Many agri-businesses likely to collapse due potential drought – Climate Expert 

Mr Richard Adu-Poku, a Climate Change Expert, says many agri-businesses are likely to collapse, due to the devastating impacts of climate change on subsistence farming activities in the country. 

He said the nation was likely to face extreme drought if climate change adaptation and mitigation actions are not enhanced. 

Mr Adu-Poku said climate change was having devastating impacts on subsistence farming practices which represented about 70 per cent of the nation’s farming practices. 

He explained that many agri-businesses relied mostly on subsistence farmers for their raw materials, saying it would be difficult for those agri-businesses to operate if the farmers were unable to produce more crops. 

He said subsistence farmers ought to be trained in smart and modern agriculture practices like mulching, use of farm beds as well as provided with drought-resistance crops to keep them in year-long farming. 

Mr Adu-Poku, also the Executive Director of the Livelihood Environment Ghana (LEG) an environmentally-centered Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) said many agri-businesses over-relied on subsistence farmers for raw materials for production. 

He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani on the implementation of the Post COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP).

Mr Adu-Poku said looming scarcity of food crops due to climate change impacts of erratic rains, tailored with unpredictability of weather patterns and extreme heat would potentially collapse some of the agri-businesses. 

The GNA is a beneficiary, and implementer of the government’s PSDPEP project seeks to build health-related skills in higher education, restore livelihoods, strengthen communication, and create jobs among the youth and women in the country. 

Under the implementation of the African Development Bank (AfDB) $30 million project, $4 million is expected to be given to Small and Medium Enterprises as loans at a reduced rate to enable them to withstand the shock of the pandemic. 

Mr Adu-Poku expressed worry that successive governments had failed to attach the required urgency to improve climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. 

He called on the government and her development partners to, as a matter of urgency, consider constructing more irrigation facilities for farmers and discourage the use of synthetic agro-chemicals and fertilizers. 

Besides tree planting and nurturing, there was the need for the government and stakeholders to intensify public education and sensitization for the citizenry to deepen understanding on the essence of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. 

That, he added, would enlighten the populace more for them to support the government in mitigating the impact of climate change in the country. 

In a related interview, Mr Kofi Vinyo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kwatire-based Kofi Vinyo and Company Limited (KVCL), a solely organic agro-processing company called on the government to support the operations of agri-businesses in the country. 

Describing the business environment as challenging, he said agri-businesses required funding support to expand and to create more jobs for the youth. 

Currently, Mr Vinyo said the KVCL processed organic tiger nuts into oil and powder and had obtained International Organic Certification to export the products to the European Union market, the United States and Canada. 

However, he added that his company needed modern machines and equipment to increase processing and required irrigation facilities to produce more of the raw materials to feed the factory. 

Mr Vinyo said due to erratic rains, the company could not produce the quantity of tiger nuts to feed the factory. 

Source: GNA 

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