculture,
Henry Crentsil.
Mr Crentsil disclosed that
there had been a boost in food production this year, adding that the
government's PFJ had contributed immensely towards the success story this year.
Source:Graphic.com.gh