Vice-Dean of the School of Agriculture at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Julius Hagan has blamed the slow growth in agriculture on government’s failure to have continuity in its national policies.
Stressing the importance of research in promoting agricultural development in Ghana, he noted that the lack of continuity stems from Ghana’s unstable political system.
“Some research requires time for the needed results to be obtained but the occasional change of governments and the regular change of policies on agriculture hinders starting research and finalizing it to reap the expected benefits,” he said in an interview with ATLFMNEWS.
He stressed the benefits of the ruling government’s Planting for Food and Jobs and Rearing for Food and Jobs would be enormous if they were national policies rather than a government intervention to safeguard the sector.
Meanwhile, he says Ghana needs to prioritize research in the country’s bid to achieve more in the agricultural sector.
“If we want to promote agricultural development, we must pay particular attention to research,” he said.
He opined that countries thriving in agriculture do not downplay research.
Prof Hagan, however, lamented how farmers who are key stakeholders in conducting research to promote agriculture fail to play their roles effectively.
According to him, the attitude of farmers hiding relevant information needed to make decisions continues to be a challenge to agriculture-based research.
Prof Hagan emphasizes that farmers do not freely share their challenges, nor are they willing to open their doors for researchers to conduct research on their farms.
“But most of the farmers do not open up during research. When you want answers concerning what happens on their farms to feed your research data, you don’t get all you need because farmers sometimes think giving out the needed information will reveal the returns they make from the farming business,” he continued.
Prof Julius Hagan, also an Associate Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics at the Department of Animal Science at UCC believes this attitude is in no way helpful to Ghana.
He says promoting research to achieve agricultural development requires the efforts of farmers, agriculture-based industries, government and researchers.
As such, he said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the agricultural sector is developed for the sustainable development of the country.
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Source: Rosemond Asmah/ATLFMNEWS
