By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Aug. 5, GNA – Mr. Edward Kareweh, Secretary, General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU), says the lack of governmental policy to balance the production of cash and food crops in the country is worrying.
“The essence of government is to govern, and to govern is to coordinate, regulate, and give direction as to where you plan to take the economy and the type of development you need for us now and in the future, so if farmers are going into cash crops, what then happens to the crops meant for us to consume here?” he asked.
Mr. Kareweh who was speaking with the Ghana News Agency in an interview said regions known to have been the food crop production centres in the country had all diverted to cash crop production.
“People have turned their farms into cashew production, and cashew is not consumed here; it’s for export,” he mentioned.
He explained that overreliance on cash crops and food crop production would lead to numerous challenges, including food shortages, which would further lead to inflation as people might have the money but would not get foodstuffs to buy.
The Secretary urged the government to take urgent steps to invest in agriculture, especially food crop production, for the survival of its citizens and for export.
“For the tree crops development authority and industry that we are promoting, the Ghana government is intending to get two million dollars from the World Bank to help the development of the tree crops industry. If you promote that industry and you do not balance it with food crop production, you’ll come to have a shortage of food in your system,” he said.
GNA