Browsing: Agriculture in Ghana

The reason farmers are forced to buy seeds is that projects like AGRA take away traditional organic seeds by giving subsidized GMO seeds, which cannot be replanted hence after harvest, the farmers must buy new batches of seeds to replant the next season.

In effect, forcing the farmers to rely on new purchases of seeds every year means the peasants are unwittingly caught in a cycle of dependency and poverty, for that matter.

Worse still, projects like AGRA that claims to introduce ‘modern agriculture technologies’ focus on using chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides and also push for monoculture, which locks the farmers in the dependency cycle; they have to buy more fertilizers to keep their lands productive, and they have to buy the same pesticides because of monoculture.

It is for such reasons that last year, AFSA released an open letter with over 200 signatories alleging that AGRA did not increase the productivity or incomes of farmers nor did it reduce food insecurity.

Thomas James, Agritech West Africa’s project director, said that the rising demand for food and the targeted food growth in Ghana and West Africa requires innovation and mechanization in agriculture patterns. This could be done by adopting new and modern agriculture technologies, machines, crop care practices, irrigation, warehousing and storage facilities.

Ghana has invested heavily in mechanisation in agriculture, importing Tractors, Spares, Implements, Agrochemicals and Irrigation setups worth US$1 billion. Annually, Ghana imports over 10,000 tractors and their associated implements and parts.

The seminars, pre-fixed meetings and conferences in the exhibition will help Ghanaian and West African agriculture-based companies an opportunity to network with manufacturers and suppliers from across the globe.