The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) is demanding policies and programmes that will help reduce the over reliance on rain-fed agriculture. The demand follows the release of first quarter GDP figures which indicate a slump in the agric sector. Its contribution to national income in the first quarter of this year went down by nearly 40 percent over the previous quarter. Though the Ghana Statistical Service says the performance is in line with the trend at that time of the year, GAWU - which represents the workers - says greater investment in irrigation could partly address the challenge. The Deputy General Secretary of GAWU, Mr Edward Kareweh, said countries that have become food sufficient have not done it through rain-fed agriculture. He said Ghana must plan long term and make the necessary investments to ensure that in the next ten years, at least 30 per cent of the country’s agricultural land is put under irrigation. He explained that the poor showing of the manufacturing sector is also worrying for the agricultural sector. Mr Kareweh said there cannot be any serious agro-processing activity without a consistent supply of agric produce, stressing the need to tackle concurrently problems confronting both the manufacturing and agric sectors. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana