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A senior Lecturer at the University for Development Studies (UDS, Professor Gideon Danso-Abbeam, has backed calls for increased investment in the agricultural sector to help make it viable and create opportunities for the teeming youth.
He noted that despite agriculture's crucial role in economic development, less than five per cent of the national budget was allocated to the sector, a situation which was not only impacting on agriculture but also the entire economy.
He emphasised the need for the government to adhere to the Malabo Declaration, which recommends allocating at least 10 per cent of the national budget to agriculture to achieve a six per cent growth in the agricultural economy.
Prof. Danso-Abbeam made the call at the inaugural national agricultural sector policy dialogue held in Tamale, the northern regional capital. Organised by USAID-supported Market System Resilience (MSR) and Policy LINK, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the dialogue brought together stakeholders to deliberate on how to strengthen the decentralisation of the agricultural sector for effective policy implementation and coordination.
It also sought to deepen the understanding of government initiatives, tackle existing challenges and devise strategies for better policy coordination and implementation. Participants included members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture, Parliamentary Select Committee on Decentralisation and Local Government, as well as representatives from various government bodies, farmers' associations and non-governmental organisations.
Prof. Danso-Abbeam observed that there was poor coordination among various stakeholders in the agricultural value chain, resulting in inefficiencies in resource allocation, distribution and management.
That, he said, was resulting in the implementation of duplicated interventions and affecting the growth of the sector. For his part, the Chief of Party of MSR, Glenn Lines, explained that the dialogue sought to promote inclusivity in policymaking and implementation processes, leveraging evidence-based approaches and fostering stakeholder engagement to achieve more transparent effective agricultural and food systems policy.
