A GNA Feature by Edward Acquah
Accra, Aug. 29. GNA – Hafiz Salam looked dejected as he watched his two-hectare land bequeathed to him by his late father overtaken by weeds.
This farming season, he was able to cultivate only a quarter of the land due to the rising cost of agro-inputs such as seeds and fertiliser.
After enduring the long dry-spell and devastating floods that hit the northern part of the country in the last crop season, the rains have been stable this year. But the cost of fertiliser has shot up by more than 50 per cent since the year began, making it difficult for him to farm his usual two hectors of maize, groundnuts and soybean.
“Last season was bad. The drought and floods destroyed our crops. Due to an unreliable rainfall pattern and the cost of fertilizer, we cannot produce more to sustain ourselves and our families,” he lamented.
Hafiz’s ordeal represents that of many smallholder farmers in Ghana’s breadbasket regions, and the African sub-region.
Data available to the Ghana News Agency show that many farm lands were flooded in the months of August and September last year, affecting the livelihoods of some 40,000 people nationwide. Farmers in the northern part of the country were confronted with long spells of extreme dry weather conditions even before the unusual rains set in.
Agriculture in Ghana is largely rain-fed. In the absence of adequate irrigation systems, climate change continues to threaten vulnerable communities in the northern part of the country, which face significant challenges for adaptation to global warming.
Key among the measures put in place by the Government to mitigate the impact of climate change on farmers was to subsidise fertilisers and other essential farm inputs as well as construct dams to reduce the dependence on rains.
However the country is experiencing dire economic crisis, affecting the government’s ability to significantly subsidise fertilizers and honour its promise of constructing at least one dam in every farming community.
Ahead of the 2022 crop season, the Government reduced the subsidy on chemical fertilisers from 38 per cent (in 2021) to 15 per cent, which meant that farmers would pay more for the commodity.
A bag of fertiliser which was selling at an average GHS250 ($25) per bag last year is now trading for about GHS400 ($40).
The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana has warned that the reduction in subsidy would further constraint smallholder farmers.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Edward Kareweh, the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union, said aside the rising cost of fertiliser, farmers were also battling fertiliser shortages.
He said the situation coupled by the floods that hit the northern part of the country last year could lead to food shortages in the ensuing year.
Amid continuous depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi and rising inflation (which stood at 31.7 per cent in July) Ghana has commenced engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance to stabilise the economy.
As the Government explores measures to drastically cut expenditure, there are fears that the country may not be able to implement its revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
According to Dr Daniel Tutu Benefoh, who is the Ghana’s Focal Person to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the country would require between US$ 9.3 and US$ 15.5 billion of investment to undertake climate interventions from the year 2020 to 2030.
However, source of funding remains a challenge, he said.
Although African countries have contributed to less than four per cent of global emissions, its citizens are the most affected by climate change.
As countries prepare for the upcoming COP 27 climate change talks to be held in Egypt, source of funding to implement and upscale adaptation measures in the agriculture sector and build resilience should be a key priority for Ghana and other African countries.
The country must put together a convincing proposal to propel developed countries to honour their annual $100 billion climate finance commitment and push for the removal of restrictions to access the green fund to implement its NDCs.
It is noteworthy that the goal to limit global average temperature to 1.5 °C and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent to reach net zero by mid-century would be a dead duck if developing countries were unable to finance their NDCs.
GNA