The value of food commodities produced under the government’s flagship ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ (PFJ) programme was worth some US$6.1billion over the last five years, Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has said.
Interacting with the stakeholders following the recent intention of the government to engage the monetary policy institution to give it an image, help to sustain her fiscal policies, and give it an image that resonates with investors, the membership, and partners of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana are plagued with a mix of expectations.
Ghana risks facing a tomato shortage as the former controls 90 percent of the commodity’s imports into the country.
As Burkina Faso battles with one of the worst growing seasons in recent years, Ghana risks facing a tomato shortage as the former controls 90 percent of the commodity’s imports into the country.
The growing season in Burkina Faso, over the last two years, has been facing challenges owing to extremely sparse rainfall in around 20 of the country’s 45 provinces – with experts predicting that the situation could persist, and even worsen in the near-future.
Data from the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) indicate that Ghana currently imports 90 percent of its fresh tomatoes from Burkina Faso.
Tomatoes, according to GIRSAL, currently have a national consumption demand of 800,000 metric tonnes per annum. Local production however continues to slump, unable to meet half of consumption targets.
Equally, the tomato processing industry in Ghana remains small and relies heavily on imports of raw materials – concentrate and additives.
Meanwhile, processing plants installed in Pwalugwu, Techiman and Wenchi have all been shut down due to unavailability of quality raw materials at affordable prices. Ghana is estimated to consume more than 100,000 metric tonnes of tomato mix annually, apart from the fresh fruit.
Why situations in Burkina Faso may impact Ghana.
The Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture has said almost three million people are suffering from food insecurity, as new weather patterns have already turned 50,000 hectares of farmland into barren fields.
Last year, Burkina Faso experienced a 461,000-tonne grain and cash crop shortage countrywide.
Government figures have indicated that more than 450,000 hectares of arable land lay fallow in 2021 owing to rising levels of violence.
In June this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a statement said: “Thousands of displaced people in Burkina Faso, facing both a major food crisis and an upsurge in armed violence, have come to rely entirely on government and humanitarian organisations.
They are forced to abandon their crops and means of livelihood; these people are now extremely vulnerable”.
The Red Cross however noted that over 32,000 people in the Est, Nord and Sahel regions – both residents and displaced people – were given crop seedlings, notable among which were tomato, onion, millet, sorghum and cowpea seeds in order to grow cash crops at the subsistence level.
These happenings, stakeholders have hinted, must be a guiding path for Ghana to begin the right processes to enhance domestic production with deliberate attempts to reduce imports.
Key issues remain with production in Ghana Low yields continue to remain one of the major challenges for tomato production in Ghana, as most farmers cultivate less than 10 metric tonnes per hectare against the potential of 20 metric tonnes per hectare.
Besides, poor agronomic practices, lack of varieties for commercial agro processing, as well as farmers still planting local varieties – typically with high water content, many seeds, poor colour and low brix level – have all been identified as key production setbacks.
The Department of Agriculture in the Asutifi North district has distributed a total 111,000 seedlings to farmers in the area from January to June this year.
Mr Paul Boakye, the District Director of the Department, in an interview with Agric Today Media on Friday at Kenyasi in the Ahafo region, said the seedlings included 25,000 economic trees and 86,000 oil palm.
The Director noted that the Department had earlier distributed 30,000 oil palm, 63,000 cashew, 3,000 coconut and 20,000 economic trees summing up to 116,000 seedlings in last year. ” in 2020 alone, we distributed 40,000 oil palm, 3,000 coconut and 50,000 cashew seedlings making 93,000″ he disclosed.
Mr Boakye stated that the seedlings were shared to farmers in Gambia, Ntotroso, Kramokrom, Goamu Camp, Koforidua, Kenyasi, Tutuka, Obengkrom, Amomaso, Bogyampa, Donkorkrom and other distribution centers across the district.
