Minister calls for agriculture census to make food production projections

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru, has called for an agricultural census to enable the country to make projections with regard to food production.

He said the last agricultural census was conducted 37 years ago and added that the data collected then were no longer relevant and reliable and could not be used for planned undertakings in the sector.

Alhaji Muniru was speaking when he appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Poverty Reduction in Parliament yesterday to state measures taken by the ministry to implement the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda  (GSGDA), 2010-2013.

The ministry set targets for 2010-2013 for which budgets were approved by Parliament.

The appearance of the minister was to determine whether those targets set which had been incorporated into the GSGDA had been met.

Census

He said as the years went by, Ghana’s forest cover dwindled, while the size of the country’s arable land also declined.

He said it was important to conduct a census to determine how much forest cover had been lost, how much arable land Ghana had and the current levels of soil fertility.

According to him, it was also important to ascertain how many crops were cultivated in the country, the potential the cultivation of any new crop held, among many other things.

That, he said, would provide reliable data to support the growth and development of the sector in a sustainable way.

Plant Breeders Bill

The failure of Parliament to pass the Plant Breeders Bill also came up for discussion, with a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Crops, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, stating that the passage of the bill was very crucial.

“If Ghana decides, for sentimental and emotional reasons, not to pass it, we will lose. I know of an improved variety of maize from Ghana which is being used all over Africa, yet the country has not earned anything for it,” he said.

He said to ensure that Ghanaian plant breeders earned money for the improved seeds they produced and also ensure that their products were patented, there was the need to pass the bill.

Other matters

Asked by members of the committee why the production of plantain, as a crop, had not been prioritised by the ministry, Dr Alhassan said plantain and cocoyam were being “threatened” because they were first-based crops.

He said desertification was setting in and, as a result, the country’s forests were losing moisture.

He noted that the two crops needed moisture to thrive, hence the low production being experienced

Source: www.graphic.com.gh