The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) have expressed their concerns over the conditions that might affect smallholder farmers if the government should turn to International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support due to the economic crises in the country.
The current economic crisis in the country, has led the government to turn to IMF for support, which will come with some conditions that might affect some flagship programs run by the government such as PFJ, which was designed to help farmers get inputs at subsidised prices.
In an interview with Mr. Charles Ayanmba, President of PFAG , he stated that the association was formed as a result of Ghana joining IMF and Structural Adjustment Programs in the 1980’s which affected smallholder farmers greatly due to the terms and conditions provided by the IMF.
“Input subsidies were removed as part of the conditions and all agro-based industries were privatised. The economic conditions of smallholder farmers became unbearable at the time. This action motivated the founders of PFAG to establish the association to advocate for pro-poor agricultural intake policies” he added.
He again mentioned that in 2015, when Ghana went to IMF, there were restrictions on employment which prevented the government from recruiting extension officers, and this had a negative effect on the agricultural sector”
He added that per this history, the PFAG is concerned that if going to the IMF now is going to follow this same trend then it will worsen the poverty situation of the smallholder farmers.
He advised that the government should work on strengthening the PFJ or derive a new way of providing input support to especially smallholder farmers.