IT is no mean a task for the government of a developing nation still dependent on the support of development partners for economic development to pursue a policy of indigenisation which seeks to insulate its local businesses from unfair external competition and position them to compete favourably with others on the market.
Apart from the threats of retaliation and withholding of development assistance from the developed countries whose products may be so affected, the domestic lobbyists for the importers and distributors of such products are certain to exert all manner of pressure, ranging from the influence of power politics, through the use of money to outright sabotage or blackmail, to get the policy reversed or defeated.
Not too long ago, precisely in the mid-1970s, the Acheampong government of the National Redemption Council (NRC) launched the Operation Feed Yourself (OFY) programme, as a result of which the nation produced abundant maize, rice, yams, millet, guinea corn, livestock, poultry and other agricultural produce to meet domestic needs and for export. The northern part of this country, which is the country’s granary, had silos filled with thousands of tonnes of rice and other cereals.
The tragedy, however, was that there was no market for the produce and farmers went bankrupt, leading to the general decline in agricultural production and specifically the collapse of the rice industry.
It has been a source of concern to all patriotic and well-meaning Ghanaians that this country, which has the capacity to produce rice, poultry and meat to meet our domestic needs and even for export, is today spending nearly $1 billion ($600 million for rice and more than $300 million for poultry and meat products) to import these products.
It is important to point out that for every bag of rice, chicken wing, goat or cow leg and pig feet imported into the country, we are giving jobs and better incomes to the people of the nations from whom we are importing.
Additionally, we are creating unemployment for our own people here by the collapse of many businesses in the agricultural sector, while a few importers may benefit from such import dependence, with the mass of the people and the economy as a whole becoming worse off.
Again, the collapse of such agricultural businesses triggers profound degrees of social dislocation and mass movement of people from such distressed agricultural zones to other areas for alternative livelihood.
The “kayayei” phenomenon in Accra, Kumasi and other big cities in the country is a prominent example here.
It is largely in respect of this that in our editorial of yesterday we lauded the government for the support it had declared in the 2010 Budget for local rice, poultry, fish and livestock farmers.
We are pleased to note that this positive policy intervention is already being acknowledged and commended by stakeholder groups such as the Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana (see front story).
By these pronouncements, the government has taken the vital step towards revamping the economy and improving the lives of our people.
The other important step is how and when these measures will be implemented, if at all.
Our country is fast becoming a dumping ground for all manner of products and this is not only killing our productive capacity but also posing a veritable threat to our economic survival.
The government has both the right and the duty to ensure that these measures it has outlined work and work well to the benefit of our nation and its people.
No comments:
Post a Comment