Zero seed imports for 2019 crop season – Agric Minister

Share this

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has revealed that for the first time, Ghana did not import any seeds in the 2019 crop season.

He was speaking at the launch of the new ‘Leadership4Africa’ Forum for African Agriculture Ministers held in Accra yesterday.

The Minister said, “Improved seed that our own scientists had over the years managed to breed over the years was all sitting on the shelves of the universities and research centres without touching the farmers, and the idea was to bring these out of the cupboard and make them available to the farmers through the seed value chain.  So 2017, we had to import a lot of seeds from Nigeria, from la Côte d’Ivoire and other places. As I speak to you, this year 2019, only two years after, we haven’t imported any seed. The seed industry is beginning to shake.”

He explained that since Ghanaian farmers are by far the poorest group of employees, it was important for the ministry to find ways of improving their productivity in order to help them improve their earnings.

According to Dr Akoto, “Ghana’s agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farmers whose operations are bedevilled with severe challenges and constraints like low farm productivity, inadequate budgetary allocation, poor prioritisation and  sequencing of interventions, limited data, limited farm credit and weak institutional coordination.”

He said, “The traditional seed which is dominant in Ghanaian smallholding agriculture yields only 3-4 of 50kg, maximum 200kg per acre. The improved maize seed can give 40 bags per acre.”

He explained that since the start of the improved seed programme in 2017, maize yield has increased by 67% from 1.8 metric tonnes per hectare to three metric tonnes per hectares while rice has improved by 48% from 2.7 metric tonnes hectare to four metric tonnes per hectare and soya has seen a 150% yield increase from one metric tonne per hectare to 2.5 metric tonnes per hectare.

According to the minister, with the current rate of production, Ghana should be self-sufficient in the production of soya beans by the end of 2020 — a prospect he hailed as good news for the struggling poultry industry, which, he said, is heavily dependent on the cereal.

He also said that Ghana should be self-sufficient in rice production by 2023, looking at current production rates.

“We distributed 6,800 metric tonnes of seed to farmers, and this year we’ve targeted 15,000 metric tonnes.”

He also disclosed that the fertiliser subsidy programme was well on course, and that having distributed 121,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser in 2017, the ministry is now targeting to distribute over 350,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser to farmers this year.

National fertiliser use per hectare has improved from 8kg per hectare in 2017 to 20kg per hectare in 2018, placing Ghana in line to achieve the ECOWAS target of 50kg per hectare.

In view of all these developments, the ministry is constructing 80 1,000 metric tonne warehouses to cope with increasing yields to improve the capacity of the national buffer stock company.

Dr Akoto also explained that with the improved yields stemming from all these interventions in the agricultural sector, Ghana exported over 150,000 metric tonnes of 19 food items to countries in the West African sub-region.

The agriculture sector, he explained, is, therefore, the fastest growing sector in the economy, having recorded a growth rate of 7.1% in 2019, up from a 4.8% in 2018, overtaking the services sector.

Director of Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nick Austin, in his address, reminded the ministers gathered that “a focus on smallholder agriculture is an effective way to build wealth where wealth doesn’t exist and to give people an equal shot at living a healthy and productive life.”

He cited the examples of Asian states like South Korea and China, where “a committed focus to smallholder farming has provided a strong platform for sustainable and broad-based growth.”

He said that “it is through government leadership at all levels, across multiple ministries that effective agricultural development, agricultural transformation, rural transformation, and structural transformation can occur.”

 

 

Source: The Finder

 


Share this

Kennedy Mornah is an Award Winning Ghanaian Journalist with over two decades of experience in the Ghanaian Media landscape spanning the electronic, print and digital media. He is a Media Consultant, a Corporate MC, Radio and TV Host, Founder and Publisher of the Maritime and Transport Digest Newspaper, Businessman, a Go getter and an optimist. He has worked for renowned media organizations including Diamond Fm in Tamale, Luv Fm in Kumasi, Oman Fm in Accra and Starr Fm in Accra In 2017 he received the Reporter of the Year Award at the Ghana Shippers Awards in Accra, Ghana.

Leave a Reply

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.