Ghana is enormously blessed with a myriad of cash crops; among which is the highly lucrative cotton plant.

Cotton is a chief cash crop cultivated in most parts of the globe including Ghana. It is a soft, stable fibre shrub native to tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world including the Americas, India and Africa. The cultivation of the cotton crop began some seven thousand years ago, in the Indus Valley, a place today inhabited by present-day India and Pakistan.

Currently, china and India are considered the two largest producers of cotton, with an annual production of approximately 34 million and 24 million bales respectively. Textile industries in these two countries consume up to 80% of what they produce.

 With total international trade in cotton estimated at $12 billion, Africa has become increasingly vital to cotton production because of access to land and labour. This has consequently led to a doubling of cotton trade on the continent since 1980. Sustaining this gain is however increasingly threatened by the continents inability to add value to cotton which is largely grown by numerous small holder farmers.  

In Ghana, cotton is predominantly cultivated in the three northern regions where local farmers are engaged in the production value chain of the cash crop. Despite a promising start to the production of the cotton crop however, the sub-sector has seen a steady decline for years.

The fact that a country like Burkina Faso, which shares a number of similar land and climatic conditions as Ghana has a more progressive sector than Ghana, is the clearest indication yet that Ghana is not doing something right.

Indeed failure to reverse the neglected state of the local cotton sector has huge implications that Ghana is better off avoiding. The Government would not only be assuaging the high  poverty rate in the cotton producing areas of the country, it would also be diversifying a local economy that so desperately needs to be fed by income from as my areas of endeavour as possible.

Any effort aimed at revamping the cotton sub-sector must begin with practical steps to reverse the fortunes of Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) which have waned sharply over the years due to both internal and external factors- some of which include poor management and the absence of subsidies to cotton farmers; and a world market pricing for the commodity which literally ridicules the effort of the hardworking Ghanaian cotton farmer.

The Ghana Cotton Company Limited, established in the 1960s, and named Cotton Development Board, operates in the three Northern Regions of Ghana, with offices in Tamale and Bolgatanga.

Poor pricing

Among the myriad of problems inhibiting the progress of cotton farming in Ghana is the perennial issue of poor pricing. It is sad to know that despite the back-breaking effort of cotton farmers, the absence of a fair pricing mechanism ensures that cotton farmers gain very little from farming the ironically lucrative crop.

Last year precisely may 2017, The Chairman of Cotton Farmers Association in the Sissala area fingered poor pricing, as the chief reason for the poor performance of the sector. He further blamed lack of access to target market, inadequate subsidy on inputs among others for the collapse in the cotton sector.

While cotton farming is a hugely profitable practice with vast ramifications for the local economy, nothing significant can be achieved from the sector to power our economy, if the farmers are not guaranteed a fair reward for their hard work.

Indeed like every other crop, the cotton plant needs a lot of tending and care from planting to harvesting. While our farmers have never shown any reluctance to continue growing the crop, a continued neglect of concerns of poor pricing is a huge disincentive that could explode in our faces sooner than later. A workman deservers his pay and so effectual measures must be put in place to improve the pricing system for cotton cultivation to ensure that farmers are motivated enough to continually put in the hours on their farms and consequently boost agriculture.

 

Revamp old processing facilities

Unlike crops like cocoa which are exported in a near-original form to Europe and Asia to be processed into products like chocolate, cosmetics, medicines etc., cotton thankfully has a few facilities that ensure that it receives  an appreciable touch of refinement ahead of export to Europe and Asia.

It would be recalled that in 2017 the Minister of President’s Special Development Initiatives Mavis Hawa Koomson expressed shock at the abandoned state of the Tumu Cotton Ginnery in the Upper West Region.

According to locals of the factory site, the facility had been rendered operational for years because of a lack of raw material for processing. Further interaction with local’s further revealed that the unavailability of raw materials is due to a new farmer-disinterest in cotton crop; which many see as non-lucrative and have therefore veered into the cultivation of food crops.

Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson who led a team of government officials to visit the facility, said she had been saddened by the fact that the previous government failed to take steps in revamping the ginnery that is critical to cotton production in the country.

“What we saw here is beyond our imagination as we taught the problem was with the machines but that is not the issue”, she bemoaned.

