Workshop participants call for national pricing policy for grains
Stakeholders at a workshop on grain pricing have expressed concern over the absence of a national pricing policy for grains which is impacting negatively on small-holder farmers in the country.
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They, therefore, called for the implementation of a national-pricing policy for grains in order to meet the standard of pricing mechanisms on the market.
According to them, the implementation of such a policy would help in the regulation of pricing of grains.
They expressed these concerns at a validation workshop to determine the warehouse receipt system, trade policies and ways and standards for grain pricing in Ghana.
The participants adopted a report titled “Enhancing grain pricing policy in Ghana; addressing the gaps and improving efficiency in pricing.”
Balance
In an address before validating the report, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Grains Council (GGC), Mr Gideon Aboagye, said there was the need to address the gaps and improve efficiency in pricing.
He indicated that there were no balances in the prices of grains such as maize, millet and sorghum.
In view of that, he explained, anytime prices were low, it affected farmers, while they also took advantage of price hikes and overprice sometimes.
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“The instability as far as the pricing of grains in the country are concerned has resulted in arbitrariness in the pricing.
“Storage and transport infrastructure in grains markets, limited access to commodity finance and unstable marketing margins have all affected pricing mechanism of grains,” he said.
Transparency
Mr Aboagye, therefore, underscored the need for value-chain actors to adopt and institutionalise the use of weighing scales and quality procurement standards to ensure efficiency in the sector.
Contributing to the discussion, a member of the research team, Mr Roland Akabzaa, said there were no transparencies in the procurement process for the importation of grains into the country.
Throwing light on the report, a member of the research team, Mr Daniel Kwame Ampofo Adjei, said due to the instability in pricing of grains, farmers usually hoarded their products in order to gain a lot of profit whenever there was scarcity of the product on the market.
In a town such as Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region, it was established that the peasant farmers usually hoarded their grains and waited for price hikes before releasing them onto the market.