Projected low yields to affect agric production targets

The government may not achieve the target of increasing agricultural production this year due to projected low yields.

This follows the concerns of farmers in the country who are of the view that low yields will be recorded this year as a result of their inability to participate in the government-subsidized agricultural development training program. They have also been unable afford fertilizers even though government is giving a 50% subsidy.

Expressing the concerns during his lecture on Agriculture at the 2017 Ghana Economic Forum in Accra, CEO of Kofi and Vinyo Company Ltd, Kofi Vinyo said farmers will be able to pay the remaining fifty percent of the input because they definitely will not get the expected yields.

He further noted that “farmers have not been given training so they do things on the field anyhow and when it happens like that, how do we meet the standards of the international market? How do we produce enough because - there is still so much we have to learn”.

However, government through the Ministry of Agriculture believes measures put in place will ensure targets are realised.

In an encounter with the press on the sideline of the GEF - Deputy Agric Minister, Sagri Banbangi said the government is “partnering with the Council for Scientific Research, specifically the Crops Research Institute and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute and then the Grains and Legumes Development board to ensure that we improve upon the production of foundation seeds after the grains have been developed”.

The move is also geared towards addressing the challenges faced by the Ministry of Agriculture in providing adequate improved seeds to farmers at the launch of the planting for food and jobs initiative.