A former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has slammed former President John Dramani Mahama, for failing to put measures in place to solve the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease in the country, during his tenure.
He claimed the former President should have tabled some measures to curb the recurring of the diseases, which affected several hectares of farmland. Parts of the country were severely hit by the swollen shoot virus disease during the erstwhile Mahama administration.
Cases of the disease were recorded in Ghana between 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2021, where millions of trees were affected. Western and Eastern regions, were the most affected.
But laying the blame on Mr. Mahama, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said, “cocoa production has almost stagnated and for a good reason. The swollen shoot virus disease set in about 11 years ago, the NDC-Mahama administration should have taken measures immediately when the incident started, to stop spreading.”
“But it was only when we came that through the African Development Bank, we managed to get a loan for rehabilitation to control the virus in the cocoa industry. The project started in 2020, it’s in 3rd year of implementation. The Ivorians took measures when it should have been taken, unlike Ghana where it festered to the extent that Western-North production came down. We have taken some measures to correct something which should have been done 10 years back”.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
The cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD), is one of the most devastating diseases on cacao and causes significant production losses and death of cacao trees. The CSSVD, is caused by a badnavirus within the family Caulimoviridae.
Legislation Backing Agric Lending
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, called for a new legislation to be enacted to compel banks to lend to people in Agric, to help propel growth and development.
The former Minister for Food and Agriculture, bemoaned the low lending rates to the agriculture sector and said there have been institutional measures put in place to help the sector grow but what is needed to complement that, is a legislative instrument that will ensure adequate lending to the sector.
The two-time Kwadaso lawmaker averred the NPP government has laid the foundation for agricultural development, by establishing different authorities to deal with the various crops cultivated in Ghana. But funding to the farmers that often goes through those authorities are often inadequate, making it difficult for the country to reach its targets.
“We have authorities such as the Grains Authority and two other authorities in the pipeline which are the Poultry Authority and the Horticultural Authority and so with additional legislation which will enable the banks to lend to agriculture because agriculture gets only 2.2 percent of our total lending. India and Morocco did it, and they succeeded and if the law is there, it will compel the banks to lend to farmers to increase our productivity.”
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Mr. Akoto who is running a campaign prominently featuring agriculture, has at every given opportunity called for keen attention to be paid to the sector, to complement and eventually wean the country off its current excessive borrowing.
During a public lecture on the theme: “The future of the economy of Ghana” on Monday, Dr. Afriyie Akoto also envisioned that “agriculture will lift Ghana out of poverty and assure us not only of food security but also generate the necessary resources for the development of the other sectors, including industry, health, education and infrastructure in the medium to long term.”
Moreover, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, expressed his confidence of winning the flagbearership race of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He expressed optimism that the party’s delegates will vote massively for him, to lead the party in the 2024 general elections. According to him, the delegates will choose a competent person to lead the party.
“Well, you go into a contest to win. So I’m in the contest hoping to win, and I know that God will bless me to win this contest. The incumbency of the Vice President does not worry me at all, it doesn’t give any advantage over others.
“The party people know who is who, you just have to make sure that they know you are in the race. Most of our delegates are rural people, they benefitted from Planting for Food and Jobs. They are part of the 1.7 million farmers that have benefitted from the PFJ, so they relate to what I’m doing,”
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
He added that the NPP is not an ethnic party but a national party and as such, the delegates will vote for whomever they deem fit enough to lead them.
“The party has regulations, and I’m the last person to break regulations which state that until the party sets a date and invites potential contestants to come and pick forms and so on and so forth, there should be no campaigning. This has been grossly overlooked by a lot of people, I wasn’t going to stampede into that… But it doesn’t mean that I’m not working.”
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
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