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| Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto |
ACCRA, June 20 (NNN-GNA) — Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has reiterated that there is no food shortage in Ghana.
“There is no food shortage in Ghana as is being speculated, the food situation in the regions is enough evidence, however, we recognise that food is relatively expensive due to external factors.”
The Minister said, the increase in prices of food commodities is not because of the government’s policies, but external factors such as the increment of imported chemicals and other external factors beyond their control.
Addressing the staff of MOFA and farmers in the Eastern Region as part of his official tour, he assured us that despite the external factors beyond control, the government is instituting measures to bring down the cost of production to mitigate the effect on consumers.
“We are encouraging farmers to switch to organic fertilizers produced locally to reduce the impact of fertilizer shortage on food production and urged the far west to switch quickly to the use of compost.
On financing from the banks, Dr Afriyie Akoto hinted that the government is looking at alternatives to compel banks to lend a portion of their loans to farmers to improve production.
That, he said is to address farmers’ inability to acquire loans from the banks adding that several efforts to the banks had proved futile over the years and the banks preferred to give loans to business people than farmers.
Henry Crentsil, Eastern Regional Director of MOFA, earlier disclosed that despite the shortage of fertilizers and cost of production, there were indications of high yields due to the planting for food and jobs and other interventions.
He said, for instance, farmers’ adoption rate of improved seeds had shot up drastically, particularly in maize, and added that it is a sign of abundance of food and that the current soaring prices were seasonal.
The Minister, as part of the tour, visited some commercial private farms including, the Legacy Crop Improvement Center (LCIC), a seed production hub at Otareso in the Akuapem North District, and inspected the facility’s warehouse embedded with a code room. — NNN-GNA
