Remove taxes on agric inputs to boost sector – Dr Kanton

By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra

A former Research Scientist with the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Roger Kanton, is calling for the removal of taxes on agricultural inputs and equipment.

According to him, Ghana’s agricultural drive has been hampered by the taxes imposed on these essential inputs needed by Ghanaian farmers.

He pointed out that while non-farmers in Ghana are receiving free fuel, farmers are struggling with the high costs of fuel to power their tractors.

He emphasized, “Currently, we have a lot of taxes on virtually everything. So if these taxes can be waived off, it will help. Agricultural equipment and fertilizers can then come in, people can buy, and you won’t even have to subsidize.”

He stressed that agricultural sufficiency is linked with national independence and sovereignty, and it is therefore imperative that Ghana takes agricultural research more seriously than it currently does.

He remarked, “You can never move this country forward without research. Everything is research. Even the food you eat and the water you drink is research. If you don’t fund your research, you are just wasting your time. Who should research for you to copy?”

Speaking at a lecture titled the “Swedru Conversations,” organized by the Swedru Secondary School (SWESCO) Alumni Association under the theme ‘Feeding Ourselves as a Nation,’ the scientist bemoaned the centralised control exercised over the Agric Ministry, which, in his estimation, has hampered the Ministry’s efficiency.

He also lamented the weak linkages and coordination between various Ministries essential for agricultural development in the country, noting, “Sometimes, you realize that the Ministries are not interacting properly. In most countries, when you talk of agriculture, water resources and land are part of that. Here they are in small compartments – they don’t talk to each other. Even when they are brought together for national discourse, they still don’t talk.”

Touching on the lack of physical development in areas where they are most needed, he indicated that although research has shown that Jirapa has the potential to produce maize in the greatest volumes nationwide, it currently has some of the worst road networks in the country, hampering its developmental potential and the nation’s food sufficiency drive.

Professor Festus Annor Frimpong, an old student of SWESCO, observed that while the number of Information Communication Technology (ICT) students has risen, there has been a simultaneous decline in the number of Agriculture Science students.

He called for urgent action to stem this decline, stressing the need to revolutionize how agriculture is viewed in the country, away from the manual venture involving the machete and the hoe. He said, “We need to view agriculture as a sustainable business.”

He suggested a merger of Agriculture and ICT to boost agricultural capacity and attract more young people. He advocated for the development of an agriculture value chain, which captures both production, processing, and value addition, which he believed would attract more young people to venture into agriculture.

A lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Enoch Tham-Agyekum, proposed the reintroduction and reintegration of agricultural science programs into the basic education curriculum.

He believes this will improve the interest of young people in agriculture and create a new generation of individuals with basic agricultural science knowledge.

At the secondary school level, this would lead to food sufficiency as the schools would produce what they eat using the skills and labor of their own students.