Economist, Professor Peter Quartey has cautioned that Ghana’s overreliance on rain-fed agriculture is unsustainable and poses a serious threat to efforts at controlling inflation and safeguarding livelihoods.
The Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) said limited investment in irrigation had left the country vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, resulting in unstable food supplies and persistent price hikes.
“If we continue to rely on rain-fed agriculture, it’s not sustainable, and we will keep witnessing high rates of inflation in certain parts of the country. That, for me, is a worry because our livelihoods are threatened,” he told journalists in Accra.
Prof. Quartey stressed that food production remained central to tackling inflation, which he described as “more money chasing fewer goods.”
He explained that the only way to address rising prices was to enhance the production of goods and services, particularly food, while maintaining sound monetary policies.
He said Ghana’s irrigated farmland accounted for less than five per cent of the total, a figure he described as inadequate to support the country’s food security and inflation management agenda.
The economist further raised concerns about the impact of illegal mining, or galamsey, on agricultural productivity, saying farmlands were being destroyed and water sources polluted.
“Already, we are faced with illegal mining where agricultural lands are being converted, our water bodies are being poisoned, and therefore our food basket is threatened. If we don’t do something now, we will get to a point where we have to import our food,” he warned.
Prof. Quartey also highlighted inefficiencies in domestic food production, noting that locally produced food carried higher inflation rates than imports.
He said while imported food recorded an inflation rate of 8.7 percent, locally produced food was at 12.2 percent, pointing to higher production costs in Ghana.
“It tells you there is inefficiency in our production. It shows that the cost of producing local goods is higher than importing them. No wonder we are always importing, and our exchange rate is challenged,” he added.
He called for urgent and increased investment in irrigation, modern farming technologies, and policy interventions to boost agricultural productivity and ease pressure on food prices.
