Stakeholders in the agricultural value chain have been urged to demand an Agric-focused Economic programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aimed at ensuring food security.

 According to a Partner at Deloitte Ghana, Yaw Lartey, the sector is crucial to the revival of the economy—hence an attempt to neglect it will spell doom for the country.

He was speaking to Small and Medium Enterprises on the Start-up dialogue programme by the Enterprises Bureau.

Government has reached out to the IMF for an enhanced domestic programme, which aims to support the revival of the economy from the ravages of the covid 19 pandemic and impact of the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The programme, when successful will see Ghana receiving some funds to support the country’s Balance of Payment receipts and also shore up the country’s international reserves.

Speaking on the theme: “Ghana’s Return to the IMF, Implications for Startup Businesses”, Yaw Lartey believes the Agricultural sector is critical to the industrial agenda and thereby to the revival of the economy.

“This is the right time for Agribusiness organisations to make a case for the IMF to have a focused programme for the Agricultural sector in its economic agreement with government.

The Services sector is not doing well in recent times because of the challenges in the economy so our last belt is the Agriculture sector which has picked up in growth so a little support from the Fund will enhance its growth and avert food scarcity”, he said.

Startup Dialogue is an Initiative by Enterprise Bureau to provide data and intelligence to the Startup Ecosystem in Africa to enable stakeholders to make informed business decisions.