Agric Minister inaugurates 2 boards
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has inaugurated two boards of agencies under the ministry.
They are the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) and the Grains and Legumes Development Board.
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TCDA board
The 29-member board of the TCDA is chaired by the President’s nominee, Stephen Sekyere-Abankwa, with members as William A. Quaitoo, Chief Executive Officer of TCDA; Michael Okyere Baafi, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry; Dr Yaw Adu Ampomah, a representative from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture; and Gifty Nkansah Sekyere, a representative from the Ministry of Finance.
Other members of the board are Davies Narh Korboe, Bassam George Aoun, Anthony Botchway and Vida Korang representing players in the mango sector on the board whilst Simon Tetteh, Emmanuel Akwasi Owusu, Capt. James Owusu-Koranteng, and Isaac Castro Bosomtwe represent those in the rubber business on the board.
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto (head of table) swearing the board members of the Tree Crops Development Authority
The rest are Alex Owusu Agyei, Alexander Joseph Bonsu, Ed-Malvin Nii Ayi Bontey Smith, and Chief Adam Tampuri representing the cashew sector on the board whilst Isaac Ampofo, Paul Amaning, Maxwell Nii Commey, Samuel Avaala Awonnea serve the interest of oil palm players on the board.
Those in the coconut sector are represented by Patrick Arlloo Ndabiah, Saaka Ahmed Shuaib, Kwaku Boateng and James Andy Kojo Nunoo while Dora Haborsutei Torwiseh, Valerie Obaze, Kwame Agyarko Boaitey Wiafte, and Ophelia Nubabaare represent the interest of players in the shea sector on the board.
GLDB board
The board for the GLDB is chaired by a President nominee, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, with the Acting Executive Director of the GLDB Samuel Boadu, a representative of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Seth Osei-Akoto, a representative of Seed Growers Association Francis Kwasi Adzalo and a representative of farmers' representative Peter Oteng Darko as members.
The rest are President's nominee (farming), Dr Robert Agyeibi Asuboah, President's nominee (finance), Samuel Danquah Arkhurst, President's nominee (consumer) ,Monica Boakye-Kutin, and a President's nominee (business), William Oppong Bio.
Diversification
Inaugurating the board of the TCDA, Dr Akoto charged the new board to help diversify the country’s tree crop economy in order to generate more foreign exchange from agricultural exports.
He said for a very long time, the country had remained a mono-tree crop economy, depending mainly on cocoa to generate huge chunk of its foreign exchange from agricultural exports.
That, he noted, was about time that the country worked to improve its foreign export revenues from the agricultural sector by providing alternative cash crops that could generate more foreign revenues than cocoa.
Readiness to work
The Chairman of the board, Sekyere-Abankwa, expressed the gratitude of the board to the President for re-appointing almost all the members on the previous board on the current board.
He pledged the commitment of the board to work to advance the development of the six selected crops under TCDA.
Reviving GLDB
Inaugurating the nine-member governing board of the GLDB, Dr Akoto charged members to revive and turn round the fortunes of the board.
He acknowledged that the board had been in "coma" for a while and said the ministry would be monitoring what the new board would be doing.
Responding, Mr Acquah said the board was aware of the enormity of the work ahead of it but it would “ work assiduously to come out with policies and programmes that will augment the ministry’s agenda to promote agriculture.