Esther Cobbah explaining a point at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park
Prudent investment in Ghana’s horticulture industry can help the country to earn additional foreign exchange and address youth unemployment to lessen the burden on government.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Communications Africa, Esther Cobbah said this in an interview with the media last Monday at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park in Accra on the sidelines of a Garden and Flower workshop.
The workshop formed part of activities of the 2016 Ghana Garden and Flower Show organized by Strategic Communications Africa in partnership with Softlanding, Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited and Lux under the theme: ‘Dream It, Discover It, Live It.’
The 2016 Ghana Garden and Flower Show, with a special focus on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sought to project the economic, aesthetic, environmental and health benefits of floral culture and horticulture in Ghana.
According to her, Ghana could rake in a lot of foreign exchange through the export and trade of flowers and reduce its import bill if it boosts local production of flowers.
“We are projecting the economic, aesthetic, health and environmental benefits of our fluoric culture and our horticulture.
“We are here telling people that we can get jobs out of this, we can get income, we can rake in a lot of foreign exchange,” Ms. Cobbah said.
According to her, other African nations like Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya, are earning huge foreign exchange annually from the export of floral.
“When you look at other African countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, look at the soil in Ethiopia, they are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” she said.
USAID’s report
A United States Agency For International Development (USAID’s) 2012 Progress Report on Kenya’s Horticulture Industry sighted by BUSINESS GUIDE, said “Kenya has seen unprecedented growth since the early 80s.
“The horticulture business, according to official production figures, export statistics and recent data collected by KHCP on domestic market consumption, is worth in excess of $3 billion a year, one third of this is from exports.”
According to the same report by USAID, “Ethiopia’s horticultural export volumes have increased annually over the past decade with the main contributor for this growth being cut roses. This has been attributed to government subsidies introduced in 2006 to facilitate private sector and FDI opportunities.”
Ms. Cobbah said that Ghana should learn from the experience of the above-mentioned countries and develop a national policy that can promote the local garden and flower industry so as to help generate additional revenue and employment for Ghanaians.
Touching on the types of policies to promote the horticulture industry, Ms. Cobbah said, “In Ethiopia, they gave people who are in this industry tax-breaks.
“The Malaysian government gave the private sector organization that started this a vast piece of land to do annual fairs, flower shows like this. This year alone, about one million visitors went to Malaysia to see their show.”
She expressed the hope that Ghanaians would soon begin to take interest in the horticulture sub-sector of the economy, enrich themselves and beautify the environment.
Impact
On the impact of the Garden and Flower Show, which has been held over the last four years, she said, “it’s helping to reorient people about the numerous opportunities in the horticultural sub-sector of the national economy.
She disclosed that through the show, a number of foreign investors, are now beginning to pay attention to Ghana’s horticulture subsector.
Senior Business Development Officer at Strategic Communications Africa, Rosa Annoinette Annang, said the Ghana Garden and Flower Movement seeks to equip Ghanaians to become greener, healthier, wealthier and more beautiful, among others.
She told BUSINESS GUIDE that between 500 and 1,000 people attended the show daily from September 8 to 14, 2016.
By Melvin Tarlue