Govt assures improved agric practices

By Ama Amankwah Baafi
The Minister designate for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has stated the government’s determination to bridge the huge gap between the number of agricultural extension officers (AEO) in the country and the number of farmers who need their services.

He has assured that for the first year, 1,000  extension officers would be engaged under the government’s “Planting for Food and Jobs” initiative to improve farmer-extension officer ratio to provide technical advice to farmers.

When he appeared before the vetting committee of parliament, Dr Akoto cited statistics to show that the linkage between science and agriculture was gradually being weakened.

He said although 4,400 extension officers were supposed to be on the list at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), the current list had only about 2,600 and it was significant to note that in the next three years, 80 per cent of them would retire, whereas no plans had been made to hire officers in the last three years. \

“From 2011-2015, the five agric colleges have produced over 3,200 graduate technical officers who are supposed to be helping our farmers to link science and technology in the fields but have not been hired and it indicates that the links between the farmer and science is being broken,” he said.
Dr Akoto said the rest of the graduates would, however, be absorbed in the subsequent years to strengthen the link between technology and farming.

Extension services
Agricultural extension service can be the government agency or ministry responsible for promoting the adoption and utilisation of new scientific farming practices through educational procedures.

Although the United Nations (UN) prescribes that one extension officer should take care of 500 farmers, the issue of extension service was still a challenge to most farmers in Ghana.
Statistics from the MOFA show a ratio of one AEO assigned to about 1,500 farmers, a situation that makes it difficult for smallholder farmers who need their services most to access extension services.

An extension worker helps farmers to increase the productivity of their farms and improve their living standards.
He or she serves as an advisor, a technician and a middleman operating between agricultural research institutions and the farming communities.

Experts have said that the absence of ES made it difficult for MOFA itself to execute its own programmes as it tried to modernise the agriculture sector by coming out with new products, equipment and programmes.
Studies by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) have shown that some farmers do not see the need to use improved seeds because they think it will require using more fertiliser and the produce may go bad early.

Indeed, if farmers are not able to get the right information, they won’t apply appropriate methods of farming so at the end they will still be getting lower yields which will end up impacting the total contribution of the agriculture sector.

Planting for food and jobs
Meanwhile, Dr Akoto has announced that a national campaign to encourage all citizens to go into farming would soon be launched.
For the first year it will focus on the maize, rice, soya bean, sorghum and vegetable production.GB


Pull Quote
From 2011-2015 the five agric colleges have produced over 3,200 graduate technical officers who are supposed to be helping our farmers to link science and technology in the fields but have not been hired and it indicates that the links between the farmer and science is being broken.

Key note
For Ghana’s agriculture to improve, farmers have no alternative than to respond positively to new ideas, learn and adopt recommended scientific farming techniques.