The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) is repositioning itself as a strategic partner in the agricultural value-chain in order to grant greater market access to farmers and other food commodity dealers, Mr Hanan Abdul-Wahab, Chief Executive Officer has said.
He explained that the move was intended to
redirect the agency into the fulfilment of one of its core mandates of
addressing price and market challenges farmers faced.
Mr Abdul-Wahab was addressing this year’s
Northern Ghana Investment Conference in Tamale in the Northern Region.
The four-day conference organised by Ridmut
Consult Limited brought together key stakeholders to deliberate on economic
development issues in northern Ghana.
Speaking on the topic “Achieving agricultural
commercialisation in northern Ghana”, Mr Abdul-Wahab expressed regret that
despite the fact that about three quarters of the country’s agricultural
produce came from Northern Ghana, deprivation was rife.
The five regions of the North, he said had vast
arable land spread across and could be developed to become the bread-basket of
the entire country, aside the fact that land was suitable for various food and
cash crops as well as livestock.
He therefore called for an aggressive plan to
commercialise agriculture in that part of the country.
“The challenge really has been how to
commercialise the entire cycle within the agriculture value chain, and this
calls for massive investment, innovations and commitment on the part of all
stakeholders”, he said.
Mr Abdul-Wahab commended programmes by
government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to industrialise
agriculture, citing the agriculture mechanisation, 1 District 1 Warehouse and 1Village
1 Dam, saying it would accelerate the process of commercialising agriculture in
the country.
He stressed the need for agriculture policies
to emphasise intensification and commercialisation in order to achieve yield
maximisation and feed the growing population.
He advised farmers to diversify agricultural
commodities, re-introduce pest-resilient traditional crops and native
livestock, increase market value of traditional crops and comply with safety
regulations.
“We must not overlook the need for the development
of linkages between stakeholders and improving access to markets, the
development of contract based production systems as well as the linkage between
smallholders and agribusiness enterprises”, he concluded.
In a related development, Mr Abdul-Wahab
received the Business Development Executive Award at the weekend to climax this
year’s Northern Ghana Investment Conference held in Tamale.
The award is in recognition of his contribution towards agriculture and for his ongoing reforms at NAFCO since assuming the headship role in 2017. GNA
