The collapse of various agro-processing industries in Ghana is demoralizing making it seems nothing good could come out of the state-owned industries especially in the agriculture sector.
Recently, the series reportage made by most of the media houses has given a clear indication that most of the agro-processing industries in Ghana are collapsing. Notably, a report that the “Ekumfi Juice Factory has not shutdown, drought-affected our production” by the management is a threat to its sustenance.
The major threat of these all is the Mim Cashew shutdown resulting in more than 1,000 employees been laid off. The sector left for sustenance in terms of employability is the agriculture sector, therefore, seeing the collapse of such agro-processing industries in Ghana indicates that there is no strategic plan by the policymakers to sustain these industries for youth employment.
The question is, why are the state-owned agro-industries collapsing but the foreign agro-industries like Blue Skies and others surviving and making huge profits in Ghana?
Experts in the agriculture value chain have it that the lack of National Strategic Planning and Implementation is a result of the collapse of Ghanaian agro-processing industries.
Divine Morny, the CEO of GSM Centre of Entrepreneurship and Technology has bemoaned that Ghana allows anything and everything to operate using the little resources without a strategic focused framework.
“What is our national strategic focus in agribusiness?” he questioned. “We are a poor country and Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of the nations’ theory must guide us”, he quoted.
According to him, the cost of raw material is a key factor in eventual output cost and the price to the consumer. “We must avoid setting up businesses without first of all securing cheap and abundant raw material supplies locally or internationally”, he added
He expounded that the global market opportunities must be focused and the long-term market prospects must be selected with the knowledge of the limited product markets. We marshal the resources to ensure the lead capture in the global share.
In conformity, the CEO of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, Anthony Morrison has once said that the agriculture sector needs the establishment of the Ghana Agriculture Regulatory Authority.
“We need to create the Ghana Agriculture Regulatory Authority, this has been long overdue. If we have this authority, we can now go ahead and create the Ghana Agriculture Information Management System. This can be used to coordinate the activities of all the research institutions connected to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture”, he said.
With the establishment of the Ghana Agriculture Regulatory Authority, a proper national strategic plan would be implemented to curtail these menace in the economic system.
