Renowned economist, Kwame Pianim has described government’s continuous subsidization of fertilizers as a waste of money.
Speaking on Asaase Radio he said the government should rather think of tracking policies to get educated people into the agricutural sector and transform it so it is based on commercial farming.
“The mistake is that we believe we can transform agriculture with peasant farmers. It has never happened anywhere in the world and it’s not going to happen … it’s large-scale agriculture that we need.
“So, when you are putting money to subsidise fertiliser, it’s a waste of money. If you have commercial farmers and fertiliser will improve their yields by 35%, you go and sleep on the fertiliser: they will come and remove you and get the fertiliser from you; they will pay.”
He continued, “Agriculture is hard under this sun, so if you give me free fertiliser and I have to go into the sun to work and the yields are not going to come because it’s unpredictable and I don’t have irrigation, I will go and sell it [fertiliser].
“So, we need to focus … How do we get educated people into farming? It means mechanisation; [the farmer] can sit in his tractor and plough his farm …”
The distinguished economist said agriculture is “our big base” and that the government must pursue agricultural mechanisation and irrigation as well as procure high-yielding inputs, reasonably good roads and other essential adjuncts to transform the sector.
GhanaFeed.com