There’s Abundance Of Food On The Ghanaian Market – Nana Addo

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has noted that, for the first time in many years, there is an abundance of food on the market, coupled with low prices of foodstuffs, and, in some cases, there is a glut.

“We are currently exporting plantain to some of our neighbours. Quite a turnaround from when I was lamenting two years ago that we were importing plantains from Cote d’Ivoire. We also did not import a single grain of maize this year,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, 19th December, 2018, when he addressed members of the media at an end of year press conference, at Jubilee House, Accra.

President Akufo-Addo noted that it is not often that the country receives such good news, “and it must mean if you invest in agriculture, you get results. ‘Planting for Food and Job’ is working, and I look forward to rice joining the list of foodstuffs we are no longer importing.”

Additionally, the President stated that radical measures are being taken to establish a solid infrastructure for agriculture, with the imminent availability of significant numbers of tractors and the enhancement of Agricultural Mechanisation Centres, the construction of 80 warehouses this year for the storage of surplus food, the revival of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company, and the recent establishment of the Commodities Exchange.

All these, he said, are being done to modernize and transform Ghanaian agriculture to serve as a major growth pole for the economy.

Despite the dramatic decline in the world market prices for cocoa, President Akufo-Addo indicated that Government maintained the producer price paid to farmers as a sign of commitment to them.

“We are on course to realizing the 1 million tonne mark for our cocoa production, and seeing to the increasing domestic processing of the product. Our alliance with Cote d’Ivoire, to change the dynamics of the global cocoa industry, is also on course to enable us, the producers, obtain an increasing share of the industry’s value chain. It is good news for our farmers,” he added.