GAWU proposes agricultural master plan

THE General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) has called for an agricultural master plan that will take care of Ghana’s growing population  and the population’s demand for food.

The plan, the Union proposed must also take care of the country’s industrial needs.

In an interview with this portal , General Secretary of the Union Mr Edward Kareweh said if Ghana was serious about processing and value addition then there was need for a master plan.

“The state of Agriculture in Ghana is a reflection of policy failure. This is because the relevant infrastructure to place agriculture where it is supposed to be is absent.  individual farmers are not supposed to be worried about the source of irrigation for their farms; irrigation of farms should be taken over at the national level,” Mr Kareweh

A masterplan should set out clearly the entre supply chain and become a blue print to guide government and private sector players who are ready to make investments along the chain.

Mr Kareweh was unhappy about the inability of the National Food Buffer Stock company to perform it’s functions adequately due to lack of resources.

According to him, there was need to pay particular attention to storage more importantly to ensure the success of government’s own industrialisation programme –the One District, One Factory (1D,1F)  so that raw materials to feed the factories will be well stored.

It was unfortunate that due to the lack of policy coordination, storage of produce or raw materials was far from a reality.

“The buffer stock company whose function it is to mop up excess foodstuffs or produce is itself not well resourced and so is unable to play its role as expected, so then farm produce would rot on the farms, with the attendant food insecurity implications,” he stated.

The GAWU General Secretary appealed to government to commit to executing policies to the letter and not stop at propounding ideas.

“Governance is about commitment; ideas are not enough; policies are not enough It is more about committing yourself to implementing the policies which is what we are lacking ,” Mr Kareweh lamented