The 2016 manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was officially launched by President John Mahama in Sunyani on Saturday.

The 80-page document titled "Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana" was unveiled in style at the Sunyani Coronation Park with all the stalwarts of the party present.

This was done some four days after President John Mahama presented highlights of the manifesto at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra.

Despite several criticisms from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the economy, government has insisted that the economy is resilient.

According to the manifesto, "Economic growth is on the rise, the rate of inflation is moving downward, the exchange rate is stable, and even appreciating as a result of a reducing budget deficit."

The achievements of the government in the last four years in the Economy have been outlined in the Manifesto. Also listed are government's commitments to create jobs and transform lives from 2017-2021 if given the mandate on December 7.

For the entire 2016 Manifesto of the NDC, click here.

The following is the full details of the NDC manifesto promises on the Economy which also fall under the second theme of four thematic areas the manifesto has been divided into, Strong Economy for Jobs and Transformation.

THEME 2

Strong Economy for Jobs and Transformation

Ghana’s economy has seen steady progress over the past few decades and investor confidence continues to improve with the attainment of Lower Middle Income Country (LMIC) status.

The average GDP growth rate over the seven-year period spanning 2009 to 2015 is 6.8% per annum compared to 5.8% per annum from 2001 to 2008 and 4.4% between 1993 and 1999.

Macroeconomic stability remains key to the attainment of accelerated growth and development. With prudent and effective management of the economy, we have seen sustained growth over the last few years despite the challenging context of global economic volatilities (precipitous fall in commodity prices) and an economy in transition with attendant dwindling concessional financing and increasing cost of credit.

THE ECONOMY

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2014, our “home grown solutions” fortified by the consensus we reached at Senchi, led to the development of a domestic agenda for growth and development that was used as the basis for initiating discussion with the International Monetary Fund for an External Credit Facility (ECF) Programme.

 After two years of implementation, the ECF is contributing to the reversal of adverse movements and allowing macro-economic indicators to resume positive trends. Economic growth is on the rise, the rate of inflation is moving downward, the exchange rate is stable, and even appreciating as a result of a reducing budget deficit.

Improvements in the balance of payments have contributed to increase in the level of reserves. We commit to sustaining the reforms that have turned our fortunes around and confirmed the potential of our economy. We also commit to implementing the Economic Transformation and Livelihood Empowerment Programme (ETLEP) to create more jobs for the citizenry for enhanced incomes.

 Investor confidence has been high, attested to by the fact that global companies continue to invest in our economy. Ghana attracted US$9.7 billion in Foreign Direct Investment between 2013 and 2015. Work commenced on the US$7 billion Sankofa hydrocarbon project, which the World Bank guaranteed with US$700 million. Our vision of a strong and resilient economy is that it must lead to increased value addition and job creation.

This informed our investment in domestic raw material based industries, such as the Komenda Sugar Factory, the Kumasi Shoe Factory, the Ghana Gas Processing Plant at Atuabo and the Ceramic Factory that will produce 40 million square metres of tiles annually for the local  and export markets, at Eshiem in the Western Region.

Arising out of our commitment to build strong institutions as an anchor in the Transformation Agenda, the following have been achieved:

• The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), which will be at the forefront of addressing our infrastructure deficit and accelerating growth, has been established;

 • The Export Trade Agricultural and Industrial Development Fund (EDAIF) was strengthened to give more financing supporting to local industries;

• The Export and Import Bank of Ghana has been established.

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

MACROECONOMIC POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND TARGETS

Since the attainment of the Lower Middle Income Country status in 2011 and the subsequent reclassification of Ghana’s international prolife, the need to change economic management strategy has become crucial, especially in the country’s financing arrangements.

Grants, which had hitherto played a significant role in the country’s financing choices, have virtually ceased on the attainment of the LMIC status. In spite of this, growth performance has been encouraging and the economy has remained relatively stable with the implementation of our economic programme.

Spurred on by the successful economic performance in recent years  and mindful of the fact that Ghana is a LMIC, the next four years will be underpinned by continued pursuit of prudent economic policies aimed at further creation of employment opportunities, enhanced incomes and growth with macroeconomic stability. 

With economic growth spurring strong employment creation, macroeconomic policies will emphasize domestic demand policies to safeguard macroeconomic stability and keep inflation in single digits.

Towards this end, a strong focus will also be on increased agricultural production, especially food crops. The evidence shows that inflation is massively influenced by the food crops and fisheries component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket.

To ensure that food crops and fisheries sector do not impact negatively on inflation, a better congenial framework will be provided for the public and private sector to drive the modernization of the agricultural sector. It is expected that this modernization of agriculture will feed into the macroeconomic management process while macroeconomic stability will, in turn, enhance private sector competitive agricultural production.

Ghana’s status as an oil exporting country requires that we improve agriculture in order to avoid the Dutch disease. It is our commitment to maintain a vibrant agricultural sector such that developments in oil and gas production do not engender a loss of competitiveness of the agricultural sector.

 This is important for us because agriculture remains the primary livelihood for the majority of our population, especially in rural communities. Sustained investments in agricultural expansion through commercialization and the adoption of modern technologies will help create job opportunities for the poor and fight an increasingly adverse climate.

Similarly, exchange rate policies will be anchored in promoting exports and private sector competitiveness. The private sector is envisioned to partner the public sector in the production and delivery of infrastructure facilities.

The NDC as a social democratic party with strong conviction for active state participation in the delivery of public goods and other meritorious social goods, will continue to promote partnerships with the private sector in the production of these goods and services. The NDC envisages that the private sector will take a leading role in the diversification of

exports and expand access to both international and domestic markets with import substitution, thus improving foreign exchange earnings of government and providing relative stability in the foreign exchange market. Having reined in the fiscal excesses that characterised election years, prudence in public expenditures will continue to be a top priority to ensure the fiscal and macroeconomic stability of the country.

