No. 1 defender of Ghana is ‘consuming what we produce’ – Andani

Former Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, Naa Alhassan Andani has called for increased consumption of locally produced foods in Ghana

But, he said, in order to achieve that, there must be sufficient locally produced food items.

To be able to produce sufficient foods locally, he explained, the government needs to put in place the right infrastructure in the agric sector.

The infrastructure he said, should include storage facilities and water systems to ensure year-long farming

“solid infrastructure, storage system, water system, all of it have to be there. when I talk about infrastructure, I am not just talking about physical but scientific and market infrastructure,” he said.

He further indicated that “let us consume what we produce, that is number defender.”

He further observed that the agric sector of the Ghanaian economy and other parts of Africa has been exposed by global happenings.

He indicated that Ghanaians consume more than they produce locally. This means a lot more foreign exchange earnings are required to bring in additional food supplies to feed the people.

When the exchange rate is affected, he said, it means the food supply is heavily affected thereby creating difficulties for Ghanaians.

“This event could not be happening at a better time and I hope our panellists will elevate the conversation to the level of state and to the level of global coordination.

“Agriculture is probably one gifted industry to Ghana, to Africa, not all of Africa, Ghana, When the fundamentals are weak the exchange rate will expose you.

“On this one in agriculture the fundamentals are that everything we consume in this country, we consume more of our agricultural product in this country than we produce. Therefore for the surplus that you consume you have to bring from outside.

“What do you need? You need foreign exchange and when the foreign exchange is not there the fundamentals will expose you. So I think today’s Ghana and the world economy has exposed us in terms of the way we are organized in our agricultural sector.”