Business Analyst - June 30

BUSINESS MARKET RATES
US$ 1 – GH¢7.90
GHANA STOCK WED, 29 JUNE. 2022
Indices and Market Cap Level Previous Level Change % Change
GSE Composite Index 2,810.01 2,798.27 +11.74 +0.42%
GSE Financial Index 2,073.63 2,073.63 0.00 0.00%
GSE Market Cap (GHS 'mn) 63,883.61 63,760.71 +122.90 +0.19%
COCOA: US$2,473.00 per tonne
CRUDE OIL: US$104.6 per barrel
GOLD: US$1,851.99 per ounce
Thursday, June 30, 2022. Vol. No. 169
GH¢2.50
• Mr Albert
Kwabena
Dwumfour, GJA
President-Elect
• Akinwumi
Adesina,
AfDB boss
AutoMAtEd teller
Machine and
Point of Sale fraud
recorded a loss of
GH¢22.99 million
in the year 2021, the Bank of
Ghana has pointed out.
universal banks accounted
for nearly all the loss for
AtM/PoS fraud. the banks
recorded a rate of 99.98%
leaving 0.02% for the Savings
and Loans sector.
According to the report
dubbed Banking, Specialised
deposit-taking Institutions
and Electronic Money Issuers
(EMI) Fraud, impersonation
accounted for 13.38% of total
loss accrued by Banks and SdIs
for 2021.
the banking sector
accounted for the highest
success rate of 90.65%, followed
by the Savings and Loans
sector with a success/loss rate
of 87.70%.
Loss incurred by the
Banking and SdI sector
through lending/credit fraud is
estimated at approximately
GH¢8.2million, which is 10.66%
of the total fraud-related loss
recorded by the Banks and SdI
sector for 2021.
the sector recorded an

Thursday, June 30, 2022
Ukraine war: US to ramp up
military presence across Europe
tHE uS will increase its
military presence across
Europe as Nato agreed a
"fundamental shift" in its
response to Russia's invasion
of ukraine.
A permanent army headquarters will
be created in Poland, while new uS
warships will go to Spain, fighter jets to
the uK and ground troops to Romania.
Mr Biden said Nato was "needed now
more than it has ever been".
the alliance is having its biggest
overhaul since the Cold War, Nato head
Jens Stoltenberg said.
the new plan in response to Russia's
invasion will mean more than 300,000
troops at high readiness next year, up from
the current level of 40,000.
Mr Biden told a summit in Madrid that
Nato would be "strengthened in all
directions across every domain - land, air
and sea".
the uK's Ministry of defence (Mod)
has also said it is significantly increasing
the availability of forces to Nato's
collective defence, with more warships,
fighter jets and land forces on standby -
although the Mod said it would not give
details on numbers as they are "militarily
sensitive".
What is Nato and how is it
changing?
Five key challenges for Nato at critical
summit
the uS announcement sees it shore up
its presence across the continent but
particularly in eastern Europe where the
new permanent headquarters for its 5th
Army Corps will be based.
Mr Biden repeated the alliance's
commitment to "defend every inch" of its
territory, saying: "We mean it when we say
an attack against one is an attack against
all."
the measures include:
Boosting the fleet of uS naval
destroyers in Spain from four to six
An additional "rotational brigade in
Romania consisting of 3,000 fighters and
another 2,000-personnel combat team
two more squadrons of F-35 stealth
jets to the uK
Additional air defence and other
capabilities in Germany and Italy.
the uK has already nearly doubled the
size of its military presence in Estonia,
with just over 1,600 troops there.
About a thousand more will be
allocated to the defence of the Baltics,
however the Mod said these additional
troops may be held at high readiness back
home.
At the summit Nato leaders agreed to
accept the previously neutral Nordic states
Finland and Sweden into the alliance, with
their membership needing to be ratified
by the governments of all 30 Nato
members.
Mr Biden said this was "exactly" what
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not
want and said his strategy of invading
ukraine had backfired.
Nato Secretary General Mr Stoltenberg
said Finland and Sweden had been
formally invited to join the military
alliance, describing it as the "fastest
accession process ever", and said he
expected the swift progress to continue.
the two applicants must now show
that they meet Nato's standards in politics,
law, and in their armed forces - something
which is expected to be relatively
straightforward for the Nordic countries.
Mr Stoltenberg said ukraine could
continue to count on the alliance's
assistance in the face of Russian
aggression for "as long as it takes", adding
that ukraine was fighting for its
independence but also for values shared by
Nato.
Africa Live: AU calls for
Sudan-Ethiopia restraint
tHE head of the Au commission has called
for "restraint, calm and dialogue" as the
border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan
threatens to escalate.
In a statement, Moussa Faki Mahamat
said "the two brotherly countries" should
settle any disagreement peacefully.
Report this social embed, make a
complaint
Ethiopian and Sudanese forces have
clashed at the disputed al-Fashaga border
area following the alleged capture, execution
and public display of the bodies of seven
Sudanese soldiers and a civilian killed over
the weekend.
Al-Fashaga is where the north-west of
Ethiopia's Amhara region meets Sudan's
breadbasket, Gedaref state.
It has been contested for decades but
tensions have increased over the last year
with regular skirmishes reported between
the two countries.

Thursday, June 30, 2022
ATM/POS fraud records
loss of GH¢22.99m
• Continued from front
attempted value of GH¢10 million, as
compared to GH¢0.68 million in 2020.
Also, the E-money fraud in the
Banks and SdIs sector recorded a loss of
GH¢3.2million in 2021. this figure
shows an increase from the 2020
statistics where loss of GH¢1.04 million
was recorded.
• Urges BoG and government
to work together
the number of fraud cases in
banking industry reduce to 12%, but loss
value surges
the number of attempted fraud
cases in the banking industry reduced
by 12.09% in 2021 to 2,347, a report by the
Bank of Ghana has revealed.
However, the year recorded a loss
value of ¢61 million as compared to a
loss of ¢25 million in 2020. this
represented a 144% increase in year-onyear
terms.
According to the report dubbed
Banking, Specialised deposit-taking
Institutions and Electronic Money
Issuers (EMI) Fraud, the significant
fraud types that accounted for this
figure included Automated teller
Machine (AtM) card and Point of Sale
(PoS) fraud, impersonation, lending,
and credit fraud, forgery and
manipulation of documents, cash
suppression and E-money fraud.
However, there were other fraud
types, which also recorded some huge
losses. Notable among these are
impersonation, lending and credit
fraud, suppression of cash, E-money
and forgery, and manipulation of
documents.
the report added that the increase
in the usage of electronic and digital
platforms in the financial sector
resulted in an increase in AtM card and
PoS fraud.
