Need To Increase Local Food Production

NEWS COMMENTARY ON CALLS FOR SUPPORT FOR FARMERS TO INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION LOCALLY TO REDUCE HUGE IMPORTS.

Being an agrarian country, it is believed Ghana is in a position to be self-reliant in food production, however, the country still imports food products like rice, milk, cooking oil, meat and flour in millions of dollars into the economy. Since independence, succeeding leaders have set up various forms of schemes to promote agriculture. There were the workers brigade, State Farms and many others. Slogans like ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ which were promoting backyard gardening to boost food production and curtail food imports were popular.

However, due to changes in governments, most of the laudable programs towards making the country self-sufficient in food production have been abandoned. The nation which at one point in time got to the stage of exporting rice and other food crops rather became import-dependent on produce like rice and other food items that can be grown in large quantities locally. The initiatives by the current government to promote food production under the Planting for Food and Jobs, One-District One- Factory and One-Village One-Dam seem to be yielding good results with some farms and factories being set up to produce and package rice and other products in large quantities for domestic consumption and export.

These days, a lot of local rice brands are on the market. Besides the cereals like maize and rice as well as tubers that the country is gradually scaling up production, there are locally produced soft drinks on the market which are made from fruits that are sourced locally. These initiatives in the production sector need to receive the necessary support to boost production so as to cut down on imports. The situation where farmers produce and find it difficult to sell must be addressed holistically. What is required is that Ghanaians must be encouraged to patronise locally produced rice and other farm products to ensure a ready market at all times. We can do so by serving our own rice, cassava, yam, vegetables, meat and fish in our homes, schools, workplaces, markets, restaurants and government canteens.

Strategic procurement arrangements should be made to ensure that all caterers serving under the School Feeding Programme feed the pupils with only locally produced food items. State establishments like the Ghana Police Service, Armed Forces and Prisons Service must be made to purchase food items from our local farmers, distributors or off-takers. When this happens, Ghanaians will gradually develop the taste for locally produced foods thereby encouraging more production and at the end save the country a large amount of money used in importing food products.

To succeed in this direction, there is the need for farmers to be given the needed incentives to encourage them to embark on large scale farming. We must also revive the Operation Feed Yourself and backyard gardening concepts in addition to other initiatives. In so doing, the country will be positioned to wean itself from huge imports. Citizens in responsible and higher positions like Members of Parliament, Ministers and men and women in the security service must be encouraged to move into Agriculture as a part-time vocation as is being practised in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Those who are already engaged in farming should consider scaling up. It is also essential for banks to take a second look at their financial support to farmers and make things a little easy for the farmers. Interest rates on loans must drop. Storage and processing factories must be established throughout the country to process farm produce on large and small scale.

When we succeed in producing enough food crops to feed ourselves, we can then move into the high-volume production of cotton for cloth, jute for bags and other products. As we commend our farmers for their efforts, it is our hope that they will continue to work hard to produce more for local consumption and for export.

Eating locally produced food is healthy not just for our bodies but for the economy as well.

BY ALHAJI ALHASAN ABDULAI, A JOURNALIST AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EANFOWORLD GHANA.