Food inflation: Slow implementation of agric initiatives blamed

An Agriculture Economist, Professor Irene Sussana Egyir, has criticised the slow implementation of government agricultural initiatives, describing them as having “good intentions” but lacking timely execution.

She said the country’s rain-dependent agriculture required precise timing, noting that delayed release of inputs such as fertilisers, seeds and credit meant farmers missed optimal planting windows.

“Timing is crucial in agriculture, especially when we depend heavily on rainfall patterns. When inputs arrive late, farmers lose the opportunity to plant at the right time, which ultimately affects productivity and food security,” she said.

Additionally, she revealed that access to government agricultural support programmes had become increasingly difficult, to the extent that even farmers with their own resources who wanted to participate in community farming initiatives found it challenging to benefit from these programmes.

We have farmers who are ready to invest their own money but cannot access the support they need because of administrative barriers,” she stated, describing the process as not farmer-friendly.

She therefore advised government to streamline agricultural support programmes and make them simple and accessible to farmers across the country to help boost productivity and reduce food imports.

The call comes at a time when food inflation persists despite efforts to sustain Ghana’s current disinflation path.

Food inflation 

“Food inflation is driven by seasonal supply shortages and delayed government support to farmers. June-July, most of our food is planted, so what has been harvested and stored is what is coming out. In economics, when supply is low and demand remains, prices will go up,” Prof. Egyir stated in an interview with the Graphic Business.

She explained that while imported foods such as rice maintained relatively stable prices throughout the year, locally grown crops including yam, cassava, plantains, bananas, maize, cowpea and vegetables followed seasonal patterns that created price volatility.

She urged government to consider investing more in irrigation infrastructure to reduce the country’s over-reliance on rainfall, which would provide farmers with more flexibility in their planting schedules.

Background 

Ghana's inflation rate has declined for the fifth consecutive month, dropping to 18.4 per cent in May 2025, the lowest level recorded since February 2022, the latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed.

The May figure, which represents a significant 2.8 percentage points decrease from the 21.2 per cent recorded in April 2025, indicates continued economic recovery driven by tighter monetary policy, a strengthened cedi and improved market confidence.

The data further showed that goods inflation remained significantly higher than services inflation, recording 20.1 per cent compared to 14.3 per cent, respectively. Non-durable goods, primarily food products, contributed 10.1 percentage points to the headline inflation rate of 18.4 per cent.

However, food inflation continues to pose a major challenge, recording at 22.8 per cent and accounting for nearly two-thirds of total inflation. The non-food basket posted 14.4 per cent inflation during the same period.

Key food items such as yam, smoked herring, vegetable oil, ginger, rice and maize were among the top contributors to the food inflation.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation remained relatively stable at 0.7 per cent in May, compared to 0.8 per cent in April, indicating short-term price stability. Food inflation for the month stood at 0.9 per cent, slightly above non-food inflation of 0.6 per cent.

Regional breakdown

The inflation figures revealed stark regional disparities across the country. The Upper West Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 38.1 per cent, driven primarily by elevated costs in food, education and utilities. On the other hand, the Ahafo Region posted the lowest inflation rate at 14.5 per cent.

At a press briefing in Accra last Wednesday, the Government Statistician, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, said the easing of fuel and transport prices was driving a disinflationary trend adding that food prices were still high, they were also starting to go down.