Former Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has advocated for the use of improved seed varieties to improve agriculture productivity in the country.

According to Dr Afriyie Akoto, with improved seed varieties, Ghana can make strides with its farming output as against the efforts to construct dams.

Dr. Afiyie-Akoto, who is also seeking to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into the national election in 2024, believes that given the high cost of dam construction, it makes more economic sense for a developing country like Ghana to rely on improved seed varieties rather than dams.

“..It is like buying a VW compared to buying a Mercedes Benz, irrigation is like Mercedes. If you get a trotro from Madina to the Ministry, it will get you to your office. Somebody will also come from Madina in a Mercedes Benz, it depends upon affordability. You talk about irrigation, it is very expensive, you talking about billions of dollars,” he cited.

He mentioned that the Kpalugu irrigation scheme is not cheap, considering that it will cost billions of dollars.

“What is cheap and can be effective in helping smallholders is by using the rainfall patterns that we have had since time immemorial, to improve upon the work that they are doing, that we could afford.”

He noted that the use of improved seed varieties to increase productivity for smallholder farms proved to be the best choice during his tenure as Minister.

But this position has been challenged by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Midday news on Tuesday, the Executive Director of the Association Charles Nyaaba described his comments as “worrying and problematic.”

Explaining that, as an Agric economist, the former Minister is aware of the importance of the irrigation system.

According to Mr Nyaaba, no country has ever grown its agriculture sector without investing in irrigation.

He made a number of instances to buttress his assertion.

“If you take Israel for instance, we all know Israel with its innovation in the agriculture sector is through irrigation. They have even converted seawater to be able to develop their irrigation mechanism. If you take Egypt, they use the Nile, if you go to Brazil the same thing, if you go to China, every community has a smaller irrigation system,” he said.

According to him, relying on rainfall patterns in the agric sector is not feasible due to climate change.

He also questioned why the former Minister prioritised one village and one dam project during his tenure, knowing that irrigation was insignificant.