The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has urged private businesses and entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities in the Agro business sector to aid the government’s effort in building the sector.
According to him, government alone cannot do all this, thus, his call on private entrepreneurs to support the Agriculture sector to boost the economy.
“We want the private sector to come in because government has no money to invest in that. During Kwame Nkrumah’s era, the government totally took up investment in the agric sector, but it all collapsed because, the workers pocketed the monies instead of giving it out to government,” he stated.
Mr. Akoto indicated that government is committed to making Ghana the food basket of Africa so that the country will be food sufficient enough to supply the entire country.
“…..private sector is the solution for this country when it comes to agro-processing. That is why we are encouraging that, all businessmen should invest into agro-processing,” he encouraged.
He made the observation on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, while addressing a gathering of farmers, extension officers, agricultural inputs dealers, regional directors at the Regional Coordinating Council in the Bono East Region, as part of his tour of the region.
The Minister further indicated that “…..we have opened the opportunity in agro works, from harvesting to processing and that has brought a lot of jobs and money into the country, so we are looking up to the private sector to come and support the government.”
“We have realised that some private sector companies are doing well, they have seen that, instead of building houses in Kumasi, if you invest it in building a factory and processing the harvest goods, you will earn a lot of income than building a house in Kumasi or Accra for rent,” he added.
The Minister on Monday and Tuesday toured and interacted with farmers and agricultural extension officers in the Ahafo and Bono Regions respectively.
By; Ernestina Afake | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
