Mr Ibrahim Akalbila, the National Coordinator of the Ghana Trades and Livelihoods Coalition (GTLC), has urged the government to use the recent Census of Agriculture to address challenges women face in the sector.

Mr Akalbila made the appeal in an interview with the GNA in reaction to the 2022 budget statement.
He said women faced a lot of challenges in agriculture and the recent census provided an opportunity for the government to reach out and solve the problems of the farmers.

On the 2022 budget, he said, “Our expectation was that government would improve the way it does its analysis of what really needs to be included in the budget, which needs investment in agriculture and how that can be reached,” he stated.

He urged the government to target farmers properly in the area of investment.

The GTLC coordinator said the government’s subsidy to farmers was not up to 20 per cent of the needs of agriculture and the fertilizer subsidy, which is the important aspect continued to suffer from massive smuggling every year.

He urged the government to create a scheme for farmers that would enable them to access cheaper credit to buy their inputs.

“This provision of low-cost credit will reduce farmers going into high-cost interest loans and also reduce fertilizer smuggle as experienced in recent times,” he indicated.

“As part of agriculture, mechanization is a key area to the farmer and this need to be addressed, especially in the area of land preparation and harvesting,” he added.