Cabinet has approved a National Seed Policy to propel action in hitherto neglected areas, especially those which hold the key to rapidly transforming the country’s seed industry to meet the needs of modern agriculture and the attainment of food security.

This is in line with the agriculture sector’s main policy document, the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEPII), and plans are far advanced to develop a national seed plan to operationalise the policy statements discussed in the policy and to give clarity and support to the Plants and Fertilisers Act, 2010 (Act 803).

In a speech read on behalf of President John Mahama at the first annual West Africa Fertiliser Stakeholders’ Forum in Accra, a Minister of State at the Presidency, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, noted that in response to the Abuja Fertiliser Summit of 2006 that called for an increase in the level of fertiliser use from the current 8 kilogrammes per hectare to at least 50 kilogrammes per hectare by 2015, Ghana instituted the Fertiliser Subsidy Programme five years ago.

The President said farmers need to be offered a range of fertiliser products given the heterogeneity of soil conditions across areas and even within farms. Increased fertiliser use, he said, is part of the broader goal of healthier soils for increased agricultural productivity and food security.

However, he noted that the continued use of inorganic fertilisers alone, like ammonium salts, tend to make soil acidic -- which negatively affects microbial activity in the soil and reduces efficacy of the applied fertiliser.

The two-day ECOWAS fertiliser forum was supported by the USAID/West African Fertiliser Programme, the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) and the African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP).

It brought together the region’s fertiliser stakeholders, public officials, policymakers/implementers, international manufacturers and traders. Also in attendance were importers, blenders, distributors, bankers and farmer-based organisations to discuss practical approaches for achieving increased availability and use of fertilisers in West Africa.

Fertiliser consumption levels in West Africa are generally below 50 kilogrammes per hectare.

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Kofi Humado, said the only sustainable way of increasing productivity is by increasing yields per unit of land, generally referred to as “intensification”. Fertilisers, he noted, hold the promise of good yields -- especially when farmers have access to the right types of fertiliser at the right time.