We will rationalize the fiscal space, especially the tariff regimes to ensure that taxation and other tariffs are instruments of industrial development and trade facilitation so that, supported by government, the private sector can become the engine of employment creation, enhanced incomes,  growth and wealth creation.

The revenues accrued will be used to leverage private sector investments.  In order to optimise the use of tariffs and other taxes, both as revenue generation and trade facilitation instruments, and to promote industrial development, Government has established the Ghana International Trade Commission (GITC) with the mandate, inter alia, to:

• Monitor and review the pattern of Ghana’s international trade and advise on matters affecting trade and industry;

• Study, identify and recommend tariff levels for specific sectors of the economy with due regard to the effective rate of protection without the blanket removal of duties on all imports and

• Conduct studies and publish reports on the competitiveness of Ghana’s tariff structure and the impact of the tariff structure on domestic industry, market access opportunities and challenges in relation to exports from Ghana;

With improved private sector competitiveness (as a result of rationalized tariff regimes for growth and stronger taxable income) revenues will increase to reduce the fiscal deficits and also reduce dependence on debt.

It is expected that the associated improved revenues and reduced monetization of fiscal deficits, interest rates on private sector loans will fall and make credit more accessible at competitive rates. Germane to the fiscal rationalization for macroeconomic stability is the debt management objective to source funds to meet public financing needs and payment obligations at the minimum competitive cost and prudent level of risk, as well as to ensure that public debts are maintained at sustainable levels into the longer term.

The NDC Government will work to ensure that the fiscals do not pose problems for debt management, especially as outlined in our Medium Term Debt Strategy (MTDS), which focuses on managing the risk exposure associated with the existing debt portfolio and taking the necessary and prudent steps to mitigate the potential risk that would be embedded in current and future borrowing.

With improved sovereign rating of Ghana, the private sector can borrow internationally at lower rates to invest and promote job creation. Consequently, the continued transformation will entail:

• Acceleration of inclusive economic growth;

• Reinforcement of local content policies;

• Control of inflation;

• Currency stabilization and improvement in levels of international reserves through sustainable export-led policies;

• Reduction in the Debt-to-GDP ratio through further enhancement of our debt-management policies; and

• The creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. We will target increased growth rates in the agriculture and services sector as well as revitalize the industry sector, particularly the manufacturing sub-sector. Macroeconomic Targets Fiscal Policy Our fiscal policy will aim to:

• Ensure a transparent, effective and efficient natural resource management regime including oil and gas resource management;

• Consolidate the processes for the management of public finances to improve reporting, accountability and transparency;

• Implement the Revenue Administration Act as well as Regulations to, among other things, move revenue processes to an electronic platform;

• Continue to pursue policies that will ensure fiscal prudence and avoid excessive budget deficits;

• Accelerate the implementation of the Public Financial Management Reforms, including the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (GIFMIS) and Programme-Based Budgeting (PBB);

 • Rationalise the tax system to reduce the burden on the few and

• Simplify the tax system to make it more efficient and robust. Monetary Policy Our monetary policy will aim to:

• Encourage the Bank of Ghana to continue to implement policies that emphasize low and stable inflation rates, as well as a stable and productive exchange rate regime to enhance trade competitiveness;

• Support the Bank of Ghana to initiate and implement policies that will compel commercial banks to reduce the spread between their borrowing and lending rates;

• Scale-up processes, including not only working closely with the Telecommunication Companies to reduce the high level of cash transactions but also supporting the use of electronic payment platforms to effect payments for all forms of financial obligations to public institutions;

• Continue to strengthen the capital market;

• Encourage the Bank of Ghana to support our job creation agenda and economic growth through financial intermediation alongside the attainment of price stability;

• Support the implementation of the Ghana Depositors Protection law to protect small depositors in the micro-finance industry.

JOB CREATION

The NDC Government has over the years successfully implemented the Single Spine Pay Policy, stabilized the exchange rate regime, improved the macroeconomic environment, enhanced government-labour relationship and implemented targeted policies and programmes to improve the living standards of working people in Ghana.

While we recognise that a lot has already been done, we also concede that some issues remain to be addressed. In line with this, the NDC Government will continue to work assiduously to create the appropriate socio-economic environment for providing working people with their basic human needs, to enhance productivity for accelerated national development.

All over the world, sustainable job creation has become central to the attainment of the socio-economic policies of Governments. We are committed to roll out special projects and programmes to propel the creation of more sustainable jobs in both the formal and informal sectors.

Through direct Government interventions and partnerships with the private sector, the following job opportunities have been created:

• Between 2013 and 2015, Government through the Export Trade Agricultural and Industrial Development Fund (EDAIF) supported local industries to the tune of GH¢245.4 million. This amount funded 125 different projects in the production of pharmaceuticals, rice, sheanut, poultry and textiles, creating thousands of jobs;

• The Skills Development Fund (implemented by COTVET) has disbursed a total of GH¢150 million to 654 businesses, which have trained 93,600 people in various skills across all sectors of the economy. A total of 43,485 businesses have also received various forms of support under the Fund;

• In line with the policy to attain 100% local printing of textbooks, contracts have been awarded to Ghanaian printing firms and publishers. This policy, alongside the removal of duties on imported raw materials for printing textbooks, is creating about 4,000 jobs;

 • Under the Free Zones Board, a total of 69 companies were established between 2013 and 2015, leading to the employment of 16,372 people;

• The Youth in Agriculture programme employed 23,000 youth in 2013 bringing the total number of young farmers under the programme to 81,150;

• The Department of Cooperatives registered a total of 1,757 Youth Co-operatives in all the 10 regions leading to the creation of 34,657 jobs;

• The Rural Enterprises Project led to the creation of 21,045 jobs across the country between 2013 and 2015;

