Ghana works on agriculture resuscitation policy

An integrated agricultural policy devised to transform agriculture and related vocations into self-sustaining businesses in Ghana is in the offing. The Food and Agriculture Development Policy (FASDEP II) is tied into the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) to raise incomes in the rural areas and to boost food production and availability.

Joseph Nayan, the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said despite various policy initiatives agricultural production in the country remained low. He said the agricultural sector, which contributes 40 percent to the GDP and employs around 60 percent of its population, remained crucial to national socio-economic growth. Nayan stressed the need to modernize agriculture in line with the vision of Ghana becoming a leading food producing country on the continent by 2010.

Dr. Ben Nyamadi, a Deputy Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said it was hoped that enough market surveillance would be carried out under the policy to prevent the situation where Ghanaian pineapple producers for export, unaware of changing market trends, cultivated varieties no more in demand and lost. He said to attain the policy objective of universal food security and emergency preparedness, focus at the national levels would be on the development of four staple crops; maize, rice, yam and cassava.

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