Stakeholders at an Agriculture and Food security summit in Accra have described government’s current spending on the agrifood industry which forms only 2 percent of the national budget as woefully inadequate to boost food production in the country.
The summit, oranised by the International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI, at the Mensvic Hotel in Accra, brought together participants from relevant ministries; regional and district authorities; parliament and oversight bodies; research institutions; farmers’ organizations among others.
THE SUMMIT AS A TRANSFORMATIONAL WORKSHOP
The two day summit was used as a workshop to discuss Ghana’s Agrifood Systems Transformation under the Kampala Declaration.
The Kampala Declaration is a 10-year continental framework adopted by the African Union in January 2025 and implemented from 2026 to 2035 to eliminate hunger and boost food production in Africa.
The declaration states that African governments must allocate 10 percent of national budget to the agrifood sector to achieve food sufficiency in their respective countries. Howeve, Ghana is only doing 2 percent of national budget support for the industry, coupled with other challenges like limited irrigation coverage, high post-harvest losses and lack of access to funding and investment platforms.
Local farmers face challenges like post harvest losses and limited access to funding.
The workshop focused on the continental and national policy context, Ghana’s agrifood systems status, economywide evidence for investment prioritization, and policy and program opportunities.
Participants also engaged in prioritization, coordination, and action through thematic breakout groups, reporting back, and discussions on a national roadmap for domesticating the Kampala Declaration.
At the event, it was revealed that accessibility and affordablity are major challenges affecting both farmers and consumers as farmers on one hand have difficulty accessing funds and production implements to facilitate their work while consumers complain of high cost of quality food on the local market.
Ensuring food security is key to meeting Kampala Declaration
Some participants at the workshop talked about some challenges including difficulty in getting ready market for local produce like rice, while there is a glut of imported foreign rice flooding the local market. They asked the organisers to forward the petitions to the government for immediate redress.
A Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, Seth Asante added in an interview that their recent analytical studies in the Agrifood sector shows that farmers, women, youth, and agrifood SMEs continue to face barriers in accessing land, finance, technology, services, and markets.
Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, Seth Asante
These major challenges, according to Mr. Asante, are hampering the country’s efforts at scaling up food security in the wider African Agrifood context.
After the workshop, participants were able to build concensus on strategic priorities for productivity growth, SME agro-processing, diet affordability, resilience, inclusion, market development, and governance reforms which will be forwarded to the government as a progressive strategic framework for Ghana’s agrifood industry in tandem with the Kampala Declaration.
