The agricultural sector investment project strategy as a means of improving agricultural production -a study of projects in the Ashanti Region

The agricultural sector remained very important in the economy of Ghana because of the continued positive role it plays in the Country’s development in terms of contribution to Gross Domestic Product, employment, government revenue, food and industrial raw materials. Achieving sustainable increase in agricultural production has been the underlying principle of all agricultural policies that have been pursued in Ghana over the years. The sector is confronted with many problems such as inadequate extension services, lack of credit, erratic rainfall and poor distribution and marketing of farm produce. Policies pursued had not succeeded in eliminating these problems As a result, the sector continues to perform poorly leading to a reduction in the sectors contribution to many macroeconomic indicators. The low rate of growth in agricultural production is primarily due to low levels of investment and technological improvement in the sector generally, especially in the crops and livestock subsector, and to environmental constrains on forestry and fishing. Current policies have aimed at reversing this trend. The Agricultural Sector Investment Project (ASIP) was set up in 1994 to enhance the production processing and marketing of agricultural produce. The major components of ASIP include the following: - Improvement in market infrastructure; - Processing of agricultural production; - Improvement in the supply of water for irrigation purpose; and - Improvement in road connections to rural and farming areas. Considering the interweaving nature of problem in the agricultural sector, the question is, does the ASIP strategy contain the necessary elements to effectively handle the problems in the sectors? The study therefore, sets up the following major objectives. i Identify the agricultural development needs of the districts; ii. Examine the effectiveness of the strategy as a means of improving agricultural production; iii Examine the form and level of participation by the communities in the initial and implementation stages of the projects; iv. Identify the sort of mechanism put in place to ensure the sustainability of the projects; and v. Making recommendations to correct the observed weaknesses of the programme. The study was carried out in nine communities in four selected districts in the Ashanti Region where ASIP projects are being implemented. Data was assembled from both documentary sources and interviews with representative sample of the population. The Study found that no effective mechanism had been put in place to sustain the projects. It also revealed that, important issues like lack of credit, inadequate inputs supply, non availability of functional markets and high dependence on traditional technology which constitute major problems of agricultural development have been left unattended to by the strategy. It was also revealed that, implementation of most projects have delayed due to unwillingness or inability of the district assemblies to pay part of the total cost of projects. In conclusion, the contribution by the agricultural sector to the very country’s economic development is very crucial rho ASIP strategy must encompass other issues for it to be able to achieve its noble objectives.

Source: KNUST