By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG), Anthony Morrison, has called for an agile system to transform the agriculture sector into an industrial powerhouse.
According to him placing systems geared toward industrialising every sector, including agriculture, is crucial because the “heartbeat and development of every country is industrialisation and it involves the development of industries and regulating them to meet the regulatory mandates”.
“So as a country, we have gotten to a level where we need to adopt a kind of system; I mean an agile system that can transform our agric sector in an industrial manner,” he said.
He made this known in an interview with an Accra-based radio station, highlighting some reforms needed in the agricultural sector to drive economic progress, create jobs and support sustainable development.
Mr. Morrison elaborated that the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) harbours the industry development of the county. However, over the years, it has failed to play that leadership role. As a result, he proposed the establishment of an Industry Development and Regulatory Authority to spearhead the transformation of the country’s agric ecosystem into a vibrant industry.
“When you go to MoTI and ask for the department in charge of industry development? They tell you, it is being anchored in a department called anchored services. This is the heartbeat of every country and we put it inside an organogram looking at anchor services. So, they put other services that are ‘not important’ together and call them anchor services,” he explained.
He added that underneath the authority will be a Raw Material Development Council responsible for the following; mapping out the country to determine all the raw materials available, developing a profile for all types of commodities, identifying the global markets, buyers, factories and the skills available to turn it into a commercial, competitive and comparative way.
Mr. Morrison reiterated: “This is how we should be looking at developing both the agricultural sector and any other sector of this country in an industrial manner”.
Focusing on the role of skill set in industrialising the agricultural apace, he stressed that the skills of individuals in the sector must be enhanced to increase productivity in the industry, reduce waste and attain efficiency at its peak.
He also commented on President John Mahama’s call to reset the agricultural sector, saying that it requires a complete reset, especially among individuals or institutions who receive donor funding on behalf of the country.
Mr. Morrison indicated that the “country receives more than US$600million or about a billion dollars every year from development partners; yet out of the donor funds or agriculture sector funds that come in, only less than 50 percent funds go into the actual job”.
He bemoaned the stress individuals who want to venture into agribusiness face and suggested that a multi-sectorial agribusiness development authority or one ministry dedicated to dealing with such issues.
“We move between quite a number of ministries. We want just one ministry to deal with and it will be good if we can look at multi-sectorial agribusiness development authority.”
