The Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition has impressed on government to be gender-sensitive in the implementation of its flagship programmes in the agriculture sector. The Coalition said a gender-sensitive budget will allow all Ghanaians, particularly women who are vulnerable, to have equal access to the products and benefits under programmes like the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
The National Coordinator of GTLC Ibrahim Akalbila shared these concerns when he spoke to A1 Radio ahead of the reading of the 2022 Budget Statement and Financial Policy in Parliament tomorrow, November 17, 2021.
“At the root of what we want government to do is the issue of the gender responsiveness of budget especially in agriculture. Government would have conducted some situational analysis and known exactly what the needs of men, women, boys and girls are in agriculture and the kind of investment these people need in order to be productive,” he explained.
He said a gender-responsive budget means that government will invest, in the area of agriculture, resources to suit the specific needs of the men, women, boys and girls.
He said it is the position of the Coalition that government reviews its policy on the subsidy of fertilizers. He explained that from data collected by the organisation, “it [fertilizer subsidy] is not bringing out the result that we [as a country] want. We expect government to review that as part of the budget to rather make access to credit easier.”
Mr. Akalbila called on government to make use of data from the Agriculture Census conducted to determine the specific economic situation of farmers and then tailor credit facilities to service their needs. He said the credit facilities when made available will give farmers the opportunity to purchase their own inputs on the open market; a situation he describes as ideal.
“What we have realized is that when you give the subsidies farmers still go and take credit at ridiculous rates; sometimes at 100 percent within 3 months. The least we have seen is 50 percent. When you do the calculation, it is even better for them [farmers] to buy from the open market,” he said.
He said government will be able to generate more money by creating a system that allows farmers to borrow rather than offer subsidies to farmers.
GTLC also called on government to revamp mechanization centres set up across the country. Mr Akalbila called on government to improve access to services like ploughing and mechanized harvesting across the country. He said all of these could only be realized if government commits enough resources to it in the budget.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
