The Directors of the ONE Africa campaign project, an agricultural advocacy group, on Friday, June 20, 2014, paid a courtesy call on President John Mahama at the Flagstaff house in Accra.
The two-member delegation, Dr. Sipho Moyo, Director of ONE Africa; and her assistant Madam Nachilala Nkombo, visited President Mahama to update him on the group’s campaign activities on the continent and to seek his endorsement and support for the agricultural investment campaign.
In her submission to the President, Dr. Moyo said the world had changed and there was the need for the continent to cater for her needs and avoid the perennial dependency on other continents and countries for their development.
She was of the view that Africa’s dependency level should no longer be on food, poverty and disease, but on technological advancement that would catapult its development and growth, which she said, formed the basis for the campaign.
According to her, out of the fifty-two African leaders who pledged to invest massively in agriculture at the 2003 African Union (AU) summit, only eight of them have fulfilled this pledge till date, adding that the AU’s declaration of 2014 as the year of “Agriculture and Food security” should further give impetus to the call for others to act accordingly to ensure the prosperity of the continent.
Dr. Moyo, however, admitted that it would require a concerted effort from all stakeholders in realizing the goal of the campaign, hence her outfit’s strategy to engage African celebrities across the continent to drum home the message for African leaders to prioritize and increase investment in the agricultural sector.
President Mahama, in turn, hinted on his government’s plan to increase investment in the production of rice, sugar, poultry products and tomatoes in the coming years.
He explained that Ghana had for the past years achieved sufficiency in maize, yam and cassava production; adding that, more investments in agricultural products is therefore an appropriate step; since it would drastically reduce the importation of such commodities and also create sufficient jobs for people who would be engaged in their production.
The President also revealed that measures are being taken to sensitize the youth and create awareness on the economic benefits of agriculture in order to encourage more youth participation in the sector.
The ONE Africa is an advocacy organisation of more than 4 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising awareness and working with political leaders to combat AIDS and other preventable diseases.
The group also advocates for increment in investments in agriculture, nutrition and demand for greater transparency in ensuring that governments are accountable to their citizens.
By: Prince Asare, Diplomatic Call
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