Every great idea starts with the planting of one metaphorical seed. Over time, that tiny speck grows into something more complex and intricate until one day it’s ripe enough to sample. But what happens when what develops from that metaphorical seed has to do with actual seeds? A seed planted in the soil not just on the mind?
A revolution in the field of agriculture!
Consider your last trip to the grocery store. Did you think about where the apples and corn came from? How about how the grade of beef or pork was determined? Most readers will probably answer no to these questions. This is because in the cities there are supermarkets and grocery stores with wheat, maize, and sorghum in shelves; cattle, swine, and poultry are fed and fattened on cereal grains; meat, milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables which are within economic reach of the urbanites; well-balanced diets are more or less automatically achieved, and cereal products constitute only a modest portion of the “daily bread”.
Consequently, most of the people in such circumstances have difficulty in comprehending and appreciating the vital significance of investing in food production and agriculture as whole. Understandably then, the majority of our citizens in the cities have forgotten the significance of the words we learned as youngsters, “Give us this day our daily bread”.
They know that food comes from the supermarket and grocery stores but only a few see beyond to the necessary investments, the toil, struggle, and frustrations on the farms and ranches that provide their daily bread. Our policymakers as citizens of the cities who could help also have no history of living with farmers or even if so have now entirely lost their contact with the soil, and seems to be the least mindful of the tremendous inefficiencies of our farmers and ranchers, who, although constituting above 60 percent of the labor force in our country, Ghana struggle to feed a population of only 2.5 million citizens.
Dr Norman Borlaug a Nobel Peace Prize winner in food production once said ‘I am convinced that if all policymakers would take sufficient interest in population control and in aggressively employing and exploiting agricultural development as a potent instrument of agrarian prosperity and economic advancement, many of the social ills of the present day could soon become problems of the past’. What he meant was that hunger, malnourishment and general economic impoverishment are the residue of low agricultural production which sometimes translates into unrest.
Agriculture in most developing countries like ours is a labour-intensive sector and makes up a big chunk of the labour force, says Lester Brown, founder of the advocacy group Earth Policy Institute. However, agriculture practiced in countries that have broken the chain of food insecurity used functional modern infrastructure and facilities viz electricity, grain elevators, fertilizer storage and mechanical expertise. But for we in Africa to get there requires a lot of investment to transform the farming sector alongside the non -farm sector.
Agriculture in Africa is also recognized as a source of growth and an instrument for improved food security,” says IFPRI director-general Sheggen Fan. “Africa’s agriculture can absorb large numbers of new job seekers. But in order for agriculture to be a technically dynamic and high-productivity sector that contributes to food security and serve as a hub of decent employment it will need an influx of educated and innovative young labour.
Leaders in sub-Saharan Africa must develop the requisite framework for new technology and farming techniques, they must encourage the young, innovative emerging workforce to impact both economic growth and social development through agriculture.
We must recognize the fact that adequate food is only the first requisite for life. For a decent and humane life we must also provide an opportunity for good education, remunerative employment, comfortable housing, good clothing, and effective and compassionate medical care. Unless we can do this, man may degenerate sooner from environmental diseases than from hunger.
