Contrary to reports of a looming food shortage in Ghana this year, the Association of Concerned Farmers claims there is plenty of food in the country.
This, according to President of the association, Nana Oboadea Boateng Bonsu II, is because there was a bumper harvest this year.
“This very year, we had a bumper harvest and we are yet to get more. We even have plantains that are in the stage of getting rotten because when it gets to the market, people are not buying it in time so there is enough food in the system,” he said.
In July 2022, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana and the National Seed Trading Association of Ghana, two groups within the country’s food production value chain, predicted that the country would be faced with a food crisis, if measures were not immediately taken to resolve challenges related to food production in the country by the end of the year.
These reports were, however, dismissed by the government.
Government’s response
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, refuting the claims, said that food inflation being experienced in the country is not a function of food shortage, but among other things overpricing by traders.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto insisted that there was enough food on the market.
“I am coming from the field. Every year I go around the 16 regions to observe for myself and formulate realistic policies. I just came back 8 days ago from a tour of five regions. Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, and Eastern Region which are the main forest belts.”
“Per my checks and interactions with stakeholders, there is enough food out there. I went with all the 13 directors at the headquarters. Our directors were deployed to major markets in these regions. Data from nine major markets in the Ashanti and Bono East regions revealed that the volume of maize in the last 10 days was 27,000 metric tonnes. There is enough food in the system.”
Subsequent reactions
In the same vein, the Association of Concerned Farmers has allayed the fears of Ghanaians over a looming food shortage.
“We want to assure the general public that there is enough food, they shouldn’t panic, there is more food and it is going to get cheap,” Nana Oboadea Boateng Bonsu II, said in a press conference in Accra.
Touching on other issues, the association explained factors that have contributed to the hikes in food prices. Nana Boateng Bonsu clarified that this is not as a result of a lack of bountiful harvest, but
the results of middlemen and market women who wanted to make abnormal profits.
“Even though the price of fuel is high, some of the prices, which some of our produce is being sold for in the market, are shocking”, Nana Bonsu II added.
Nonetheless, the association said transportation of foodstuffs from some areas of the country has become difficult due to poor road networks.
“The only challenge we are facing now is transportation. There are some places where the road network is very bad, making conveying food from such places very hard.
“But even with those areas, there are contractors working on it and all we’ll tell them is to do it quickly so that food will come to the cities for people to enjoy,” he added.
To address this, the association has entreated the government to urgently implement its truck system to eliminate middlemen in foodstuff trading.
The system, according to Nana Bonsu II, would be in charge of getting food from farm gates and farming villages straight to individuals living in cities and urban centres.
Source: The Independent Ghana