Professor Walter S. Alhassan, a Research Scientist, and a former Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has disclosed that agriculture has become technological; hence the government should invest in research and technology transfer to promote growth in the sector.
Dr. Alhassan lamented the seeming lack of political will and commitment on the part of African leaders towards agricultural development, adding that Ghana and the African Continent have the scientists and availability of raw materials; What is lacking is a cutting-edge technology to boost growth in the agriculture sector.
He cited the recurrent low budgetary allocation for the sector, which has thwarted efforts to enhance technological advancement and generate new ideas.
“We have the scientists and availability of raw materials. What we lack as a continent is a cutting-edge technology needed to make discoveries to underpin agricultural growth.”
Dr. Alhassan
Dr. Alhassan said this in an interview on the sidelines of a workshop designed to bring clarity to Ghana’s genetically modified (GM) technology activities.
It is appropriate that the respective governments scale up resources to agro-based institutions and agencies responsible for farming activities, he advised.
“We need to invest in research and technology transfer, supporting farmers to be more productive. Agriculture, in general, has become more technological. Therefore, attempts ought to be made to expose farmers to the modern trends in farming through capacity building.”
Dr. Alhassan
He said it is unfortunate that in most cases, most agro-related programmes implemented in Ghana and Africa are funded by foreign agencies.
“It is about time we put in our resources so that such programmes will be sustainable.”
Dr. Alhassan
Africa can miss out on eliminating hunger by 2030
The Research Scientist, also a former Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), noted that the increasing financial constraints experienced globally should not be why Ghana’s agriculture should remain stunted.
In the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that the prevalence of undernourishment was rising in the region.
The latest data shows that the deterioration has slowed, but there remain 256 million hungry people in Africa today.
The FAO further documented that although many African countries are making headway towards reducing malnutrition, progress is too slow to meet six key nutrition targets, which form part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) monitoring framework and the World Health Assembly global nutrition targets.
Prof Alhassan warned that the Continent could miss out on achieving the elimination of hunger by 2030 – a situation that calls for urgent measures to address the issues.
The workshop brought together selected scientists in the Ashanti Region to discuss the status of work done on a GM product; the Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea. The PBR Cowpea is being developed by Ghanaian scientists at the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute of the CSIR and is genetically engineered to resist the Maruca pest.
The Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa organized the programme, in collaboration with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation and the CSIR.
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