Kenkey may soon cost more than pizza – MP

If government does not stop playing politics with the recent fall armyworm infestation of farms and collaborate with stakeholders to curtail the menace, “kenkey will be more expensive than pizza”, Deputy Minority Chief Whip Ahmed Ibrahim has warned.

His comments come in the wake of large farms being destroyed by fall armyworms across the country resulting in farmers a mixture of detergent and pepper to spray their farms to control the pests.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim, who was speaking with Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM on Tuesday July 18, accused government of being lackadaisical in the fight against the pests when the infestation was not widespread.

He did not understand why government was still adopting a “trial and error” approach to the outbreak, with its failure to identify the specific pesticides to control the fall armyworms even after cabinet approved an emergency budget of GHS15.8 million to fight the pests.

He called for collaboration between all stakeholders to prevent a possible catastrophe of maize shortage which will likely lead to increases in the price of the commodity.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Sagre Bambangi, has assured the nation that the recent invasion of the fall armyworms on some farmlands will not threaten food security.

By his estimation, about 112,812 hectares have been affected, with 14,430 hectares destroyed completely.