Agriculture, with emphasis on the local production of rice, fish, poultry and livestock, has been handed a massive impetus in the government's 2010 budget and financial statement, reports Modern Ghana.

The measures, as contained in the budget statement read by the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, included the restoration of duties on imported rice, poultry, wheat, yellow maize and vegetable oil that were removed during the food crisis of 2008.

With an overall objective to modernise agriculture, the budget introduced a number of initiatives to also change the face of rural Ghana, increase the scale of production and productivity, enhance food security, create employment opportunities and cut down on the use of foreign exchange for food imports.

To cut down on imports of poultry and fish into the country, Dr Duffuor hinted that the government would levy duties on those imports and support local production, adding that "The target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012".