International scientists worried about Ghana's limited resources for Agric research

farmland

International Scientists have expressed concern about what they say is limited resources for agricultural research in Ghana which they say threatens the country’s food security.


They are meanwhile commending Nigeria for taking agricultural research and implementation serious.

The scientists have been speaking at the congress of the International Federation of Agric Journalists in Germany where it came to fore that less that 0.3 percent of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expended on agriculture annually.

This is considered to be one of the lowest in Africa, meanwhile, countries with higher GDP's including Africa like Nigeria are spending almost 2 percent of their GDP on research.

Ghanaian senior researcher at the University of Bonn, Germany, Dr Justice Tambo has called on government to sit up.

"For example, in Nigeria, they have developed a lot of innovations in the agricultural sector like using of fertilizer seedling because formerly the former minister was a researcher, so he facilitated the process," Dr Tambo said.

He said in the case of Ghana, there is limited support for research in the Agric sector because the results from researches are not utilised and "when they are used, it is only to a limited extent not so much."

Dr Tambo speaking to Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo at a forum on Agricultural Sustainability at the Center for Development Studies in Bonn warned that Ghana's food security is at risk if nothing changes in Ghana's approach to agricultural research.

"The foods we import are produced by few countries so if there is any crisis, there will be starvation, uprising and other consequences on the country.

Chairwoman of the German Guild of Agric Journalist, Dr Katherina Seuser, called on stakeholders to do more to preserve agricultural resources even in the light of intensified agricultural production.