This follows the global conference
on yams held in Accra and ongoing strategic development for the sector.
The national yam strategy puts
yam in the spotlight as a key crop to help Ghana fight poverty, enhance food
security, and improve the livelihoods and income of women and men engaged in
the yam sector.
“The strategy envisions making
Ghana the leading source of premium quality yam products with global
penetration and contributing to an improved Ghanaian economy and livelihoods,”
says the Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan.
“One of the objectives of the
strategy is to develop commercially-driven research and development as well as
capacity building in yam value chain,” he added at the inauguration of the strategy
in Accra.
The economic value of the yam
industry in Ghana has grown quite rapidly in recent years, with its foreign
exchange earnings shooting up to the third position among the non-traditional
export commodities in the period 2010 to 2012.
Demand for yam in both fresh and
processed forms is increasing in new markets abroad and domestically. The
industry faces tremendous opportunities as well as challenges and requires
support policies, private sector investment, and to become organized as a
whole value chain.
The Ghana Yam Strategy is a
bottom-up policy process that started in 2012. It is a private sector-led road
map championed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Food
and Agriculture with the support of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
The International Trade Centre
(ITC) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) provided
technical support and process facilitation.
“Despite the contribution of yam,
the crop has not been given the right attention. This is what this strategy
aims to correct,” says Mr Anthony Sikpa, Chairman of the Ghana Yam Strategy
Committee.
“With this strategy not only will
yam be given attention, but it will also provide opportunities for all
stakeholders in the yam sector,” he added.
IITA Director for Western Africa,
Dr Robert Asiedu commended Ghana for taking the lead in developing a strategy
for the tuber crop.
“We also encourage other
countries to emulate Ghana, by developing similar strategies that give clear
direction on how to make the crop work for the poor and improve their
economies,” Dr Asiedu added.
Indigenous to Africa, yam is a
major staple contributing to food security and incomes, and also plays a
significant role in the culture of the people.
The Strategy has been designed
and developed to provide a holistic approach to sector development by
considering both the economic and social value of yam in Ghana.
“The methodology used combines
IITA’s experience in agriculture research-and-development with ITC’s practice
of participatory mechanisms and market-led planning for policy, enterprise, and
sector development,” said Hernan Manson, ITC Adviser for Value Chain
Development, and Antonio Lopez-Montes, IITA Yam Breeder.
“Country ownership and leadership
have been ensured through a private-public platform in charge of building
partnerships and articulating support for implementation,” they added.
The platform includes
approximately 200 stakeholders from the private sector, representing all areas
of the industry, and support institutions (Ghana Standards Authority, Ghana
Export Promotion Authority, Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund,
and National Development Planning Commission), commercial and development
banks, research centers (CSIR, etc.), academia, and key ministries such as
Trade, Agriculture, Finance, and Women and Children.
The Yam Sector Strategy aims at
creating business and industry development with social impact while ensuring
food security.
No comments:
Post a Comment