Accra (Greater Accra) 21 Nov. 1998 -- An efficient marketing, transportation, storage and processing sectors, hold the key to sustainable agricultural production in this age of trade liberalisation, Dr Farouk Brimah, deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, has stated.

Closing the first Biennial National Agricultural Research System Workshop in Accra, he pledged the government's determination to help improve the sectors to ensure food security.

The five-day workshop under the theme "Sustainable Agricultural Production and Food Security," was organised by the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP), and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with funding from the World Bank. He called for the harnessing of the country's research potential and the strengthening of linkages between the universities, research institutions and industry for the maximum benefit of society. The Minister asked agricultural research centres to support farmers to increase their output since the socio-economic development of the country depends on agriculture. The deputy Minister urged NARP to forge closer links with organisations such as the Ghana Export Promotion Council, which are in the forefront of Ghana's drive to increase the export of non-traditional crops. Dr. Brimah stressed the importance of managing funds for agricultural research prudently to achieve set objectives. ''It seems however that we are not seeing much of an effective management of resources in many of our institutions,'' he said . He called for a shift from the concentration on one or two staples to more crops in the research programme under NARP to help the fight to make Africa's green revolution a reality. Professor Walter Alhassan, Director-General of CSIR, who presided urged African governments and donor agencies to increase their funding for agricultural research.