Basis for technological development (part 2) ...with particular reference to the food sector in Ghana
By Mrs J. Maud Kordylas
Consultant, Tropical Food Products, Cameroon
In this concluding article, the writer discusses Ghana's problems and suggests how they can be overcome. The first part was published last week.Having taken inventory of what we have within our environment and having evaluated our technological skills and capabilities with respect to the food sector, it is obvious that the actual level of our technological know- how in food production is predominantly peasant. The sizes of the farm units we operate are very small and scattered all over the country, and the technology used at this level is also very low. It, therefore, follows that the most effective food processing and preservation systems which can operate in harmony with our present level of food production are those that can synchronize into our food production system.
Such food processing units are those that operate at the traditional level and which are also scattered all over the country. In actual fact, such food processing units do process the bulk of our staple foods into products, which supply the food needs of over 90% of our population. It is therefore, only appropriate that development of technology for the food sector would only be effective and meaningful if it is based on what we have, and what we have functions and continues to function to feed the people when all else collapse or break down for lack of raw materials, spare parts, foreign exchange inputs, import licence etc. etc. etc. A nation cannot deny her heritage and hope to survive on other nations' heritage. Our survival depends on our ability to feed ourselves with what we produce, preserve, process and store.
The practice, therefore, of relegating this basic unit upon which the development of our food sector lies, to an inferior position in our national reckoning is very sad indeed. This unit is usually referred to as part of the development of "cottage industry", and therefore, waved aside to be looked after by our women and the peasant farmers. It must be recognised that it is the very backbone of our whole national technological development. Because without this sector we cannot even hope to feed ourselves and without being able to feed ourselves, we cannot even hope to survive, let alone get anywhere with any developmental efforts.
This was amply demonstrated to us during the notorious famine period in Ghana in 1982/83. Attaching no importance, therefore, to this sector is tantamount to our inability to appreciate the meaning and the whole concept of technological development of a country. Technological development can only be achieved when the basis upon which it is built stems from what is known and is familiar and serves the needs of the people for whom it is being developed.
What we see existing and have acknowledged as sophisticated technological systems elsewhere, and have assigned such terms as "developed" to the nations that have them, have not just materialized from elsewhere or transferred from other "developed worlds" into those countries. These technologies have been evolved over a long period of time, by the people from existing knowledge, inventions, know-how and products inherent within their environment. These have been systematically utilized and developed to fit and harmonize with the cultural, climatological, technological level and the social needs of the people living within that environment. The desires, wants, habits and aspirations of the people have, therefore, been synchronized into the development efforts, thus making it possible for a harmonious thrust to be made pushing forward their developmental efforts to achieve the high level of technological infrastructure and technological systems which we now see, admire and yearn also to acquire.
By the 19th century, in Great Britain, the need arose to define and solve problems of farmers and to protect them against fraudulent practices. Agricultural societies were therefore established which supported laboratories for studies in various subjects related to agriculture in Great Britain. Agricultural teaching at the university level was developed and this prompted systematic studies or agricultural research as a basis for development of authoritative text books. The research was largely done on individual initiative, since the government furnished funds for agricultural education but no support specifically for research. The people decided to act and they did something.
It is clear that we also must recognise our needs and define what we must do, and decide on the type of technological foundation we must build, based on available knowledge, know-how and the rudimentary techniques and technologies we already possess. Unless we take that sort of initiative, we cannot move forward with our geographical, climatological, cultural, social habits and our socio- economic background. It is only by achieving a technological foundation, that a clear direction of technological advancement can be defined, skills acquired and infrastructural systems set up and consolidated at a genuinely acquired technological level. With such a technological foundation, we can then select and bring in compatible techniques and technologies from elsewhere which can be fused, integrated and synchronized into our own basic technological structure. This would then give us the needed boost or thrust for an accelerated take off.
Without this basic, fundamental acquisition, if we continue to go on as was done in the past, with importation of foreign technologies, anything brought in would be just a superimposition upon our unrelated under-developed rudimentary structures. Their functional transplantation would not be sustained or maintained and there would be no meaningful transformation of the technologies into any system we can call our own.
