<\/p>\n
A Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, Festus Ebo Turkson, has admonished the government, to pay more attention to the country\u2019s agricultural policies and add value to some products in the country.<\/p>\n
According to him, the agriculture sector is labour-intensive, which has the potential to provide more employment for Ghanaians and accelerate the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Monday, Professor Turkson disclosed that only 5 percent of cashew produced in Ghana is processed, with a chunk of it exported in its raw state.<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage cashew production, but we found out that less than 5 percent of the cashew produced in Ghana is processed. All of it goes raw and that is quite unfortunate. We are doing well with cashew, but we need to add value to cashew before we export, even for domestic consumption so that we don\u2019t import processed cashew into the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese are simple manufacturing processes that are labour-intensive, and so they create jobs when that process is going on, and that is definitely the way Ghana needs to go,\u201d Professor Turkson said.<\/p>\n Professor Turkson said due to the failure of the country\u2019s agriculture policies, governments tend to focus on traditional exports like cocoa and gold and ignore other products that could boost the economy.<\/p>\n He, therefore, insisted that industrialization was key to resolving the unemployment situation in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cAgriculture policies have not been paid attention and industrialization has not been a key focus of government policy now our focus is more on services,\u201d Professor Turkson said, adding \u201cI believe that the one district one factory is the way to go, If only it will be devoid of any political colourisation\u2026we need to pay serious attention to that intervention because it is at the centre of what we call import substitution industrialization and export promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n