Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Gov’t eyes agribusiness investment

Agriculture and agribusiness have been identified as the ECOWAS sub-region’s comparative advantage.

“The development of agriculture to sustainable levels can provide jobs for the youth, create wealth, reduce poverty through improved incomes, and enhance the quality of life of our rural populations -- the majority of whom are in the agric sector.

“As government, we believe prudent agricultural policies will eventually create new opportunities and avenues for both domestic and international investors whilst providing the much-needed jobs for the youth,” Vice President John Mahama told investors in Accra.

He revealed that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has partnered with the World Bank and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to prepare the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) to improve access to land, private sector finance, and a clearing house for small-holder farms in the Accra Plains and targetted areas of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone.

The project, he said, is valued at US$145million of which US$100million is being provided by the World Bank and the remainder from USAID, aims at increasing farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains to scale-up the development of commercial agriculture nation-wide.

“The commercial agriculture project seeks to facilitate access to land, strengthen Ghana’s investment promotion infrastructure for attracting agri-business investors, and promote public private partnerships and small-holder linkages in the Accra Plains and SADA Zone,” he said.

Government is currently implementing a nationwide food and agriculture sector development policy (FASDEP II -- 2010 2015) focusing on six priority themes: namely, food security and emergency preparedness, increased growth in incomes.

Other areas are increased competitiveness and enhanced integration into domestic and international markets; sustainable management of land and environment; science and technology applied in food and agriculture development; improved institutional coordination.

The Commercial Agricultural Project has been designed to support implementation of strengthened investment promotion infrastructure and facilitating secure access to land.

This will promote a secure investment climate that clarifies and strengthens the rights and obligations of investors, government and affected communities.

It is also to support an improved mechanism for facilitating access to land by reducing search costs to potential investors through the expansion of a database of land suitable and available for investors, and by building on promising mechanisms for actively matching potential investors with suitable landowners.

Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the project directly supports the governments commercial agriculture agenda, and is a key pillar in efforts to modernise agriculture.

“The Accra Plains, the SADA Zone and other ecological belts in the Western and Eastern Corridors have huge potentials which we need billions of dollars to fully harness.

“While the project will be housed in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, we shall foster an active partnership between the Ministry, the Lands Commission, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Environmental Protection Agency and the SADA to ensure smooth implementation,” he stated.

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