The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) has begun purchasing key staple foods such as rice, maize and gari from farmers in response to their appeals for market access amid high yields and limited storage capacity.
So far, 60,000 bags of rice, 120,000 bags of maize, and 10,000 bags of gari have been purchased as key staple foods targeted for emergency reserves.
This follows the Cabinet’s approval of an initial GH¢100 million for that exercise.
The Deputy CEO of NAFCO, Osmend Amuah, at a press conference to confirm this, said the funding forms part of the government’s plan to mop up excess produce, prevent post-harvest losses and build a national food reserve to enhance food security.
"Farmers in the Afram Plains and the northern belt are complaining there is no market space for them, there's no price, and because there's limited storage, some of them cannot store their produce, a situation that potentially can lead to huge post-harvest losses.
"So, this plea was channelled through the Minister for Agriculture and through his instrumentality, he engaged the Cabinet and the Cabinet approved an initial funding of GH¢100 million for NAFCO to go to the market and start the mop-up process," he said.
Additional funding
Mr Amuah mentioned that the Agric Minister, Eric Opoku, is also seeking the Cabinet’s approval for an additional GH¢100 million to expand the mop-up exercise.
"I'm happy to announce this afternoon that the Minister of Agriculture has agreed that he would be discussing with Cabinet an urgent need for an additional release of funding of about GH¢100 million again on an incremental basis, so that we'll be able to mop up the additional surpluses that are on the market.
“You will recall that the complaints have come from various parts of the country — the coastal and Volta belts, the Ashanti and middle belts, as well as the northern enclave.
“All these zones have active farming communities, so the government’s intervention is designed to specifically target smallholder and household farmers, ensuring they directly benefit from the opportunity to sell their produce,” he said.
He added that NAFCO has further set a floor price of GH¢5 per kilo for paddy rice to protect farmers from unfair pricing by aggregators.
The move, Mr Amuah explained, demonstrates the government’s commitment to sustaining farmers’ livelihoods, stabilising food supply and strengthening national food security systems.
Lasting solution
The NAFCO Deputy CEO further stated that the government has introduced a national food reserve programme (NFRP) to address challenges faced by farmers who have met production targets but lack buyers due to economic constraints and limited funding.
The NFRP aims to store 10 per cent of Ghana’s annual staple food consumption (about 6.8 million tonnes) as a safeguard against emergencies or famine and an initiative intended to reduce food insecurity and enhance national stability, ensuring that surplus produce is preserved and farmers’ efforts are not wasted.
"The National Food Reserve Programme is just simple logic.
That, at least in case of an emergency, let's be able to put away 10 per cent of our annual consumption. So, we consume 6.8 million in staples.”
"That simply means that we should be able to set aside 10 per cent of that in case of an emergency or a famine, so that we can address the concerns and the plight of our people.
This will mitigate food insecurity and generally improve the security conditions in the country," he explained.
Background
Last month, farmers from various parts of the country appealed to the government for assistance in selling their produce, citing market challenges that had led to the spoilage of perishable goods.
Some farmers, through social media, called on the government to intervene by purchasing surplus produce through agencies such as NAFCO, expanding storage facilities, and establishing a price-setting committee to protect them from market fluctuations.
