Agriculture economist urges government to commit funds to digitalise agric sector

Professor Irene Egyir, an agriculture economist and dean of the School of Agriculture at the University of Ghana, has urged the government to prioritise the commitment of funds to ensure the effective digitalisation of the agriculture sector. 

In an interview with Asaase Business News, Prof. Egyir noted that the digitalisation of the sector will improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers but bemoaned the increased infection of cocoa trees.

“What the vice-president is talking about is possible, but how to get the funding to immediately implement the policy for me, is the issue. Obviously, this move is going to improve the livelihoods of farmers and the economy at large because data is important.

“After we succeed in that sector, how we get the improvement in the cocoa trees, because the cocoa trees are being infected by viruses, bacteria so it is not enough to digitalise the industry,” she stated. 

Prof. Egyir made these comments on the back of a public lecture delivered by Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at Ashesi University on the role of digitalisation in transforming the economy. 

According to Dr Bawumia, cocoa farmers and other farmworkers will soon be placed on a digitalised database for easy tracking and identification to create a formal environment to enable trade between Ghana and its partners.

“Going forward, we are going to formalise the agricultural sector by registering all cocoa farmers, their farms as well as labelling the cocoa from each farm. This work is about 40% complete”, he noted.

Nicholas Brown

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