• GRATIS Foundation under the Ministry of Trade and Industry created 500 jobs through the production of agricultural implements;

• The Micro Finance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) advanced micro credit to a total of 190,607 beneficiaries between 2010 and 2015. This has enabled the beneficiaries to set up micro businesses, which are offering jobs to themselves and others. The Centre has also distributed 953 vehicles for commercial transport, and 25 tractors for agricultural use;

• The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) is offering employment to over 100,000 youth;

 • The first batch of over 100 beneficiaries of the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) initiative has received financial support to establish and grow their own businesses after intensive training and mentoring in business management;

• Following the massive Government investment in the construction of hospitals, roads, schools, water, energy, housing and market projects, over 400,000 professionals and artisans, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, masons, carpenters, welders, steel benders, electricians and painters, among others, are currently employed at various sites;

 • We distributed 110 million cocoa seedlings to farmers between 2014 and 2016 crop seasons. This has created 9,000 jobs across 418 nursery sites. Since the programme was launched in 2014, over 30,000 youth have signed up in the cocoa growing areas;

• The pilot phase of the Ghana Broiler Re- vitalisation Project was launched in July 2014. A total of 650,000 birds were raised, processed and sold in 2015. This created 350 direct jobs and 7,800 indirect jobs for poultry farmers and the youth along the poultry value chain.

THE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION AND LIVELIHOOD EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME (ETLEP)

Having stabilized the economy by reducing the budget deficit to single digit, stabilizing the exchange rate, and also GDP growth projected to be above 8% in 2017, the next NDC Government will implement the Economic Transformation and Livelihood Empowerment Programme (ETLEP) with the view to creating more employment

opportunities particularly for the youth, enhancing incomes, growing the economy and ensuring socioeconomic transformation. Our employment initiative will focus on the attainment of social inclusion and integration of young people into the world of work.

Specific challenges to be addressed include labour market barriers, job matching problems, lack of labour market information, as well as inadequate technical, soft and life skills.

A combination of private and public initiatives will continue to be deployed and enhanced to facilitate massive job creation for the youth. It shall include among others:

• Infrastructure/Labour Intensive works – Following the formal launch of the Labour- Intensive Public Works policy, the NDC Government will employ over 300,000 unskilled people in public works;

• ICT Jobs – Following the establishment of the Business Process Out-Sourcing (BPO) Centre near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and completion of the Advance Building at the Tema ICT park, we will continue to create more ‘digital jobs’ for the ‘digital youth’ through a comprehensive ICT training programme for the youth;

• Sugar Estates – With the establishment of the Komenda Sugar Factory and further development of sugar plantations and irrigation facilities in other parts of the country, we will upscale the production of sugar from 7,000mt to 20,000mt to create 20,000 additional jobs and situate Ghana as a net exporter of sugar;

• Redevelopment of the textile Industry – We will take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to revamp the textile industry which, hitherto, employed over 45,000 persons; • Building the right skills for the Youth – We will re-establish Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as an enviable profession;

 • Youth Entrepreneurship –We will provide business advisory services to young entrepreneurs (e.g mentoring, business development services and/or business formalisation) and ensure access to microfinance;

• Youth In Agriculture - A number of concepts have been developed to address and encourage

the youth to identify economic potential in the agricultural space in Ghana. We will continue to provide training in agricultural production, entrepreneurial skills development (business excellence), supervision and monitoring for youth in agriculture.

Consequently, the next NDC administration will focus on a job creation strategy that targets manufacturing, agriculture and agribusiness, Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), implementation of the National Infrastructure Plan, small and medium scale business enterprises, special development zones and tourism. We intend to:

• Create jobs through promoting entrepreneurship and direct job programmes;

• Introduce programmes to address labour supply and to increase productivity and employability of the youth;

• Establish a Human Resource Database for Ghana;

• Expand the scope of the Local Content Act to cover other sectors of the economy, such as construction and mining;

• Establish Employment Service Providers in all MMDAs and set job outcome targets for these service providers;

• Establish a Labour Market Information System;

• Rebrand the Labour Department to become a National Employment Center to hold a database of Ghanaians and their qualifications and skills sets. Employers will be offered incentives to recruit from this database;

• Expand the YEA job creation opportunities from 100,000 to 400,000;

 • Promote occupational health and safety standards in the work environment;

• Support a growing private sector to complement the job creation efforts of Government;

• Increase employment in the agriculture sector through agriculture modernization, as well as improvement and expansion in the agro-industry with a focus on irrigation infrastructure;

• Continue to encourage able and willing youth to enter into cocoa farming and provide them with effective extension services support, seedlings and fertilizer;

• Provide thousands of jobs through the supply of over 30 million improved, early-maturing and high-yielding coffee seedlings to farmers, and increase the total acreage of coffee farms from an estimated 6,000 hectares to 100,000 hectares by 2021;

• Create 76,000 direct and indirect jobs resulting from the establishment of a Shrimp Project to promote processing and production for the Ghanaian market and for export;

 • Production of fingerlings - laboratories, fish feed factories, production ponds, processing and marketing facilities will be located in parts of the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern Regions. Production is estimated to be 30,000 metric tonnes and projected export revenue ranges between US$60 million and US$200 million;

• Trigger massive investments in textiles, garments, leather goods and other light manufacturing industries to take advantage of AGOA and growing ECOWAS market;

• Continue to rely on Ghanaian professionals (local and foreign) for internship and placement programmes in the petroleum and other sectors and

• Regularize and transform artisanal mining operations into legitimate small-scale mining activities in demarcated areas to create employment.

Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) We will strengthen and expand the operations of MASLOC to create over three hundred thousand (300,000) jobs by continuing the implementation of the following:

• Improve poultry production by making disbursements to poultry farmers to produce over 200,000 birds in selected regions;

• Increase fish production by continuing to supply thousands of outboard motors to fishermen;

• Disburse funds to over 200,000 microcredit/ group clients to support diverse economic activities including food marketing, food-crop farming and micro enterprises;

• Disburse funds to over 15,000 small loan clients engaged in micro, small and medium scale enterprises;

• Distribute vehicles to be used for taxis and tricycles to be used as intermediate means of transport and • Disburse funds to youth in other micro and small scale enterprises. Small Business Enterprises We will: • Continue to support young people under the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Fund to establish and grow their own businesses. To this end GHC100 million will be allocated to YES over the next four years; • Create an enabling climate for digital entrepreneurship;

• Support the Kumasi Business Incubator Project (KBIP at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to identify more young talents especially students and graduates who have ICT-enabled innovative ideas to establish their own businesses and nurture them, and also support other public Universities to establish similar incubators;

• Operationalize the Young Changers Business Forum (YCBF) targeted at Senior High School and University students to build their capacities on how to start and manage a business;

• Fully implement the Graduate Enterprise Development Initiative (GEDI) and

•  Train young people under the Rural Entrepreneurship Activation Programme (REAP) to stimulate rural enterprise development; Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) SADA’s mandate covers the accelerated development of the Northern Region, Upper East Region, Upper West Region, part of northern Brong Ahafo Region and part of northern Volta Region. The following initiatives already rolled out by SADA will be continued to support the creation of more jobs:

 • Construction of irrigation facilities to irrigate up to 50,000 hectares of land particularly at Nasia-Nabogo, Pwalugu, Bui, Fumbisi Valley, Tamne and Daka Valley for the cultivation of rice, bananas, cashew nuts, vegetables, soya and maize, among others;

• Harnessing water from the White and Black Volta and from other water bodies for transport, irrigation and aqua culture;

• Launching the Northern Savannah Agricultural Transformation Programme (NSATP), to leverage the mobilization of about US$1 billion to invest in the transformation of agriculture and agribusiness in the Northern Savannah ecological zone;

• Construction of an inland port and a harbour city at Buipe;

• Re-modelling Tamale to become a multi-modal international transport hub;

• Initiating work on the construction of at least three medium-sized dams at Juale, Jambito and Pwalugu as sources of energy for facilitating industrial clusters;

• Facilitating the setting up of solar energy farms and the establishment of waste-to-energy plants (bioenergy) in at least three urban towns, including the Tamale metropolis;

• Greening the Savannah to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change by working with traditional leaders, academia and the private sector to facilitate the planting of 500 million trees as wood lots and as protection for the Volta River Basin.

•Western Corridor Development Authority (WeCDA) WeCDA’s mandate will cover the accelerated development of the Central and Western Regions in areas where the two regions have comparative advantage with a special focus on the creation of sustainable jobs.

•Eastern Corridor Development Authority (ECDA) ECDA’s mandate will cover the Volta Region and Eastern Region excluding the Afram Plains.  It will fast-track the rapid economic transformation and development of these regions for sustainable job creation. 

•Forest Belt Development Authority (FoBDA) FoBDA’s mandate will cover the Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo Region and the Afram Plains.  It will maximize the potential of the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions and exploit the huge and extensive fertile plains in the Eastern Region to produce grains and create jobs.

• Coastal Plains Development Authority (CoPDA) CoPDA’s mandate will cover the capital city Greater Accra and its environs including Ada, Ningo and Prampram. Industrial Cities Rejuvenation Projects The NDC Government’s programme for the redevelopment of the city of Tema and the development of industrial parks and free zones in Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi will provide further opportunities for employment for the youth.

• Tourism The implementation of the fifteen-year Tourism Development Plan as a major pillar of Ghana’s economy will promote the creation of sustainable jobs especially under the eco-tourism, culture tourism, health tourism and heritage tourism programmes.

• The implementation of the Marine Drive Project in Accra will also generate thousands of jobs. Roads, Bridges and Flyovers Work on the Kasoa Interchange, the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, alongside the construction of roads and bridges across the country, has the benefit of creating sustainable jobs for various grades of professionals, semi-skilled and unskilled labour.

• We will continue to use the labour intensive strategy for the construction and rehabilitation of certain categories of roads. Mentorship, Apprenticeship and Training To promote mentorship, training placements will be expanded for brilliant fresh graduates who have completed national service and have not yet obtained employment. Apprentices and interns will be trained in targeted demand-driven skill trades.

• Private Sector and Job Creation We reiterate our confidence in the private sector as a key partner in job creation.  With the efforts made to achieve sustainable power supply and the relative stability of the macroeconomic environment, our collaboration with the private sector is set to yield better dividends in creating more jobs and improving incomes.

AGRICULTURE

 In our 2012 Manifesto, we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture modernization and to transform the rural economy. The objective was to ensure food security and increased production of cash crops. It was also to ensure reduced imports, increased exports and the production of raw materials for industry. It was further to reduce poverty, raise rural incomes and improve the standards of living.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

A lot has been achieved through the implementation of policies and programmes in the first term of the Mahama administration consistent with the promises made in the 2012 Manifesto. Some of the major successes are the following:

• In 2013, 166,807mt of fertilizer were distributed to farmers, compared to 43,176mt in 2008. This moved fertilizer coverage from 8kg per hectare in 2008 to 12kg per hectare as of 2013;

• Two hundred metric tonnes of improved rice seeds were distributed to 10,000 farmers in the Volta, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to increase productivity;

• Local rice production has increased from 301,900 metric tonnes in 2008 to 604,041 metric tonnes in 2014. Consequently, Ghana has attained 56% self-sufficiency in rice production. Indeed, the rice import bill fell by 45%, reducing from US$392.3m in 2013 to US$215.23m in 2014;

• Three hundred and thirty-six (336) units of equipment comprising 147 tractors, 92 power tillers, 55 rice threshers, 31 rice reapers and 11 rice mills with their respective components were assembled for farmers and many more are being distributed;

