i Parkia biglobosa - School of Forest Resources & Environmental ...

equired targets for the meat processing plant to operate as a profitable business. Another
example of the government’s failed attempts at modernization is a tomato-processing
factory built near Bolgatanga. The local farmers could not produce large enough
quantities of tomatoes necessary for this processing factory to operate at full capacity.
Both factories today stand idle and in poor condition.
Collective farms relied upon heavily subsidized inputs from the government.
Tractors, agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and improved seed often were promised
but not delivered. Due to poor management and widespread corruption, the vision of
high yields and self-sufficient agriculture were met with extremely low production
(Naylor 2000). Within a short time, Ghana suffered large debts, inflation was high, and
corruption was endemic. Though Ghana experienced the highest GNP on the continent
before the economic crisis in the 1970s, military takeovers and corruption crippled
Ghana’s economy. Today, the economy is rebounding only through stringent economic
recovery programs and large subsidies from foreign aid (World Bank 2002).
From 1961-1966 Ghana was 83 percent self-sufficient for food. But by 1982, this
percentage dropped down to 23 percent. Farming is still the primary occupation of
Ghanaians although the rate of self-sufficiency is still low. The domestic economy
primarily revolves around subsistence farming, which accounts for 36% of the GDP and
employs 60% of the population. The current economic situation in Ghana has an
uncertain future. The estimated external debt in 1999 was over $7 billion and
international monetary aid totaled $477.3 million in 1995. Ghana’s economy is a casualty
of the sharp decline in foreign exchange tied to its two main exports of cocoa and gold.
(CIA World Factbook 2002, World Bank 2002).
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