Yaw Frimpong Addo, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, has said that the country is not experiencing a food crisis.
He stressed that there was a significant distinction between food supply and pricing and that Ghanaians were misinterpreting high costs for certain foodstuffs as a sign of food scarcity.
Mr. Addo made the statement on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, as part of a six-day tour of five regions throughout the country by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) while speaking to the media in Techiman, Bono East Region.
He added that his group’s journey was prompted by reports that the country was experiencing food scarcity, particularly in Accra and other major towns.
“Food costs are high during this time of year,” he said, “but thankfully for Ghana, there has been a high stock of maize since 2016 until now.”
According to him, roughly 270, 000 metric tons of maize were available in the Bono East Region’s ten (10) satellite markets.
Mr. Addo, on the other hand, sympathized with farmers who are shortchanged by purchasers who offer them any price for their produce.
“As a result, it is completely incorrect for somebody to sit somewhere and claim that there is a maize or food crisis in Ghana,” he stated emphatically.
He stated categorically that the current administration will do all possible to prevent starvation in the country.
Furthermore, the Deputy Minister took use of the opportunity to refute claims made by some quarters that the Akufo-Addo administration’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program was a failure.
“We used to see trucks loaded with sacks of maize from Niger arrive in Ghana in 2016 because we were having a shortage at the time. However, records accessible at the Techiman maize market show that these same trucks from Niger have been coming to buy maize and other consumables from the Techiman market to Niger since we started the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative in 2017 “He made an indication.
“Because we are now generating considerably in excess to sell to other African countries,” he remarked, this was quite significant.
As a result, Mr. Addo urged politicians to assist lower the country’s political fever.
“It will affect us all if we don’t have a really good political climate in this nation to give farmers the room and peace of mind to go about their enterprises,” he said.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom/Joseph Asare
