Agri National

Agriculture Census Will Achieve Its Purpose – Regional Extension Officer

The Eastern Regional Extension Officer, Papa Allotey is confident that the ongoing farmers’ census currently being conducted throughout all districts of the country will achieve its purpose.

Papa Allotey who said work is currently in progress throughout the country expressed hope that work would be completed within the eighteen (18) months allocated for the conduct of the exercise.

Papa Allotey expressed the optimism while speaking in an interview with host of Rite FM’s Morning Ride, Captain Adabugar.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service, commenced the collection of data from households and institutions involved in agriculture on the 30th of April, 2018.

The data, according to the Ministry will guide policy-makers in the disbursement of resources to promote agriculture in the rural areas.

The exercise, which is taking place across all 216 districts in the country, will have enumerators collect data of households and institutions engaged in crop production, livestock, aquaculture and tree planting.

“The agricultural census is currently ongoing smoothly in all the districts across the country to collect data on farmers and I am very optimistic that work will be accomplished within the next eighteen (18) days scheduled for the exercise based on the assessment of progress of work in the Eastern Region,” the Eastern Regional Extension Officer explained.

The significance of the activity, according to Papa Allotey is to keep government and policy makers informed.

“All the districts in the country are agricultural friendly with their respective demographical staple of production and so government needs to know the number of farmers in country,” he added.

Some information required from farmers during the nearly three week activity include their names and family size, the number of hectares of production and the types of farming engaged in by the farmers, (horticulture, root and tubers, aquaculture, livestock, grains and cereals, etc.

This is to help government to properly plan and take informed decisions towards agricultural sector development based on the data collected, he added.

The Extensions Officer however said the exercise could be extended by a few days where its deemed necessary, to help the field officers gather the relevant data which will then be processed into information by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the Ministry Of Food and Agricultural (MOFA), for the reference of stakeholders such as government, schools, experts, analysts and other bodies to take informed decisions based on the information.

The census when completed will provide reliable statistics for planning and monitoring food security and livelihood improvements.

The data to be collected will provide current information on the structure of agriculture in the country which is vital to the re-basing of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The data will also provide statistics on agriculture for policymakers to allocate public resources effectively and to better identify, prepare, implement and evaluate developmental projects aimed at promoting agriculture in rural areas.

It will again provide current information to help fight environmental issues at the community level and provide relevant information for use by stakeholders including farmers, researchers and international organizations.

Source: Prince Paul Amuzu/www.ritefmonline.org/princeamuzu667@gmail.com

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