Newly elected GJA
executives to be
sworn in today
• Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, Government’s
spokesperson on Governance and Security
Govt will not allow IMF
conditions to affect social
intervention programmes
— Spokesperson
GoVERNMENt Spokesperson on Governance
and Security, Mr. Palgrave
Boakye-danquah has said the International
Monetary Fund would not be allowed
to dictate the terms and
conditions should Ghana decide to seek
its financial assistance.
Mr. Boakye-danquah affirms that
the government will ensure that the
conditionalities that will be laid down
by the IMF would not affect social intervention
programmes such as Free SHS
and the creation of jobs.
Speaking to tV3 Newday on tuesday,
June 28, he said, "We will ensure that it
does not affect jobs".
"We will ensure that it does not affect
Free SHS, we will ensure that it will
not affect other social intervention programmes",
he added.
this comes after there have been
heightened discussions on the government
seeking a bailout from the IMF
going forward.
the government before the introduction
of the controversial E-Levy said
going back to the IMF was not an option
but due to the country's current debt
rate and heightened calls on the government
to ease the socio-economic burden
on Ghanaians, talks on seeking
assistance from the IMF are emerging.
JuStICE George Kingsley Koomson,
Justice of the Court of Appeal, will, on
thursday, June 30, 2022, swear the
newly elected National Executive officers
of the Ghana Journalists Association
(GJA) into office.
He will administer the oath of office
to the new national executive
members made up of Albert Kwabena
dwumfour, President; Linda Asante-
Agyei (Mrs), Vice President; Kofi
Yeboah, General Secretary; dominic
Hlordzi, National organising
Secretary;
Audrey dekalu (Mrs),
treasurer and Rebecca
Ekpe (Ms), Public Affairs
officer.
they are to serve
for a three-year term
after the swearing-in
ceremony, which will
be held at the Accra International
Conference
Centre (AICC) at 10 am
prompt.
the ceremony will
be chaired by the director-General
of the
Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation, Prof Amin
Alhassan, with the
Minister of Information,
Kojo oppong
Nkrumah, invited as a
Special Guest.
dignitaries expected
to attend the
ceremony include
members of the diplomatic
Corps, Ministers
of State, Members of
Parliament, representatives of development
partners, heads of media institutions,
and members of the inky
fraternity.
the ceremony will be telecast live
by the national broadcaster (GBC) and
other media houses.
At the regional level, similar swearing-in
ceremonies are expected to be
organized for the newly elected regional
executive members of the GJA.

Thursday, June 30, 2022
ESTABLISHING TRACTOR
ASSEMBLY PLANT
WELCOME NEWS
In 2017, when the government launched its
agricultural flagship initiative, Planting for Food and
Jobs, the intention was to boost food production and
make the country self-sufficient in food.
The initiative was designed to transform the
agricultural sector and position it as the driver of the
national economy.
A key pillar in this transformational agenda has
been agricultural mechanisation to modernise and
fast-track the agenda.
But, since we do not manufacture agricultural
equipment in the country, mechanising agriculture
means importing the machinery, for which reason the
government embarked on the importation of heavy,
medium and hand-held tractors and machinery for
farmers.
The machinery cost the nation a fortune. For
instance, between 2017 and 2020, a whopping $269-
million worth of agricultural equipment has been
imported to mechanise agriculture in the country.
The newspaper believes that if the equipment had
been produced locally, it would have saved the country
a lot of money, which could have been channelled into
other useful projects.
That is why we are satisfied that the governments
of Ghana and India have signed a credit agreement
for the establishment of an assembling plant for
agricultural equipment at Essienimpong in the Ashanti
Region.
The plant, expected to be completed in 18 months,
will assemble tractors and backhoe loaders and also
undertake the fabrication of other agricultural
equipment.
The plant will, surely, be a big relief to the Ministry
of Food and Agriculture, as it will reduce the
international trekking by its officials to countries such
as The Czech Republic, Brazil, India and China for such
equipment.
We also see the agreement as a significant
development and a step to boost the mechanisation
of our agricultural sector to drive the growth the
country desires.
The newspaper cannot help but support the
implementation of the project, as it will bring farm
machinery within the reach of small and marginal
farmers in the country by popularising the use of
agricultural machinery in the country.
We expect that the Action Construction Equipment
Ltd of India, the company to execute the project, will
train our local engineers to be able to operate the
machines and not frequently bring down its engineers
just for routine maintenance of the equipment.
It is commendable that the agreement has a
training component of local engineers on the handling
of the machines.
We don’t expect the plant to remain an assembly
plant forever, but there should be a medium to longterm
plan to escalate it to the standard where it will
manufacture and assemble the equipment locally.
We believe that the decision of the Chief of
Essienimpong, nana Onwanwani, to release 20 acres
of land for the project deserves commendation. It is an
example worth emulating by other chiefs to make land
available for projects in their communities for the good
of not only those communities but the country as a
whole.
The principle of taxing
MoMo transactions and its
unintended consequences
FoR a country like
Ghana, the importance
of predictability,
stability and simplicity
in its tax system cannot
be underscored. When these are
ignored, we have a tax system that
is reactive, resulting in tax
changes that are unexpected and
have not been thoroughly thought
through and analyzed. this is why
recent comments of policymakers
need to be carefully looked into
and further clarification provided
to the ecosystem.
these comments are not new
to industry watchers, and they
follow a pattern of analyzing
transaction volumes and values
largely upon which these
proposals to tax mobile money are
reached. For emphasis, one
policymaker has said that the
revenue from transaction fees that
Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs)
or mobile money operators make
is what she believes must be taxed,
in another submission, it is the
transaction charge that needs to
be taxed one might be wondering,
do these service providers pay any
tax at all?
Corporation taxes and
Withholding taxes readily come
to mind as taxes that mobile
money operators pay to the Ghana
Revenue Authority. their profits
and/or net incomes are subject to
corporate income taxes as well as
withholding taxes applied on the
commission incomes, they pay to
their over 300,000 agents and
merchants across the country. the
Ghana Chamber of
telecommunications put the 2019
figure on taxes earned from
mobile money operations alone at
a little over ₵30million cedis
($5million).
A tax on Mobile Financial
Services (MFS), is simply a tax on
the movement of money.
Borrowing the words of the
present government when it
abolished the VAt on financial
services in 2017; this tax will be a
huge “NuISANCE” to every sector
of the economy that leverages
digital financial services too. this
tax policy will discourage trade
and commerce and retard the
formalization of our economy. We
need to always note if the tax
interferes with financial
intermediation, it will undermine
our progress and strides chalked as
a country in respect of financial
inclusion.
Equally, beyond increasing the
cost of doing business in Ghana, it
will hurt the marginalized citizens
“For Ghana to create
a competitive and
effective tax system,
the principle must
be hinged on the
quality of its tax
laws and the way in
which tax policy is
made largely. The
questions is, how a
tax on traditional
banking as we
know it to be the
preserve of the
middle and upper
class be abolished
and then be reengineered
back
unto the laps of the
lower class and
informal economy.
and discourage usage of mobile
money services. For any sector or
straight end service that employs
over 400,000 direct and indirect
individuals, one may need to
relook the business model
carefully before attempting to
target it with a sector specific tax.
the point here is there is no tax
value that can account for or
provide new livelihoods for the
loss of employment to be
occasioned should the tax on
mobile money kick in today.
