2023 budget allocated 1% to agric when Maputu declaration says it shouldn't be less than 10% - Eric Opoku | 3News.com

Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Eric Opku has said that the government has not paid enough attention to agriculture hence, some of the challenges facing the sector.

In his view, there has not been enough investments in the sector, leading to the inability of local farmers to produce enough food to feed the people despite the availability of arable lands.

Speaking ahead of the the 2022 national farmers’ day celebration in Parliament, he indicated at the Second Ordinary Assembly of the African Union in July 2003 in Maputo, African Heads of State and Government including Ghana endorsed the “Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa”.

“Even today, the 2023 budget of Ghana, total allocation to the agricultural sector is around one percent,” the ranking member on the committee of food and agriculture said.

He added “Why is that nature has been been kind to us and has bestowed on us all that it takes for agriculture to be used to develop our nation yet we are still unable to produce enough food to feed our people

For his part, the , Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto said that a number of significant investments have been made by the Akufo-Addo government since 2017 to improve agriculture in the country.

He added “Since 2017, investments have been made by government in the various subsectors of agriculture resulting in significant achievements