Prioritise agriculture to transform economy, strengthen cedi — Economist urges gov’t
By Solomon Nartey Tetteh
A development economist, Dr Felix Larry Essilfie, has urged government to prioritise agriculture as the foundation for transforming Ghana’s economy and strengthening the cedi.
Speaking on The Focus, a current affairs show on Zed 101.9FM, Dr Essilfie emphasised that boosting productivity and expanding local industry must begin with agriculture.
He explained that without adequate raw materials, factories are forced to rely on imports, undermining efforts to build a resilient local economy.
“Ghana is so blessed that even if you remove the concrete floor of your car park and put rice or maize there, it will grow. Unlike countries like Dubai that must engineer their soil to farm, we have fertile land all around us. Yet, we are still importing rice and poultry at high costs,” he said.
Dr Essilfie revealed that Ghana spends nearly USD2 billion annually on rice imports and about USD300 million on poultry.
He described this as unsustainable, especially when local farmers could easily meet domestic demand if given adequate support.
The development economist criticised the implementation of the government’s Feed Ghana programme under the 120-day initiative, noting that existing poultry farmers should have been integrated into a public-private partnership to scale up production.
“Broilers take just about three months to mature. If we had started properly, by now we should have seen significant local poultry production. Instead, imported chicken, some of which has been in storage for over a year, is flooding our markets,” he lamented.
According to Dr Essilfie, the continued reliance on imported, chemically preserved poultry products also poses health risks, contributing to rising cases of kidney and other lifestyle-related diseases.
He contrasted this with the freshness and nutritional value of locally raised livestock, which previous generations relied upon.
The development economist stressed that restructuring Ghana’s economy requires moving away from decades of dependency on imports.
“No country has built a strong currency by doing the same thing for 60 years depending on imports. At some point, it will become inefficient for the Bank of Ghana to keep pumping dollars into the system to stabilise the cedi,” Dr Essilfie warned.
He urged policymakers to focus on value addition in agriculture, such as processing cocoa, timber, pineapples and bananas into globally competitive products.
Dr Essilfie also reiterated that such a shift would not only reduce pressure on the cedi but also create jobs, strengthen food security and position Ghana as a key player in global trade.
