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Agric Policy Consultant questions Dr. Akoto’s data on food production

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An Agriculture Policy Consultant, Emmanuel Wullo Wullingdool, has questioned the figures quoted by the former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, at his public lecture yesterday.

Delivering a public lecture at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) the NPP flagbearer hopeful said the government has made significant investments in farm inputs in order to increase agricultural productivity, raise the incomes of farmers, and achieve national food security. He said the ministry procured and distributed 1.4 million metric tonnes of fertiliser and 93,192 metric tonnes of improved seeds, which were distributed to over 1.7 million farmers from 2017 to 2021.

The former minister said as  result of the above measures, maize yields increased from 1.8mt/ha to 3.0mt/ha; Rice yield increased from 2.7mt/ha to 4.0mt/ha and Soya yield increased from 1Mt/ha to 2.5Mt/ha, in the period from 2017 to 2021. 

With Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) intervention, production of maize has risen from 1.7 million metric tonnes (MT) in 2016 to 3.6 million MT in 2021, rice from 688,000 MT to 1.2 million MT, and soya from 143,000 MT to 230,000 MT over the same period.

But speaking to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s morning show, the Agric Policy Consultant, Emmanuel Wullingdool, questioned the effectiveness of the figures provided by the former sector minister, Dr. Akoto. 

According to Mr. Wullingdool, Ghanaians and farmers were expecting to feel the impact of the massive investments the former minister highlighted.

“If you apply basic economic principles, when supplies increase, it affects the price of the product so intensely. So clearly, if all these figures are anything to go by, we should have expected or we should be seeing it reflect at the community level or the local level in the prices and all that,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto in the Upper East Region, Adams Alhassan, has passionately defended his boss’ achievements as a Minister of Agriculture and his capability of leading the NPP into the 2024 general election. 

Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure |Bolgatanga|

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