• An increase in the total number of Agricultural Mechanisation Service Centres (AMSECs) from 57 in 2009 to 89 in 2014, resulting in an increase in the total area of farms serviced by AMSECs from 191,520 acres in 2009 to 299,040 acres in 2014;

• Total area of irrigated land has increased from 111,516 hectares in 2010 to 221,000 hectares in March 2016;

• To further improve rain-fed rice production, a

total of 3,831 hectares of lowlands has been engineered to improve water management for rice production in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and the Volta Regions;

• Total food crop production has also increased from 23,871,554 metric tonnes in 2008 to 32,283,000 metric tonnes in 2014 as follows: o Production of Cereals (maize, millet, sorghum) increased from 1,994,861 metric tonnes in 2008 to 2,176,153 metric tonnes in 2014; o Roots and Tubers (cassava, yam, plantain) output increased from 19,583,633 metric tonnes in 2008 to 27,428,442 metric tonnes in 2014; o Legumes (groundnuts, cowpea, soybean) production increased from 724,574 metric tonnes in 2008 to 768,896 metric tonnes in 2014; o Livestock population (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry) increased from 49,678,000 metric tonnes in 2008 to 81,229,000 metric tonnes in 2014;

• Through the West African Agriculture Productivity Programme (WAAPP) II, 40 incubators have been supplied to 40 districts in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions to facilitate access to day old Guinea fowl keels;

• To enhance protected vegetable production, 250 greenhouses have been imported under the WAAPP II and distributed to farmers;

 • Under the first phase of the Credit-In-Kind Programme, 1,600 superior Guinea fowl keels have been supplied to women and youth in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions;

• Under the Livestock Development Project (LDP), 40,800 small ruminants (sheep and goats) were supplied to 4,500 farmers in 35 districts in seven regions;

• Under the pilot phase of the Ghana Broiler Re-vitalization Project launched in July 2014, 650,000 birds were raised, processed and sold by 2015.

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

Strategies for Agriculture Transformation The prospect for accelerated transformation of the economy lies in the opportunities that exist in the agriculture sector and their linkages to the industry and services sectors. This will energise the rural economy and reduce poverty and deprivation through expansion in employment opportunities along the agriculture value chain.

This transformation continues to be driven by the implementation of the Food and Agricultural Sector Development Policy (FASDEP) II and the corresponding strategies as detailed in the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) II.

The key elements of the strategy are to:

• Prioritise allocation of financial resources and essential infrastructure to catalyse development in the sector.

• Provide support for the research institutions and agriculture departments of our universities, the Council for Scientific and Industrial  Research (CSIR) among others  to step up their work on the development of certified seeds, breeding stock and improved farming methods;

• Strengthen farmers’ groups such as co- operatives and farmer-based organizations (FBOs);

• Review the block-farming system to make it more beneficial and sustainable;

• Reinforce the Youth-in-Agriculture Programme as a major component of the agriculture transformation strategy;

• Focus our industrialization efforts on the provision of incentives for the establishment of industries that have backward linkages to our agriculture resource base;

• Construct storage facilities, including silos and cold storage units at strategic locations, through a mix of strategies including Public-Private Partnerships, to minimize post-harvest losses;

• Expand the implementation of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) II and the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP);

• Support and encourage the private sector to play a greater role in introducing innovations such as financial intermediation, aggregation and barter services, weather and market data online services, extension services and provision of agricultural inputs;

• Promote the establishment of ‘Agriculture Estates’ to serve as major ‘production units’ of horticulture produce for import substitution, raw material production and for export;

• Continue to transform the agriculture sector from subsistence farming to commercial, mechanised and irrigation-based agriculture in the medium to long-term;

• Institute a Young Farmers category of the National Farmers’ Award scheme. Agriculture Mechanization and Farmer Support The policy will focus on:

• Expansion of Agriculture Mechanization Service Centres to cover more MMDAs;

• Establishment of Farmer Service Centres all over the country. The first fifty of these are ready to take off in collaboration with SADA. The service centres will register and measure acreage of all farmers in their catchment area; provide them with mechanization support, agriculture extension advice, subsidized fertilizers, micro credit, and operate a buy-back scheme for the farmers produce;

• Collaboration with the private sector to build the capacity of individuals and companies and to commission the Technical Universities, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrialisation Service (GRATIS) and Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO), to manufacture and fabricate basic farm equipment. Agriculture Finance We will focus on:

• Encouraging the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to dedicate an adequate portion of its loan portfolio to agriculture production;

• Similarly EXIM Ghana will also be encouraged to support agriculture;

• Similarly EXIM Ghana will also be encouraged to support agriculture;

• Providing farming and fishing inputs as well as other agriculture-related infrastructure and services;

• Introducing innovative and demand-driven crop insurance products to protect farmers against financial risks that emanate from droughts, excessive rainfall and floods;

• Ensuring that the Ghana Stock Exchange

completes the legal framework for the establishment of the Ghana Commodities Exchange and its accompanying Warehouse Receipt System;

• Revitalising the National Food Buffer Stock Company;

• Accelerating work on the implementation of the African Union’s ‘Malabo Declaration’ on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods adopted in 2014. Staple Crops The NDC Government will launch a “Green Revolution” aimed at doubling the output of staple crops, particularly grains and tubers by 2025.

This will guarantee food security for a growing population as well as provide the raw material base for implementing our agro- industrial strategy. Within the period, Ghana should become a net exporter of rice and maize, as well as become self-sufficient in poultry, sugar and tomato production.

