GHANA ' S POLITICAL FOES BET ON AGRICULTURE
THE COUNTRY IMPORTS ABOUT
$ 500 MILLION
WORTH OF RICE PER YEAR, AND ABOUT $ 1 BILLION WORTH OF TOMATOES AND OIL AND
CHICKEN
THE
CONTRIBUTION OF AGRIC TO GDP DECLINED FROM 29.8 PERCENT IN 2010 TO 22
PERCENT AT THE END OF LAST
YEAR.
President Mahama has promised to supply a minimum of 10 tractors to every district in the country to boost agriculture.
lion worth of tomatoes and oil and chicken. Indeed, the agricultural sector has been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy, although it is augmented by revenue from gold and other precious metals and recently oil and gas.
The contribution of the sector has declined over the years, as it is beset with lack of inputs and high post-harvest losses as a result of the inability of farmers to transport their produce to major commercial centers due to bad roads. The sector also lacks of post-harvest technological know-how; and insufficient central government support.
In 1992, the share of agriculture to the country’ s Gross Domestic Product( GDP) was 23.6 percent, growing to about 41 percent in 1995. But the Ghana Statistical Service reports that the contribution of agric to GDP declined from 29.8 percent in 2010 to 22 percent at the end of last year. A report by the World Bank Group showed that about 21 percent of the Ghanaian population has moved out of agriculture to other more productive economic sectors over the 18- year period between 1992 and 2010. The major promise of Nana Addo, the candidate of the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party( NPP), is the construction of an irrigation dam in every village of the three northern regions of the country namely: Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. This irrigation scheme, he believes, will improve food production in an area seen as the breadbasket of the country.
“ As far as this part of our world is concerned, I want to go further and talk about one village one dam,” Addo said during a campaign tour of the Upper East Regional capital, Bolgatanga.
He said his‘ 1 village, 1 dam’ policy will help Ghana become self-sufficient in food production and become a net-exporter of food to the region. Voters are being asked to choose the best proposal.
2016 | Business Times Africa 47