President of the Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Outgrowers Association of Ghana, Paul Amaning has asked Government to take advantage of the prospects and opportunities presented by oil Palm, especially crop farming.
He indicated that continuous neglect of public investments, low even by African standards, in the Oil Palm sector has stagnated agricultural growth in the country.
He said oil palm is the way to go for the economic development of Ghana.
Paul Amaning told Kingdom FM these sectors including agriculture should be highly prioritized to help bring down the rate of inflation and consequently make the Ghanaian economy better.
“Go in for the critical areas that are the drivers of the inflationary basket. It will aid in the structural transformation we seek in the economy”.
“This calls for deep value chain intervention and not a shallow intervention. So it’s a very ambitious project which we seek to collaborate with the development in selecting specific areas for intervention”, he opined.
He revealed oil palm can propel Ghanaians into dream socio-economic development.
He wants the government to take advantage of the initiative and support to venture into the cultivation of these crops.
According to him, Agriculture holds the potential to help bring about more sustainable and equitable patterns of growth, but public and private actors will need to adjust course in order to achieve it.
Moreover,he stated that Ghana will need to adopt more intensive agricultural practices that raise land as well as labor productivity. This will require significant new investments in oil palm, including food staples, which have been badly neglected in the past.
“Ultimately, long-term commitments to transforming the agriculture sector require good governance, including improved government capacity for implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, “he said
Source: Richard Obeng Bediako
