Minority in Parliament has accused the Mahama-led administration of destroying the agricultural sector. According to the Minority spokesperson on Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, the allocation of only 1.1 percent of the budget and only 8.4 percent of oil revenue to the sector over the last few years is not enough to revive agriculture in the country.
Speaking to Citi News on the need to revamp the agricultural sector, Dr Afriyie Akoto charged government to allocate more fund to the sector. “The rate of growth has suddenly gone down. Not only that. If you take the average for the last eight years, agriculture has been going down at only half the rate of the national economy which is a very dangerous trend, giving the fact that we have a new discovery of oil.”
Dr Afriyie Akoto noted that agriculture can generate enough revenue for the nation’s development if more is done to make the sector attractive. He said “we have looked at why the slow sluggish growth of Agriculture in relation to the general economy and we found that there are certain trends in policy and governance which are negatively impacted on this very poor trend.” Dr Afriyie Akoto further cautioned that the situation could lead to a decline in the economy due to the increment of taxes, revenue and high cost of living. He called for more commitment to the sector in order to prevent future risks.