For Ghana to create a
competitive and effective tax
system, the principle must be
hinged on the quality of its tax
laws and the way in which tax
policy is made largely. the
questions is, how a tax on
traditional banking as we know it
to be the preserve of the middle
and upper class be abolished and
then be re-engineered back unto
the laps of the lower class and
informal economy.
In our study of
operationalizing Mobile Money,
and experience working with all
the mobile money operators in
Ghana, what is clear is that, only
about 40% of the large transaction
volumes recorded and announced
attract revenue to the service
providers. A greater portion of
these free transactions include
cash in, transactions between
distributors and agents for the
purposes of liquidity management
and let’s not forget the ongoing
promotions like that of Vodafone
Cash which are all free
transactions.
It seems quite unfair that
while service providers are
providing free transactions to
grow their base and ignite usage
within their networks,
policymakers would be fixated on
what they can get from what
largely appears to be a free service
for some. Let’s critique values and
volumes in a sentence; if I send
you 100 cedis and you send it back
to me and we do that 5 times each,
this is recorded as volume being 10
times of transactions and the
value of the (10) transactions
being 1000gh cedis. Lest we forget!
this is the same 100gh we kept
moving on the platform.
Last year, government
launched three key policy
documents namely, the National
Financial Inclusion and
development Strategy, the digital
Financial Services Policy and the
Cash-Lite Roadmap to drive
financial inclusion as well as
support growth within the digital
financial services ecosystem.
Government’s revenue growth
efforts should be done in a manner
that is supportive of economic
growth, employment and
investment. It is always
counterproductive to witness
revenue growth policies
competing with the greater
objectives of economic growth.
the President’s 2021, state of
the nation address signaled
governments intention to switch
the National Id into tIN numbers
and equally link these Ids to SIM
cards which will support
identification within the digital
financial services space. In a
country where roughly 19 million
adults have 15 million active
mobile money accounts, these are
the positive signals that can
ultimately widen the tax base
without taxing directly the
enabling bridge that gives the
state access to persons within the
informal economy.
The writers, Derek B. Laryea, a
Certified Digital Finance
Practitioner and Kojo Dougan,
Digital Finance Professional are
both executives of the Digital
Finance Practitioners Association
(Ghana).

Thursday, June 30, 2022
Small-scale mining
sector growing
• As Lands Ministry presents
95 Mining Licenses to GNASSM
STORY: FREEMAN
KORYEKPOR AWLESU
tHE Ministry of Lands
and Natural Resources
has presented Ninety-
Five (95) signed licenses
to Members of
the Ghana National Association of
Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM).
Addressing journalists at a
brief ceremony held on tuesday,
June 28, 2022, to present the mining
licenses to Members of the Association,
the Minister for Lands
and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel
Abu Jinapor explained that the issuance
of the licenses is an affirmation
of the government’s
commitment to the growth of the
Small-Scale mining sector.
the Minister relayed the vision
of the government which is
to create a complete value chain
that will result in value retention
in the mining sector.
He disclosed that government
is in the process of building a completely
new small-scale mining
sector typified by responsible mining,
employment, and improved
living conditions for miners and
mining communities.
He said the government’s plan
to achieve the above-stated objectives
has seen the adoption of two
approaches.
these approaches, he mentioned
as being reformation and
law enforcement exemplified by
the policies of reform at the Minerals
Commission and allied agencies
as well as effective
enforcement of anti-galamsey
laws.
He warned that government
will be ruthless in its fight against
illegal mining, adding that lawbreakers
will be dealt with in accordance
with the law.
"those who will not come
under the umbrella of the Responsible
Small-Scale Mining should
know that the Ministry will come
after them ruthlessly. All measures
will be thoroughly enforced with
no apologies," Abu Jinapor said.
According to the Minister, the
seizure and decommissioning of
“He disclosed that
government is in the
process of building a
completely new
small-scale mining
sector typified by
responsible mining,
employment, and
improved living
conditions for
miners and mining
communities.
mining equipment will continue
unabated as the government continues
to crack down on illegal
mining activities.
He revealed that the Vice President,
dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is
leading a drive to build a new gold
purchasing model, similar to that
of the Produce Buying Company
in the cocoa sector.
under this model, he said gold
purchasing will be done in a robust
regime led by the Bank of
Ghana and therefore appealed to
the members of the small-scale
mining association to support the
government to achieve the purpose
of the new drive.
George Mireku duker, the
deputy Minister in charge of
Mines, in a presentation outlined
the government’s support for the
small-scale mining sector including
the improved relations between
the Ministry and the
GNASSM.
He further disclosed that the
government through the Minerals
Commission has introduced a
mechanism that allows for easy
application and granting of mining
resources.
the General Secretary of the
GNASSM, Mr. Godwin Armah expressed
gratitude to the Sector
Minister for accommodating and
implementing some proposals
made by the group.
He said the Association will
continue to partner with the government
to ensure that the mining
sector is developed to its apex.
Ghana’s trade volume could multiply
tHE African development Bank has
stated that Ghana’s trade volume could
multiply if deeper integration with the
continent and the region is pursued.
Aware of this opportunity, AfdB, said
in a country brief, Ghana, home to the
secretariat of the African Continental
Free trade Area (AfCFtA), is promoting
spatial inclusion and more linkages with
Africa and the world.
From 2012–2021, Ghana’s trade flows
concentrated increasingly on non-
African countries.
In 2019, for example, Asia, Europe,
and America accounted for 87% of the
country’s trade in merchandise.
But intra-African fell from 27.5% in
2012 to 8.2% in 2021.
this reflects the persistently large
share that raw commodities (oil, cocoa,
and gold) contribute to Ghana’s exports.
It is also a result of the country’s importing
goods not sourced in Africa (motor
vehicles, petroleum, processed foods,
etc.).
despite this trend, AfdB, said Ghana
is aware of the opportunities associated
with regional integration, both in terms
of partners and in terms of diversification.
It also said Ghana values integration
with Africa outside the ECoWAS region,
as seen by its rapid ratification of the
AfCFtA Agreement.
• If deeper integration with
continent is pursued – AfDB
“Facilitating African trade, both continentally
and regionally, would give
Ghana a chance to make its basket of exports
more heterogeneous Africa’s growing
demand for processed products and
intermediate goods could drive domestic
industrialization. this is particularly
true in the ECoWAS region, where
Ghana is strategically located to trade
with the landlocked countries of Burkina
Faso, Mali, and Niger. Yet limited domestic
and cross-border infrastructure
has kept regional trade to only 7% of all
trade”.
