Agric needs policy mix for results - FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has indicated that Ghana can achieve its desired agricultural transformation if it identifies the right mix of policy interventions, regulations and investments.
At the launch and inception meeting of the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) Phase III implementation in the country, the Country Representative of FAO, Mr Gueye Ndiaga, said Ghana needed a data-informed policy to provide the right interventions to boost the agricultural sector.
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The event was dubbed: “Prioritising and reforming agri-food system policies in Ghana”.
Mr Ndiaga said agriculture was a $4.5-trillion global industry that provided food, bio-fuels and other products for a variety of consumers.
He said the sector was one of the most dynamic and innovative areas of the global economy from which the country was already benefiting, and that identifying the right policies for the sector was key to expanding investments in the area.
Agriculture
MAFAP, which began in 2009, has supported governments by monitoring and providing technical analysis to inform agricultural policy decision-making.
Mr Ndiaga said MAFAP — now entering its third phase from 2021 to 2027 — was aimed at providing evidence to drive a sustainable policy environment for inclusive agricultural transformation in partner countries.
He said the FAO would work with the government and other relevant stakeholders to support the process of agricultural transformation in the country by providing support for agricultural policies.
Inception meeting
The inception meeting was to introduce phase III of the MAFAP programme and identify areas of analytical policy works that could be aligned to the government’s needs for agricultural and economic transformation.
Agriculture contributes a significant portion of the local gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment for many people.
“In 2020, the share of agriculture to Ghana's GDP was 18.24 per cent, industry contributed approximately 34.69 per cent, the services sector contributed about 42.63 per cent, while agriculture provided employment for 29.75 per cent of the national labour force as of 2019, according to World Bank statistics,” Mr Ndiaga indicated.
MAFAP overview
Providing an overview, the Manager of MAFAP, Mr Christian Derlagen, said the first phase covered 2009 to 2014 and involved developing a specific methodology to monitor agricultural and food policies in African countries.
The second phase, which began in 2014, focused on working with governments to identify and address policy issues that hindered agricultural development.
Phase III of the programme, currently running, is targeted at providing evidence to drive a sustainable policy environment for inclusive agricultural transformation, focusing on policy monitoring indicators, policy reforms and policy prioritisation.