The Director Indicated that the seedlings were nursed at the various centers which were nearer to the farms, for easy access and proper transportation of the items, to ensure the good health of the seedlings.
He reechoed that it was the mission of the Department to promote agriculture development by providing framework, public investment, and support services needed for domestic and export – oriented business enterprises.
Mr Boakye expressed gratitude to the Asutifi North District Chief Executive (DCE), Anthony Mensah, traditional authorities, Religious leaders, Assembly Members and other stakeholders for supporting the activities of the Department.
The District Extension Officer, Anthony Omari – Mensah, said the Department taught the farmers planting, spacing, application of pesticides among other good agronomic practices, to ensure good yield of the crops.
Mr Omari – Mensah disclosed that Extension Officers in the Asutifi North district visited the various farms to monitor the farmers on adherence to experts advice saying that our farmers have cooperated with us.
A beneficiary, Obaapanin Yaa Kyeraa, on behalf of the farmers, thanked the Department and the assembly, for the free distribution of seedlings and inputs adding that farming has been my only source of livelihood.
The current shortage of cocoa in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire for international market supply, and its resultant low pricing, is creating suspicions of global cocoa and chocolate traders’ deliberate attempts to perpetually keep the price of the commodity at its lowest, COCOBOD CEO Joseph Boahen Aidoo has said.
The Education Ministry says it has made arrangements with suppliers to provide senior high schools in the Upper West Region with food.
Morocco has a large fertiliser industry with huge production capacity and international reach. It is one of the world’s top four fertiliser exporters following Russia, China, and Canada.
It’s interesting how constantly players within Ghana’s Agro-Industry have and continue to call on governments to either provide or undertake one form of project or make available financial assistance for Agro-Industry development and growth.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has assured the National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG) that he is working towards the payment of seeds supplied to government in 2021 to facilitate the Planting for Food and Jobs ( PFJ) initiative.
His comments come after a petition was issued by NASTAG to the Chairman of the National Seed Council, Dr Josiah Wobil to intervene and make sure they are paid.
In a bid to address the issue, a delegation from NASTAG led by the Chairman of the National Seed Council paid a courtesy call on the Minister.
At the meeting, Dr Josiah Wobil explained that the non payment of supplies on the part of government has disturbed the seed producing companies commercial transactions since they need to recover the funds to continue providing seeds to farmers.
Dr Wobil also commended the Minister for his enormous contribution to the national seed industry;
” I personally know that the Minister has been doing a lot of work in the background to make sure NASTAG actually grows. It was the Minister who in the advent of the PFJ programme made it possible for a resurgence in the seed industry in Ghana”.
He added that the introduction of PFJ has rekindled the national seed council and established the growth of the seed industry “before the advent of the PFJ it was very difficult to see if Ghana will ever have a buoyant national seed industry but the PFJ has changed everything”.
The Minister on his part explained the various steps taken by government to ensure that the industry is properly established. He also mentioned the financial problems facing the country which he said is affecting almost every sector of the economy and has unfortunately affected the ability to pay for this particular service.
However, he indicated that he is working towards the payment of supplies. Dr Akoto said he will discuss with the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta to make him understand that this is a critical issue that needs to be addressed to enhance food security and improve the livelihood of farmers.
It will be recalled that the Agric Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto inaugrated a nine (9) Member governing Council of National Seed Council chaired by Dr Josiah Wobil on March 9 2022 at the premises of the Ministry of Food And Agriculture, Accra.
The board was mandated to ensure the continuous growth of the seed industry.
There is a need to urgently devise ways to significantly boost food productivity if the country to achieve food security targets, experts and farmers say.
They say one of the key bottlenecks facing the sector is lack of results-oriented research and called for increased funding in that area. The issue is even more pressing considering that the average farm size in Rwanda is 0.5 hectare, with stakeholders calling for deliberate efforts to boost productivity on limited farmland.
