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The cocoa bean is a mainstay of the Ghanaian economy. ~

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Sewing reom at the Fiber Bag Manufacturing Corporation's plant in Kumasi.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 7, 1975—Page 6

By Boris Pishchik

G ACCRA
hana was the first. West African coun-
try to free itself from the colonial yoke. At
the end of the 1950s.and the beginning of the
1960s world public opinion closely followed
the bold social reforms initiated by this
country situated.on the shore of:the Gulf of
Guinea. The news of the reactionary coup
in Ghana in 1966 came as a shock to many
not only in Africa. For six long years the
neo-colonialists harassed the country, until,
at the beginning of 1972, patriotic-minded
army officers deposed Kofi Busia, the for-
eign monopolies’ placeman, and set up the
National Redemption Council which em-
barked upon the road to economic indepen-
dence and wrought a sharp. change in for-
eign policy. ve

“Our county’s greatest asset is its peo-
ple who are advancing along the path of in-
dependence,’’ Colonel Tachie-Menson,
Commissioner for Information, told me.
‘Consequently, it is our historical respon-
sibility not only to recognize but to carry

out in practice the principle that each man

has his dignity and is entitled to respect.”

After several years of savage persecu-
tion of progressives and cultivation of poli-
tical apathy to make it easier for the neo-
colonialists to oppress the people, it is dif-
ficult indeed to overestimate the present
efforts to activate the creative forces of
the nation.

The National Redemption Council, the
Commissioner said, holds that every Ghan-
ian, and particularly every working man
and woman, can make a big contribution to
the country’s development. The whole ten-
or of life in Ghana today, the educational
work that is being conducted, is aimed. at
impressing the population with the need to
place the national interest above personal
and group interests. ;

“Our prime task,’’ Colonel Takie-Men-
son said, “‘is to abolish the unjust system
on which the egoistic domination of the
poor by the rich rests.”’ : :

As to the second task, for this country .

that borders on the ill-famed Sahel Zone
with its ever-present danger of famine, the
solving of the food problem by its own ef-
forts may be called the key to the solution
of all the problems confronting the country.

A turn for the better in the country’s
economy became clearly manifest, after a

long period of stagnation, on the third anni-

versary of the National Redemption Coun-
cil government. The state’s participation
in the mining and other foreign companies
is yielding fruit. A record sum of 246 mil-
lion cedis ($282.9 million: Ed.) has been ap-
propriated this year for development pro-
jects. Much has also been done to improve
the medical service and education and to
raise the standard of living: The wages of
the low-paid workers have been more than
doubled:

The second five-year development
plan for 1976-80 lays special emphasis
on diversified farming. Ghana’s cocoa
beans are famous the world over. When
the colonialists left, cocoa remained the

main export item. But it also was the

Achilles heel of the Ghanaian economy. In. is

good years it brought substantial returns,

making it possible to provide the country

with necessary imported goods and food-
stuffs. At other times, however, it was 4

different matter. As the country advanced ’

along the road of independence, this mai?
export channel began to look more and

« more like a pipe with the tap at the other —

end in the hands of hostile foreigners wh0
could turn it off at any time to bring prices
down and teach the ‘‘intractable’’ Ghana-
ians a lesson.

It was necessary to think about the re

der crops, about the cultivation of crops
that would ensure a more or less rational
food balance. This was something that
could not. be done with the help of small
peasant farms. To rely on the rich planters
was risky. It was then that the government
conceived the idea of setting up state farms.
They came into existence in 1962 and very
soon made it possible to raise labor por-
ductivity in the countryside. Rice, maize,

yams and vegetables appeared in the fields }

al

of state farms. But circumstances gave the
state farms very little time to prove theif
worth: like frost, the reactionary regime

” set up after the 1966 coup killed the young

shoots. .

eee on my arrival in Ghana
this spring, I heard a great deal about

state farms and about the popularity of the |
fairs arranged by the State Farm Corpora |
tion. People can buy foodstuffs at these }
fairs at reasonable prices. Local newS- ~

papers wrote that large-scale mechanized
farming was proving superior to small
scale farming.

I was naturally curious to know how thé
state farms had weathered the six years of
the anti-popular regime. I made several at-
tempts to contact State Farm executives:
But even early morning phone calls failed

to catch them — they were already out of “4

the farms. The answers to evening calls
were no less comforting: “They haven't
come back yet. Probably spending the night”
on some farm.”

At last luck turned my way. Returning
to Accra one evening, I stopped at Takoradi
and ran into J. G. Amoako, the Corpora
tion’s director, in the hotel’s snack room.

“Even Busia who was an ardent cham
pion of private enterprise did not venture

to abolish the state farms,’’ Amoako said:
“They were obviously useful. Since the ad- }

vent of the National Redemption Council t0

power in 1972, the government has agail },

been paying attention to our Corporation.
True, we have not yet increased the num
ber of farms. There are still 42 of them a5

of three years ago. But the crop area iS hq

growing. In these years we have put anoth-
er 5,000 hectares (12,500 acres: Ed.) under
the plough.”’

Farming is a labor-consuming proces>
in Ghana.To plant trees or cultivate a neW
corn or paddy field, it is first necessary t?

clear brushland and wooded tracts. Cons® hj

quently, 5,000 hectares is not so little.
wor

’ distribution and extension of the areas un