According to Mr. Kareweh, for a developing country like Ghana also seeking to put its economy on a higher pedestal, the role of agriculture is non-negotiable. “Even in developed economies like Europe and America still spend billions to subsidize agriculture because they deem it critical.
For a developing economy, agriculture is almost everything because it provides not only employment but also the raw materials for industries. Agriculture is therefore critical because, if you spend 1 dollar in agriculture, the proportional return is far higher than spending it in other sectors of the economy,” he revealed.
He therefore wants government to exploit this potential by first establishing a broader national economic development plan which clearly spells out the role of agriculture. “Because Ghana is already largely an agrarian economy, we should use agriculture as the foundation of development.
Other developing countries that are largely oil producing countries may want to use oil. Even though Ghana is now also an oil producing country, our comparative advantage is in agriculture and not oil because we have the natural factors like climate and good soils we can leverage,” he explained.
Mr. Kareweh however insists, this is still insufficient. “Let me give you the present statistics. According to the ministry itself, over 80% of the about 3000 existing extension officers have just about 3 years to go on retirement. The new recruitments are therefore certainly not a bad start but still not enough.
If you look at the magnitude of the problem, then, it’s just a drop in the ocean,” he stated. “Also, these new-recruits are not actually officers as they were picked from the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and so may not be able to play the role properly because of lack of experience and motivation as they don’t have the same conditions of service like the real extension officers.
It’s also like a stop gap measure for the Planting for Food and Jobs transition – not fully integrated into the ministry” he revealed. “Again, we have to rethink agriculture all together. Without seeking to suggest that other sectors like health and education do not deserve the treatment that government is giving them today, it only points to the fact that government’s attention is more on those sectors than on agriculture.
For instance, nurses are not only seen as professionals but allowances for their undergraduates have also been restored. We have just a few agricultural institutions in this country with a small student population yet without any such subsidies or allowances.
Also, graduates from agricultural institutions have no automatic employment unlike their counterparts in the education and health sectors. But if you see the agricultural sector as the backbone of the economy, it will reflect in the policy direction because if you go and employ YEA recruits and give them a package that is not good enough, then you certainly are not encouraging them to go into agriculture,” he added.
Land is another factor critical for increased agricultural productivity. Mr. Kawereh is worried some recent economic developments are negatively affecting land availability for agricultural production which requires immediate policy intervention.
“We are mismanaging our lands. The arable lands are reducing and falling in the hands of estate developers. Now, it is difficult to get a stretch of a thousand hectares of land without a house or two in between. For example drive on the Cape Coast stretch and see.
Yes, we need houses to live in but it’s not every land that we should use for estate development. The soil fertility is not the same, so we should, as a country differentiate between lands for agricultural purposes and that for estate development.
In the next 10 years if there are no lands but fantastic policies, what are you going to do? Are you going to grow the crops in the space? Mr. Kareweh questioned. The GAWU General Secretary also lamented how small scale mining is also gradually taking over farmlands and dreads the threat it poses to agriculture. “It is a very serious situation.
The cost of even reclaiming the land is so huge that we should have even been using that money to create jobs. Cocoa lands are also even being sold for mining. The way forward is to sustain the anti-galamsey campaign while enhancing legislation with more punitive measures.
It is also a multifaceted area which requires a concerted approach to effectively address,” he emphasized.
