General News of Friday, 6 December 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-12-06
Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto
As Ghana marks the 35th Farmers’ Day celebration today, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, says the sector has seen a historic improvement under the Akufo-Addo government.
He cited the more than 10 percent of the 2020 budget allocated to the sector and its related areas as a clear manifestation of the government’s commitment.
Delivering a statement in Parliament to mark this year’s Farmer’s Day celebration, Dr. Afriyie Akoto pledged further support for the sector.
“For the first time in a very long time, in the history of public policy on Agriculture in Ghana, the budget allocated to Agriculture, both in my Ministry and other related ministries, exceeded 10 percent of the total allocations for 2019.”
“This is a very commendable and historic achievement. Government is repositioning Agriculture to play its expected role as a driving force of the country’s economic growth.”
Over the last three years, the government has been engaged in an agricultural modernization programme under which it has rolled out the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) under the Food Crop Production; Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD); Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ); Greenhouse Technology Development as well as Mechanization for Food and Jobs modules.
Performance of Agric sector
The average growth in the Agriculture Sector was 2.2 percent and 3.1 percent in the first and second quarters of 2019 respectively, compared with 4.7 percent and 4.8 percent in the corresponding quarters in 2018.
In the first quarter, the Livestock subsector had the best growth performance of 5.5 percent, followed by the Crops subsector with 2.4 percent.
According to the 2020 budget statement, this trend continued in the second quarter with the Livestock subsector growing at 5.7 percent, and crops at 4.0 percent.
However, the Forestry and Logging and Fishing subsectors regressed in both periods.
The services sector continues to occupy the largest share of the economy as the share of Agriculture declined in 2018 at the expense of Industry.
