The Writer: Frederick Mills
THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
For a country with 60% of its workforce employed in Agriculture and allied industries, it is surprising to note that Ghana has chalked only minor successes in Agriculture since independence. Its progress can best be described as stunted or stagnated. Sadly, the situation is not peculiar to this country but is to a large extent a reflection of the dwindling Agricultural fortunes of most Sub-Saharan African Countries. At a cursory glance, the much trumpeted clichés of instability of governments, weak capacity of state institutions and poor infrastructural development readily comes to mind. Whilst it is true that these factors are the major militants against improvements in agriculture and agricultural infrastructure, based on my training in agriculture, I can say without a shadow of doubt that a critical approach to unraveling the sector’s challenges would reveal the underlying problems to be:
1. Lack of well thought out policies and other intervention measures.
2. Inability to implement appropriate policies to a logical conclusion.
3. Skewed nature of lending to other sectors of the economy thus choking lending to the productive sectors such as agriculture.
4. Inability to link research to real life situations on the farms.
5. Failure to mechanize our farming systems resulting in a hugely semi-subsistence farming even to this day.
Admittedly, some of the general reasons listed above may fall under the five major challenges I have enumerated. In fact, the last three challenges (3-5) enumerated may be captured under the broader challenge to do with policies (1 & 2 above). For the sake of emphasis and clarity however, I have decided to delink them. In this article, I intend to recount how our agricultural policies have since independence failed to address the problems bedeviling agriculture and suggest solutions to ameliorate them.
Policies are not an end by themselves but means by which identified objectives or targets could be attained. These objectives reflect the long term aim and therefore can only be achieved by a set of coherent decisions. The choice of policy instrument to adopt will then depend on the current state of the sector and the pace at which reforms are required. Generally, there’s a difficulty in identifying the influence of specific individual policies on the sector. A painstaking assessment is therefore required to be able to single-out the impact of individual policies on the general performance of the Agricultural sector.
At independence, farming in
In 1983 following from the downward spiral of the economy, the economic recovery programme (ERP) was launched. The ERP which was intended to address the physical imbalances in the economy was designed to be rolled-out in 3 phases. The first phase, spanning 1983-1985 was to stabilize the economy. The second phase which ran from 1986-1988 was designed to improve production capacity whilst the third phase covering 1989-1995 was to allow for sustainable growth. The Medium Term Agricultural Development programme (MTADP) was also introduced within the overlapping period of 1991-2000 as joint world bank/Government of Ghana project to strengthen success chalked under the ERP. Policy instruments in this direction were tailored towards a demand driven agriculture both domestically and on the export market. It was this period that saw the liberalization of the economy and the removal of subsidies on many agricultural inputs. Over the years, through policy interventions at the various stages, the degree of market integration improved as farmers were now more responsive to signals and triggers in the marketplace. Nevertheless, Agriculture has hardly moved from semi-subsistence to commercial cultivation. To ensure a transition to sustainable commercial farming leading to food security, a conscientious effort must be made at mechanizing our production backed by well funded irrigation projects.
As a state we have relied too much on the forces of nature (rain fed agriculture) to determine the direction of our agriculture. Irrigation is one of the surest ways of reducing the risks inherent in agriculture. It is in our hands to ensure food security and posterity will not forgive us if we squander the wealth of this nation whilst pertinent issues such as ones relating to Agriculture are left unattended. It is for us as a nation to identify the direction and speed at which we want changes in our current Agriculture position. This consultative process must be broad based and must not be allowed to drown in myopic political ideologies. The interest of the country must tower above the parochial interest of political parties and politics. After all was the law made for man? or man for the law?
Further, there must be deliberate link between research institutions (state and privately funded) and farming such that research findings and discovery will have a marked effect on production. In my view, financing should be approached from the co-operative angle where farmer associations are provided with credit and subsidies on production inputs to motivate them to increase output. I consider the co-operative system to be more viable option of financing as responsibility is placed on the leaders of farmer associations to ensure smooth running of credit facilities and that funds devoted are put to desired use.
I trust that with these measures and with foresight and the right policies our Agriculture will grow in leaps and bounds. This is the future of Agriculture.
