Declare an agric revolution-Says World Bank Country Director

Business Page (lead) June 9/2009

Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Michael Donkor

THE World Bank has called on the government to declare an agricultural revolution by cultivating the vast land, so as to produce enough food for both the local and export markets.
According to the bank, the world food crisis which has forced prices of food crops upwards, had created an opportunity for countries such as Ghana to grow more crops to become self-sufficient in food production and also earn some foreign exchange to support the economy.
Mr Ishac Diwan, Country Director of the World Bank in Ghana, told some selected journalists in Accra that the potential of the country in the agricultural sector was enormous, and “the time to act is now”.
The advice comes at the heels of the call at a recent UN summit on the global food crisis which asked rich nations to help "revolutionise" farming in Africa and the developing world to produce more food for nearly one billion people facing hunger.
The Nigerian Agricultural Minister, Sayyadi Abba Ruma, was quoted at the summit as saying: "The global food crisis is a wake-up call for Africa to launch itself into a 'green revolution' which has been over-delayed," adding that: "Every second, a child dies of hunger, and the time to act is now. Enough rhetoric and more action."
Mr Diwan said, “Ghana has a vast untapped land, it’s all good for food production. This is the time for the country to grow more food to feed itself and for export. This is the time to earn some more foreign exchange from food exports.”
The soaring world prices of food, a phenomenon coupled with the high prices of crude oil, have sparked waves of protests in many countries in Europe, the Americas and also in Africa.
In Ghana, the President, a couple of weeks ago, announced some mitigating measures which included tax rebates on a number of food imports, including rice, wheat, yellow corn and cooking oil.
Although some industrialists and rice farmers have frowned at the move, and described it as a measure to kick them out of business, the move has been welcomed as a means of forcing down prices.
Mr Diwan described the measures announced by the President as timely and necessary to ease the pressure on the very poor and vulnerable in society, but reiterated his call for the cultivation of the vast arable lands in the country.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved $20 million to support measures designed to urgently help Ghana deal with the rising costs of living, as a result of the global food and oil price hikes.
Half of the money is to be used to subsidise the purchase of fertilisers for local farmers to encourage them to produce more.
According to Mr Diwan, there was the temptation that some farmers might want to suspend their cultivation plans in the wake of the high prices of fertilisers and other farm implements, as a result of the global crisis.
He said should this be allowed to happen, Ghana would be found wanting as the impact would be worse felt.
Mr Diwan described the economy as resilient, because of its ability to receive the shocks following the global crisis.
He said although inflation, as well as interest rates, had gone up, the phenomenon, as compared to other countries on the continent and other developing nations was not bad.
Mr Diwan raised the issue about government subsidies on electricity, which he said, was not necessary, considering the huge amounts spent per annum.
He was, however, quick to add that the life line support was inevitable, but wondered why there were subsidies for those who could afford to pay a little more, particularly the business community.
“In simple terms, it is not the business of government to subsidise the electricity of businesses in the country, because the money could easily be channelled into more infrastructural development to mitigate the suffering of the poor and vulnerable,” he said.
The comment of the World Bank Country Director may spark another round of heated debate between the bank on one side, and industry and the business community on the other side.
But Mr Diwan said this year, the government was expected to spend up to $450 million in subsidies for electricity consumption, and noted that this whopping amount could be used for many more other things which could help further reduce the mass suffering of the very poor and vulnerable.