The minister according to local news sources assured that the Tumu cotton ginnery would be operationalized to revive cotton production to feed the industry soon after the law to rename and restructure the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was completed.

Indeed the foregoing   narrative makes for grim reading.It is regrettable that a facility with the capacity to employ 2000 or more people with the exception of farmers is lying idle.

Just like the Tumu cotton ginnery facility, government at all levels must demonstrate a conspicuous commitment to causing a renaissance of some sort in cotton production through a renewed emphasis on revamping cotton processing facilities.

The way forward

There is obviously a colossal amount of potential in the cotton sub-sector that we are currently not taking advantage of. While it is curiously surprising why a profitable sub –agric sector has been literally left to rot, efforts must begin in earnest to turn the fortunes of cotton farming in Ghana.

To achieve this much, a medium-long term strategy aimed at the establishment of an autonomous and sustainable fund that would support the activities of cotton farmers must be created and managed professionally.

In Tanzania for instance, the Tanzania Gatsby Trust (TGT) recently launched a special programme to increase cotton production to 1,500,000 bales from the current 700,000 bales with an investment of $7.2 million for a period of two years.

The significant successes achieved by the  U.S., China, India  and many other countries who have applied GM Technology should be emulated to help improve the fortunes of cotton farming.

The adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) technologies must then be followed closely by expansive drip irrigation systems to improve productivity and to mitigate avoidable cost.

Conclusion

There is obviously a lot of work left to be done to get the local agric industry where it truly belongs. While recent efforts like government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs is laudable, a deliberate effort aimed at diversifying the agric industry is worth every effort.

The current state of cotton cultivation is testament that there are more areas of agric endeavour that are edging away from relevance because of neglect and abysmal management.

The onus therefore lies on stakeholders to commit to a renewed diversification effort that will see Ghana tapping the full potential inherent in her hugely dynamic agric sector.

Ghana’s budding petroleum industry is anchored by its biggest oil field- The Jubilee Oil field. Jubilee, which is in the Western Region of Ghana, is managed by a group of partner companies and US oil giant Kosmos Energy is one of them.  Kosmos is an upstream oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It also has operations in Cameroon, Morocco, São Tomé and Surinam.

The partners also manage the TEN oil field in the Western Region. In 2017, the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea (ITLOS) delivered a positive ruling in favour of Ghana. Additionally, the Government of Ghana gave its approval for the Greater Jubilee full field development plan and so Kosmos and its partners have commenced activities to drill and complete additional wells to increase oil production.

Social Investment with KIC

Aside paying taxes and contributing to government revenue, the company also offers much-needed employment to many Ghanaians. Companies do not exist in a vacuum; they operate in an environment with many stakeholders. Kosmos has been engaging in social investment initiatives to support the communities in which it operates as well as supporting Ghana’s economy to grow in diverse ways.

However, oil is not an infinite resource; it will diminish one day. As a way of investing in Ghana’s future beyond petroleum, the oil giant launched the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) in 2016, an innovative mentorship programme that nurtures the next-generation of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs.

SMEs make up majority of businesses in the country. Through business training, mentorship and others, the KIC hopes to share our entrepreneurial ethos and inspire young people to develop new businesses; and create innovative solutions that address some of the socio-economic challenges the country faces.

While the programme is targeted at many sectors, it decided two years ago to focus on the agriculture value chain. This is because agriculture has historically been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy and the sector touches on many Ghanaian livelihoods.  However, agriculturenm has not reached its rightful potential in terms of both modern processes and technology and a massive investment is needed to boost the sector. Agriculture as an industry is also not attractive to the millions of Ghanaian youth, who make up majority of the population. Kosmos envisions that through the KIC, many young people will be encouraged and financially supported to build careers in the agriculture value chain.

Impressively, since its inception, the KIC has mentored and funded the creation of six ambitious startups who are boosting agriculture and creating jobs. Others also continue to receive mentorship support and training to scale up.

In the short term, the Center wants hgkhto showcase KIC and provide a platform for KIC businesses to exhibit and get market for their innovative products. Connect with collaborators to partner with KIC in building “One Entrepreneur at a Time”.

