The 2019 National Best Agroforestry Farmer and Chief Executive Officer of Aspassion Farms Ltd, Robben Asare says he is not satisfied with the stakeholder meetings the President and his government held on restoring economic stability in the country.
According to the CEO of Aspassion Farms Ltd, any consultation that excludes farmers and their associations is not holistic enough to address our current economic instability.
“The president in his latest address to the nation stated that he had a stakeholder consultation to address our current economic woes, but it is unfortunate to note that farmers were excluded from this sensitive discussion.
“Agriculture is the backbone of Ghana’s economy and needs special attention and support from the presidency and the president,” he said.
Speaking to his reporter on the economic crunch and challenges smallholder farmers are facing over the last few months, the 2019 National Best Agroforestry Farmer said rural youth face many hurdles in trying to earn a livelihood from agriculture and this is the time President Nana Addo must intervene personally and help them get access to credit, agrochemicals, fertilizer, and many other productive resources necessary for agriculture.
The CEO of Aspassion Farms Ltd said Agricultural sector development is one of the main concerns in food security, particularly in our current situation.
“Overall, Ghana’s economy relies heavily on the agricultural sector and its contributions; so why should a stakeholder consultation that is meant to ensure food security and economic stability exclude farmers?” he questioned.
He mentioned that President Nana Addo met the leadership of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Ghana Association of Bankers, Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Transport Operators, Forex Bureau Association of Ghana, Forex Bureau, Market Women, Ghana Employers Association, Private Enterprise Federation, and the leaders of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) but chose to ignore the primary producers of food.
He points out that there is over a 50 percent hike in farm inputs, fertilizer, and agrochemicals making the venture more challenging and likely to affect crop yields in the coming year.
“Poultry Farmers are crying over food and feed crisis in the country, but little has been said about it by the President.
“Proposal requiring commercial banks to increase loanable funds to agriculture has not materialized; what is the president doing about it?”
“The implementation of the PFJ programme has not also achieved the expected results after the policy was rolled out.
“It’s time to rethink our approach to solving our economic challenges by deliberately formulating and implementing policies that have a direct impact on the Agric sector instead of forming slogans for political points,” he said.
