Last Updated- Feb 1, 2009 22:23 - - 0 Comments


What Ghana must do as a global food crunch looms

riceA new report  by Chatham House, a highly respected independent organisation in the UK has concluded that more needs to be done if the global food crises, which became severe last year were to be avoided this year and beyond. The report, which is titled The Feeding of the Nine Billion: Global Food Security for the 21st Century, was released on January 26, 2009.

The report assesses the outlook of global food supply in a long term context of expanding popul­ation, increasing affluence, climate change concerns and grow­ing resource scarcity, and urges policy makers to start planning now for a future “food crunch”.

After experiencing high food and energy prices over a sus­tained period of almost 18
months, the global economy experienced a reprieve, when food prices reduced in the third quarter of 2008 with energy prices also falling.

But the reprieve did not last long. Corporate failures, mostly fuelled by banking and mortgage market anom­alies have returned the global economy to an uncertain state. What is worrying is that the scale of the current econom­ic downturn is so severe that most industrialised economies are experi­encing recessionary pressures.

Figures released by the UK govern­ment agencies and the U.S. economic managers for example, show unem­ployment at record high with most households experiencing severe threat of bankruptcy.

This is certainty not the best of times for economic planners. The findings of the report would certainly cause mere panic, but the recommendations should give relief. Already, as the bailout plan by the industrialised countries has failed to cause financial markets to bounce back in earnest, many analysts have become tetchy. The future looks bleak, and the anticipated “food crunch” will only add to the misery of governments and individuals. There­fore, the best way forward- is for countries to start planning how to avert massive global hunger in the future.

Alex Evans, the author of the report admonishes that: “The 20th century Green Revolution made incredible advances in improving crop yields. Now, we need a 21st century Green Revolution to repeat that success. Although enough food is produced today to feed everyone, nearly a billion people are undernourished – about the same number are overweight”.

According to him, “Food supply will have to grew by 50 per cent by 2030 to meet projected demand but climate change, water scarcity and competition for land will make it much harder to achieve this demanding target. A return to high oil prices will also increase food prices, as more crops are converted into bio-fuels”.

Improving agriculture

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economies of most developing countries like Ghana. The sector contributes sig­nificantly to national growth through employment and income. It is estimated that agriculture’s contribution to GDP is 35 per cent in Ghana, with more than 60 per cent of the population employed in the sector, either directly or indirect­ly.

Yet, the sector has not been given the much needed attention and boost. Even though successive governments have tried to improve the sector, sadly, after more than 50 years of political inde­pendence, Ghana’s agricultural sector still largely operates at the subsistence level.

At this level of operation, the farmer produces just enough for his or her family, with just a little left for sale. This farming method is not only rudimenta­ry, but also unsustainable. It is unsus­tainable because the shifting cultivation method of farming actually degrades the environment and does not promote efficient land use and land management policies. For the farmers that have entered into commercial farming, they are frustrated by the big challenges of credit, loans and storage facilities.

According to the report, investing more in agriculture, with a focus on small farmers; improving importer countries’ security of supply through changes to trade rules; and a new “International Energy’ Agency For Food” to manage a global system of food reserves would help protect against future price spikes.

Sam Bickersteth, Head of Pro­gramme Policy at Oxfam the interna­tional non-government organisation adds that: “This report should act as a wake-up call for all those who believe that the food’ crisis of the last two years is over. World leaders have a window of opportunity to act to prevent a fur­ther escalation of the crisis. They must produce coordinated action now and reverse decades of under-investment in agriculture to prevent millions more people falling into hunger.”

Indeed, a co-ordinated action is what Ghana needs most. Mechanised farming, through sustainable farming practices would help a great deal in reversing the adverse effects of rising food prices.

Last year for instance, the govern­ment had to introduce subsidies on some food items in order to forestall ris­ing food prices. The absorption of the subsidy by the government created a huge deficit for the economy, at fright­ening levels. This deficit, according to policy analysts is unsustainable.

Therefore, for the government to be able to deal with the problems head-on there is the need for more practical and innovative solutions, and that is why making agriculture an improved pillar of the national economy should not only be by lip-service, but should be backed by deeds too.

Already, the high cost of Ghana’s rice imports is a source of worry to stakeholders in the rice sub-sector of the agricultural sector. At a recent annual general meeting, the stakeholders were unequivocal in their claim that there was the need for the government to really do something to arrest the situa­tion. It is estimated that the country spends more than US$500 million on rice imports alone.

According to the stakeholders, the lack of irrigation facilities, high interest rate on contracted loans from the banks and lack of milling facilities have all impinged negatively on their opera­tions. It is estimated that local rice farmers produce only 30 per cent of the coun­try’s requirement, with the remaining 70 per cent imported.

The problem with rice production is only a small part of the growing prob­lems in the agricultural sector. Even some food crops like garlic are import­ed, and for a country that is hard pressed for foreign exchange, this is pretty sad.

Therefore, for Ghana to preserve foreign exchange and properly man­age the economy in order to deal with the anticipated food crises, the agricul­tural sector must be properly devel­oped, with government supporting the sector through loans and grants.

Credit: Bernard Otabil

Source: GB

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