 In August 2017 the KIC launched a new programme called ‘The Business Booster’, designed to help SMEs scale up their businesses by overcoming barriers to continued growth. The Business Booster is focused on Ghanaian agricultural businesses that are in existence for at least three years. The five-

Kosmos explained why it supported the conference: “We believe in the agenda of Agrihouse Foundation so we partnered with them through this sponsorship to grow and develop the agricultural sector of Ghana. It also entrenches Kosmos Energy Ghana’s commitment of being a partner of choice in Ghana by pursuing agendas that will resonate with improved growth in the socio-economic sector of Ghana.”
By partnering and sponsoring the pre-harvest programme, Kosmos hopes to get market for innovative products that KIC businesses have developed, create awareness for more motivated and educated youths to look out for application windows and apply to be part of KIC, and also to secure partners to work with the KIC.

 

As Ghana actively seeks to diversify the country’s commodity export bill, it has become imperative that managers of the economy look in the direction of cashew.

The rationale behind this assertion is not far-fetched. Indeed cashew has in recent years leapt high in order of significance as far as Ghana’s primary export crops are concerned.

Cashew (anacadium occidental) cultivation in Ghana began in the 1960’s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra Regions and later spread to the Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. Between 1970 and 1980, the industry suffered a transient set-back largely due to poor support mechanisms for the sub-sector.

Challenges like weak market structures, poor product pricing and insufficient knowledge in the growing and management of the crop caused the interest of several famers who had initially latched onto the cashew farming bandwagon to wane almost irreversibly.

Crop life cycle

The cashew crop typically requires a dry period of 4-6 months for flowering and fruit development. Cashew thrives well from sea level up to an altitude of 1,000m above sea level. Elevations above 1,000m are not suitable due to cooler temperatures which could cause considerable delay in flowering. The optimum temperature range for cashew cultivation is between 20ºC and 34ºC while the minimum temperature should not be below 18ºC with maximum not exceeding 38ºC.

In 2013, cashew made remarkable inroads to earn its place as Ghana’s second largest contributor to the non-traditional export crops bracket. That year cashew generated about US$170 million in the form of foreign exchange earnings to record what was a breakthrough year for the export crop.

The introduction and consequent cultivation of Cashew in Ghana has come a long way from when it emerged in the 1960s on a rather casual and intermittent scale where the crop was merely found in domestic backyards in the Central and Greater Accra regions.

After being introduced to the Brong-Ahafo, Northern and the Upper regions, cashew gradually gained ground and is today an essential export commodity with monumental worth.

Through the collective effort of expert groups like the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agro-Forestry Unit, the Forestry Commission, the Ghana Export Promotion Council, the Africa Cashew Alliance, the African Cashew Initiative (which enjoys funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), and other key stakeholders, the sub-sector has slowly but surely emerged as a potentially cardinal foreign exchange earner for Ghana.

Today, Ghana’s cashew industry directly engages at least 300,000 farmers on a full time basis, along with a range of secondary employment avenues for over 200,000 people (who work as agents, transporters, shippers etc).

Production of the  cashew crop in Ghana has grown from an initial 4,000 metric tons per annum as recorded in 1997, to about 70,000 metric tons recorded last year and boasts of some 13 processing companies with an installed capacity of 35,000 metric tonnes per year.

With regards to export, which strategically drives the industry, cashew is estimated to have generated US$244 million for the Government from a total export of 163,000 metric tonnes in 2016 alone.

Cashew Development Plan

Earlier this year, President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the 10-year Cashew Development Plan aimed at diversifying Ghanaian agriculture. The move which is commendable and perhaps long overdue saw the president fulfill the wish of several agric-industry personalities who had long advocated for such a measure.

The president noted that as part of plans to boost the production of cashew, the Rural Development Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, together with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, are fronting the preliminary production of seedlings for the cultivation of cashew in the country.

He further stated that as part of renewed efforts to improve cashew yield for the country , the Ghana Export Promotion Authority has  commissioned a cashew mass spraying exercise in Wenchi, involving the provision of GH¢1.6 million for the spraying of some 30,000 hectares of cashew plantation.

These initiatives, the President added, form an integral part of the Cashew Development Plan which will seek to improve research methods, introduce appropriate production and processing technologies, as well as develop marketing strategies, amongst others, along the cashew production value chain.

Speaking at the launch of the plan at Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region, the President said the initiative will hugely improve the livelihood of farmers in the country.

