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An International Diplomatic Consultant, Farouk Al Wahab, has stressed the need for Ghana to invest in her agriculture sector, to cushion the country against the ripple effects of the instability between Russia and Ukraine.
His comments follow concerns raised, following the eruption of the conflict between the two eastern European countries, that the world’s market would see prices of foods shoot up together with oil since the two factions contribute largely to the world’s economies.
In a story published headlined “Ukraine crisis sparks frenzy in global agriculture trade” by Bloomberg, it was noted that “Prices of staples from wheat to edible oils have rocketed to fresh highs on worries about supply disruptions in the Black Sea region.
“Ukraine is the world’s second-biggest grains shipper and Russia often tops the ranking for wheat exports. Together they also account for about 80% of sunflower oil trade.
“Any disruptions to flows would quickly ripple through to buyers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, boosting costs for bread and meat and potentially increasing demand for supplies from the Americas or Europe…”
In this vein, Mr. Wahab advised on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofoↄ show that the government should invest in its locally produced foods and be self-reliant in the crisis period going forward so as not to suffer gravely the effects of the conflict.
He said: “Invest in your plantain, invest in your own chicken, in your own tomato so that when there is a war or there is a problem or pressure in the world…when the trouble happens you will not board plane to Italy to borrow money.”
According to him, the turbulence will create the situation where it would be nearly impossible to receive financial assistance from the developed countries because they have also been impacted by the conflict.
“You will not get any politician, decision maker to talk because Russia is heated” he said in Twi on the show on Monday Feburary 28, 2022.
