Ghana’s Urgent Path to Sustainable Development: Agriculture, Healthcare, and Education

Ghana risks facing a future where a higher percentage of its older generation will be dead, and its youth, despite their abundance, ill-equipped to navigate the complexities of the modern world.

Before any research institution can produce accurate statistics, it must possess long-term economic data. This data, once transformed into intelligence, forms the basis for generating meaningful insights. Currently, Ghana’s economy is exposed, indicating several critical deficiencies:

1. Food Security: We lack control over our diet. A significant portion of what we consume is imported, leaving us unaware of the true origins or preparation methods of these foods.
2. Healthcare: We do not control our sources of medications. There has been insufficient investment in healthcare research, particularly in the herbal medicine sector, which has the potential to become a multibillion-dollar industry. Local production is often unregulated, and licenses are granted based on financial means rather than quality or safety.
3. Education: Our education system is in disarray, failing to provide quality education as a fundamental human right, thereby undermining the intellectual development of Ghanaians.

This situation is a national emergency. Ghana is on a treadmill to nowhere.

According to my research, by 2050, our population is projected to reach 52,231,784. Astonishingly, there won’t be anyone alive aged 90 to 100 and above. Only a meager 0.3% will be between 85 and 89, 0.6% between 80 and 84, 1.2% between 75 and 79, 2.1% between 70 and 74, and 3% between 65 and 69. These statistics highlight the dire demographic and aging trajectory of our society.

As Ghana’s population increases, longevity will not necessarily follow. To determine your likelihood of being alive in 2050, add 26 years to your current age and refer to life expectancy charts. Your diet, imported medications, and education play critical roles in your quality of life and survival.

READ ALSO; Putting Private Capital to Work in Africa: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies

For over 40 years, Ghana’s leadership has consistently failed to invest in agriculture, healthcare, and education. This lack of vision is driving the country towards a bleak future.

Agriculture Development

Agricultural development is the cornerstone of any nation’s progress. Failure in this sector leads to widespread issues. Politics becomes pointless if we can’t produce enough food to feed our people.

Consider the United States, which produces a surplus of food, ensuring its citizens are well-fed before exporting the excess. China’s history also offers a lesson: after enduring a catastrophic famine in the 1950s and 1960s, China focused on food security, and since then has been able to focus on other sectors, driving its impressive economic growth.

Despite recognizing these challenges for decades, Ghana still faces issues such as subsistence farming, inadequate tools, and poor post-harvest infrastructure. Examining the cocoa sector and other industrial crops alongside livestock and poultry, do our forestry and logging endeavors align with investments in local carpentry for furniture production? Certainly not. Our dependence on cocoa-syndicated loans to run our affairs in 2024 is regrettable.

Paradoxically, this demonstrates our nation’s lack of significant progress worthy of pride. If you hold a differing view, can you confidently assert that substantial progress has indeed been achieved?

Healthcare & Health System Development

Opening new pharmaceutical shops is not progress. Real progress involves allocating funds for advanced healthcare research and transforming our health systems. By harnessing natural resources to improve treatments, Ghana could generate significant revenue. This would ensure equitable access to quality medical services, enhance the healthcare workforce’s quality, and establish the groundwork for a healthier population by 2050.

READ ALSO; Celebrating the Launch of the ICF Ghana Chapter: A New Era in Human Capital Development

Ghana has brilliant minds and the necessary systems, but corruption compromises their effectiveness. Funds for health research must reach their intended recipients, and the results must be transparently communicated to ensure accountability and raise awareness among citizens.

Quality Education Development

By 2050, Ghana’s youth will be numerous, but this does not guarantee productivity or competitiveness. The stark reality we must face is that without significant changes, our youth will be underprepared and unable to contribute meaningfully to the global economy. Our education system produces ill-equipped graduates. To avoid this future, a complete paradigm shift is necessary—one that builds the mindset of our people toward innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

Our education system needs a complete overhaul, fostering a sense of pride and aspiration similar to the American Dream. Politicians often send their children abroad for education while neglecting the domestic system, which is a national emergency.

Quality education is everything—not just academic education, but all forms of learning. We must return to the drawing board, commit to change, and develop a national agenda that can completely transform our thinking. This transformation process must be comprehensive and inclusive, ensuring that industries are created to accommodate the diverse outputs of our educational system, thus providing meaningful employment opportunities.

A transformative leader, free from the influence of dominant political parties, must emerge to unlock new opportunities. This restructured education system will lead to economic expansion and significant GDP growth.

Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more inspiring content.

Conclusion

Ghana’s path to sustainable development requires urgent action in agriculture, healthcare, and education. By addressing these critical areas with visionary leadership and consistent effort, we can ensure a prosperous future for our youth and our nation. This is a national emergency, and we must treat it with the urgency it deserves.

Painstakingly written by;