The Coalition said it is concerned about persistent shortage of subsidized fertiliser and increasing media reports of smuggling of the farm manure to neighbouring West African countries, mainly through northern parts of the country.

GTLC recently proposed to the government to stop the fertilizer subsidy policy as it did not inure to the benefit of local farmers.

"GTLC notes with concern the mismatch between the supplied subsidized fertilizer and the required quantities needed by farmers," Mr Emmanuel Wullingdool, Policy Officer of GTLC told the Ghana News Agency.

He said government should reconsider the current model in the coming years, saying: "It needs to be pointed out that small holder farmers consist of over 80 per cent of food crop farmers and current quantities of subsided fertilizer falls short of demand".

In 2017, the GTLC Agro Policy Performance Barometer (APPB) report estimated that only 18 percent of the needed fertiliser was supplied under the subsidy to local farmers.

Mr Wullingdool said, "The whole idea of supplying fertiliser as way of increasing farmer yields is overstated," and that "Fertiliser is just one of the numerous inputs that is required to ensure increased yields".

"There appears to be an over concentration on fertilizer as a key issue in increasing the yields of farmers".

He said location specific and knowledge specific considerations were ignored with the entire fertiliser subsidy designed to be a "one-size fits all strategy".

He said it is important to state that combining fertilizer subsidy with other support services like extension advice, timely land preparation and the availability of water, could produce substantial positive effect.

"Until that mix is achieved, the over concentration on fertilizer is masking government's inadequate commitment to increase investment in the sector".

The GTLC-APPB 2017 report projected the average cost of credit to many small-scale farmers to be over 150 percent in most parts of the country.

"If government is really committed to supporting farmers, then it should rather channel resources of the subsidy to create a fund that can ensure that farmers have cheaper source of credit," Mr Wullingdoo said.

The move could help local farmers to access all the inputs they needed including fertiliser at the right time and in the right quantities from the open market. 

Mr Wullingdool said to acquire a subsidised bag of fertilizer which costs GHC 50, a farmer that may acquire a loan at the cost of 150 per cent eventually buys the subsidised product at GHC 125.

He therefore called on Government to immediately scrap the subsidy on fertilizer and ensure that the agriculture census was completed to enable targeted farmers acquire credit at lower costs.

He said the cost of the effort in stopping smuggling by the security agencies would only add to the total cost of the subsidy. 

The National Fertilizer Subsidy Programme is one of Ghana's major agricultural interventions which the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been spearheading since 2008.

But local farmers have been complaining of not getting the product at all or receiving it at a higher cost and at the wrong time.

Last month, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, visited the Province of Sissili in Burkina Faso to seek collaboration on combating fertilizer smuggling from Ghana.