Way forward
the AfdB said acknowledging the
importance of linking Ghana with its
trading partners while expanding spatial
inclusion at home, the Bank’s country
strategy for 2019–2023 features a pillar
for developing infrastructure that enables
domestic, regional, and global
trade.
Within this framework and drawing
on the success of the Fufulso–Sawla
Road Project, the Bank is duplicating its
integrated approach to infrastructure
development in other projects.
one is the Eastern Corridor Road development
Programme, which seeks to
deepen inclusivity, stimulate socioeconomic
development, and facilitate domestic
and regional trade along the N-2
road that links the southern seaports to
the hinterland and Ghana’s landlocked
neighbours in the north.

Thursday, June 30, 2022
Ghana plots transformation into West
African mining support services hub
The Ghana Chamber of
Mines has declared its
intention to make the
country and hub for
mining support services
across the West African
sub region and is
evolving a road map to
actualize its plans,
using consultants
contracting for this
purpose. TOMA
IMIRHE examines the
prospects for success
and the benefits to be
derived.
SINCE the 1990’s, Ghana,
under successive political
administrations, has
trumpeted its lofty
ambitions of becoming a
trade and investment hub for West
Africa. More recently, under the
tenure of the President Nana Akufo-
Addo administration the country has
become more specific in its
aspirations, seeking to become a
financial services and ICt hub in
particular, although actual policy
initiatives to make this happen have
been opaque at best.
Now however the Ghana
Chamber of Mines, backed solidly by
its members, has declared its
intention to make Ghana a West
African hub for mining support
services, and is actually taking
concrete steps to actualize this
ambition. the Chamber last week
unveiled its plans to senior business
journalists grouped together under
the auspices of Journalists for
Business Advocacy (JBA), a
professional association of senior
media practitioners that partners
industry regulators and participants
in several different sectors to
promote improved conduct,
performance and consequent
impacts.
Importantly, the Chamber’s ambition
is not just another lofty vision that is not
backed by concrete action as many, if not
most, announced dreams of making
Ghana a sub regional business hub have
been; the Chamber is actually in the
process of putting together a team of
consultants to identify areas where
Ghana’s mining industry has
competitive advantages with regards to
providing support services, and to work
out a feasible plan of action to position
its mining support service providers as a
hub used by the growing number of sub
regional neighbours who are actively
seeking to increase solid mineral
exploration and production activities in
their respective jurisdictions.
to this end the GCM has budgeted
several hundreds of thousands of uS
dollars (the actual budget has not yet
been revealed) to secure a fully workable
plan in this regard.
However, challenges are already being
encountered. In 2020 the Chamber
advertised a call for proposals for the
study on positioning Ghana as the sub
regional hub for mining support services.
out of the 13 companies that responded,
four were short-listed for the final round
of the selection process, with the
expectation that the chosen consultants
would commence the study this year.
However in discussing with all four
short-listed companies the GCM found
that none of them had fully grasped the
scope of the required study and thus the
competencies required. Consequently the
Chamber has revised its road map; the
plan now is to assemble a team out of the
contenders and effectively guide them
onto the path that needs to be followed to
derive the road map needed to position
Ghana as a mining support services
hub. this, process, the GCM hopes, will
be completed this year enabling the team
to actually start executing the study by
the start of 2022.
With funding fully
in place, enthusiasm is
high; JBA is already
bidding to become part
of the team, offering to
provide a plan for
marketing Ghana’s
mining support services
industry through the
media in target
countries. Considering
the close working
relationship between
the Chamber and JBA
over the past few years ,
and the resultant
mutual respect
each party has for
the other’s
capacities, this group
of media practitioners
is likely to be among
the first professional
“Considering the close
working relationship
between the Chamber
and JBA over the past
few years , and the
resultant mutual
respect each party has
for the other’s
capacities, this group
of media practitioners
is likely to be among
the first professional
segments to get
accepted onto the
multi-disciplinary
team to be formed.
segments to get accepted onto the multidisciplinary
team to be formed. (If that
happens the Business Analyst will have
representation on the team that would be
tasked to develop the road map.)
to be sure, Ghana’s mining support
services industry is well positioned to
serve as the hub for West Africa’s mining
industry.
First of all, Ghana’s mining industry
is both the biggest and the oldest in the
sub region. It is well over a century old
and more importantly, its liberalization –
part of the liberalization of the entire
economy during the 1980s – provided the
model framework which the rest of the
continent adopted subsequently and
which has resulted in Africa’s solid
minerals mining industry becoming
arguably the most important economic
revenue generating sector on the
continent. Following Ghana’s example
countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and
Cote d’Ivoire have made West Africa one
of the fastest growing mining
investment destinations in the world.
Indeed Ghana’s regulatory and
investment facilitation framework has
been adopted by countries much further
afield as well, particularly in East Africa
which is resultantly competing with
West Africa in attracting international
capital and expertise in the mining
sector.
But even more important than the
size and regulatory pioneering status of
Ghana’s mining industry is its local
capacity, with regards to the provision of
both goods and services used by the
international exploration and production
companies that rule the roost all around
Africa. Here, it is important to
distinguish between local content and
local participation – even Ghana’s
mining support services industry is
largely foreign owned. However they are
domiciled in Ghana which means most
of their net income – and other economic
benefits such as employment and subcontracting
opportunities - are retained
locally and this would still be the case if
that income is generated abroad.
Interestingly, unlike in the case of
Ghana’s relatively new upstream oil and
gas industry, local content regulations
have been driven primarily by the
industry itself rather than by
government. Here the GCM has
collaborated with the Minerals

Thursday, June 30, 2022
Commission as the industry
regulator, to identify products
which can be supplied by local
enterprises.
Initially though, most of
the locally supplied inputs
were actually imported,
qualifying as locally sourced
only because they were
supplied by locally domiciled
enterprises. But having
recognized the situation, the
Chamber has over the past two
years spearheaded efforts to
increase local manufacturing
capacity. today, Ghana’s local
manufacturing industry has
more capacity to produce
mining inputs in-country than
any other nation on the
continent except South Africa
itself. Importantly, the fact
that these products are bought
by international mining
companies evidences their
world class quality.
Now, with the
commencement of the African
Continental Free trade
Agreement at the start of 2021,
Ghana’s mining inputs
industry has become
potentially more price
competitive than ever before
as a source of products supply
for the continent’s other
mining countries.
the situation is similar
with regards to professional
skills driven mining support
services such as geological
surveying and assaying.
Ghana’s longer experience
than its neighbours in solid
mineral mining, its bigger
levels of activity and its
recently introduced local
content regulations have
combined to make it the most
competent provider of such
services and its closer
geographical proximity and
exchange rate considerations
allow it to be price competitive
against its counterparts in the
western hemisphere which up
till now have been the primary
source of support services to
West Africa’s mining nations.
