Ghana needs $ 2 billion in agribusiness investments for cedi stability

Company News from Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-16

Ghana does not need less than $ 2 billion to carry out the value chain of agriculture and industrialization.

The funds will help the country develop its commodity base, add value to its products and remain competitive in the export market.

The Alliance for Development and Industrialization (ADI) is very optimistic that this support to the agribusiness and industrial sector would help to stem the rapid depreciation of the country's currency, the cedi.

The country's industry is made up of about 80% of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises that could be developed along with farmers' inputs so that we can add value to modern non-traditional commodities such as cashew, dried mangoes, dried pineapple, avocado, coconut, sweet potato, among others, as well as the expansion of the cocoa processing industry, we can then see the whole value chain agriculture and industrialization, "said ADI, a policy think tank.

ADI believes that an expanded and reliable agricultural production will provide a very important base for industrialization, create modern jobs, expand the export base and reduce foreign exchange expenditure for the import. of food products.

ADI calls on the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana to urgently issue a US $ 2 billion bond to support this short and long-term commodities initiative. These bonds could come preferably from local and international markets.

Ghana spends more than US $ 2 billion each year to import food. For example, the country imports more than one billion dollars of rice, 320 million dollars of sugar and 374 million dollars of poultry. Most of them could be produced here; create jobs and save foreign currency.

According to the ADI, the investment of $ 2 billion in the agricultural sector would improve the income levels of the rural populations because there is an industrial and international demand for their non-traditional products such as sweet potato, avocado and tiger nuts, among others.

"We also call on international donor agencies to help farmers who grow coconut, sweet potatoes, vegetables, etc., to preserve the economy because of Europe's growing demand. .

It is necessary to establish special ports on the European and British markets so that they are ready to receive the products to redistribute, "the statement said.

In Ghana, about 34% of the country's labor force works in agriculture. "Therefore, if we can increase productivity and incomes in agriculture, we can have a positive impact on the lives of millions of Ghanaians," the statement said.

After a year of implementation of the Plant for Food and Employment (PFJ) program, the agriculture sector grew by 8.4% in 2017.

This was after almost a decade of irregular sectoral performance with an average growth rate of 3.4%.

For 2019, the agricultural sector is expected to grow by 7.3%.

The government has implemented an expanded version of the PFJ in 2018 with more ambitious goals.

Compared to the target of 500,000 farmers, a total of 577,000 farmers received fertilizer and subsidized seed for the 2018 crop year.