The goal will be driven by:

• Facilitating the acquisition of land banks to support commercial agriculture activities;

 • Introducing high-yielding, disease-resistant seeds through support for seed production companies;

 • Making the most efficient use of existing irrigation facilities, as the pathways of climate change remain unpredictable;

• Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map out soil structures and their chemical composition for the various MMDAs to support districts and, where appropriate, regional specialization in staple food production. Cash Crops: Cocoa Generating about 25% of total export earnings and providing employment for about 800,000 small-holder farmers, cocoa production offers opportunities to increase export earnings by moving up the value chain into intermediate processing and increasing export volumes by improving yields.

The NDC’S record in annual volumes of cocoa produced over the past fifteen years is unparalleled. Currently, our yield is about 0.5 tonnes per hectare. Less than 25% of cocoa beans are processed locally, allowing Ghana to capture only about 5% of the US$28 billion global intermediate cocoa processing industry. 

Over the next four years, we will:

 • Adopt the plantation model under PPP arrangements to increase cocoa production from 750,000 tonnes to over 1.5million tonnes by 2025;

• Use GIS to map out all farms, particularly cocoa farms to ensure targeted support in terms of fertilizer provision and extension service delivery, alongside intensification of the mass spraying exercise;

• Continue the provision of scholarships and modernization of roads in cocoa growing areas and other rural communities to facilitate the evacuation of cocoa and food crops;

 • Continue to distribute millions of hybrid seedlings of cocoa per year to small-holder farmers up to 2018 and large-scale plantation farmers up to 2022;

• Promote the involvement of youth in the cocoa sector value chain;

• At least maintain the percentage of the world market price of cocoa paid to farmers at the current level of over 70%;

• Maintain the target of processing at least 60% of cocoa beans produced in Ghana by supporting major chocolate manufacturing companies to establish processing plants;

• Continue to expand warehousing facilities alongside the implementation of the crop- financing scheme.

Shea nuts In the shea nut sub-sector, we will:

• Revitalise the shea nut industry and take steps to ensure increased yields;

 • Provide support services including protective apparel for the female dominated shea nut picking activity;

• Actively encourage utilization of shea butter

locally (domestic and industrial) and work towards significant increase in exports;

 • Replicate the 40,000 tonne capacity shea nut processing plant in the Upper West and Upper East regions and support value addition along the value chain. Cashew Nuts Given the huge domestic and global demand for cashew nuts, we will:

• Establish the Cashew Board (CASHBOD), approved by Cabinet, with its headquarters in the Brong Ahafo Region;

• Support the establishment of Cooperative Producer Associations with technical support from extension officers to expand the production base of the industry;

• Ensure access by cashew farmers to export finance under EXIM Ghana;

• Encourage the processing of at least 50% of cashew nuts for export;

• Operationalize the Cashew Development Strategy to increase production volumes and value-addition activities along the cashew nut value chain;

• Implement the National Export Development Plan (NEDP) 2016-2020 as it relates to cashew nut production.

Cotton Ghana has the potential to produce 250,000 metric tonnes of cotton in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions. Policy initiatives will centre on supporting 200,000 cotton farmers in the three regions to raise productivity and substantially increase total national production. In this regard, the NDC Government will maintain the current policy under which it will:

 • Enforce the existing zoning boundaries;

• Lease the ginneries to the cotton growers;

• Strengthen and actively support cotton farmers associations;

• Implement selected interventions along the value chain with the objective of reviving the local textile industry and stimulating demand for their products. Coffee

The NDC Government through the Ghana Cocoa Board is increasing intends annual coffee production from the current level of about 6,000 metric tonnes to about 100,000 metric tonnes in the short term and to about 200,000 metric tonnes by 2025.

 Five million improved coffee seedlings are being nursed and supplied to farmers.  This number will be substantially increased annually, to ensure that both the medium and long-term targets are achieved.

Oil Palm

Ghana remains one of the major oil palm producers in Africa and has over one million hectares of land suitable for its cultivation. Given the current average output of about six tonnes per hectare, targeted strategies will be implemented to improve productivity.

As global demand for vegetable oil increases, the NDC Government plans to exploit Ghana’s comparative advantage to become a net exporter of oil palm. Horticulture With increasing demand for horticultural produce, especially vegetables, fruits and fruit- juices, opportunities abound for the production, processing, consumption and export of horticultural produce.

The NDC Government will:

• Train young people in commercial and modern greenhouse vegetable production;

• Adopt irradiation technology in the reduction of post-harvest losses;

• Continue to train out-grower farmers in all processes required under good agricultural practices with emphasis on the harvesting and handling of horticulture crops particularly exotic vegetables.

Irrigation Modernized agriculture thrives on better irrigation systems (powered by solar pumps where appropriate). We will therefore continue to develop efficient irrigation systems to support all-year-round farming. The following initiatives will be undertaken:

• Efficient utilization of existing irrigation facilities especially in drought-prone areas:

 • Complete rehabilitation of viable but non-functional and abandoned irrigation infrastructure, particularly the Kpong, Tono, Bontanga and Vea irrigation schemes;

• Implementation of the Accra Plains Irrigation project;

• Development of the following irrigation projects – Kamba (Upper West Region), Tamne (Upper East Region), Amartey (Eastern Region), Mpruem (Eastern Region) and Wli (Volta Region);

 • Provision of on-farm boreholes;

• Implementation of measures to promote the use of non-contaminated water for vegetable production;

 • Support for the implementation of the Ghana Irrigation Development Policy of developing appropriate and affordable irrigation schemes, dams and other rain-water harvesting techniques for different categories of farmers and in the various ecological zones;

• Development of 10,000 hectares for the Nasia- Nabogo rice irrigation project in the Northern Region;

• Irrigation of 150,000 hectares of land under the Pwalugu multi-purpose hydroelectric scheme. Poultry and Livestock The NDC government will continue to provide nucleus population of broiler parents as the sustainable source of day old chicks for the poultry industry with the support of EXIM GHANA and other financial institutions.

