The Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has urged stakeholders within the agriculture sector to intensify their efforts towards food self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imports.

Speaking during a working visit to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, she underscored the importance of food security, describing food as the most fundamental human need.

“Food is the first basic necessity of life. It is food before clothing and shelter.

Without food, I don’t know what we will be doing,” she said .

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang expressed concern over the country’s continuing dependence on food imports despite its favourable climatic conditions, adding that the country had no justification for failing to produce what it consumed.

She called for a renewed national mindset, urging citizens to contribute in whatever capacity they could even at the household level.

“If all you can do is grow pepper or spices in a flower pot, you are still contributing,” she said.

Visit

The visit was part of a broader engagement with key ministries to understand their challenges so as to attend to them.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was accompanied by the Chief of Staff in her office, Alex Percival Segbefia, along with other staff.

She was received by the sector minister, Eric Opoku, together with the management, staff and heads of agencies under the ministry.

Collaboration

On innovation and research, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang called for stronger collaboration between the ministry and research institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

She said valuable research outputs were often underutilised, and therefore, urged the ministry to integrate research findings into policy and practice to maximise impact while encouraging the adoption of locally-developed agricultural technologies.

The Vice-President further lauded efforts to establish farmer service centres and promote the local production of agricultural machinery. 

Efforts

The minister said the government was building agricultural service centres in all 270 districts in the country.

Mr Opoku explained that each centre would have warehouses or silos to store food for emergencies as well as offices for extension officers to support farmers.

The centres will also be equipped with motorbikes and other tools to help officers respond quickly when farmers need assistance.

Mr Opoku said the ministry, with support from the World Food Programme, had started training people to operate agricultural machinery and manage facilities.

He added that about 300 women had already been trained to drive tractors and repair them when they broke down.