Add to all these
competitive advantages
similarities in business
cultures as well. Even though
some of this aspect of Ghana’s
competitiveness must remain
unsaid in public, the reality is
that the country’s mining
support service providers
would be more willing to play
by the unwritten rules of
business in Africa – such as
showing “appreciation” to
those who award them
contracts through financial
and other material “presents”
than their counterparts from
the western hemisphere.
the export of mining
industry inputs and services
will be increasingly important
to Ghana in financial terms
over the coming years as local
production levels and
consequent foreign exchange
revenues from the sale of gold
– which accounts for 95
percent of the country’s total
mining revenues – stagnates
and ultimately declines. Last
year’s 12.1 percent decline in
gold production to 4.023
million ounces, from 4.577
million ounces in 2019 was the
sharpest year on year
production fall since 2003.
While the decline was
underlined by the peculiar
circumstances resulting from
CoVId 19 and the effects of
Ghana’s ongoing efforts to curb
illegal artisanal mining, the
fall in Ghana’s
competitiveness as a
destination for gold
exploration, compared to its
sub regional neighbours, is
telling. In 2020 Ghana
attracted uS$84.4 million in
new investment towards
exploration for new gold
deposits, which was less than
the amounts invested in Cote
d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali
respectively; up to just two
years ago Ghana was the
recipient of the second largest
investment in gold exploration
in all of West Africa.
Inevitably, the shift away
from Ghana towards its
neighbours with respect to
exploration will translate into
a similar shift with regards to
actual gold production. this
makes it imperative for Ghana
to increase its foreign
exchange income from the
export of mining industry
inputs and technical services
to compensate for consequent
falls in gold export revenues.
Just as importantly,
making Ghana a mining
support services hub for West
Africa would accelerate the
process of mainstreaming the
mining industry as a whole to
the benefit of the country’s
wider economy. For the past
century Ghana’s mining sector
had been regarded as an
“Even as the GCM and
its members recognize
the potentials for
Ghana’s mining
support services
industry to become a
sub regional hub, and
the benefits to be
derived from
achieving that
position, it is acutely
aware of the
difficulties and
complexities that will
have to be overcome
first. This is indeed
why it has budgeted
so heavily towards
getting a viable,
practical road map
and is a hurry to begin
implementing it.
enclave industry and correctly
so too, since its linkages with
the rest of the economy were
minimal. Simply put, foreign
mining companies would
come to Ghana explore for gold
and upon finding some, would
build a mine to exploit it. the
gold would then be sold abroad
and the state’s share of the
revenues would be received.
Even employment was
minimal, except during the
mine construction period.
over the past decade or so
though, Ghana’s mining
industry, through the GCM has
been trying assiduously to
create linkages between it and
the rest of the economy and
local content regulations and
targets have been the key
strategy in this regard. the
effort to manufacture mining
inputs locally has significantly
expanded Ghana’s
manufacturing capacity, not
just through the demand the
mining industry creates, but
through deliberate support
initiatives to improve
production quality and
installed capacity.
A recent example of this is
the recent initiative from the
GCM towards the
standardization of electrical
cables used by the industry. In
supporting the introduction of
and adherence to acceptable
international quality
standards for made in Ghana
electrical cables used by the
country’s mining industry, the
GCM, in collaboration with the
Ghana Standards Authority
has ensured that local
electrical cables
manufacturers produce items
that are quality competitive
against those from even the
most renown western
hemisphere manufacturers. In
turn this has positioned them
to take advantage of
opportunities thrown up by
AfCFtA.
By making Ghana a mining
support services hub, the
industry would help
manufacturers of other
products used by the industry
to become internationally
quality and price competitive
too, thus positioning them to
take full advantage of AfCFtA
as well. For input
manufacturers that can
achieve this, huge sub regional
markets would be waiting –
the mining industry in all the
West African countries with
solid mineral endowment are
major buyers of the inputs
they need and their
willingness to patronize any
particular product serves as a
veritable endorsement of that
product, opening the doors
wide for patronage by all the
other industries in the
country.
All of this is still quite
some way off however. Even as
the GCM and its members
recognize the potentials for
Ghana’s mining support
services industry to become a
sub regional hub, and the
benefits to be derived from
achieving that position, it is
acutely aware of the
difficulties and complexities
that will have to be overcome
first. this is indeed why it has
budgeted so heavily towards
getting a viable, practical road
map and is a hurry to begin
implementing it.
For once though, Ghana’s
ambitions of becoming a
regional hub in a particular
type of activity is going beyond
the state’s wish list and is
being actively pursued by the
private sector companies that
stand to benefit directly from
the foreign exchange revenues
that would be generated.
Hopefully, this initiative by
the GCM and the way it is
going about it will serve as a
model for other sectors in
Ghana with sub regional hub
potentials, to emulate. If
indeed that happens, it will
have made Ghana’s mining
industry more than a
mainstream component of the
country’s economy; it would
have made it the trail blazer in
the effort to create a modern
export led industrialized
economy.

Thursday, June 30, 2022
PERSONAL FINANCE
Bosses putting a ‘digital leash’
on remote workers could be
crossing a privacy line
WItH many companies
working from home
during the pandemic,
managers and
employers have found
themselves in a difficult position with
running scattered teams away from the
office.
Some have turned to technology to
help, but they may be walking a
dangerous path using tools like artificial
intelligence and algorithms to track
employees and their work throughout the
day, or even facial recognition that can
ensure that someone is at their desk.
A recent report by the Institute for the
Future of Work, a British research and
development group, said that algorithmic
systems typically used in monitoring the
performance of warehouse workers or
delivery riders have pervaded more and
more industries.
Andrew Pakes, deputy general
secretary at u.K.-based trade union
Prospect, told CNBC that these “digital
leash” technologies have been an upward
trend for some time and that Covid-19
remote working accelerated it.
“this was an issue we were picking up
before Covid but over the last year, it’s
grown rocket boosters as companies have
turned to technology,” Pakes said.
“on the one hand, technology has
been really important in keeping us safe
and connected whilst being at home but
there’s another side to it and that’s the
worry we’re seeing around it.”
Prospect has published some research
into workers’ attitude to these
technologies. the majority of respondents
in one survey said they were
uncomfortable with the likes of camera
monitoring or keystroke monitoring.
this technology is catching more and
more attention from critics.
Microsoft faced a backlash over its
“productivity score” in Microsoft 365,
which allowed managers to track an
employee’s output. Microsoft has since
rowed back on the product’s features,
minimizing the data collected on
individuals.
PwC was criticized last year for
developing a facial recognition tool for
finance firms that would monitor an
employee and ensure they are at their
desk when they’re supposed to be. A PwC
spokesperson told CNBC that the tool was
a “conceptual prototype.”
But these types of backlashes haven’t
stopped others from tinkering with the
technology. Fujitsu has developed an AI
tool that can determine how hard
someone is concentrating in an online
meeting or class by analyzing muscle
movements in the face.
