The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana H.E Jeroen Verheul has expressed worry about the image of Agriculture in Ghana, describing it as extremely and depressingly low.
According to him, the country has failed to properly invest in farmers and also underutilized the rich arable lands the country has been blessed with.
Speaking at the official launch of the Adenta Community Garden by Greentech Holland at the Frafraha Day Senior High School, the Dutch Ambassador indicated that farmers could earn a proper living in farming if they get the needed push and support.
“One may ask why we are involved in this activity; I think there is only one reason and that is because the image of agriculture in Ghana is extremely low, depressing, and depressingly low. If you are a farmer there is hardly any esteem for you in the community.
“If you are a farmer people think you do that because you don’t have another option. If you are a farmer, they think you do that just to provide for the needs of your family.”
“We want to show based on our own experience in the Netherlands that farming is a business, it is a viable business, is a respectable business and that you can earn a proper living with it, so that’s an extremely important mission for us.”
He highlighted the exploits in agriculture, stating that it can be an engine of Ghana’s economy.
“The Netherlands is a country of 17 -18 million inhabitants we have a very small land surface only 35,000 square kilometers. Ghana has at least four times the land surface of the Netherlands, we earn quite substantially with agriculture and if we look at exports of the Netherlands, exports of agricultural goods and services.
“If we look at the agricultural goods and services exported by the Netherlands, the value of that is more than 110 billion US dollars per year. So that’s the amount the Netherlands economy is earning with the export of agricultural goods and services.
“Horticulture is a very important part of that sector. If you compare that to the total gross domestic product of Ghana, what Ghana as a whole is earning, that is much less than these 110 billion US dollars. Ghana’s GDP is around 60 billion US dollars. So, this shows that agriculture can be an engine for your economy.”
Don’t Rely on Donations
He, however, urged farmers not to rely on donations from foreign donors but to invest and approach their profession as a viable business module.
“The second point I wanted to make is about business because this project is a donation. So, the Netherlands government has released funding and has paid Greentech to provide this garden, but the business model should not be built on donations.
“The business model should be built on investment by farmers, they should invest in the business. They should gain with the selling of the product and then repay the investment that they have made.
“So we only subsidize this because it’s a demonstration project we are not going to subsidize farmers to do this you have to be convinced that this is a viable business model with which you can make money and only then and only then it Will work because as long as you rely on donations it is never going to take off only if you do this as a business and if you make money with it.”
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