Over 2.7m fertiliser bags distributed under PFJ
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) distributed over 2.7 million bags of fertiliser under the previous government’s flagship ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ policy, former President Nana Akufo-Addo has disclosed.
Delivering his last message on the State of the Nation in parliament on January 3 this year, the former president said: “Through the distribution of over 2.7 million bags of fertiliser and improved seedlings, the sector increased crop yields and enhanced Ghana’s food security potential”.
He claimed that maize production increased by 110 percent, rice production by 48 percent and soybean by 150 percent between 2017 and 2023.
According to him, the establishment of 140 agricultural mechanisation centres and rehabilitation of irrigation schemes have modernised farming practices and reduced dependence on rain-fed agriculture.
Contrary data debunk claims
However, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has since 2019 been advocating a performance audit of the PFJ policy.
In 2022, agriculture stakeholders described the PFJ as a waste of government money when the price difference between subsidised fertiliser and the open market price was just about GH¢10.
With the slim difference in price, farmers have said they were guaranteed more quality inputs in the open market compared to the mostly substandard inputs supplied under PFJ.
A Former Executive Director of PFAG, Dr. Charles Nyaaba, told B&FT that the PFJ policy did not extend the full intended benefits to farmers.
He alleged that a chunk of the over 2.7 million bags of fertilisers distributed did not end up with farmers but was rather hoarded for political gain.
“In the first phase of the policy, hoarding, smuggling and corruption dented the PFJ programme, wherein contracts were offered to distributors who supplied substandard inputs without any monitoring and quality control systems,” he said
Again, given claims of modernising farming practices and reducing dependence on rain-fed agriculture, the World Bank has asserted that only three percent of the country’s farming land is appreciably irrigated.
The Bank noted Ghana possesses substantial irrigation potential, with estimates of irrigable land spanning from 360,000 to 1.9 million hectares – but just about three percent of cultivated land is properly irrigated, making the country predominantly reliant on rain-fed farming.
According to the World Bank, Ghana has 104 central pivot irrigation systems with each covering a minimum of 40 acres; yet about 98 percent of these systems and facilities are non-functional.
Sadly, countries including Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria are performing better than Ghana in their percentage of irrigation .
“The performance of peers in the region calls for drastic prioritisation of irrigation by governments and other stakeholders, if indeed the country’s agriculture is to reach the next level,” the Bank said.
Equally, data from the Ghana Grains Council (GGC) indicate that dry spells and drought conditions have affected 1.8 million hectares of agricultural land in the country, resulting in crop revenue losses amounting to some GH¢22.2billion between 2023 and last year.
The Council noted that Northern and Savannah Regions – which are responsible for significant portions of the country’s maize, millet, sorghum and rice – were hit hardest.
According to the GGC, maize yields fell by 35 percent and rice production by 25 percent – with millet and sorghum yields dropping by some 20 percent between 2023 and last year.