Akufo-Addo scores high marks in Agriculture

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has received high marks for the investment and policies his government has implemented in the Agriculture sector.

The Patriotic Professionals Integrated - Ghana (PPI-Ghana), in its report on the assessment of the performance of the Akufo-Addo government on key sectors of the economy observed some great progress in agriculture.

The group, noted that the government through initiatives like the Planting For Food and Jobs, One Village One dam ensured that the sector enjoyed some great growth.
In the Agriculture sector, the Akufo-Addo government scored 84%.

"The Akufo-Addo government was assessed for policy initiative, implementation of its flagship programmes and selected priority indicator performance. Priority indicators assessed were agricultural productivity and farming yield, food self-sufficiency and security, reduction in major staple food importation, agricultural job creation and protection, government’s technology for agriculture, mechanisation and investments in the sector were also assessed"

PPI-Ghana gave Akufo-Addo’s government 90% score for agricultural policy initiatives. The government’s “planting for food and jobs”(PFJ),” Planting for Export and Rural Development”(PERD), “Rearing for Food and Job”, “One Village One Dam” and “One District One Warehouse” were rated as highly innovative and result oriented".

Read the full report below

AGRICULTURE

In the Agriculture sector, the Akufo-Addo government scored 84%. The Akufo-Addo government was assessed for policy initiative, implementation of its flagship programmes and selected priority indicator performance. Priority indicators assessed were agricultural productivity and farming yield, food self-sufficiency and security, reduction in major staple food importation, agricultural job creation and protection, government’s technology for agriculture, mechanisation and investments in the sector were also assessed.

PPI-Ghana gave Akufo-Addo’s government 90% score for agricultural policy initiatives. The government’s “planting for food and jobs”(PFJ),” Planting for Export and Rural Development”(PERD), “Rearing for Food and Job”, “One Village One Dam” and “One District One Warehouse” were rated as highly innovative and result oriented.

The government scored 87% in agricultural productivity and farming yield. PPI-Ghana notes that the government’s “planting for food and jobs”(PFJ) has largely contributed to significantly improved productivity and farming yield, resulting in food surplus. Maize productivity rose from 1.8 tonnes per hectare in 2016 to 3.8 tonnes per hectare in 2019, while paddy rice increased from 2.9 tonnes per hectare to 4.3t/Ha within the same period.

In food sufficiency and security, the government scored 85%. PPI-Ghana notes that the abundance of food with the introduction of PFJ has been accompanied by a surplus of some farm produce.

PPI-Ghana scored government 75% in reduction in the importation of major staple foods such as rice. Ghana did not import maize in 2018. PPI-Ghana considered factors such as increased domestic rice production which has raised the share of domestic rice. Governments project to increase the use of improved high yielding and disease resistant rice seeds by farmers, the use of low-cost water management practices and acquisition of rice milling machines is expected to further increase rice production.

The government scored 85% in agricultural job creation and protection. This assessment took into consideration the impact of PFJ on agricultural jobs in Ghana where farming is the mainstay occupation, particularly among rural populations. The PFJ has provided support to over 1.4 million farmers and created some 900,000 jobs with at least 2700 extension officers being employed. This has contributed to reducing poverty of rural and agricultural populations.

The Akufo-Addo government scored 85% in investments in the agricultural sector. In scoring government on investment in the agricultural sector, PPI-Ghana considered an investment in seeds for planting, disease control, fertilizer subsidies, mechanization, other farm inputs, irrigation, storage facilities, digitization and agricultural extension personnel and services.

The government scored 92% in implementation of “Planting for food and jobs” (PFJ) which was adjudged the most successful policy. PFJ has provided support to more than 1.49 million farmers. Under the “Planting for Export and Rural Development” (PERD) at least 16.2 million quality seeds were supplied to 65,474 farmers. We found in our analysis, the potential for Ghana to become the food basket in West Africa through the “planting for food and jobs” programme. Our evaluation shows a resulting increased yield, food sufficiency, job creation, food crop exportation, the potential to largely realize the “1 district 1 factory” and significant economic growth potential. Food commodity surplus has led to More than 500,000 tons of food commodities including maize, yam, plantain, cashew, citrus, pawpaw and ginger were exported to neighbouring West African countries including Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire between 2017 and 2018.

Other policies and programmes of the Akufo-Addo government that were scored are “One village one dam”, agricultural mechanisation, and pest management and emergency response.

We scored the Akufo-Addo’s government 73% for implementation of the “One Village One Dam”. PPI-Ghana considered 409 dams at 50 – 100% completion stage out of 560 dams. Small earth dams could perform multipurpose functions, which aside crop irrigation, could be used for livestock, domestic and construction purposes.

The government scored 75% in agricultural mechanisation support. This analysis considered the expanded availability of assorted agricultural machineries such as seeders, weeders, harvesters, threshers, and rice mills to farmers. Government has provided access to machinery on credit basis.

PPI-Ghana scored the NPP government 92% for pest management and emergency response. We assessed the government's emergency response action and initiative including the establishment of a system to deal with notable farm pests, in particular the Fall armyworm. PPI-Ghana notes that the government's prompt and decisive action in 2017 to deal with the Fall armyworm invasion resulted in the recovery of 131,000 hectares out of 144, 000 hectares of land affected. The government initiated a project, “Emergency response for the fall armyworm in Ghana”. We assessed the government’s follow-up distribution of chemicals to farmers to deal with subsequent outbreaks of armyworms.

The Akufo-Addo government scored 75% in technology for agriculture. PPI-Ghana assessed improved seeds and fertilizer production and supply by the government to farmers. We noted the supply of improved seeds to 600,000 farmers in 2018. The use of drone technology for spraying pesticides, applying fertilizer, monitoring crop health and output was considered in the analysis. Ghana’s “Science Agenda” program will transform Ghana’s agriculture through modern technology. PPI-Ghana also reviewed Ghana’s relative performance record in agricultural digitization in 2019 in Africa.