Accra, Dec. 19, - Mr John Peter
Amewu, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has lamented over the plight of
peasant farmers who have lost their lands and thrown into abject poverty as a
result of land grabbing.
The Minister was also not happy
about “galamsey” activities, militating against commercialised agriculture,
thereby posing a great threat to food security and water bodies.
The Minister expressed these
sentiments in a speech read for him at a two-day policy dialogue on land grabbing
in Accra, which brought together State agencies, Religious and Traditional
Rulers, civil society groups and members of communities affected by land
grabbing.
It is on the theme: “Securing
Community lands for domestic agricultural production and food security in the
context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2).”
The SDG 2 seeks to End Hunger,
Achieve Food security and Improve Nutrition and Promote Sustainable
Agriculture.
The Policy dialogue aims at
charting a path that would put community interest at the forefront and to make
progress in addressing the issue of land grabbing in the country.
Mr Amewu said government was
poised to help tackle issues confronting land grabbing in Ghana against the
backdrop of its National Development Goals and the SDG’s.
To this end, the Minister said
under the Land Administration Project II, the Ghana Enterprise Land Information
System- (GLIS) is being developed to fully automate services rendered by the
Lands Commission to the public.
In addition, Mr Amewu said
government is about to implement the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project
(MMIP) with “galamsey” areas as its target, to among others things, roll-out
pragmatic measures to provide alternative livelihoods, reclaim galamsey sites
and restore arable lands to boost food security.
The sector Minister said as part
of initiatives to curb the practice of land grabbing in the country, the Lands
Commission was also developing a detailed guidelines on large scale land acquisition
in the country.
Mr Amewu commended CARITAS for
ensuring the efficient, equitable, judicious and sustainable use of land
resources within Ghana and across the African content.
Citing a recent World Bank Report
on securing land for Africa, Mr Amewu said the report showed a worrying
dichotomy between the availability of vast land resources and extreme levels of
poverty.
He said the report revealed that
Africa had the highest poverty rate although Africa has vast arable land and
its productivity gap tend to be the highest globally.
The Minister said government was
keen to transform the agriculture sector, hence, had rolled out the Planting
for food and Jobs, One Village one dam and the one district one factory
policies to provide jobs for the youth.
To this end, Mr Amewu said there
ought to be continuous collaborative effort between government and stakeholders
to muse over a suitable panacea to put lands to optimum use.
Mr Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive
Secretary, CARITAS, said the dialogue also seeks to understand what avenues
were available to land owners when their interest were under threat.
Very Reverend Father Lazarus
Anondee, Secretary- General of the National Catholic Secretariat, said when
communities lose their agricultural lands, it could have consequences on their
economic situation.
Caritas Ghana is policy advocacy
organization formed under the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
GNA
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