The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Thursday 15th November, 2018 presented the 2019 Budget with the theme “A Strong Economy for Jobs and Prosperity” to the Parliament of Ghana seeking.

The agriculture sector is an integral part of Ghana’s economy and indeed an important part of the government’s grand agenda of achieving Ghana beyond aid. The minister announced a number of initiatives towards stimulating economic activities and ultimately ensuring economic growth and the creation of jobs through agriculture.

The following are the major takeaways in the budget presentation with respect to the Agric Sector.

The minister hinted that in 2019, the Government will launch the livestock model of Planting for Food and Jobs dubbed “Rearing for Food and Jobs” (RFJ) with the objective of increasing the production of selected livestock, especially poultry. To anchor this initiative, the minister said, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is working on a programme to boost soyabeans production in the country through the provision of improved and certified seeds, subsidized fertilizers and harvest equipments to reduce field losses and the cost of production feed which is primarily determined by the cost and availability of maize and soyabeans. He explained how the Government can leverage the “Planting for Food and Job” and “Rearing for Food and Job” to reduce the country’s large food imports.

To reduce post-harvest wastages and increase food security in the country, the Government plans to increase the number of warehouses and increase storage capacity of existing ones in 2019. He again explained that Ghana needs to add value to her cocoa output and by so doing Ghana and her neighbouring counterpart, Cote D’Ivoire, have initiated what is called Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire Cocoa Initiative. Through this initiative, the two countries will be working on several fronts to increase cocoa. These include: vigorously promoting both domestic and international cocoa consumption; and initiative for market expansion for exports of cocoa product to Asia; and provision of incentives to the private sector to set up cocoa processing factories.

The minister announced that Cabinet has approved the formation of a Tree Crop Development Authority (GTCDA) to regulate and create a favourable environment for the growth and development of that sector. The Authority will initially regulate the cashew, shea nut butter, oil palm and rubber crop sub-sectors in Ghana with other tree crops added as and when necessary.

According to the minister, 2019 will witness the construction of the 570 small dams and dugouts under IPEP to provides dams and dugout irrigation schemes to help expand agricultural production, particularly in the North.

In helping to manage the risk in Agriculture and stimulate private sector lending in the agricultural sector in Ghana, the Government is establishing the Ghana Incentive Base Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL). An amount of GH¢400 million with an additional funding of US$14.0 million from the AfDB which has been set aside to operationalize GIRSAL in 2019. GIRSAL aims to provide guarantees to promote commercial bank lending to the agricultural sector.

Government expects that these initiatives and development will give agriculture a major face lift in Ghana in 2019.

Source: agrictoday.com.gh