AGRIC WILL BE KEY ...In govt;s economic policy — Prez Mills (LEAD STORY)

PRESIDENT John Atta Mills has declared that his government will make agriculture the fulcrum of its economic policy.
This is because a beggar nation has no respect in the comity of nations.
He said the country’s ability to feed itself would, therefore, constitute a defining moment in its quest to build a self-reliant economy.
He said the country’s continuous over-dependence on outside support and intervention in the area of food aid created a subservient culture which affected the national psyche and mentality.
Addressing a gathering of the Central Regional House of Chiefs in Cape Coast last Saturday, President Mills said it continued to nag away at him that Ghana, a country endowed with fertile lands and massive waterbodies, could not produce adequate food to feed itself.
He said the first major step that the country should take to wean itself off food handouts from the developed economies was to produce food items in large quantities and at reasonable prices.
He said 50 years down the line, it was unfortunate that “Ghana is still eating in the kitchen of the colonialists,” by receiving food handouts and at the same time spending scarce foreign exchange to import food, which could be cultivated in the country.
President Mills explained that the country spent on an annual basis millions of dollars to import rice and maize, food staples which, he said, could be grown locally.
He further said such huge sums of money used to import rice could be re-channelled into other viable sectors of the economy to create jobs for the teeming masses of the people.
President Mills gave the assurance that the government would support the country’s farmers and fishermen with inputs and credit facilities to encourage them to maximise food production throughout the country.
In addition, he said, his administration would also introduce incentive packages to make agriculture and fishing attractive to the country’s youth, majority of whom had migrated to the urban centres to search for non-existent white collar jobs.
President Mills said by so doing, food would be available to the people all year round and the country would also be in the position to generate surplus for export to other countries in the West African sub-region.
He called on the gathering to exercise restraint, while the government instituted concrete measures, to address the numerous challenges confronting the economy and improve the living standards of the people.
“ I have been in office for almost three months and I reiterate my appeal to the good people of Ghana to have patience, while the government adequately prepares itself to address the problems of the country,” President Mills said.
The President of the Central Region House of Chiefs, Dasebre Kwebu Ewusi VII, commended President Mills for honouring the invitation of the house and enjoined him to work hard to fulfil the campaign promises of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He said members of the house were confounded at the degree of humility which the President continued to show in his interaction with the people, irrespective of their religious, financial or political standing.
The house later on conferred on him the title “ Okunyin”, meaning the “Great and Unyielding One”, in recognition of his humility and perseverance in the face of adversity.