Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, A Mirror Of Gen. I.K Acheampong’s Agric Strategy

Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto who recently resigned from his position as Agric Minister has promised to form an agricultural management team if elected as the flagbearer of Ghana’s governing party, the New Patriotic Party, and eventually as President of the Republic.

The former Kwadaso MP, described as a close friend of President Akufo-Addo was put in charge of the all-important agricultural portfolio in 2017 where he spearheaded the government’s flagship program called ”Planting For Food and Jobs, PFJs.”

Under the program, farmers received seedlings at no cost and fifty percent subsidized high-end fit-for-purpose machinery for clusters. The intervention focuses on small, medium, and large-scale farmers in the drive to enhance household incomes and induce the creation of agro-processing industries. promote exports of value-added agricultural products, and fend the buffer stocks for overall national food security.

The Government of Ghana is supported by several international funding partners, including the Government of Canada which donated about 135 million Canadian dollars to modernize agricultural operations in Ghana. Empowered research was mainly conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, and extension services which the former minister lobbied the cabinet for increased numbers to improve extension-farmer ratios.

Agricultural students were also sent in batches to Israel to understudy greenhouse technology in a fully paid program.

These initiatives became even more relevant when the covid-19 global pandemic struck in early 2020, followed by an intense campaign by the experts for nations to ramp up agricultural productivity. With international movements curtailed in the face of the highly-contagious disease, and nations holding onto their own, national food sufficiencies were thrust to the fore, and in Ghana, a key protagonist was Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto who prioritized the local population.

Bumping into the covid tide, he seemed to be well-prepared as the agricultural sector under his watch had chalked up decent figures, the pinnacle of which had seen unprecedented growth in 10 years. A verifiable deed that culminated in exports by Ghana to neighboring countries in 2019.

But then, the linear curve was struck by incidents such as food shortages which investigative teams discovered to be a loot by traders from neighboring countries to meet critical demands back home. Even in that crisis, Ghana could be gleaned as doing something right. The dearth intensified in the inflationary whirlwind driven by a myriad of factors, the externals inclusive.

In defiance of criticisms, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto created the temporal PFJ food markets where high public patronage put the stamp on the initiative as a welcome alternative to the soaring prices on the open market. The former minister had argued that farm produce had been padded with costs once they were lifted from farm gates to the market centers. He was not left off the hook for blaming the trend on artificial inflation.

In spite of all these, there is no question about food availability in Ghana. Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto also broke new ground in the cash crop sub-sector by creating an organization to mobilize six other cash crops for high-valued exports. He reckoned if Cocoa could rake 2 billion dollars for Ghana annually, the bigger picture could earn Ghana 14 billion within the same period.

Whilst in the driving seat, Dr. Afriyie-Akoto stepped down to contest for the flagbearer position of the New Patriotic Party. He says he will form an agricultural management team headed by the president of the republic if he gets the opportunity to serve the country from the very top. That will replicate a practice in the 1970s in which Ghana’s Head of State Gen. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was the discreet head of the agricultural ministry because he cherished the sector.

Col. Bernarsko was the Commissioner for Agriculture during the Acheampong military regime, appreciated as successful in agriculture where a flagship program ”operation feed yourself” made a great impact.