As more and more tech like this hits
the market, employers will need to be
careful around what they deploy.
Privacy
According to Brian Honan, a
cybersecurity consultant and former
advisor to Europol, introducing AIpowered
work tracking tools like facial
recognition or keystroke monitoring
brings a whole host of risks for
companies.
“Companies do have a duty of care to
protect their business and they do have a
legitimate interest in ensuring their
business interests are taken care of, but
they have to be balanced against the
rights of the individual in the workplace,”
Honan said.
He suspects that many tools like
keystroke monitoring or programs that
snap screenshots of a person’s desktop
could be illegal under the Eu’s sweeping
GdPR regulations. “If you think about all
the information that these tools could be
gathering as people are working,” he said.
Honan added that the power of these
tools is heavily weighted toward the
employer and may overreach into a
worker’s personal space.
He said the case of a camera
monitoring that a person is at their desk
can be particularly problematic in a workfrom-home
scenario. the camera could
capture footage of the employee’s family
or housemates, he said, and now their
“Most of the
employment laws in
Europe were designed
in the last century
around physical harm
and risk, health and
safety. They weren’t
designed for this digital
age of AI and decisions
about data being taken
in clouds or black boxes,
which is why we very
much argue that data is
the new health and
safety,” Pakes said.
privacy has been violated.
Beyond the regulatory risks at play, he
added, the use of these technologies does
little to foster a positive culture in the
workplace.
“Invariably what you’re saying to your
employees is ‘I don’t trust you to do your
job, what I’m paying you to do’,” he said.
Regulation
Pakes said that GdPR provides a good
framework for employers to follow when
considering any technology for managing
employees, but stricter rules specifically
for the workplace in the age of hybrid and
remote working is needed.
Some human resource professionals
advocate for a “right to disconnect”
law, which sets a clear line for when
communication between a worker and
their boss ends. Pakes said such
regulations are necessary for protecting
workers from overreach by employers
through technology. Right to disconnect
laws have been passed in France and
Ireland.
Separately, tighter rules in the
Eu around artificial intelligence are
coming down the track, which will rein in
how AI is used in various industries. Any
employer dabbling with facial recognition
will need to be wary of new obligations.
“Most of the employment laws in
Europe were designed in the last century
around physical harm and risk, health
and safety. they weren’t designed for this
digital age of AI and decisions about data
being taken in clouds or black boxes,
which is why we very much argue that
data is the new health and safety,” Pakes
said.
“We need to update our employment
laws to keep them fit for purpose for the
way AI is being used on us.”

Thursday, Tuesday, June March 30, 2022 1, 2022
Why worker loyalty
is at a breaking point
By Josie Cox
People are no
longer prepared to
return to prepandemic
ways of
working. If pressed
to do so, many may
choose to quit
instead.
AS vaccination rates
around the world tick
up, giving employers
the impetus to recall
people to the office,
businesses are confronting an
uncomfortable reality: employees’
needs and preferences have
changed. Many are no longer
prepared to return to the way of
working that was conventional
before the pandemic. If pressed to
do exactly that, millions are
choosing to quit instead.
this trend has gathered so
much momentum that academics
are now speaking of a fundamental
shift in power dynamics away from
employers and toward workers. If
businesses want to retain the loyal
talent they need to stay competitive,
experts argue they must listen to
the needs of the labour market and
adapt quickly.
the lessons from loss
Almuth Mcdowall, professor
and assistant dean of the
department of organisational
psychology at London’s Birkbeck
university, explains that losses
during the last 18 months have
proven transformational.
“We’ve all experienced loss...
losing loved ones, losing our
freedom, losing human contact,”
she says. “Many of us also had to
juggle home-working with full-time
caring, as children were off school.”
these life events felt so
significant, says Mcdowall, that
they caused us to revisit our
priorities and sent many of us on a
quest for work that feels purposeful
– for a job that comes with some
greater form of meaning.
After a year of remote work,
some are challenging pre-pandemic
work conventions, like the need to
be present in offices (Credit: Getty)
Simultaneously, having seen
what is possible under extreme
circumstances, many workers feel
more prepared now than ever before
to challenge assumptions around
what an ideal worker looks like, and
what the parameters and norms of
the working world should be.
the effects of this momentous
rethink are starting to show. In
a survey of more than 2,000
people in the uK and Ireland
conducted in March, more than a
third of respondents said they were
looking to change roles in the next
six to 12 months, or once the
economy had strengthened. the
researchers concluded businesses
not actively catering to the evolving
needs and demands of employees
risked “sleepwalking towards a
talent exodus”.
In the uS, meanwhile, data
indicate that such an exodus is
already under way. A record 4
million people quit their jobs in
April alone. Since then, the
resignation rate has eased, but
remains elevated.
A loyalty inflection point
Anthony Klotz, an associate
professor of management at texas
A&M university’s Mays Business
School, coined the term “Great
Resignation” in May. observing that
there were close to 6 million fewer
resignations in the uS during 2020
than there were in 2019, Klotz
correctly predicted that, as the
pandemic subsides, the “would-be
quitters” who “sheltered in place” in
2020 were likely to act on their plans
to leave their employers.
“What we’re seeing now is a
clear decrease in organisational
an organisation,
you don’t just want
to capture people’s
bodies, ““As
but you
want to capture
their hearts too.
And it’s that bit
that’s going to
prove tough.”
commitment due to a confluence of
factors,” he says. Echoing Mcdowall,
he says that employees have gained
a new perspective on what’s truly
important to them – “the pandemic
brought death to our doorstep and
that causes people to reflect” — but
there are also other important
reasons why loyalties have wavered.
“Work takes up a huge part of
who we are. during the pandemic,
identities changed. People spent
more time with their families, some
might’ve thought more about
entrepreneurial ventures, side
hustles or other pastimes away from
their day job,” he says. “It’s quite
possible that many people no longer
define themselves as much through
their jobs as they used to.” that,
Klotz elaborates, “means that they
are less emotionally attached to
their employer”.
Flexibility over finance?
Another element contributing
to employees’ dwindling
commitment is the decision by
some companies to require workers
to return to the office in person, as
in Marie’s case. In particular, the
finance sector has come under fire
for ordering workers back.
In May, Jamie dimon, the CEo
of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which is
America’s largest bank, sparked a
backlash when he said that working
from home simply does not work for
those who want “to hustle”. And in
June, Morgan Stanley CEo James
Gorman said that if most employees
were not back to work at the bank's
Manhattan headquarters in
September, he would be "very
disappointed".
Globally, the culture of banking
is still rooted in face time
and presenteeism. Most financial
organisations champion the value
of in-person meetings to pitch for
business and hash out deals,
meaning that remote arrangements
were always only going to be
temporary. But in light of employees
becoming more discerning, this
might have to change too.
