Accra, August 25, - Africa holds
60 percent of the world’s arable land and yet, imports $35 billion worth of
food annually.
Ghana on the other hand, imports
some $2.4 million of food annually.
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of
Finance, quoting the AFDB Group President, said this when he commissioned the
Multi-Purpose building of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement(WACCI) of
the University of Ghana-Legon.
“We fundamentally acknowledge
agriculture as the bedrock of our country’s industrialization and thus,
creation of wealth and jobs for our people. But we need to ask ourselves what
type of agriculture,” the Minister said.
He observed, that the importance
the President Akufo-Addo’s government attached to the country’s agriculture,
“makes it heart-warming to see this multipurpose building being commissioned”.
The Minister said the
government’s keen attention towards the agricultural sector, stemmed from the
sector’s unique position and crucial contribution to economic growth,
employment and the transformation of lives.
Mr. Ofori-Atta observed, that the
Agricultural sector had experienced very difficult challenges in the recent
past.
“The sector grew by a paltry 2.8
percent and 3.0 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively, underscored by a 2.5
percent growth in the crops subsector in 2015 and 2016,” the minister said.
He added that the sector had also
experienced a declining share of GDP, “consistent with the relatively” slow
growth in the sector and improved performances by the industry and services
sectors.
This led to government
intervention, which “to a large extent” influenced the implementation of the
Planting for Food and Jobs(PFJ)programme and other interventions in the sector,
which have helped to improve the fortunes of agriculture in Ghana, Mr.
Ofori-Atta said.
The Finance Minister said as a
result, the crops sub-sector then grew by 9.4 percent in 2017, the first year
of implementing PFJ, from a growth of 2.5 percent in 2016.
This together with other
sub-sectors, pushed agriculture GDP to grow by 8.4 percent in real terms in
2017, compared to 3.0 percent in 2016, he said.
Mr, Ofori-Atta noted that
transforming agriculture in Ghana would require a concerted effort from all
stake-holders, adding, “That is why WACCI is so important to achieving a Ghana
Beyond Aid.”
He said WACCI could drive a new
agenda to make the University of Ghana the hub of agricultural innovations and
entrepreneurship, and said the centre should be supported in jointly looking
for core funding from the government and other partners for its sustenance.
“We should make agriculture
flourish in Ghana to achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda, and I pledge my
commitment to this,” the Finance Minister said.
Eleven years ago, WACCI started
as an AGRA project to train plant breeders and seed scientist at the PhD level
for five countries which are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.
It has grown to become the
largest PhD awarding Centres in plant breeding education in Africa.
The Centre seeks to address the
challenges of the agricultural sector in Africa, with a further aim of
improving the socio-economic growth of the continent.
GNA
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