Other initiatives will include support for large-scale production of domestic poultry, the establishment of hatcheries, feed mills and processing plants. In the other areas of the poultry and livestock sub-sector, the NDC Government will:

• Diversify the sources of the breeding stock particularly from the Sahel region to support the sustainable development of the livestock sub-sector

• Support the large-scale breeding and production of guinea fowls to boost the poultry industry;

• Accelerate private sector investment in poultry

and livestock production by leveraging funding for the procurement of poultry and piggery infrastructure, equipment and other processing facilities including slaughtering and packaging;

• Continue to support the Ghana Broiler Revitalization Project targeted at the production of at least one million broilers per year;

• Increase support to private sector enterprises involved in animal feed formulation as well as hatcheries. A current threat to the livestock industry is the free range grazing method of nomadic herdsmen. To deal with this threat, we will:

• Take steps to address the recurring conflict between nomadic herdsmen and food crop farmers, which has had devastating consequences on the production of food crops;

 • Develop a zone in the sparsely populated parts of the Savannah belt with water ponds and barrage dams to relocate cattle herds from the Agogo, Kumawu, Afram Plains and parts of the Eastern Region;

 • Ensure strict enforcement of the relevant laws;

• Adopt GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to map-out the trails of this transhumance activity across the country;

• Develop regulations to get cattle owners to adopt the ranch system (fence-in/fence-out) and keep cattle in kraals;

• Encourage MMDAs to support the establishment of fodder banks in their areas of jurisdiction for the development of livestock as a source of additional revenue;

• With private sector partnership, revamp the Wulugu livestock project;

• Continue provision of dugouts in the Savannah zone for livestock watering and small agricultural activity. 

Fisheries

The fishing industry is crucial in our protein energy needs. Ghana’s per capita fish consumption is between 23 to 25kg per year, higher than the world average of 13kg. Our Achievements To be able to sustain the fishing industry we have:

• Almost completed a new 100 metric tonnes per day fish processing factory at Elmina;

• Completed the construction of modern cold stores at Prampram, Nyanyano, Shama, Sekondi- Takoradi, Half Assini and Kormantse;

• Facilitated the acquisition and distribution of about 2,000 outboard motors to fishermen;

 • Commenced work on the Fisheries College at Anomabo;

• Installed tracking devices on all industrial trawlers and tuna vessels to control illegal fishing;

• Commenced the distribution of fish finders to local fishermen. Our Commitment (2017 to 2021) We will

• Continue to ensure that Ghana’s fishery resources are protected from encroachment by foreign vessels;

• Eliminate the use of unapproved nets and unorthodox methods of fishing, including the use of dynamite, carbide, light and poisonous chemicals;

• Complete the construction of landing sites, cold stores and fishing harbours;

 • Establish alternative livelihood programmes in the fishing communities;

• Rehabilitate the Albert Bosomtwe Sam (ABS) Fishing Harbor in Sekondi to serve the fishing communities in and around the Sekondi- Takoradi metropolis;

• Complete the construction of landing sites at Tepa-Abotoase, Anloga, Tongor-Dzemeni, Mumford, Teshie, James Town, Keta, Kpando- Torkor and Axim under a West Africa Regional Fisheries Project (WARFP);

• Complete the fish processing plant at Elmina;

 • Complete the Fisheries College at Anomabo to provide the human resource requirements for the transformation and modernization of the fishing industry;

 • Ensure adequate and timely supply of premix fuel and monitor the proper use of any surpluses for community development initiatives;

 • Improve the timely supply of outboard motors to fishermen at landing beaches;

• Scale up the distribution of GPS-based fish finders to increase fish catch.

 AQUACULTURE

Aquaculture has a high potential to bridge the supply-demand gap for fish and fish products. It is a highly productive economic activity that has the potential of creating thousands of sustainable jobs.

With the implementation of the Ghana National Aquaculture Development Plan (2012- 2017), fish products increased significantly from 19,000 metric tonnes in 2011 to 46,250 metric tonnes in 2014, culminating in an increase of over 726% since 2008. Consequently, importation of fish declined from 145,910 metric tonnes to 102,875 metric tonnes between 2011 and 2014.

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

Over the next four years we will:

• Promote shrimp-farming on commercial basis in the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions to create 76,000 jobs;

 • Provide high-value fingerlings to support fish-farming in selected communities through the rehabilitation and construction of public hatcheries;

 • Continue the nucleus out-growers scheme in aquaculture;

• Roll out a revolving fund to support aquaculture;

• Continue the expansion in cage-fish farming on the Volta Lake and other water bodies;

 • Support aquaculture development on the Bui Lake in collaboration with the Bui Power Authority and on other major rivers across the country;

• Implement the project for fish production at Pwalugu in collaboration with the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority;

• Ensure the attainment of the Ghana National Aquaculture Development goal of producing 100,000 tonnes of fish by 2020;

 • Ensure the production of high-value fish-feed in collaboration with the private sector.

INDUSTRY

Over the last four years, our industrial development strategy has aimed at linking industrialization to Ghana’s natural endowments in agriculture, oil and gas, minerals and tourism.

This strategy has recorded significant achievements including the establishment of the following:

• Komenda Sugar factory

• Kumasi Shoe factory

• Ghana Gas Processing Plant, Atuabo

 • Volta Star Textiles, Juapong

 • Savannah Cement Factory, Buipe

 • Ceramics Manufacturing, Eshiem

• Revamped Tema Oil Refinery

• Revamped BOST Company Additionally, as a result of the sound policy and regulatory environment, there has been increased private sector investment and activity in industrial production in agro-processing, local manufacturing of drugs and cement production, among others. The sector recorded a growth rate of 9.1% in 2015, as compared to 0.8% in 2014.

In the next four years, the NDC Government will emphasize a new era of industrialization, based on reliable and regular power supply being developed with gas from the hydrocarbon fields.

We will also promote Local Economic Development based on the resource endowments of the districts, as well as support the establishment of strategic import substitution industries.

