Lack of assiduity by government and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) poses a threat to Ghana’s effort to combat food scarcity, a close source at MOFA has revealed.
It is clear that both past and present government have failed to make agriculture a lucrative venture for its citizenry despite the country’s rich agricultural lands. Ironically, till date Ghana still depends largely on imported food for local consumption.
Agriculture is christened as the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy yet development within the sector shows that it is still lagging behind.
Investigations conducted by Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association (GARDJA) has revealed that, working fund for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and departments under it were not released by the government during 2014 and 2015.
A source from the Ministry disclosed to Gardja that, ”the only fund they received was towards the 2014 farmers day celebration, since then not even a pesewa has been released to the Ministry and departments.”
According to the source several attempts to source funds by the Ministry has proven futile, while they struggle to monitor the activities of farmers.
“Since the beginning of the year 2015, agriculture officials have remained adamant with nothing to carry on with, the working fund served as tool of going rounds to monitor the works of our staff, demonstration farms and among others.”
Training, capacity building and seminars for its staff hang in balance, and this will some serious effect on agriculture, the insider lamented.
Is MOFA in an imbroglio state? What at all is the government doing to boost agric business in the country? Should agriculture be privatized? These are the questions we ask.
Story by: Richmond Frimpong
