There are three sectors of an economy which play a major role in the growth and development of a country leading to the industrialization of the socio-economy of the country. These are agriculture (farms), manufacturing (factories) and service/financial intermediations (financial firms). These three arms of economy enable the performance of import substitution policies to operate and functions very well.

 The import substitution industrialization is a trade and economic policy that advocates replacing foreign imports with domestic production.  I.S.I.-  is  based  on  the  premise that  a country  should  attempts to  reduce its  foreign dependency through local production of industrialized products. It is termed as domestication or internal economic production and patronage system. Indeed, throughout the world, all the nations and countries which have made it, practice import substitution to the letter, not just by mouth, but by physical and practical means with the aid of science and technology.  If any person becomes the President of Ghana and does not lead us as people to promote and practice the policies of Import Substitution the economy will not be well.

AGRICULTURE (FARMS)

As Adam Smith wrote in his book: ‘The wealth of the nations’; it is the agricultural surplus that allows for the division of labour and specialities which brings economic growth and development and finally the industrialization and advancement of a country. More manufacturing and more services requires more agricultural and extractive surplus. The emphasis is on mechanise and scientific agriculture. Ghana should not leave agriculture at the mercy of the weather. Indeed, God is tired of operating, directing and controlling our agriculture for us.  Let us be serious and work hard in the area of food and agriculture.  The government should not leave agriculture for the individual and the private people alone.

 

The realization of Northern Ghana as the food basket for the nation, the land is flat and fertile with constant sunshine. What we need is constant water and the application of fertilizer. We can use solar and wind mill energy to draw water for irrigation. Also, by utilising the water bodies around these areas; especially the White and Black Volta and the other small streams and rivers. We also create boreholes and the rain harvester to store enough water for the scientific and mechanise agriculture all year round. When we able to do mechanize agriculture with all the necessary inputs, the outputs will be massive and we shall get a lot of surplus and create storage system to store some and processed the excess. Through this process, we can handle our number one enemy: that is post-harvest lost.

We create jobs through all these stages for the youth and the unemployed. That is the growing, weeding, spraying, watering, harvesting and storing stages all through mechanise means, employment are created massively here. I took inspiration and borrowed some words from Dr. Kofi Amoah, the development economist and entrepreneur. I agree with him on his part, a proposal of one billion dollars or even more to invest in agriculture and manufacturing and with time we will see the great benefits for the country. Food sufficiency, sustainability and security must be a great conscious concern for Ghana; we should not leave it to chance.

Agriculture is the female and manufacturing is the male, when these two entities are healthy and functioning very well, with the financial intermediation acting like the doctor and the medical-care for the two. The infusion of the female and the male will bring forth a healthy baby or product for all to use and enjoy to the fullest. Indeed, the wealth and the well-being of a nation is in the abundance of agriculture, Ghana must be serious on agricultural cultivation. We must be conscious and not do agriculture by chance, but by choice. Let us produce on a large scale, give guarantee price to the producers, we consume some, store and preserve some and process the rest. Also, let us insured the farmers and the farms it selves against accidents and natural disasters as it is done in the advance economy. Ghana will be haven, if we follow these plans and policies very well.

 MANUFACTURING (FACTORIES)

The next sector of the three arms of an economy is manufacturing. This stage is the processing, depending on the excess agricultural produce to make finished products for packaging and branding and distributing of finished products to the general public. All the shopping malls in the country are filled up with made in Ghana products. There is the need for policies to catalyse manufacturing using a system of incentives and state protection. The goal is to substitute imports and have the discipline to export the excess finished products, value added processed products.

These require subsidies for manufacturing in the form of cheap loans, tax holidays, supportive research and technology transfer assistance. The clear national policy in the incentive system must be clear without any ambiguous and must be transparent and must be enforced to the later.  When we do these with the opening and re-activating of all the factories in the regions and even the districts all over Ghana, then we will definitely going to create jobs for all kinds of category of people. We create jobs for the unskilled (illiterates) and the skilled literates- JHS, SHS and the tertiary graduates throughout the country.

 For now, the Ghanaian economy cannot create jobs, as it should be, because manufacturing does not exist, indeed Satan is operating our manufacturing for us. That is why all the factories and industries have collapse long time ago. Let us take the manufacturing job from Satan and do serious manufacturing by processing everything by ourselves domestically, by way of doing import substitution. Indeed, 80% or more of jobs creation in an economy is always through processing, manufacturing and construction of all kinds. A country needs more factories than offices for her economy to be well and developed. If you have the opposite: then, the country is doom, like Ghanaian economy is experiencing now.

SERVICE AND FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATIONS (FINANCIAL FIRMS)

It looks like in the Ghanaian economy; we are only creating jobs through the service and the financial sector. That is why, it looks like one has to acquire and gets higher qualification before one can get job. And even, after acquiring this highest qualification a lot are still not getting jobs and for that matter our economy is not doing well. It is so because, our economy and our system are able to create job only through one arm of the economic formula and that is service and finance. Because of that everybody is made to do buying and selling, no agriculture and no manufacturing and no processing of products and the economy is in tatters.

As far as the service and financial sectors are concern, if we decide to import every thing the sector will do well and if we decide to stop importing and do import substitution and consume our products and exports the excess domestic products abroad, the service sector and financial firms will also do well. But the best of an economy is where domestic agriculture and domestic manufacturing are doing great and excellent and are being oiled by the financial firms. Banks are the oil for the engines of development. They must be oiling the wheels of development which are agriculture and manufacturing. It is not good for banks and the financial institutions to support the importation of all kinds of foreign economic products into ones economy or country.

 But they must be made to support and finance import substitution. This is where the economy will have the multiplier effects in all aspect of the economic indicators.  The service and the financial sector will make profit all the time, but it should not come from supporting importations and buying and selling only. But rather, supporting and financing import substitution and export of value added products.  When we are able to combine agriculture, manufacturing and financial intermediation very well to obtain and attain all our domestic products and domestic consumptions of all, and for that matter the seizure of the influx of foreign economic products from abroad into our domestic economy, it is then that the Ghanaian economy will be salvaged in all aspect of economics performance.

For now, the Ghanaian economy is experiencing green fallacy of growth, where the economy is solely depending on her natural resources, but not agriculture and manufacturing. Examples of natural resource that Ghanaian economy is depending on are: Gold, Oil, raw Cocoa and Timber. If you take away these four commodities out from the Ghanaian economy, then we do not have any economy. But that should not be so, but the strength of an economy must thrive on the excellence performance of excess agricultural produce and manufacturing with the help of the financial intermediations of the domestic economy.

Two things: very import for economic performance that is generating funds and ability to retain the funds in the domestic economy. Ghanaian economy is able and can generate all the funds in the world, but the economy cannot retain the funds generated. It is because import substitution is not working, agriculture and manufacturing do not exist and jobs cannot be created as a result, and the economy is importing everything from A-Z and it is affecting the performance of the Ghanaian Cedi negatively as against the foreign currencies like Dollar and the rest.

Indeed, we will continue to borrow and borrow, even if all the money in this world is given to us, and if we do not invest these funds into food and agriculture, processing, manufacturing and construction, we will continue to squander the funds and come back to zero or negative as we are experiencing now. Let us wake-up from our slumber and do things right and well, God is watching us and expect us to do things right and well this time to salvage our economy. Amen.  

 

Kwaku Minkah Sarkodie (Holy) 

Tamale

0244-608542 / 0208091457

Charlesmnkah@yahoo.com / kwakuminkahsarkodie@gmail.com