The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has called on all political parties to address the existing issues facing smallholder farmers to ensure food security in the country.
Mr Bismark Owusu Nortey, the Executive Director of PFAG, speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra at the sidelines of a forum on “Political parties accountability on agriculture,” said the Association had been faced with several challenges, causing more farmers to lose their jobs and livelihoods.
He said the Association wants a government that would ensure that post-harvest losses are managed, food security is ensured, and subsidised fertilisers and farming services are provided.
He said that next year, there would be a monitoring system to track government’s programmes and promises to ensure they were effectively implemented.
He said, however, that if not implemented, there would be consequences, saying, “Even if there is a need to mobilise peasant farmers to take action they would.”
The Executive Director said the small farm holders needed support from the government to improve their farms and increase productivity as all citizens depended on food to survive.
He said the Party coming to power after the elections should attend to their needs and not classify them as being aligned with one political Party or the other.
He assured that whoever wins this year’s election would work in collaboration with PFAG to ensure their manifestos on agriculture were implemented.
Mr Charles Kwowe Nyaaba, Former Executive Director of PFAG, said some challenges faced by farmers included the high cost of agricultural inputs and farming materials, post-harvest losses due to poor road networks leading to farm gates, climate change, lack of funding for Small Holder Farms, amongst others.
He said agriculture played a critical role in Ghana’s economic growth. Therefore, all parties must ensure that farmers are prioritised to grow the economy.
He said smallholder farm owners such as women and starters were not able to access funding from banks and financial institutions to grow their farms.
He said the sector should be subsidised adequately to improve its contribution to the nation’s economy.
Mr Moses Anim, Member Agriculture Manifesto Team, New Patriotic Party (NPP), speaking on the NPP’s manifestos, said the Party in government had done a lot through its Planting for Foods and Jobs and Rearing for Foods and Jobs programmes to improve the sector.
He said modern warehouses have been completed across the country to aid in solving challenges with post-harvest losses.
He said the government had engaged about 2,700 extension officers to guide farmers in implementing good farming practices to sustain the sector.
Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor, Spokesperson for Agriculture and Director of CSO’s Relations, National Democratic Congress (NDC), also speaking on the Party’s manifestos policy on Agriculture, said there would be storage facilities at all regions to secure access to food, adding that the NDC would ensure the availability of market for harvested crops.
He said the NDC government would provide farming services centres that would provide services directly to farmers, saying this would help farmers get subsidised fertilisers and equipment for farming.
He said the NDC would construct an irrigation system dubbed “freshwater plants” to solve the drought system across the country if voted into power.
The forum was attended by civil society organisations, farmers across the region, political representatives from various political parties and key stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