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE
Due importance must be given by our government, to create the necessary atmosphere and support, to enable and stimulate people with desires, know-how, skills to freely participate in the development of the agricultural and food processing sector, without undue obstacles and constraints. Our educational system must also be restructured to incorporate our rudimentary techniques and technologies and other relevant courses into the subject matter taught at our schools, right from the grass roots or first cycle institutions, up-graded through the second cycle, pre-university and university institutions.Senator Morrill of the United States was not a college graduate, yet he foresaw at a relevant time in the history of America that the warfare of the future would be fundamentally industrial and commercial and that the nation which would secure and maintain supremacy in this competition must be adequately trained for the work. He, therefore, fought for the passage of the Land Grant Act and in an address made to Congress, he emphasized that, he did not desire that the classical college be superceded or in any sense retarded, but that his interest was centred on a progressive, reasonable and practical extension of the education facilities of the nation.
The Morrill Act of 1862, establishing the land grant colleges in the United States of America, thus reflected the awareness of the inadequacy of the institutions of higher learning at the time, and recognised the limitations in scope and outlook of the prevailing classical colleges, that they did not meet the nation's educational needs, and were inadequate in furnishing the information necessary for development of agriculture.
DEVELOPMENT OF OUR TECHNOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Like Senator Morrill, all I am saying is that our educational system does not furnish the information necessary for the development of food production, processing and preservation, and that we should not abandon traditional education, but that if our boys and girls come out of our schools, they should be able to read and write, and in addition to be able to grow cassava more efficiently and process it into high quality gari, and also be able to keep track of their accounts. If they are unable to continue their education for one reason or another, and can't find any other jobs, instead of roaming Accra streets selling dog chains, yellow car dusters (and was it shoe polish they used to sell?) they will be able to set up business growing food and processing it using the know-how acquired at our schools.It is important that whatever elements we teach through our educational system, they must be given the appropriate scientific backing, appropriate teaching aids, books, manuals, tools, workshops and all other supporting services that would help to generate the right feeling of pride in the children to make them want to identify themselves with the elements of their heritage. This would enable them to want to associate themselves with the evolution of the type of technology being generated. It is only by creating such opportunities that we would hope to stimulate the imagination, creative abilities, and inspire our youth to contribute to a technological system they would be proud to call their own. It is through such exposure and experiences that our rudimentary technologies would be improved upon and new technologies invented to serve the community.
I am sure that at this stage, some people would argue that we don't even have the teaching materials, books, the information etc. to effect such a change. Fortunately for us other nations have already passed this same way before. Some information therefore exists if only we search for it. We have research institutions which can collect, collate and adapt whatever information is existing for use. What they do not have they can do research in their laboratories to find out the answers and recycle the information back to where it is needed.
As the developmental processes pick up, further improvements would be made on the techniques and technologies introduced into the sector. Skills and experiences and new expertise would be acquired. More advanced techniques and technologies appropriate to our needs can then be brought in. Accelerated technological development would be seen to be taking place in the food sector since technologies brought in from elsewhere can be effectively absorbed.
At this stage, Ghana would be seen to have mastered a developmental process which she can call her own. Her needs would have been seen to have been satisfied from her own efforts. Her aspirations would have been seen to have been realized. We would have been seen to have contributed techniques and technologies to the developmental process in the sector which can also be transferred elsewhere. Our products, both equipment and food products, would be seen in other parts of the continent or for that matter on world markets, and we would have had the satisfaction of knowing that we also have contributed by adding to technological advancement of the world, rather than only parasiting on the world developmental efforts, as we are seen to be fervently engaged in doing now.
1. Kordylas, J.M. (1979) Systems of R&D Management. Models, Comparative Assessment Case Studies. Workshop on Management of R&D Institutions in the Area of Food Science & Technology, Mysore, India.
2. Kordylas, J.M. (1982) Traditional Food Processing Technology As A Basis for The Development of Food Processing Industries in Ghana. Paper written for the African Institute For The Study of Human Values Workshop on Our Enduring Heritage in a Changing World.
3. Ministry of Economic Planning (1977) Five Year Development Plan 1975/76-1979/80. Part II Approved by the Supreme Military Council.
4. Moseman, A.H. (1977) Organisational Structures for National Agricultural Research Management. Asia, Vol 2, 45-69. 5. Reusse, E. (1968) Ghana's Food Industries An Economic Analysis - United Nations Development Programme (Special Fund) Project in Ghana Research and Development Unit." "Food 6. Ross, E.D. (1942) A History of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The State College Press, Ames, Iowa.
