Professor Peter Quartey, an Economist, and Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER), cites lack of irrigation as one of the major factors responsible for the high vegetable prices in the country.
He is therefore calling on the government to support vegetable farmers with irrigation facilities to assist the production of vegetables to ensure an all-year-round supply. Also, he advocated the need for investment in greenhouse vegetable farming as a way of ensuring the availability of vegetables throughout the year.
“Vegetable farming requires irrigated land … we don’t do a lot of irrigation and so, when the weather changes then, we have problems with vegetable production. Our agriculture has been mainly rain-fed and vegetables are demanded all year-round. Unlike maize where we do the main season then we stop, vegetables are perishable commodities. So, now and then, you should be planting, and harvesting and that requires irrigation”, Prof. Quartey said in an interview with the Vaultz News.
He explained that based on basic economic theory, once production is lower than the demand, it will drive up prices, and that’s exactly what is happening with the prices of vegetables in the country. The over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture especially in the production of vegetables, according to the ISSER Boss, has been worsened by the closure of borders which cut imports of vegetables into the country to complement the local production. This further resulted in a rise in the price of vegetables.
The 2017/18 Ghana Census of Agriculture (GCA) conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service shows that only one in four (25.2%) leafy vegetable holders used irrigation in the cultivation of crops. The use is higher for male (27.8%) than for female (21.4%) holders.
Conversely, the proportion of non-leafy vegetable holders who used irrigation is 31.4 percent. Among holders who cultivated shallots, 85.7 percent use irrigation followed by the holders who cultivated spring onions (74.5%) and carrots (71.1%). More males (35.6%) than females (21.9%) used irrigation in the cultivation of non-leafy vegetable crops.
For the cultivation of four out of 13 non-leafy vegetable crops: shallots (86.4%), spring onion (73.4%), and carrots (72.5%), the proportion of males using irrigation is more than twice the average (35.6%). For the female holders, the use of irrigation in the cultivation of seven out of 13 crops is more than twice the average (21.9%).
This shows that the use of irrigation is still very low in vegetable cultivation in Ghana, confirming the assertions made by Prof. Quartey.
On the other hand, inflation has reduced to single digit in November (9.8%) after the outbreak of the coronavirus which resulted in a lockdown in Accra, Kumasi and Kasoa that sparked panic consumer buying and caused inflation to rise, with food inflation leading the path.
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, food has been the major driver of inflation in Ghana.
In November 2020, Food contributed 53.0% to total inflation and was the predominant driver of year-on-year inflation.
However, within the sub-groups of food; vegetables have consistently recorded higher than average monthly as well as yearly inflation. Vegetables have always been among the top subclasses with the highest rates of inflation in the country.
Vegetable inflation was 8.7% in January 2020, however, it rose to 14.1% in March, and in April where the lockdown was in force, vegetables recorded the highest yearly rate of inflation of 37%.
The reduction in overall inflation within the second half of the year was reflected in the reduction in average vegetable prices which recorded 19.5% year-on-year inflation in November, still very much above pre-COVID levels.
