The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness, Mr. Anthony S.K. Morrison said if Ghana wants to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 2 then players in the sector must start sharing ideas or data amid themselves.
Mr. Morrison said that most players in the Agribusiness sector in Ghana are very secretive and very comfortable at the least success.
“We glorify simplicity, always thinking of gargantuan success without any little start and always wanting to receive but fails to give” he pointed out.
He expounded the constituent of the youth is over 60 percent of the population, and without employment implied productivity in the country is low, as such, as a country aiming at socio-economic development there is a need to empower the youth to be able to run with ideas and grow businesses.
“We require a new generation of doers and achievers to build mother Ghana and Africa if we really want to end extreme poverty and hunger on the continent,” he said.
He made these remarks in an exclusive interview with the reporter on Ghana’s Agricultural Sector, challenges smallholder farmers are facing and how Agribusiness sector players are not plateful.
He said the discussion had been that the youth could find employment in so many sectors but often time’s agriculture is being left out, the very sector that could employ the majority of the youth.
“We have not been able to meet these expectations because people don’t have the skills and knowledge to run with ideas; starting their own businesses that can change livelihoods, but the high degree of pulling him down syndrome is disheartening, I am making it clear that unless this is addressed, it will be difficult for us to achieve the Sustainable Development,” he said.
Mr. Morrison cited cases where some African countries found oil and then they focused on the revenue from oil and abandoned agriculture. Some countries also adopted wrong policies, he added.
“Remember even if you train all the agriculture scientists in the world, and the animal husbandry experts, or soil scientists, even those who are agriculture economists, and those who know how to do the business, if you don’t have the right set of policies and the environment that is conducive, you are not going to have agriculture move from this smallholder dimension to a real enterprise,” he said.
Mr. Morrison urged African countries to build capacity, but as they do, they should also retain and utilize the capacity to be able to transform their economies.
“Anywhere agriculture has developed in the world you have an excellent capacity-building policy” he stated.
Story by: Quainoo Reuben.
