Stocking food for eventualities: National Buffer Stock Company requires GH¢700m

The National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) urgently requires GH¢700 million to enable it to carry out its mandate of stocking food on behalf of the nation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Abradu-Otoo, has revealed.

He said NAFCO was established to stock food on behalf of the nation as an intervention measure in the event of any food shortage or any calamity in the country.

“Our mandate is to stock food on behalf of the nation, in order to be able to intervene, if there is any shortage, if there is any calamity, if there is any unforeseen circumstances, so Buffer Stock can move into the market and then discharge our mandate as envisioned by our late President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills,” Mr Abradu-Otoo told the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview in Accra.

Empty warehouses

Currently, the NAFCO CEO said, the company was not in the position to discharge that mandate.

“We don't have anything in our warehouses because the right resources have not been given over the years to the company to carry out its resources”.

“There is no stock because there is no food stock in our warehouses.

The stock is zero,” he stated.

Mr Abradu-Otoo described the situation as “a very serious issue,” and a national security issue, stressing that, “as we sit here, if there's any unforeseen calamity or disaster, we cannot carry out our mandate because there's no food stock in our warehouses.”

Mr Abradu-Otoo emphasised that with the reset agenda of President John Mahama, “we can't have a reset in the country without food stocks”.

Pooling resources

“I am determined to pool all resources, pool all the energies at my disposal to ensure that we are resourced, we are funded to do that,” he said.

The NAFCO CEO said his focus for the company was to liaise with various agencies and sources to get the company to carry out its mandate of keeping stock for the nation in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

Mr Abradu-Otoo said over the years, the unavailability of funds for NAFCO had been an issue and had remained a challenge.

To address the challenges, he said, he would engage the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, on the way forward.

“Even if we are supported halfway, I think it will be wonderful. I know the precarious situation in which the economy is,” he admitted.

Mr Abradu-Otoo hinted that he would be reaching out to some agencies and international partners such as the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) “to see how best they can help NAFCO to achieve our mandate.”

Warehouses

Touching on warehouses, Mr Abradu-Otoo said reports indicated that most of the NAFCO warehouses across the country were not in good shape.

He would, therefore, embark on an inspection tour of the warehouses to ascertain their true state.

Explaining further, the NAFCO Chief Executive said such facilities were supposed to meet some minimum standards according to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

“If you are keeping food that is going to be consumed by human beings, there is a minimum standard that we need to meet.

We have to be able to control the temperature of the food we are storing to maintain the nutritional value”.

“I hear some of the roofs are leaking, and the sanitation around some of the warehouses is not in the best condition.

So those are the things I want to take a look at,” he stated.

Repair works

Mr Abradu-Otoo explained that the focus after the visits would be their repair and to ensure that they were properly secured and insured against any disaster.

“For instance, if you keep grains in those warehouses and any calamity happens, there should be an insurance cover in order to restore it to normal,” he explained.

“One of the warehouses got flooded, “and we had to lose some of the stored grains,” Mr Abradu-Otoo said in support of keeping a good maintenance culture.

Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh