The President has directed the Ministry of Finance to make money available to the National Food Buffer Stock Company to buy bumper produce from farmers across the country, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has stated.
He informed the House that the President gave the directive at a Cabinet meeting last week.
“I can assure you that I was in the Cabinet meeting when the President directed the Ministry of Finance to make money available to Buffer Stock so that they can buy the produce from the farmers,” he said.
MP request
Mr Ayariga was responding to a request from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Nalerigu-Gambaga for the Leader of Government Business to invite the Minister of Food and Agriculture to brief the House on the plans and strategies the ministry had in place to aid farmers to get buyers for their bumper harvests.
“I think that some of the warehouses that were constructed during the regime of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will be useful now in storing the bumper harvest that we are experiencing.
“Unfortunately, I do not think any of the factories that were constructed is functioning and I can say on authority that the one at Walewale is functioning and it is not processing anything and they are not helpful in resolving the problem,” he said.
The MP, Nurideen Muhammed Mumuni, said many farmers nationwide had realised an encouraging bumper harvest of rice, maize, millet, soybeans and sorghum.
Unfortunately, he said that even with the low prices of those produce, farmers still struggled to get people to buy them.
“I was expecting the Leader to programme the Agriculture Minister to update the House, Ghanaians and our farmers on the strategies and plans the ministry is putting in place to help farmers get buyers,” he said.
Low demand
Mr Mumuni said during the 2024 harvest season, the NPP government supported many farmers under the second phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs, which had yielded a bumper harvest.
He said many of the farmers borrowed money from their creditors to invest in growing their crops, expecting to sell and pay back those they owed.
“Even with the low price for the farm produce, the farmers are still not getting people to buy the produce,” he said.
Painting a gloomy picture of the plight of farmers, the MP cited how farmers today buy expensive fertilisers and harvest their crops only to sell them at cheaper prices due to low demand.
He warned that he foresaw the next planting season would not be suitable for the farmers due to poor demand.
