An Agriculture Economist, Professor Irene Egyir, has called for a strategic reorganisation of Ghana’s farming practices to enhance productivity and reduce dependency on food imports.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Professor Egyir emphasised the importance of corporate farming and collaborative efforts among farmers to tackle the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Ghana.
“Elsewhere, it’s about a few people doing things well, not about many farmers not doing things well. Unfortunately, the latter is what we have here in Ghana,” she said on Tuesday.
She highlighted the need for a collective approach where neighbouring farmers coordinate their activities to manage diseases, optimise ploughing schedules, and adapt to climate change together.
“If my one acre is next to my neighbour and we are all thinking alike when diseases come, we all manage it; when we want to plough, we all plough; we all study our calendars well.
“If climate change is the issue, we all understand our concern and we take corporate decisions,” she explained to host, Raymond Acquah.
Professor Egyir pointed out that in countries with successful agricultural sectors, farms are often organised.
“No country I have visited that has good agriculture is doing it the way we are doing it here in Ghana,” she remarked.
She believed Burkina Faso has embraced corporate farming, resulting in improved agricultural outcomes.
The economist warned that without such reforms, Ghana would continue to rely heavily on imports for crops that can be cultivated locally.
