Govt to wean NAFCO off subvention

Government is to wean the National Buffer Stock Food Company (NAFCO) off its subvention.

NAFCO, which is a semi-autonomous organisation, was set up by government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to ensure food security and to insulate farmers against losses resulting from anticipated increases in production.

The decision, according to a highly placed source at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), is to save tax payers money from going into a venture that has been a drain on the national chest.

In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, the source said: “We don’t want to put public money in an organisation that can always be called upon to subsidise other people; that may run to the ground. At least, even if it cannot run profitably, it should be able to break even.”

It also added that if government was paying all the workers and everybody at NAFCO, which was already a public expense, it was expected that even if government fell on it to give support, government would pay for the services that NAFCO would render in order to make the company sustainable.

NAFCO

It was expected that Ghanaian farmers would no longer experience post-harvest losses, with the setting up of the NAFCO in 2010.

NAFCO out of stock?

Last year, there were media reports that the outfit had run out of stock but the Chief Executive Officer denied them. 

Rather, he said clearing old stock to create space to replenish was a normal practice.

“Our operation is such that you cannot keep food forever, so after a while you need to get rid of the stocks that you have so you can create the space to replenish,” he said.

He said that annually, NAFCO should be able to clear the old stock so it could create space for the new season.

“Part of our job is to offer markets for our farmers so it means if we do not create the space needed to enable us to purchase the new stock from our farmers, then they will not have the market we promised them. So when a new season is coming, we have to try and get rid of the old stock to enable us to have the space and resources to mop up what our farmers will be harvesting,” he said.

NAFCO in budget

NAFCO was not mentioned in 2016 budget, although it is believed to have been captured under the MoFA’s programme.

The 2015 Budget Statement stated that to reduce post-harvest losses, the MoFA, in collaboration with the private sector, increased the NAFCO centres from seven to 10 and facilitated the establishment of two new warehouses with a capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes (mt) each in 2014.

In 2015, it said the NAFCO would construct 25,000mt capacity warehouses to store 10,000mt of rice, 10,000mt of maize and 5,000mt of soya beans and other cereals to be held as strategic stocks. — GB