Farmers bemoan mass importation of agric products

The President of the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG), Philip Abayori, has observed that the mass importation of agricultural products into the country is pushing the nation’s farmers and fisher-folk into poverty and joblessness.

In a statement to commemorate the 25th anniversary celebration of the national Farmers’ Day that was held in Tamale, Northern Region, Mr Abayori said: “the harder Ghanaian farmers work, the less they earn and the poorer they become.”

He recalled that in the 1970s agriculture was the backbone of the Ghanaian economy, and the Northern Region in particular was the rice-producing basket of the country.

“As I speak today, the cotton industries which used to employ a significant number of the population of the Northern sector is at a risk of collapse. The rice and other important industries are nowhere to be found,” Mr. Aboyori stated, adding that the situation has created a vacuum as far as employment is concerned.

The NFFAWAG President therefore called on the government to implement decisions that will benefit the agric sector so that Ghanaian farmers and fisher-folk will come out from their predicaments which came about as a result of inadequate machinery, implements and subsidies.

“If we fail in our core responsibilities to reverse this situation and create job for our people, we will not only be doing a disservice to mother Ghana but posterity will judge us in our time,” he cautioned.

Mr. Abayori also touched on how farmers and fisher-folk in the country find it extremely difficult to access credit facilities and appealed to government to reverse the trend.

“Even with the little credit that sometimes become available once in a blue moon, interest rates are so exorbitant - making it a disincentive to our farmers to take loans; and even if they do, repayments often become difficult,” he said.

He suggested that government needs to reconsider setting up an agric-fund so that all funds which would be generated from the taxes on imported food items specified in the 2010 budget could be channeled into it.

He said the World Bank has already announced plans to set up an agric-fund to boost agriculture in developing countries with an initial capital of US$1.5 billion.