Agricultural growth must outstrip population - Benyiwa-Doe
Kumasi gets new Co-operative Transport Association
Agricultural growth must outstrip population - Benyiwa-Doe
Accra (Greater Accra), 26th January 2000
Mrs. Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, on Wednesday urged civil societies to work closely with the government to ensure increased agricultural production.
"In order to have sustainable food security and livelihood, Ghana would need a vibrant agricultural sector through which agricultural growth rate would outstrip that of population. Unfortunately this is not the case at the moment."
Opening a two-day workshop on "Food Security, Social Mobilisation and Community Empowerment" in Accra on Wednesday, Mrs. Benyiwa-Doe cited 1991 and 1997 where an average of 2.5 per cent growth rate was achieved in agriculture as against a population growth rate of between 2.9 per cent tan 3.2 per cent within the same period".
Mrs. Benyiwa-Doe, therefore, called for vibrant policies and action to address the numerous constraints faced by the operators in the sector.
"The sector is still plagued with some pressing problems... the farmer who is the main producer, the trader who helps in marketing the produce, the researcher, the policy maker and the implementers of policies made by the decision-makers, all these major actors, still face serious challenges of varying dimensions."
She noted that various governments have made efforts to address problems of production, credit, marketing, preservation and technology with limited success, stressing that, it would take the efforts of all stakeholders to ensure that every Ghanaian has access to sufficient nutritious food at all times for healthy living.
The workshop, organised jointly by the Society for International Development, the African Association for Health, Environment and Development, and the African development Programme is being attended by 93 participants from educational and religious organisations, the private and government sectors.
Mrs. Benyiwa-Doe urged the participants to consider, in their deliberations, issues such as the ability of farmers to sustain themselves economically, alternative avenues for viable production, ways of eliminating constraints to effective distribution, marketing and social mobilisation.
She said the government would support the efforts of all stakeholders to remove impediments towards achieving food security in line with the objectives of Vision 2020 and to create job opportunities.
Mr. Stephen Adei, Director-General of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, said the issues of food security should be considered with all seriousness since it is a matter of life and death.
"For those of us in Ghana, we may not have had a personal experience with food insecurity, but at least, half of Africans at certain times of the year experience extreme hunger. Let us, therefore, view the issue as practical and not theoretical.
Dr Adei asked the participants to promote the merger of traditional and modern methods of farming, especially in preservation, as a way of increasing food output.
GRi
Kumasi gets new Co-operative Transport Association
Kumasi (Ashanti), 26th January 2000
A seven-member management committee of a newly-formed Ashanti Regional Co-operative Transport Union was inaugurated in Kumasi on Tuesday.
Nana Kwakye Ababio is the president and Mr Samuel K. Agyei, vice-president, of the Union which has five other executive members.
Swearing-in the committee members, Mr. Bernard Kwakye Dickson, Ashanti Regional Co-operative Officer, asked them to ensure unity and co-operation among societies under them.
He explained that the co-operative concept thrives on co-operation, transparency and trust and asked the union to ensure that sanity prevails in all their dealings with the people.
Mr. Dickson urged them to operate in harmony and co-operate with other transport unions to ensure peace.
Mr. Wayak Gbeckor-Kove, General Secretary of the Ghana Co-operative Transport Association, commended the members for forming the union saying healthy competition in the transport industry would bring efficiency to the sector.
The union, comprising 11 societies out of which seven received their certificates, was formed a year ago.
GRi