This, they say, will be critical in helping Rwanda achieve its food security targets and fix issues related to pockets of hunger that emerge in different parts of the country from time to time.
Alphonsine Nzamwita, a farmer in Gatsibo District, told The New Times that food insecurity is still a challenge, noting that crop productivity has not been as good as expected. “When the last rains came they washed away some of the crops. And it became worse when the dry spell came,” she said, adding that his produce was reduced by 30 per cent as a result. “That is why some people in our district are complaining of hunger,” she said, adding that the low productivity has triggered a hike in food prices.
She said: “The farm gate price for a kilogramme of beans, for instance, goes for Rwf650, up from Rwf400 previously. As a result, some of the retailers sell a kilo at over Rwf700.”
There is a need to scale up subsidised small-scale irrigation for smallholder farmers, she said. Hadija Munganyinka, another farmer in Kayonza District, also said she has struggled to put food on the table in recent days. “Since January we haven’t really had reliable rain,” said the mother of three.
Concorde Ngoga, a 64-year-old farmer in Ndego Sector in Kayonza, said the government came to their aid with food relief late last year following harsh drought conditions. “I lost over 80 per cent of what would have been my harvest due to drought,” he said.
Statistics show that 15 per cent of Rwandans are still food insecure due to different factors, including dry spells. Food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources. Covid-19, climate change effects Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, said that Covid-19 slightly affected food security, while climate change effects have also been disruptive.
“We do research every three years on food security status and the recent one shows that Rwanda is about 85 per cent food secure,” he said. “Before Covid-19, we were at over 86 per cent.” Ngabitsinze explained that, despite the impact of Covid-19, Rwanda hopes to eliminate food insecurity over the next five years. “Being food secure means people being able to have a meal three times per day,” he said. “We still need to put in more effort to be 100 per cent food secure.”
He admitted there was a need for a holistic study into the matter. Officials pointed out that drought and heavy rains affected maize and bean production, especially in Eastern Province.
Beans production in the province shrank by 2 per cent, while maize production decreased by 0.6 per cent, from 378,000 tonnes last year to 357,000 tonnes, they say.
Irrigation, quality agro-inputs Ngabitsinze said irrigation will remain key to attaining food security targets, warning that climate change effects pose a real challenge. “We are mainly banking on scaling up irrigation and quality seeds to reach our targets,” he said, particularly citing the role of hillside and small-scale irrigation schemes.
According to Rwanda Agricultural and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), as of last year, the total area currently under irrigation stood at over 67,100ha –including over 37,273ha of marshlands; 9,439ha of hillside and 20,388ha of small-scale irrigation technology.
The country seeks to irrigate 102,284 hectares by 2024. It is also hoped that at least 75 per cent of farmers will be using quality seeds on consolidated land by 2024.
Today, 60 per cent of farmers use quality seeds on consolidated land, according to officials. Meanwhile, the government hopes to see more youth join the sector to help professionalise it and boost productivity.
The average age of farmers in the country stands at 55 and agricultural experts fear that this is likely to drive down productivity if nothing is done to reverse the trend.
Young people are also seen as the key to truly transforming the sector through innovation. However, a recent study indicated that only 18 per cent of the youth in the sector employ agric-tech innovation.
Another sticking issue that dogs the sector is limited research. Pierre Claver Rutayisire, the Principal of College of Business and Economics at University of Rwanda, said there is a need for agricultural research that responds to community problems. “With the average farm size in Rwanda at 0.5 hectares, there is a need for research on how best to increase production on small plots of land,” he said.
According to a recent study by the local government, 1.5 million Rwandans, or 16 per cent of the population, have no means to own or rent homes of their own and can hardly put food on the table.
In the recently approved national budget for the 2022/23 fiscal year, Rwf150 billion was allocated as direct investments into agriculture, equivalent to just over 3 per cent of total budget.
Government says there are additional indirect investments that will impact the sector over the next one year, including proposed infrastructure projects like roads.
