By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, March 5, GNA – Reverend Dr. Samuel Worlanyo Mensah, an Economist, has called for the formation of a consortium of National, Regional, and District Best Farmers to help solve problems in the agricultural sector.
Rev. Dr. Mensah said the government needed to form and support the National Best Farmers, Regional Best Farmers, and District Best Farmers Consortium to enable them to enlarge their farms to produce to meet the food needs of the country.
He said the initiative would solve Ghana’s food needs as well as increase exports to stabilise the economy.
Rev. Dr. Mensah, who was speaking at the Ghana News Agency, Boardroom Dialogue, urged the government to work through the committee that superintend over the National Farmers Day celebration for information on the potential of each district.
He said most of the farmers had already established their farms and known to the government by virtue of them winning an award.
He said these famers could be supported to produce in large quantity and pay back the loans in flexible terms.
Rev. Dr. Mensah, who is also the Executive Director for Greater Impact Africa, said it was time the government moved from just motivating the farmers to forming partnership with them.
He said the government must provide equipment, including combined harvesters, water pumping machines, irrigational equipment, tractors, and all other tools needed for mechanized farming.
He said there was the need for Ghana to overhaul the local economic development, noting that these were long term development goals which would reap more benefits to the country.
Rev. Dr. Mensah said the government could convert the potential of each district into strategic production ventures to solve the country’s unemployment problem.
The Economist also stressed that it was not enough for Ghana to always run to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout as that could not solve Ghana’s perennial economic hardships.
He said the country lacked financial discipline and the only way out of the economic decadency was to fight crime and ensure value for money.
The Economist said, “if embezzlement, misapplication, and mismanagement do not end all the solutions to revamp the economy are going to be an action in futility.”
Rev. Dr. Mensah advised the government to empower anti-corruption agencies to relentlessly fight corruption as that was the only solution to the problem.
GNA