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Food and Agriculture Minister Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has refuted claims of a widespread shortage of fertilizer for crops in the Volta region.
The Volta region’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Monday interrupted the minister’s tour of the region with a press release alleging a widespread shortage of essential agricultural inputs, saying it had caused price hikes and related constraints on agricultural production.
The minister, meeting with heads of the regional agriculture directorate hours after the press release, said fertilizers had only been reserved for controlled retailers in 26 border districts of the country, including six in the region.
He said fertilizers were available and the data showed increased yield in the region. Thus, the cries of the opposition party were passed only as words of misfortune and carried the torment of the smuggling unions affected by the restricted trade in the border districts.
Dr Afriyie Akoto said he had witnessed a thriving agricultural system in the region that showed no signs of failing.
“What we saw yesterday is really what I will call advancements in agriculture. At the forefront of science, ”the minister noted, referring to a Dutch plant propagation laboratory and a mega-exporter of potatoes, which he noted was“ his greatest impact. ” In the region.
“Apart from that, my general observation in the countryside shows that there has been a very successful long season harvest and you can see that the short season is emerging. The rains have been good and we hope for a good harvest in the Volta region during the short season, and the doomsday prophets want to express that there is going to be a shortage.
“There is no way that the Volta region with its performances could have a shortage in Ghana. It wouldn’t happen, ”he said.
The minister stressed, however, that “farmers in the Volta region reacted slowly to the Plant for Food and Jobs program in the first three years”, after which the consumption of inputs increased alongside the growing acceptance of the policy and its perspectives.
He also added that fertilizer production across the world had been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the fear of food shortages was expected.
“We don’t produce fertilizer. Places that produce fertilizer in Europe and America have been hit hard by covid and lockdowns. In England, Yara, which is one of the largest fertilizer companies in the world, is closing factories. In Europe, the others are closing factories.
“So we expect that there will be a shortage of fertilizer and of course that means that fertilizer prices keep going up, which means that farmers will get less fertilizer applied to their fields, and they even talk about food shortages in Europe.
“So, as price takers, we are not immune to this. If they themselves, the producers, in the countries where these fertilizers are produced, find it difficult to obtain sufficient supplies at very high prices, we are only price takers and we obviously cannot protect ourselves from it. , and everyone should understand that, ”said Dr. Afriyie Akoto said.
He therefore advised farmers benefiting from the program to consider weaning off government subsidies, which have become a lifeline for criminal entities.
“Remember, this grant isn’t here forever. It is only for a very short time. Akufo Addo’s government is taking away from Ghanaian taxpayers nearly a billion cedis to be given in subsidy for fertilizers and seeds in 2020, otherwise this 950 million cedis would have had to be paid by the farmer. And we know that up to a point, farmers can’t afford to buy at that point. But if you apply that and you get three, four times the output, it means your income has increased three, four times more, and why can’t you buy in the open market?
“It is high time that we gave serious thought to the subsidy, because at the end of the day there is a lot of contraband in this country and we cannot afford to take taxpayer money to subsidize a product, so elements very criminals will smuggle across the border so that the farmer does not take full advantage. This is totally false. “No government has chaired this kind of arrangement. That is why we have excluded some of these districts from the distribution of fertilizers for two years ”, declared the Minister.
He called for appreciating the government’s efforts and successes on the program, saying it had turned the country from a major importer to a major exporter of food products.
“We have to recognize that this government has transformed the lives of many farmers in the Volta region, and across the country and has even become a net exporter of food, and that no one can take it away.
“We were importing hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of corn into this country until we took office in 2017. Now we are exporting food out of this country. We supply all of West Africa with food. How is it possible? This is thanks to the success of Planter for Food and Jobs. It’s that simple, ”he insisted.
The Plantation for Food and Jobs program provided tens of thousands of metric tonnes of seeds and fertilizer, which benefited more than 160,000 farmers in the Volta region.
Mr. Seth Osei Akoto, director of crops at the ministry, said the region has only 83 fertilizer distributors and called for more entrepreneurs to consider the industry.
He also mentioned that the supply of inputs on credit was declining in the Region due to slow remittances, with suppliers easily providing cash payments.
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