Dr Roger Kanton, a former Research Scientist with the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), says agricultural research is the key driver of agricultural development in every country.
He said it was particularly crucial for unearthing novel technologies and innovations in this era of climate change and climate variability.
Dr Kanton was speaking at the Swedru Conversations: An Annual Thought Leadership Event by the Alumni Association of the Swedru Senior High School in Accra.
The event was titled “Feeding Ourselves as a Nation: Perspectives on Revolutionalising Our Agriculture Fortunes.”
The Swedru Conversations’ aimed to solicit ideas for bridging the gaps in Ghana’s agriculture value chain, which had resulted in heavy imports.
He urged the current and future governments to allocate a dedicated fund to support the Agriculture Sector, including Research and Extension to enable the country to feed itself and export the surplus for hard-earned foreign currency to develop other sectors of the economy.
“This will be the best and stable way to arrest the frequent depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi,’ he said.
He proposed that taxes on all manner of agricultural farm machinery and equipment be removed to make it easier for imports to bring in the desired machinery and equipment to boost agriculture.
Dr Kanton said government and private sector players should be guided as to which machinery and equipment were required by farmers and in high demand.
“We need an immediate policy to establish a fertilizer manufacturing company,’” he said.
He said as a country “we cannot continue to depend on imports as shown during the COVID-19 and the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Research Scientist said the high cost of mineral fertilizer, coupled with late arrival, and dubious chemical contents had their toll on crop productivity and foreign Seed Companies should be made to set up farms in Ghana for monitoring and early seed delivery.
He called for the formation of a solid non-partisan “National Union of Ghanaian Farmers (NUGFA) comprising the various existing components of the key Agricultural Value Chain Actors.
This Union should have National, Regional and District Offices across the country and it should be formed by the value chain actors without external influence.
He said it was not just enough to produce but also to ensure value addition.
This will also open doors to the foreign market, which has a higher premium compared to the local market and is also readily available in the sub-region.
The Research Scientist said the causes of food and nutrition insecurity in Ghana were diverse, multi-faceted and interconnected.
He said addressing these challenges required a holistic, comprehensive, scientific and coordinated approach, which should involve all stakeholders along the agricultural value chain.
He said recognizing and understanding these factors were crucial steps towards implementing effective and efficient cost-effective strategies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
“The emphasis should also be on nutrition and food self- sufficiency and not food security as has traditionally been the case,” he added.
Professor Kwame Agyei Frimpong, Associate Professor at the Department of Soil Science, UCC, said agriculture needed to rebrand and it also had to be reviewed as a sustainable business.
“We also need to develop our infrastructure for the distribution and storage of farm produces,” he added.
Source: GNA
