Ghana is set to form alliances with the Government of Serbia to accelerate the implementation of the Feed Ghana Programme, initiated by President John Dramani Mahama.
The Feed Ghana Programme aims for food sufficiency by promoting home gardens and institutional farming in schools, targeting comprehensive agricultural engagements.
The partnership would enable Ghana to tap into Serbia’s agricultural technology for food sufficiency and uninterrupted supply of raw materials for industrial operations in support of the Government’s 24-Hour Economy.
Through its digitised farm, Serbia is noted for using mobile solar power generator tailored for small and medium-sized farms that combines Soil sensors, Digital weather station, and Wireless computer system to increase yield up to 30 per cent.
Maize, wheat, and pepper are the main crops that the digitised farms are applicable to.
Mr Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, represented the Ghanaian team while Mr Marko Djuric, Serbian’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, led his team in a meeting held at the Ministry.
Mr Djuric noted that agriculture was one of the drivers of his country’s economic growth, providing about 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), projecting Serbia as significant agricultural producer.
He attributed the success to several agricultural institutions established by the Government, including the institute for Biotechnology, Corn, and Seeds, durable and affordable agricultural machinery, and extensive networks of international cooperation.
“Agriculture has been one of the drivers of the economic growth of Serbia… Serbia has more than doubled the size of its GDP in less than a decade, and agriculture has traditionally been around 10 per cent of our national GDP, which means that it is very significant,” Mr Djuric said.
Such experiences, he noted, would be shared with Ghana, through the Serbian ministry responsible for agriculture, to improve productivity.
Regarding access to market, he indicated that Serbia was geopolitically positioned to offer opportunities for Ghanaian products into Europe, China and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Djuric assured Ghana of his country’s readiness to support in the implementation of the Feed Ghana Programme, including the award of scholarships to Ghanaian students to study in Serbia.
Mr Opoku, on his part, expressed joy about the collaboration, nothing that food insufficiency would be a thing of the past with the introduction of the Feed Ghana Programme, considering the number of secondary schools, universities, churches, and prison services who had shown interest in its implementation.
He noted that the country’s food import bill was above US$2 billion annually, while food inflation rose to as high as 61 per cent, making the country among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest food inflation in 2024.
“Every Ghanaian must have a home garden where you can produce some vegetables, take advantage of the fertile soil we have, to support the feeding of the house. This will go a long way to reduce the cost of feeding in the country,” he said.
Source: GNA
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