Anthony Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Agribusiness, has stated that the 2023 budget has no hope for the agricultural industry, as he critizes government’s introduction of a US$400 million agriculture insurance in the budget.
According to him, though the agriculture insurance policy measure is one that must be hailed, especially by people in the agriculture sector, that money, he believes should have been used by the government to settle its debts with key agriculture players.
Mr Anthony Morrison, who described the 2023 budget statement as having been made for “the bourgeoisie as against the proletariat” noted that, the policy measure was an exhibition of the government’s disconnection with the realities on the ground.
“And I also think that if you bring a budget in and put in 500million dollars for agricultural insurance when nothing is going to agricultural extension delivery service, then it is as if you are saying that you’re just putting money somewhere for someone to tap into it for free.”
Anthony Morrison
Speaking in an interview, the CEO disclosed that, the Agriculture Insurance will only do well in this country if certain key variables are put in place. According to him, the sector lacks proper irrigation systems as irrigation penetration rate in the country is about 17%. “Probably even a little less than that, And we’re looking at the fact that we have very good externalities of bad roads increasing our post-harvest losses on the farms,” he said.
“Mostly, it takes a week to drive a truckload of food from a farm on to the main road. And also the fact that our seed industry, government still owes the local seed producers in Ghana over 150million cedis, fertilizer producers are also being owed.
“And this is a government putting 500million into agricultural insurance when you owe the industry that is supposed to develop where you want to put the insurance. I don’t know, but trust me, the budget has no hope for the industry.”
Anthony Morrison
Mr Morrison further lamented that the government’s imposition of a 2.5% Value Added Tax on goods was rather harsh especially for the struggling masses.
“But above all, we have proposed certain things to the Ministry and we are expecting that the most poorest person on the streets of Accra and in Ghana today will be able to have access to bread and water. We’ve been told that a 2.5% VAT somewhere is going to be placed on our commodities like wheat and other things that are imported.
“We proposed to the government to remove taxes on wheat because everybody in Ghana today eats bread almost every day or probably four times in a week. So this is a budget that has no hope for the struggling masses, no hope for the vulnerable and does not actually have any social intervention in place, does not have any kind of mechanism that will strengthen the rural economy which produces over 70% of the food we eat.”
Anthony Morrison
The Insurance Package
Farmers in the country will benefit from an agricultural insurance package called Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) in 2023 as part of measures to help increase agriculture production.
The insurance package, estimated at $400 million, is to provide enough cover for the sector as it continues to be one of the biggest contributors to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This was made known by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta during the presentation of the 2023 “Nkabom” Budget on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, 24th November, 2022.
GAIP provides traditional agricultural insurance and index-based weather insurance products to commercial farmers and small-holder farmers.
Presenting the 2023 budget, Mr Ofori-Atta said, “An estimated USD$400 million in agricultural insurance will be extended to eligible farmers in 2023”.
Traditional agricultural insurance pays the insured for the actual loss or damage incurred; however, traditional insurance is too expensive for most smallholder farmers and thus non-existent in most rural areas.
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