The Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (ECC), according to a story we have published in today’s edition, has signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with TIAST Co-operation, a Chinese company, to add value to agricultural produce in an effort to create jobs and ensure food security.
The agenda, according to the regional minister, Henry Quartey, forms part of government’s five-year master plan for Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) phase 2, which was launched this year. It is expected to transform the agricultural sector of the country.
Mr Henry Quartey, who was speaking at the 39th National Farmer’s Day durbar held at Kpone Bawalashie, in the Kpone Katamanso Municipality, said the five-year master plan stands for the renewal of agriculture in Ghana and represents a new trajectory that replaces the old input subsidy program with the new input credit scheme.
Indeed, one of the major problems confronting Ghana today is the failure to add value to its agricultural products before exporting them. Ghana has been producing cocoa since time immemorial, but we, as a country, have failed to add value to the product to create employment. We largely export cocoa in the raw form, which is processed and the final product shipped back to us to consume.
We are aware that the Cocoa Processing Company in Tema is processing some of our cocoa into chocolate. It is, however, not significant enough, looking at the volumes of cocoa Ghana is producing. The situation is even worse when we look at the mining sector. Ghana is one of the leading producers of gold in the world, but we export them in its raw state, without any value addition.
In our opinion, our investment drive should be geared towards value addition to local products, but this is not happening. A drive through the Spintex Road in Accra will reveal that most of the so called investors we are attracting are into buying and selling of finished products imported from foreign countries.
What this means is that we are helping to create employment in these countries where the finished products are coming from, when our unemployment rate is on the ascendency. Unfortunately, the various shopping malls in Accra and other parts of the country, which are the worst culprits, are having the freedom to do whatever they want to do, without any restraint.
Most of the agricultural products stocked in these malls can easily be procured in Ghana, but they prefer to import them. Are these the investments we are looking for to create jobs for our teeming youth? The answer is certainly a big no, but sadly that is the reality confronting us as a country.
It is upon the basis of this that The Chronicle is happy with the decision that has been taken by the Greater Accra RCC to sign a MoU with a Chinese company to add value to some of our agricultural produce.
Year in and out, we hear of glut in tomato production for instance, but they all go waste because there are no factories to buy and process them into finished products. In the end, our hard working farmers, who sometimes go in for bank loans become poorer and poorer. Certainly, we need to reverse these setbacks and that is why we are urging Henry Quartey and his team to pursue the goal they have set for themselves.
Whilst congratulating the RCC, we cease this opportunity to also advise the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre to ensure that majority of the investors who come to invest in the country choose the manufacturing industry as first option. This is what will lead to job creation. We are tired of investors showing interest in only Shopping Malls just to create employment for their people back home.