Regardless of the sectors,
explains Klotz, companies that are
ordering staff back into the office
full time with no exceptions are
going to have to find a way to “pitch
that in an appealing way”. to stay
competitive, businesses like banks
and tech companies – some of
which have adopted a remote
culture indefinitely but many of
which have not – must understand
that, while digital nomadism and
remote work were not widely
available before the pandemic, they
will be from now on.
Neither Klotz nor Almuth
Mcdowall necessarily anticipate an
industry-wide talent drain to
materialise – mostly because there is
such a broad spectrum of how
individual organisations look to be
structuring their post-pandemic
workplaces in any given sector – but
they both agree that businesses will
lose good employees if they are not
careful.
“Work arrangements is a brand
new and important criteria that
[employees] will care about going
forward,” says Klotz. “People will
want to choose the work
arrangement that is best for
whatever stage of life they’re in, and
companies will have to take that
into account when determining
how they operate.”
A recent PwC survey found that
employees increasingly want to be
compensated for their work not just
with money, but with flexibility.
“[We’ve also] found that younger
workers are more likely than older
employees to accept smaller pay
increases for non-monetary
benefits, including extensive
mental health benefits, unlimited
sick time, flexible work hours and
remote work options,” says
Bhushan Sethi, who jointly leads
PwC's global people and
organisation practice. In the wake of
the pandemic, he adds, “these
incentives can be the difference
between a candidate accepting the
job or not”.
the empowered employee
Stories like Marie’s cast a grim
light on the process of readjusting to
a post-pandemic work world, but
there is overarching evidence that
Covid-19 has been a catalyst for good
when it comes to the power that
employees in the labour market can
yield.
Indeed, Klotz argues that we are
actually in the process of witnessing
the dawn of the “era of the
empowered employee”.
In the uS, the number of
unemployed people has comfortably
exceeded the number of available
jobs for most of the last two decades,
but currently the two measures are
almost at level pegging, something
that economists describe as
an exceptionally tight labour
market.
“Honestly, I can hardly recall a
time when the job market was so
much in the employee’s favour and
that’s definitely a good thing,” says
Klotz. “Wages have to go up.
Companies have to adapt. But it may
well be a slow period of
experimentation.”
“As an organisation, you don’t
just want to capture people’s bodies,
but you want to capture their hearts
too. And it’s that bit that’s going to
prove tough.”

Thursday, June 30, 2022
PERSONAL FINANCE
Retirement Planning – How to
bridge the gap between your
working and retirement income
REtIREMENt lies waiting for
all. It is a stage in life that can
only be avoided by early
death, which is not the
option most people will go
for.
You might have probably envisioned
your dream retirement, relaxing on the
patio of a beach house, taking trips across
countries, sipping cocktails on a beach,
among others. Like many, if not all people,
you do not want to work until you die and
most certainly would want to live and
have a comfortable retirement.
to enjoy this retirement dream
requires financial planning. But even with
a financial plan, how do you ensure your
pension is adequate? How do you bridge
the gap between your working and
retirement income? Yaw Korankye, a
pension expert, in a webinar organised
by Ghana talk Business explained how.
Retirement option Analysis: How to
Bridge the Gap
No matter how long you work,
SSNIt has the payment to retirees capped
at 60% of the average of your gross income
for your best three years. However, this
may not be adequate for you. Based on the
varied retirement planning options
available, adequacy can be achieved
through the following means;
diversification: expand your
retirement options by making use of
available options such as pension
schemes, business, financial investment
and family
timeliness: You will need to set aside
10% of your income if you are in your 20’s
and 30’s but 30% – 40% if you are in the
’40s or older. this should form part of your
regular contributions to a pension pot.
Consolidation: Yaw Korankye
recommends you bring together your
investments especially when you hit your
50’s. You have to critically assess the
viability of existing avenues and reduce
your risks. So, if you are into a high-risk
investment, you will need to sell, liquidate
or transfer them to low-risk investment.
Lifestyle Adjustment: Yaw Korankye
recommends that lifestyle must be
adjusted especially if you are 5 years to
retirement and have not been able to
accumulate your expected resources. Cut
down on certain frivolous expenditure
and rather contribute a portion of your
income to a pension pot.
Knowledge: It is said that “knowledge
is power.” “Having adequate knowledge of
the dynamics of retirement and
opportunities available to plan your
investment can assure adequacy,” he said.
one way of gaining such knowledge is by
seeking professional advice.
Avoid Common Calculation Errors
People either overestimate their
incomes or calculate their retirement
packages wrongly. these are errors that
must be avoided in order not to go into
shock when actual retirement earnings
are discovered.
Conclusion
to adequately bridge the gap between
your working and retirement income, do
the following;
Ensure your pension is adequate
diversify your retirement options
Start your retirement contributions
early
Have adequate knowledge of
retirement planning
Adjust your lifestyle where necessary
Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) — How it Works
GHANA is blessed to have its
first Commodity Exchange
operating since 2018.
It is a platform that brings
buyers and sellers together to
facilitate local trade. the
Ghana Commodity
Exchange (GCX) is expected
to create a seamless
interface for the trading of
food, minerals and other
commodities in the country.
It is expected to bring
transparency in
agribusiness, boost
confidence in the industry,
raise standards of food
quality to global standards
and ultimately give farmers
their due for all their hard
work of tilling the ground.
the two prominent
commodity exchanges in
the world are the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange (CME)
Group in the uSA and the
New York Mercantile Exchange
(NYMEX). In Africa the GCX is
the third after South Africa and
Ethiopia.
According to the
Information Minister, Mr. Kojo
oppong Nkrumah “there are
plans that from twelve months
to twenty-four months within
which the GCX will trade in
cashew, cocoa, timber, shearbutter
and vegetables. the GCX
after three years, will trade in
metals, minerals, petroleum
and gas”, he said.
How the platform
works
the Commodities
Market works like any
other market we know of.
It is a physical or virtual
space where one can buy
and sell. Modern
commodity markets
began with trading of
agricultural products like
maize, livestock, food
stuffs and other
commodities. It may also
trade in metals, petroleum
and gas.
the GCX which is
licensed and regulated by
the Securities and
Exchange Commission
(SEC) would operate a fully
electronic or digital trading
platform which would be
devoid of human interventions
and manipulations. the trading
activities would be preceded by
registration of farmers, brokers
and buyers as members of the
trading activities. they would
provide warehousing services
where farmers of the various
produce would deposit their
physical products.
the major players of the
exchange would be farmers
(supplier or client), buyers,
brokers, traders, warehouse
managers and financiers. the
exchange is expected to help in
curbing the massive losses
from post-harvest losses, boost
export of food, improve food
security in the country and
open up investment and
entrepreneurial opportunities.
SOURCE: GHANA TALKS
BUSINESS

Thursday, June 30, 2022 PAGE 11
The Upper East and North
East rice valleys: The hub
of Ghana’s food basket
By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
dESPItE the huge
agricultural potentials of
Ghana, there has never
been a year without the
country facing food and
nutritional insecurity problems.
