"Agric sector’s 8.4% growth in 2021 the highest in the 4th Republic

" \r\n Agric sector's 8.4% growth in 2021 the highest in the 4th Republic - Agric Minister says\u00a0 \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto says the sector\u2019s 8.4 percent growth in the year 2021 is the highest under the fourth republic.\r\n\r\nHe posits that the rate shows government\u2019s commitment to improving the sector.\r\n\r\nSpeaking to the media ahead of this year\u2019s Farmers Day celebration which is taking place in the Eastern Regional capital of Koforidua today, Dr. Akoto said the country is producing enough food.\r\n\r\n \u201cThis year is exceptional because of the strong performance of agriculture, which we all know has been the case. The sector grew at the rate of 8.4%, which is the highest since 1992. Annual growth had never exceeded 8%, but we have gone beyond this.\u201d \r\n\r\nAccording to the 2020 Population and Housing Census, more than three million Ghanaians of 15 years and above are involved in the agricultural sector, cultivating staple crops, tree crops and forest trees or engaged in aquaculture and traditional fishing.\r\n\r\nThe contribution of the agricultural sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from an average of 2.8 percent over the four-year period ending 2016 to a four-year average of 5.8 percent in 2020.\r\n\r\nLast year, the sector contributed 8.4 percent to the value of goods and services produced within the country.\r\n\r\nSpeaking at the 37th Farmers\u2019 Day celebration on Friday in Cape Coast, President Akufo-Addo said since 2017, his government set out to transform Ghana\u2019s agricultural sector through investment and integrated and mutually measures such as irrigation facilities, an improvement on the rural road network, efficient input supply and processing facilities which had yielded positive results.\r\n\r\nHe said through the\u00a0transformative policy \u2014 the Planting for Food and Jobs \u2014\u00a0\u00a0the agriculture sector had achieved a yearly average growth of 5.8%, from 2017 to 2020, compared to the 2.7% growth the government inherited in 2016.\r\n\r\nPresident Akufo-Addo said so far,\u00a0\u00a01.4 million metric tonnes of fertilizers, and about 91,000 metric tonnes of certified seeds had been made available to farmers since 2017, while the increase in beneficiary farmers had reached the 1.7 million mark, taking off from the initial number of 207,000 farmers in 2017.\r\n\r\nThrough the Planting for Export and Rural Development, which was launched in 2019 to promote the rapid development of six strategic tree crops \u2014 rubber, oil palm, cashew, mango, coconut and shea \u2014 primarily to diversify and increase export earnings, 29 million seedlings had been distributed to 220,000 beneficiary farmers.\r\n\r\nRearing for Food and Jobs, aimed at expanding domestic meat production, and reducing the huge annual import bill for meat and meat products of about $300 million, according to the President, had seen thousands of different livestock species being distributed to seven national livestock breeding stations in 166 MMDAs across the country.\r\n\r\n \u201cVegetable production, under the greenhouse village concept, has also been promoted intensively, with three centres established at Dawhenya, Akumadan and Bawjiase for commercial production, and training of youth interested in establishing agribusinesses in the vegetable value chain,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nPresident Akufo-Addo said to improve the efficiency of farmer operations, 8,980 units of various machinery and equipment had been imported to enhance access to mechanisation services by farmers.\r\n\r\nIn addition, 63 out of the proposed 80, (1,000 metric tonnes) warehouses had been completed.\r\n\r\nThat, he indicated, had increased the warehouse capacity owned by the government to 97,000 metric tonnes with additional warehouses set to be constructed to handle the expected increased production of grains and reduce post-harvest losses.\r\n\r\nOn irrigation, the President said, \u201cthe result of significant investment by my government in the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Programme has resulted in the availability of a total of 13,190 hectares of additional irrigable land, through the rehabilitation of Tono, Kpong Left Bank and Kpong Irrigation Schemes, for rice and vegetable cultivation.\u201d \r\n\r\nTo address the perennial challenges of access to credit for our farmers and fisherfolk, President Akufo-Addo said the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending Scheme (GIRSAL), which was established in 2019, had approved and issued credit guarantees for agricultural loans to the tune of GH\u00a2273 million.\r\n\r\nOn reviving Agricultural Extension Services, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the government had increased the staff strength of the Services from 1,580 in 2016, to 4,280, following the recruitment of 2,700 more extension officers in 2019.\r\n\r\n \u201cI am happy to inform you that approval has been given by Cabinet for the recruitment of an additional 1,100 veterinary officers into the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Fifty per cent of this number will be recruited in 2022, and the remaining 50% progressively taken on board over two years,\u201d he added.\r\n\r\nConstruction works on fishing landing sites and harbour projects, located in the Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions, President Akufo-Addo said, were progressing steadily, with the projects expected to facilitate the transformation of the fisheries sector, by providing modernised berthing, handling, processing and mechanisation facilities to fisherfolk.\r\n\r\nCabinet, according to the President, had approved the procurement of a research vessel and four patrol boats for the fisheries sector to strengthen enforcement capacity, address the issue of overexploitation and overfishing, and curb the pervasive incidence of Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU) fishing.\r\n\r\nOn cocoa, President Akufo-Addo stressed that the sector had seen significant transformation since 2017.\r\n\r\n \u201cFrom an average production of 880,000 tonnes, the country hit an all-time record production of 1,047,385 tonnes in 2021, being the highest ever yearly production of cocoa, since it was introduced into Ghana in 1879,\u201d he added.\r\n\r\nThat, he said, had been made possible by the introduction of productivity improvement techniques that ensured higher yields from the same acreage, the adoption of technology and practices that modernised cocoa production in an environmentally, socially and sustainable manner, the design of policies to address the inequalities in the international marketing system of cocoa by paying a Living Income Differential of $400 per tonne of cocoa to farmers, and the fostering of partnerships and collaborative actions of stakeholders towards greater investments.\r\n\r\nPresident Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the commencement of the provision of a pension scheme for farmers started in 2020, even though the law was promulgated in 1984, with successive governments being unable to bring it into being.\r\n\r\n \u201cThe pilot pension scheme has, initially, covered 2,800 farmers in the New Edubiase Cocoa District of the Ashanti Region, and a nationwide registration of all cocoa farmers is ongoing under the cocoa management system to speed up the process,\u201d he added \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n "

"Agric sector’s 8.4% growth in 2021 the highest in the 4th Republic

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