A prominent figure in the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwame Awuah-Darko, has proposed that funds allocated to the National Builders’ Corps (NABCO) programme could have been better utilized to support large-scale rice farming, offering sustainable employment for Ghanaian youth.
He highlighted that NABCO, which has provided stipends of GHC 700 to over 100,000 beneficiaries since its inception, has cost the government approximately GHC 2.5 billion over three years.
According to Awuah-Darko, redirecting these funds towards agricultural initiatives like rice production would have fostered long-term job creation while reducing the country’s dependence on rice imports.
Initially established to tackle graduate unemployment, NABCO has faced significant challenges, including delayed payments, raising doubts about its efficiency and sustainability.
Speaking with Channel One News, Awuah-Darko outlined the NDC’s vision to position agriculture as a cornerstone of economic transformation.
He revealed that the party’s 2024 manifesto prioritizes agriculture, particularly rice production, as a means to create over 200,000 sustainable jobs while boosting local food security and reducing reliance on imports.
“Rice production alone, using the funds spent on NABCO trainees, could have cultivated 42,000 acres of rice farms. If implemented from the start, this approach would have created over 200,000 sustainable jobs,” he explained. He further added, “The NDC has consistently demonstrated better management of the Ghanaian economy through investments in productive sectors, unlike the NPP’s record of wasteful expenditure.”
As part of the NDC’s agricultural agenda, Mr. Awuah-Darko, a farmer himself, underscored the need to expand irrigation infrastructure in key rice-producing areas such as the Northern, Volta, and Ashanti regions.
He highlighted the importance of investing in modern agricultural machinery to improve efficiency and productivity for large-scale rice farming. Additionally, he advocated for affordable loans and subsidies to support smallholder farmers in accessing essential resources like seeds, fertilizers, and equipment to grow their operations.
Mr. Awuah-Darko also emphasized the critical role of establishing rice mills and packaging facilities to ensure locally grown rice meets international standards, bolstering both domestic consumption and export potential.
He noted that these measures would complement the NDC’s proposed 24-Hour Economy policy, designed to maximize productivity across all sectors, including agriculture.
The 24-Hour Economy and Agriculture
The 24-hour economy policy is designed to extend agricultural activities beyond farming by incorporating processing, packaging, and marketing into a continuous operational cycle.
According to Mr. Awuah-Darko, this approach will facilitate round-the-clock agro-industrial operations, establish logistics hubs to ensure the efficient distribution of farm produce nationwide, and create night markets in urban and peri-urban areas to boost trade and reduce post-harvest losses.
Additionally, it will enhance rural electrification to support agro-industrial activities.
“The 24-Hour Economy ensures that agriculture doesn’t end with farming. It creates opportunities for processing, packaging, and marketing to operate without downtime, generating jobs throughout the supply chain,” he explained.
The NDC’s strategic investment in rice production, combined with its 24-Hour Economy initiative, is presented as a transformative plan to address unemployment, improve food security, and drive economic growth in Ghana.