Address the food security situation now, Mr. President
President Akufo-Addo stated in his state of the nation address, this January, 2021 that Ghana is now a net exporter of food. Mr. President, with all due respect, I beg to differ because the reality on the ground does not support your claim.
The year 2020 brought a double disaster for farmers and the food security situation in the country is a matter of concern. Food security is generally defined as a situation in which all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This clearly shows that the cost of food is an important aspect of food security.
First of all, the Corona-virus hit Ghana in March last year leading to a lockdown of the country. Peasant farmers were particularly affected as we struggle to access agric- inputs that are mostly imported particularly from China as almost every country closed its boarders because of the pandemic. I struggled to access inputs to spray my one acre Okro farm that was attacked by pests in July last year. The plight of many farmers is not different from mine.
The lock down also affected farming activities in some areas, especially the urban centers, where most economic activities came to a standstill. Some vegetable farmers also recorded loses, due to the lock down of hotels, restaurants and chop bars last year as was reported by the media and which I experienced as a farmer. This definitely push them out of the farming business with implications for food security in the country.
The government stimulus package, that was announce by the President last year to support struggling businesses, which was implemented by the National Board For Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), left out peasant farmers as the process required business certificates and TIN numbers to access the loan. Most peasant farmers do not have these documents to access the loan. This lack of support by government, for peasant farmers who really feed the nation was definitely going to result into food shortage such as the maize situation, we are currently experiencing in the country.
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In fact, if government had heeded to the call by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) to provide a separate package for small scale farmers, who do not have these documentations required by NBSSI to access the loan, we could have averted the maize shortages in the country today. A bag of maize today in northern Ghana is over two hundred cedis (Ghc200) as compare to around ninety Ghana cedis (Ghc 90) around the same time last year. Soya beans is around two hundred and sixty cedis (Ghc 260) and the price of rice continues to increase. The combined effects for these food shortages is leading to food insecurity and pushing more people below the poverty line.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, stated in June 2018 that, Ghana spent over one billion United States dollars ($1billion) annually to import rice into the country. He added that the figure could even be higher as these statistics are coming from only Tema and Takoradi. There are so many routes of smuggling rice into the country that could even push the figure higher.
Mr. President, what has changed? Or what has your government done to reduce this huge rice import bill? Our Major staples such as rice and maize is being imported into the country and you are talking about Ghana being a net exporter of food? The interesting part is that, some food stuffs are bought by our neighboring countries only for our traders to cross the boarders and buy from them again and bring it back to the country to sell. The severe drought last year in the southern part of Ghana also contributed to the low crop yield in some areas.
The major planting season last year, in most parts of southern Ghana experience low or inadequate rainfall, resulting in low and in some cases poor crop yield, particularly for farmers in Western region. The drought situation could have been solved, if government took the policy of irrigation seriously in the country. The one village, one dam initiative by government in northern Ghana to ensure all year round farming to increase food supply and reduce poverty did not meet the expectation of the farmers, as most of the irrigation dams, were not fit for purpose as reported by the Peasants Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), who conducted an assessment of the policy and supported by OXFAM in July 2020.
Most of these dams dried up in the dry season, clearly defeating the purpose of their construction to serve as a pro-poor intervention by government for small scale farmers in northern Ghana. Water plays a major role in dry season farming, particularly in areas that are affected by climate change. If government had consulted all the stakeholders appropriately, constructed bigger dams with larger reservoirs, it could have ensured all year round farming and possibly reduce the price and shortage of maize in the country.
The Planting for Food and Jobs programme implemented by government was also intended to increase food supply and create jobs with its pillars as E-Agriculture, Seed supply, Fertilizer, Extension services and marketing. Farmers welcomed the PFJ programme because of the benefits they stand to drive.
Farmers had access to seeds, fertilizer, extension services among others. What however, affected the programme was the delay in supplying the seeds and fertilizer at the right time. Some of the farmers too, did not have access to improve seeds and this affected their output. If these challenges of the PFJ are addressed, the PFJ programme could help to ensure food security in Ghana.
Source: Wepia A. Awal Adugwala
E-mail: wapiaawal@yahoo.com
Tel: 0242265313