“I reiterated my commitment to assist in diversifying Ghanaian agriculture transforming among others cashew, into a major cash crop and foreign exchange earner for Ghana,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

He tasked the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ghana Export Promotion Authority to incorporate, policies and interventions that would create additional businesses and job opportunities in the areas of storage, transport, and packaging of cashew, which will ensure that cashew farmers earn higher incomes.

While the Government’s support for cashew cultivation is refreshing, it remains to be seen if the renewed determination will be sustained. If the government manages to do this, it will help diversify the country’s economy and generate adequate foreign revenue to facilitate development.

Cashew exports rake in $981m

Though fraught with a myriad of challenges, the recent performance of the cashew sub-sector is eye-catching. According to a recent report captured by “thefinderonline.com”, Ghana raked in $981 million ($981,158,000) as the value of total exports of cashew in 2016. This meant the country emerged as the number one exporter of cashew in–shell for the year 2016.

A report posted on the web portal of Ghana Export Promotions Authority (GEPA) said this represents 43.8% of total global exports of cashew in-shell. Major market destinations for Ghana’s cashew in 2016 are Vietnam, where total exports amounted to $533 million, and India, consuming $445 million worth of Ghana cashew.

Although Ghana’s hold on the Vietnamese market is remarkable, threats of competition from mainly Tanzania are real, the report said.

Ghana’s sub-regional competitors

Sub-regional competitors in Vietnam include Burkina Faso – $27.3 million; Nigeria – $24.8 million; Benin – $26.3 million; La Cote d’Ivoire – $340,737; Guinea Bissau – $209,390; and Senegal – $1.6 million.

Ghana’s main competitors outside ECOWAS

Ghana’s main competitors outside ECOWAS include Tanzania ($333,766) and Indonesia ($100,261) in 2016.

Vietnam became a major market destination for Ghana’s cashew in 2016, with an average growth rate of about +168% between 2012 and 2016.

The report noted that over the last decade, Ghana’s cashew has principally been exported to India.

 

Way forward

While the potential in the Cashew sub-sector is huge, there is still a lot of work to be done. First, a perennial issue such as lack of access to cashew nuts by local farmers must become a thing of the past-and quickly!

This will help reverse the unfortunate trend where less than 10% of the country’s production is processed locally despite an inherent capacity to do so and thus add value before export.

Currently, only 10% of African raw cashew nuts are processed (shelled) locally. The vast majority are exported in-shell to some of the world’s main hubs for cashew shelling in India and Vietnam.

From all indications, it’s more prudent for Ghana to consider processing all its production as this will help sustain the industry locally. Indeed, checks indicate that the country is losing some GH₵100 million a year for not processing enough cashew locally.

A recent Aljazeera report dubbed “1,000 Days of Hunger” captured the hunger situation in Ghana thus: “Child malnutrition is a silent tragedy jeopardising the future of more than one million children across Ghana.

Many Ghanaian children under the age of five suffer the irreversible effects of mal-nutrition in their critical first 1,000 days of life. This is the time in children’s lives that determines their health as adults, their ability to learn in school and to perform at a future job.

Over a quarter of children under the age of five in Ghana suffer chronic malnutrition. These children will never reach their full potential in physical or intellectual milestones. This is not a new pattern. Nearly 40 per cent of Ghanaian adults grappled with stunted growth as children.”

This damp narrative of Ghana’s struggle with hunger has loomed large over the country despite spirited attempts by successive governments to combat hunger and malnutrition. As a result, the local economy is estimated to have lost over two billion dollars (6.4 per cent of the country’s GDP) as a result of the impact of malnutrition of Ghanaian children in the last decade.

Buoyed by the need to help Ghana reverse the hunger situation and consequently achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2, the World Food Programme   commissioned the John Agyekum Kuffour Foundation (JAKF) to undertake the Zero Hunger Strategic Review on behalf of the Government of Ghana in 2016.

  The Zero Hunger Strategic Review in Ghana was undertaken by a research team from the University of Ghana, University for Development Studies and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The report advocates for an expansive approach that hinges on advances in agriculture, and other sectors including nutrition, water, sanitation, health, and hygiene, gender and social protection that directly or indirectly affect food and nutrition.

