Business News of Thursday, 26 April 2018
Source: citibusinessnews.com
2018-04-26
Agriculture’s contribution to GDP has declined consistently for 8 years since 2010
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has attributed the decline in the contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP to changes in the country’s development pattern.
According to ministry, the phenomenon is not new since other sectors such as Industry and Service will attract more people, relative to the agriculture sector due to mechanization in Agric as a country develops.
The latest figures from the Ghana Statistical Service show that Agriculture’s contribution to GDP has declined consistently for 8 years since 2010. The sector which contributed 18.9 percent at the end of 2016 further declined to 18.3 % last year.
But speaking to Citi Business News the Minister of state at the Ministry of Agriculture Nurah Gyeile said the government was focused on improving the growth rate of Agriculture and not its contribution to GDP in percentage terms.
“I don’t think we need to turn the percentage contribution of Agriculture around. The percentage contribution to GDP does not give a progress report on Agriculture. Because GDP talks about the proportion Agriculture generated vis-à-vis the other sectors. And for all developed economies, you have only a small proportion of the public working in Agriculture. The more a country develops, Agriculture’s percentage contribution to GDP shrinks.”
Mr Gyeile also attributed Agriculture’s continuous decline in percentage terms to GDP to the shift in focus to industry and services.
“If you look at Ghana now you can see that almost everybody is trading. That shows you we are expanding too fast in business. And that’s how come the contribution of industry is going up. And once the industry is rising, one of the other sectors must decrease in contribution.”
Farmers not paying back loans
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has described as unfortunate the slow recovery of financial support given to farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs program. According to media reports, out of two thousand farmers who benefited from the program in the Nadowli-Kaleo district of the Upper West Region, only three hundred farmers have paid back.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the issue Mr Gyeile said government was recruiting more extension officers to retrieve its monies.
“The Ministry is doing its best to collect the money. The situation is a bit dicey. As at now, we have some farmers who have paid back. We find the payment too slow. I won’t say the farmers are not ready to pay. We don’t have enough extension officers to go around taking payments.”
Highlighting some of the challenges causing the slow payment from farmers Mr Gyeile stated that difficulties in travelling long distances to fulfil payment obligations on the part of farmers are a major hindrance.
“We asked farmers to go to the Agric Bank to pay 25% to collect the inputs, the farmers have done that. For farmers who have to travel long distances to make the initial payment, they would rather wait for bank officials or extension officers to come for the money in their houses. We can solve that collection problem with more extension officers. Some farmers have also not yet sold the produce as they wait for the highest price before selling.”
Mr Gyeile was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the 8th Annual Pre-Harvest Agribusiness Conference and Exhibition event.
The 8th Annual Pre-Harvest Agribusiness Conference and Exhibition event
The theme for this year’s Pre-Harvest Conference and Exhibition which is expected to take place at the Tamale Sports Stadium from 3rd to 5th October 2018 is: “Transforming Agricultural Production in Northern Ghana: The role of modern agro-based industries.”
Building on the successful 2017 event in the Northern Region of Ghana, the 8th Pre-harvest Agribusiness Event will highlight the Agro-economic opportunities to an audience of investors, policy-makers, business leaders, academics, finance professionals, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and key Government Ministries, non-governmental and corporate bodies, farmers and farming associations, representatives from the Agribusiness civil society, investors, financial institutions, input dealers, seed companies district chief executives and relevant stakeholders.
The Pre-Harvest Agribusiness event is an event that has been on for the past seven years.
It is a full day conferencing event, presentations, exhibitions, and market place for business-to-business meetings. Speeches will be delivered by representatives from World Food Programme (WFP), USAID, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, ADVANCE, the Agriculture Technology Transfer project and lead sponsors, leading to the official opening of the event.
Participants will break out into commodity sessions to discuss marketing opportunities and make deals.
The event will feature an exhibition showcasing leading agricultural organizations in the areas of seed production, fertilizer, storage, machinery and technology. Participants will have the opportunity to network with over 1000 agribusinesses.