President Akufo-Addo has been accused of peddling what it called falsehood when he delivered the 2020 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Addressing party supporters at the public forum held Tuesday, dubbed ‘Assessing The 3 Year Reign of President Akufo-Addo,’ Asunafo South MP, Eric Opoku said the President’s claim that the Agric sector grew by 6.4 per cent in 2019 is “false”.

Mr Opoku who is also Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agric said President Akufo-Addo’s comments are “not borne out of the facts contained in government’s own 2020 budget approved by Parliament.”

President Akufo-Addo during his SONA in Parliament touted his administration’s performance in the Agric sector saying “another good example of deliberate, well-thought-out policy, executed through hard work and commitment which is generating dividends, is what we have done about food and agriculture in the past three years.

“It bears repeating that agriculture was very much in the doldrums when we came into office, with a growth rate of 2.9%. We introduced the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs and set about to make agriculture an attractive profession. We invested resources, expertise and time, and the results have been impressive and rewarding. Growth rate in 2017 was 6.1%, and this increased to 6.4% last year.”

But Mr Opoku disagrees with this progress report.

According to him, the Akufo-Addo administration has performed poorly in managing Ghana’s Agric sector and that instead of building and improving on what the Mahama administration left behind, it has run everything to the ground.

“This paradoxical situation shows that contrary to the long-cherished agricultural principle that you plant a seed and reap a harvest, the Akufo-Addo government has been planting a harvest and reaping a seed in the last three years.

“The declining trend for the agricultural sector from 2017 to 2019 completely belies the president’s claim that the Agric sector is doing well,” he added.

He said despite the political sloganeering and hollow rhetoric of President Akufo-Addo, the reality on the ground is that all is not well with Ghana’s agricultural sector.

Planting for Food and Jobs

Evaluating government’s flagship the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, Mr Opoku challenged President Akufo-Addo’s claim that the initiative has been successful.

He wondered how peasant farmers – who the programme is meant for – are now producing in commercial quantities as stated by the president.

“Peasant farmers produce primarily to feed their families and can only sell surpluses to enable them to procure other basic needs. Commercial farmers, on the other hand, produce in anticipation of market demand.

“Hence, the bumper harvest being trumpeted by the Akuf-Addo government is largely as a result of production by commercial farmers and cannot be attributed to the success of planting for food and jobs programme,” he added.

On President Akufo-Addo’s disclosure that Ghana is reducing its dependence on the importation of maize as a result of increased production and high yields, Mr Opoku said that is also false.

According to him, the US Department of Agriculture, in its breakdown of Ghana’s maize importation figures indicate that Ghana in 2016 imported 31,000 metric tonnes of maize. In 2017, 19,000 metric tonnes of maize was again imported by government. That figure increased to 26,000 in 2018 and jumped to 50,000 metric tonnes in 2019.

“The proramme which was intended to reduce the importation of maize had landed Ghana increased importation of maize. The declining fortunes of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is largely as a result of the continued smuggling of huge quantities of fertilizer meant for farmers.

“Instead of admitting the failings and challenges confronting the programme, the Akufo-Addo government has set up an office at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which has been cooking figures to mislead the nation on the true state of the programme,” he claimed.