Tesah Capital upbeat about the growth of the agriculture sector in 2022
Asset Management Company (AMC), Tesah Capital, has shared its outlook on Ghana’s agricultural sector for the year 2022.
Tesah Capital, in a report highlighting key initiatives introduced in the sector by the government in the 2022 budget statement, says it expects the sector to continue the positive growth trajectory for 2022 thereby achieving the projected 5.3 percent growth rate for the sector.
According to the AMC, gvernment’s plan of putting in place a crop and livestock development programme will facilitate low prices of enhanced seeds and fertilizers to increase cereal production.
Also, the provision of 14,000 breeding stock of small ruminants, 8,000 grower pigs, 5 million broiler day old chicks and 20,000 broiler birds to livestock farmers by the government will contribute to and enforce the projected growth rate for the sector.
Tesah Capital in its 2022 budget highlight report, urged the government to complete ongoing construction works on various irrigation projects as well as see to the establishment of zonal offices by the Tree Crops Development Authority.
Growth rate of the agriculture sector shrunk on a year-on-year basis.
According to the Minister for Finance, the agriculture sector recorded an average growth of 4.9 per cent in the first half of 2021 compared with 8.1 per cent for the same period in 2020.
“The agric sector grew by 4.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the first and second quarters respectively, compared with 10.2 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the corresponding quarters of 2020,” the Minister noted.
He said the forestry and logging subsector recorded the highest average growth performance of 5.8 per cent in the first half of 2021, representing a significant increase from the average contraction of 8.1 per cent recorded in the corresponding period in 2020.
The crops (including cocoa) subsector grew by an average of 4.7 per cent over the first half of 2021, based on growth performances of 4.9 per cent and 4.5 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively.
This average growth, Mr Ofori-Atta noted, “is a significant slowdown from the 9.5 per cent recorded over the same period in 2020”.
However, he added, the “cocoa subsector performed strongly, with an average growth of 11.2 per cent over the first half of 2021, compared to 0.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year”.
Also, the fishing sector “contracted in the first quarter by 3.6 per cent but recovered considerably in the second quarter with a growth of 12.7 per cent, resulting in an average growth of 4.6 per cent over the first half of 2021”.
“This, however, represents a slowdown compared with the average of 18.1 per cent recorded over the same period in 2020”, he noted.
