The Israeli Ambassador to Ghana and Liberia, Ami Mehl, has expressed shock over the quantity of rice importation into Ghana, calling it “crazy.”
Interacting with journalists at the B-BOVID agriculture facility in the Mpohor-Wassa East District of the Western Region, the head of the Israeli delegation said Ghana must take serious measures aimed at improving agricultural practises to reverse the annual import of rice of up to a billion US dollars, coupled with the high importation of poultry products from the Americas.
He said mechanized agriculture must be adopted to drastically cut down the manpower involved, since it employs less manpower and produces higher yield.
Ambassador Mehl added that, the way for Ghana was large scale agriculture which employs the right technology to ensure that the country has enough to utilize and export as well.
“Agribusiness should be large-scale. Ghana is an agricultural country, so there is a lot of potential for agribusiness in Ghana. But it should be on a large-scale. The BBOVID example is a brilliant idea of how to use small scale methods to do big things in the agriculture sector”.
He said,”you can’t have about 60 percent of the population being subsistence farmers and expect growth; rather I suggest that smaller farmer groups come together to form large group to advance the sector. It’s not good for Ghana to have 50 per cent of its population doing farming. 5 to 10 percent of the population that will go professionally into agriculture can make miracles, which can make Ghana self-sufficient in agriculture and a strong exporter of agric products.”
He said Israel, with its limited land area and scarcity of water, has less than 4% of its total population doing agriculture, yet the country is a food exporter due to its implementation of modern farming methods.
He said his country is open to sharing its experience with Ghana on specific agric sectors.
“There are things you don’t have here that I don’t understand. There is no milk industry in Ghana. For us, it’s a very basic thing milking cows and producing dairy products on a large scale.”
According to the Ambassador, if Ghana really wants to see a change in agriculture as an engine for economic growth, then there must be a change in attitude and mind set towards agric.
Interest rates in Ghana too high
Mr. Mehl said Ghana’s current banking system discourages long-term investment into agriculture.
“Interests around 30 per cent; I don’t know a business that can make so much profit in such a short time, because it eats all your profits.”
He however lauded the B-BOVID’’s inclusive business model initiative with farmers who provide raw materials for its palm oil factory.
Mr. Isaa Ouedraogo, Director of BBOVID, who took the ambassador and his team through a facility visit, prayed the government to ensure long term and low interest loans to encourage more professionals in the agriculture sector.
US Ambassador lauds B-BOVID’s agric model, urges gov’t support
The Israeli Ambassador’s visit to B-BOVID’s site, comes barely few weeks after the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Peter Jackson, visited the site and promised to engage Ghana’s Ministry of Agriculture in promoting the company’s agric module.
B-BOVID, is a Ghanaian agricultural business based in Prestea in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region, which promotes sound agricultural practices and ecological farming, and offers training to farmers on variety of improved agricultural methods.
