Accra, July 22, GNA – The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has proposed agriculture as a main mechanism to help revive the country’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement, five organisations with interest in agriculture, said since the onset of the COVID-19, Ghana had not only been in a health crisis but also food security challenges.
The organistaions are PFAG, SEND Ghana, the International Budget Partnership, the Voice for Change Partnership Programme, and GROW Partner.
The statement said investment in agriculture offered the surest way to revive the economy as majority of Ghanaians draw their livelihood from the sector and it also has the potential to reduce inequalities.
However, the agricultural sector over the past years has been under funded, and Small-holder farmers are facing increased difficulty in accessing credits, markets, agricultural machinery and inputs due to the restrictions and disruptions of the COVID-19 preventive measures.
“This situation might lead us to a food and nutrition crisis if immediate remedial actions are not taken to avert them,” it said.
It said the Mid-year budget review offered government the right opportunity to scale up its budgetary allocation to at least the ten per cent enshrined in the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme.
It said this should expand into other critical sectors embracing greater usage of technology and climate resilient farming practices.
The statement also called for increase in input subsidy to farmers both in the percentage cost borne by government and the number of beneficiary farmers.
It said government must improve beneficiary targeting; and reduce leakages, diversion, and smuggling in the distribution channels of subsidized fertilizer.
It called on government for the creation of a special stimulus facility solely for small-holder farmers to enable them access financial credit at very flexible and low interest rates with extended moratorium period.
It said the small holder farmers were unable to access the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme, which was targeted at micro and small enterprises and the registration requirements were inherently unfriendly for small holder holders.
The statement said government should prioritize the reduction of Post-harvest losses as an immediate strategy to reduce the losses of income for small-holder farmers.
“To this end, critical attention must be weighed on the location and siting of warehouses in food producing areas for adequate utilization,” it said.
It said government should consult and support small-holder farmers to access or procure simple, affordable and appropriate hand-held equipment and restructure the Agricultural Mechanization Service Centres in order to reduce Post-harvest losses.
The statement urged government to create a special model to enable farmer groups to aggregate and directly supply food produce to the numerous food distribution channels such as the School feeding programme, Feeding for SHS, amongst others.
It, therefore, called on government to strike a good balance between health spending and spending on food security and nutrition.
“This is because healthy eating and healthy diets is a way to boost immunity of the population and if this is made integral to our recovery plan it could save us needless health expenditures subsequently,” the statement added.
GNA