According to the report, despite substantial reductions in food shortfalls since the 1990s, hunger and malnutrition remains a lively threat to the wellbeing of Ghanaians, particularly in the northern regions and among rural and peri-urban communities.

The report further advocates for an all-inclusive measure to stem the tide of hunger and malnutrition by the year 2030 and specifically recommended for a food security and nutrition advisory board at the Office of the President to help inculcate it as a cornerstone of national development.

The report also calls for increased   production and consumption of foods rich in essential nutrients. It highlights the obvious decline in the production foods such as sorghum, millet, groundnuts and cowpeas over the past decade which effectively leaves maize as the most produced staple food in the country.

The report’s emphasis on food nutrition is corroborated by Former President Kufuor who during the official launch of the report, said: “As we seek to achieve zero hunger in our country, we should always remember that food production must be nutrition-sensitive. It is more important for food to nourish the body than simply fill the stomach”, the venerated erstwhile leader said.

In his address, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana had performed very well in alleviating hunger.

“Indeed, we were the first country on the African continent to attain the Millennium Development Goal No. 1 of halving poverty and hunger, for which the country received an award ‘for reducing the level of its malnourished population from 7 million in the early 1990s to less than 1 million today’”, he said.

The President praised the effort and stressed that efforts like it will facilitate rural development and help achieve SDG 2 by 2030.

“Government’s vision is to modernise agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security, and profitability for our farmers, all aimed at significantly enhancing agricultural productivity,” he said.

The President continued, “The basic objective of the policy is to guarantee food self-sufficiency, i.e. that we can feed ourselves and wean us off the disgraceful dependence on the importation of foodstuffs we can grow ourselves. We are determined to stand on our own feet – hence our mantra, Ghana beyond Aid.”

The launch of the report further underlined the enormous commitment of the World Food Programme (WFP) to Ghana. The global body hopes that the report will act as a roadmap that will guarantee hunger eradication and culminate in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 2 in Ghana.

Mr Abdou Dieng, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, explains that  the review endeavour is geared towards propelling governments agricultural interventions that have shown potential “We are using this review as the basis for WFP’s five-year country strategic plan in Ghana which is built to support the government’s excellent flagship programmes and agricultural policies.”

He further stressed that as part of this collaboration with government, the WFP works more closely with the private sector to reduce post-harvest losses and malnutrition using a market-based approach which would be self-sustaining.

Background

The Zero Hunger Strategic Review in Ghana is a country-led, open and all-inclusive process involving the input and expertise of key stakeholders. The outcome of the review established a standard that helps explain the challenges and gaps in the country’s response to food and nutrition security, leading to a joint agreement and consensus on priority actions required to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2.Sustainable Development Goals (SDG2) is targeted at ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.

The five broad aims of SDG’s are:

 

• By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people ,in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations ,including infants ,to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.

 

• By 2030,end all forms of malnutrition ,including achieving ,by 2025 ,the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age ,and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls ,pregnant and lactating women and older persons.

 

• By 2030,double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishermen, including through secure and equal access to land ,other productive resources and inputs ,knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.

 

• By 2030,ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increases productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems ,that strengthen capacity for adoption to climate change ,extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.

 

• By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels and promote access to and fair equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.

 

Relevance

With a central objective of creating a national report and roadmap to zero hunger, the Ghana Zero Hunger Strategic Review is timely and hugely relevant. The reason for this assertion is not far-fetched-Ghana was only four years ago, cited for lagging in the fight against hunger.

In 2014, Ghana failed to achieve the target of halving hunger before the target year of 2015, after the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced the list of countries that had made exceptional headway in the fight against hunger.

Ghana could not make the list of thirteen countries recognised by the FAO for outstanding progress in fighting hunger.

The FAO that year, honoured achievements of Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, the Philippines and Uruguay.

Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, the Philippines and Uruguay were tipped by the FAO to make great strides in combating malnutrition.

Conclusion

Ending hunger and malnutrition is a possibility. Indeed the examples of developing countries who have successfully achieved this feat are a clear indication that it is not beyond Ghana to soon consign hunger and malnutrition to history.

While the battle in winnable, a collective national resolve will be required. One can only hope therefore that the inspiring rhetoric by the president and other stakeholders will reverberate across the country so that together we can work to see the back of the malignant canker of hunger and malnutrition in Ghana.