The National Coordinator for Hon. Dr. Afriyie Akoto Campaign Team, Peter Oteng Darko, has urged policy makers to consider and adopt the four-pronged policies outlined by the immediate-past Minister of Food and Agriculture in his public lecture that was held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), as a National Development Policy since they hold the master key to turn the economy around.
According to him, if Ghana had in the past decades rolled out the policies Dr. Afriyie Akoto shared with Ghanaians in his public lecture, it could have built a very resilient economy with Agriculture being the main pillar in driving the other sectors of the economy.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto in his public lecture held at the UPSA on Monday, March 13, 2023, shared his vision with Ghanaians when he becomes President of the Republic of Ghana.
Among the policies he outlined include the Ghanaian farmer being a potential resource waiting to be tapped as well as the establishment of Agricultural Management Team to be headed by the President.
Also included in his policies was the exploitation of six tree crops under the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA) which have the potential to bring into the economy between US$6 to 12 billion annually.
He also highlighted on the prioritization of agriculture transformation at the highest level of government through the implementation of a well-defined vision and strategy, something he added, needs political will to achieve.
Speaking in an interview with journalists at the National Campaign Office of Dr. Afriyie Akoto in Accra on Saturday, March 18, 2023, Mr. Oteng Darko said the four-pronged policies should be taken very seriously and adopted by successive governments for implementation.
“These points highlighted in Dr. Afriyie Akoto’s public lecture should be well considered and adopted as a National Development Policy. If adopted and implemented, our situation will never be the same. Ghana will generate a lot of money from the agricultural sector to develop the other sectors of the economy”, he noted.
For instance, he explained that the success story of the government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme had to do with the minimal incentives of subsidy in the areas of farming inputs and fertilizer given to the Ghanaian farmer.
“This generated unprecedented growth in the agricultural sector, 8.4% in 2021, as alluded by Dr. Afriyie Akoto in his public lecture which clearly shows that such hard work of the Ghanaian farmer represents a resource that the nation ought to tap into to get us out of the clutches of borrowing to finance our development”, he underscored.
He is also convinced that the establishment of Agricultural Management Team to be headed by the President himself holds the key in prioritizing the allocation of funds into key sectors of the economy to yield the maximum benefits that Ghanaians are craving for.
To Mr. Oteng Darko, with the vision outlined by Dr. Afriyie Akoto, it is evidently clear that he stands tall among all the candidates who have declared their intention to contest the flagbearership race of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and urged all the delegates to vote for him, believing that the future of Ghana will be secured in his hands.