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

Industrial Sector Development Strategies In the period 2017 to 2021

we will pursue the following:

• An Integrated Aluminum Industry

• Revitalisation of VALCO as the off-taker for the upstream integrated aluminium industry; oIndustrial salt production - double the current national output of 300,000 tonnes;

• Caustic soda production - utilize the increased production of salt for local production of caustic soda for alumina and soap production;

• Chlorine production - utilize the increased production of chlorine as a by-product of caustic soda production as raw material for the petro- chemical industry and for the production of plastics. It will also help reduce the import bill of chlorine for raw water treatment.

• Fertilizer Production The NDC Government will accelerate the process for the establishment of the fertilizer plant at Shama in the Western Region using gas from Atuabo, the additional imminent gas to be produced from the TEN and the US$7 billion ENI/Sankofa fields.

• Mineral Processing We will support the processing of our minerals, especially the refining of gold.

• Steel Mills Based on the increased thermal power generation, we will support the private sector to undertake exploitation and refining of the massive iron ore deposits at Oppon Manso in the Western Region, Sheini in the Northern Region, Pudo in the Upper West Region and Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

• Glass, Bottle, Rubber and Ethanol Production We will also use the availability of excess power to promote the establishment of plants for glass and bottle-making as well as rubber and ethanol processing factories.

• Ceramics, Bricks and Tiles The increased thermal power generation from our natural gas reserves will, in the years ahead, provide the heat energy required for the sustainable manufacturing of ceramics, bricks and tiles.

• Light Manufacturing Our industrialization programme will also focus on light manufacturing in areas such as wood processing, beverages, metallurgical industries, pharmaceuticals, textiles and garments.

• Machine Tools The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO), GRATIS, the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), KNUST, the technical universities and related organisations will be supported to play a pivotal role in the establishment of industrial estates for the manufacture of machine tools.

• Shipyard and Drydock

The PSC Tema Shipyard (and drydock) has been handed over to the  Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA) for retooling and modernization. This has already led to an expansion in the business of the shipyard. During our next term we will seek to make the shipyard the foremost ship-building and repair facility in the Gulf of Guinea.

• Agro-Industrialization Small scale on-farm processing to support value-addition to cocoa, oil palm, cotton, mango, shea nut, pawpaw, citrus, sugarcane, pineapple and cashew nuts will underpin our agro-processing industrial strategy as we continue to pursue large-scale agro-processing under the agenda for transformation through diversification and value addition. Commission a feasibility study towards the revival of all Nkrumah era industries, e.g. the Abosso Glass Factory.

LANDS AND FORESTRY

Forests The NDC Government has put in place policies and programmes for the effective management of our forest reserves.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

We have achieved the following:

• Under the Sustainable Land and Water Management Project (SLWMP), 400 hectares of the Kulpawn and Ambalara Forest Reserves were re-forested, an ecotourism strategy for the Western Wildlife Corridor was developed and inputs like fertilizer, seeds and tree seedlings were supplied to farmers in 72 communities for the implementation of sustainable land and water management;

• Reforestation of additional 200 hectares of the Kulpawn and Ambalara Forest Reserves; implementation of community activities like soap production, honey-making, wild arts and wildlife rearing; and the provision of inputs like fertilizer, seeds and tree seedlings to 4,000 farmers for implementation of sustainable land and water management technologies in 118 communities;

• A Plantation Development Strategy (2015- 2040) has been developed as the blue-print for plantation development and landscape restoration initiatives in Ghana;

 • Public Private-Partnership agreements have been signed with a number of companies to engage in commercial plantation development in many degraded forest reserves and off- reserve areas across the country.

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

The existing laws on safeguarding our forestry resources will continue to be applied and the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2014 (Act 703) will be implemented. To safeguard our forests the next NDC Government will:

• Distribute 20 million seedlings of various tree species per year for re-afforestation;

• Support the large-scale production of acacia for the charcoal industry;

• Implement the Ghana Forest Investment Programme (FIP) to address the causes of deforestation;

• Convert the Atiwa Forest and Shai Hills Resource Reserve into National Eco-Tourism Parks;

• Continue to enforce the regulations on the prevention of mining in protected areas;

• Encourage high levels of co-operation among agencies such as the Forestry Commission, Water Resources Commission, Minerals Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and the Ghana Water Company to safeguard and protect all water bodies and watersheds;

 • Continue to intensify efforts towards the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation mechanisms and tap into the carbon credit market.

Lands

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

We have;

• Established five Client Service Access Units in Accra, Koforidua, Sekondi, Tamale and

Bolgatanga to operationalise the One-Stop Concept;

• Established twenty (20) new Customary Land Secretariats (CLS) to improve land service delivery in the country;

 • Provided training and equipment for the (30) new and existing CLS to improve efficiency in their operations;

• Prepared a draft Land Bill, which is currently undergoing stakeholder consultation throughout the country to consolidate all land laws in the country for efficient land management and administration;

• Commenced the creation of a Ghana Enterprise Land Information System (GELIS) to provide a holistic information system platform that allows all users of all relevant ministries and agencies to carry out their day-to-day business processes efficiently and effectively in a digital manner, using common database (registers with no duplication of effort or data).

OUR COMMITMENT (2017-2021)

We will:

• Deepen the technological and legal reforms under the Land Administration Project/Town & Country Planning Department – Land Use Planning and Management Project (LAP/TCPD- LUMP);

• Link the National Identification System being developed to land administration with the view to enhancing easy identification of land owners should the need arise to avoid multiple sale of lands;

• Enact and implement the Land Use and Spatial Planning Bill with a view to regularizing the land administration and planning system;

• Support SADA to pilot the Land Trust Scheme to aid the orderly acquisition of land for both urban and rural investments;

• Ensure the speedy prosecution of protected area offences.

MINING

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

We have;

 • Enacted the Minera