Monday, June 27, 2011

Ghana likely to meet MDG poverty target

The high growth rate in agricultural production in the country has caused a radical decline in poverty and hunger, from 52 percent during the early 1990’s to about 20 percent in 2011.

This makes Ghana, one of the few African countries likely to meet, ahead of schedule, the Millennium Development Goal One (MDG 1) target of reducing poverty and hunger by half, by 2015.

Dr. Tia Alfred Sugri, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in-charge of Livestock, made the observation at the launch of a report on Ghana’s Agricultural Growth in Accra on Thursday.

He commended farmers for being the backbone of the nation’s economy, which has resulted in the lowest food price inflation in 16 years and helped to bring inflation down to around nine percent in 2010.

The report was conducted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based research think-tank.

Dr. Sugri noted that prior to 1985 overall economic growth in the country was subject to large fluctuations, which were driven by wide annual variations in agricultural growth.

“The consequence was a steady decline in per capita income and a steady increase in the percentage of the population under the poverty line,” he said.

Dr. Sugri said in 2010 agricultural growth alone was 5.8 percent while that of the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 7.7 percent.

“Indeed, according to the Economist Magazine, Ghana is projected to become the second-fastest growing economy in 2011 with a growth rate of 14 percent, second only to Qatar with a 20 percent growth rate.”

He cited the inability to significantly increase agricultural productivity through commercialisation to meet local and export demands as one of the major challenges facing agriculture in the country.

Dr. Sugri intimated that only 7.7 million hectares (57 percent) out of a total of 13.6 million hectares of agricultural land is currently under cultivation in the country.

He said government is putting in place the needed measures to employ scientifically-based approaches to food production and post-harvest food handling, and increase domestic and foreign direct investment in agriculture.

“Government is also working to produce high volumes of staple and high value non-traditional crops to supply domestic, inter-regional and global markets,” he added.

Dr. Henri Leturgue, Research Officer of ODI, noted that Ghana’s agricultural sector had experienced steady growth due to a stable economy, market liberalisation and improved infrastructure.

He said the economic growth of the country had also stimulated production of vegetables for the domestic market, especially tomato production.

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