In fact, research has shown that
Ghanaians consume rice more than any
other staple food. However, the local
production does not correspondent
with the consumption rate, leading to
high importation of rice into the
country and increase of prices of rice on
the Ghanaian market.
Meanwhile Ghana has been blessed
with vast rice valleys in the upper East
and North East Regions, which could be
the hub of rice production in Ghana and
West Africa, if the areas had been
developed for commercial farming.
However, that has so far not been given
much attention.
Ghana rice production and imports
data from the Ministry for Food and
Agriculture (MoFA) for instance
revealed that, in 2017, the country’s
consumption rate of rice was about 1.3
million tonnes, however, Ghana
produced only about 721,610 tonnes of
rice, creating a deficit of about 580,300
tonnes.
Statistics available at the Ministry
of trade and Industry indicates that
Ghana spends more than $1billion each
year to import rice and in 2017, an
amount of $1.1billion was spent on only
rice importation.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in
2018, food imports cost the nation an average
of uS$2.4billion annually for domestic and
industrial consumption.
the situation has overtime created
economic distress and with the emergence of
the coronavirus disease, which affected
agriculture production and its consequence
on food security across the country, the need
to promote local production of food especially
rice needs to be given priority on the
Agriculture agenda.
A visit by the Ghana News Agency to the
Bolgatanga Central Market revealed within
the last quarter of 2020 to ascertain the prices
of foodstuff showed that there was a steady
increase despite it being the agriculture
harvest period. this has progressed into the
first quarter of 2021.
For instance, a basin of tomatoes which
was previously sold at GH¢100.00 is presently
selling at GH¢120.00 likewise beans increased
from GH¢250.00 per basin to GH¢300.00. the
story is the same regarding rice. A bowl of
local rice, which was GH¢8.00 is now going
for GH¢12.00
the question is why should Ghana
import food, particularly rice when it has the
potential to produce it in large quantities in
the upper East and North East Rice Valleys,
popularly known by many as “Fumbisi Rice
Valleys”.
Facts
the name Fumbisi Valleys has been on
the lips of many including dr owusu Afriyie
Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture,
who did a research at the area during his
studies at the university of Ghana. However,
it must be noted that Fumbisi is in the Builsa
South district of the upper East Region and
does not include vast lands at North East
Region.
Checks revealed that the North East
Region has more lands than the upper East
Region for rice cultivation and several
hectares have not been developed.
In the Builsa South district, the valleys
include Weise, Gbedembilisi and Fumbisi
among others, altogether making up to about
7,000 hectares of rice valleys, however, only
500 hectares have been developed by
government.
dr owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of
Food and Agriculture, accompanying the
President to the Region, disclosed that out of
the potential 5,000 hectares for development,
only 900 hectares of the rice sector has been
put into use and added that there was
additional 5,000 hectares that could have
been developed.
In the North East Region, the valleys are
Soe, Yagaba, Kobore, Mankarigo and many
other smaller communities and the
estimated valleys people farm on is
10,000 hectares. that is what people have
been able to use their manpower to develop
and are farming but there is still over 10,000
hectares that has the potential to be
developed.
Solution to food
and nutritional
insecurity
developing the valleys
would not only make
lands available for farmers
to increase production and
ensure food security
particularly in the area of
rice, but it would also
significantly contribute to
national development and
the attainment of the
Sustainable development
Goals (SdGs).
President Akufo-Addo
in one of his visits to the
upper East Region
remarked that agriculture
researchers have
advocated that these
valleys have huge
potentials to meet all the
rice needs of the nation and even become the
hub of rice production in the whole of West
Africa.
“there can be no better place than
Fumbisi to have an agricultural college that
has the potential to develop the rice basket
not just in Ghana but West Africa. And I want
to assure you, I am going to do everything
within my power with the Ministry of
Education, and the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture to make sure an Agricultural
College is developed here in Fumbisi,” he said.
Apart from the food and nutritional
benefits the valleys could bring to the country
leading to the achievement of the SdGs
especially goal two, which talks about ending
hunger in all its forms, it has the potential to
create employment for the youth.
Farming is a value chain activity from the
production until you harvest and along the
chain as there are different actors who
actually earn a living there, people who
operate tractors and other farm machineries,
can be gainfully engaged to provide services
in the production chain.
Apart from creating an avenue for the
youth in the area to have access to fertile
lands to engage in agriculture activity, it
would also create market opportunity for agro
inputs dealers such as seeds, fertilizers and
weedicides among others, thereby reducing
the unemployment rate in the country and
the rural urban migration among young
people.
developing the valleys and supporting
farmers to farm sustainably would create
sufficiency and make raw materials available
to feed the rice processing factories, thereby
creating jobs and increasing their income
levels.
Health experts have also argued that the
local rice is healthier than the imported ones
from thailand and other countries and
attributed the rise in cancer cases to overreliance
on over processed food.
Way forward
the emergence of the CoVId-19
pandemic, which has weakened every
economy including Ghana, has reinforced the
need to seriously invest in developing the
valleys in the two Regions.
For instance, when President Akufo-Addo
announced the partial lockdown in some
areas of Accra, tema, Kumasi and Kasoa, for
about three weeks, food prices went up and
the government had to spend about GH¢54.3
million on food in order to cater for the
vulnerable.
Furthermore, according to the Food and
Agriculture organization of the united
Nations 2020 report on the state of food
security and nutrition in the world, the
CoVId-19 pandemic could push up to 132
million people into hunger by the end of
2020.
to quote excerpts from the report, “as
progress in fighting hunger stalls, the CoVId-
19 pandemic is intensifying the
vulnerabilities and inadequacies of global
food systems. While it is too late to assess the
full impact of the lockdowns and other
containment measures, at least another 83
million people and possibly as many as 132
million may go hungry in 2020.”
the CoVId-19 is still with us and this
clearly calls for local production of food
especially rice, investing in the development
of the rice valleys in upper East Region and
North East Region and supporting farmers to
sustainably increase and improve
production.
Mr Charles Kwowe Nyaaba, the Head of
Programmes and Advocacy, Peasant Farmers
Association of Ghana (PFAG), explains that
smallholder farmers are mostly engaged in
the farming activities in the area and do not
have the resources to develop the area.
“only rich farmers can afford graders to
develop their farms but
the smallholder farmers
who are the majority
cannot afford that and
that is a major
constraint.
“I think we can
address the issue of rice
shortages in Ghana if we
invest more in those
areas, to ensure the
valleys are properly
developed, create good
feeder roads linking the
valleys, try to support
farmers with
mechanization
equipment that will help
them to be planting,
harvesting and storing.
this, combined with
ready markets, will
attract many people to
the place.”

Thursday, June 30, 2022
BACK
PAGE