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Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the former Minister of Food and Agriculture, has pleaded with the Ghanaian Parliament to put the protection of indigenous farmers and industries at the top of their agenda by limiting food imports into the nation of West Africa.
He claims that the lack of a Legislative Instrument (L.I) limiting food imports into Ghana is severely hurting those involved in the agriculture sector, particularly those in the rice, poultry, and palm oil sectors.
The famous global agriculture economist, who has extensive experience in agriculture and related fields, spoke to the public on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, as the Distinguished Guest Speaker at the inaugural event of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He said that the ongoing, widespread protests in Europe, where farmers have mounted aggressive complaints against their governments for rising prices of fertilizer and other farm inputs and declining farm incomes, should encourage Ghana’s legislature to take prompt action to safeguard the interests of the nation’s local farmers.
He spoke on the theme: “Recent developments in agricultural policy in Ghana”.
Describing the situation as critical which demands urgent attention, the Cambridge University Scholar highlighted a scenario where in 2021 Ghanaian poultry farmers competed with their foreign counterparts by producing chicken at an estimated cost of GHS26.00 per kilo against imported chicken that was sold at GHS16.00 per kilo.
The difference in prices, Dr. Akoto noted, put Ghana’s local poultry farmers at a disadvantage position, stressing that “the chicken importers are landing their products in Ghana heavily subsidized by the countries of origin”.
“Our farmers are heavily disadvantaged under the current import regime. They desperately need a level playing field in order to compete effectively with their counterparts abroad. What is currently playing out in Europe, especially, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland among many other countries, where farmers are up in arms protesting vehemently against their governments for rising fertilizer prices and declining farm incomes, should be a lesson to our Legislature to act as a matter of urgency to restrict food imports which are being dumped on the Ghanaian markets against the interest of our farmers”, he noted.
Dr. Akoto who has worked in the UN Systems for over 18 years said it is only when an L.I. restricting food imports into Ghana are introduced and implemented that local farmers could produce more to boost food production, thereby, sustaining the country’s food security.
He said the current regime where local farmers compete with their counterparts abroad, are killing businesses, urging the Parliament of Ghana to reconsider the L.I. restricting the 22 import items of which 12 were food imports it rejected.
In November 2023, the Minister of Trade and Industry, K. T. Hammond, laid in Parliament a Legislative Instrument (L.I.) on the Export and Import of (Restrictions on Importation of Selected Strategic Product) Regulations, 2023.
22 products were included in the proposed ban or import restrictions, including rice, chicken, animal and vegetable oil, margarine, fruit juices, soft drinks, mineral water, noodles and pasta, ceramic tiles, paper board and corrugated paper, insecticides and mosquito coils, soaps and detergents, automobiles, iron and steel, and cement.
Fish, sugar, clothes and accessories, biscuits, canned tomatoes, and polymers (plastics and plastic products) made up the remaining items.
The Minister of Trade and Industry will have the authority to grant licenses to prospective importers of goods under the proposed legislation.
Nevertheless, the legislature rejected the proposal. The policy’s opponents claimed that if it had been implemented, the Trade Minister would have gotten an excessive amount of power and corruption would have been encouraged.
Speaking further, Dr. Akoto, a former two-term member of parliament for the Kwadaso constituency, stated that given the effect that free access to the Ghanaian market was having on local farmers, the timing of the introduction of the Legislative Instrument restricting food imports was appropriate.
A significant turning point in the history of the KNUST Faculty of Agriculture is the celebration of its 70th anniversary. Beginning on February 13, 2024, and lasting until February 17, 2024, the week-long festivities will bring together distinguished guests, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other stakeholders who have contributed to the Faculty’s success.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com/Nana Kwaku Boffah
