There is food surplus in the regions to offset recent price hike - Debrah

Accra, April 17, GNA - The Agriculture Sector Minister, Mr. Ernest A. Debrah on Thursday gave the assurance that there were enough food surpluses in most of the regions to cater for the current food price increase in regions that recorded deficits. He said apart from the Greater Accra Region, which recorded deficit in all the major food supply and demand, all other regions have enough food reserve to be transported to fill the gap.

Mr. Debrah, who was briefing the press in Accra on the food situation in Ghana, said apart from rice, millet and sorghum the country produced in excess of the national demand in the major staple foods. He said however, the surplus or deficit was not evenly distributed in all the regions, adding there was the need to move surplus food from the producing regions to other regions with deficits.

The world food situation has been worsening in recent times with rising food prices, especially for cereals. In 2007 for instance, there was an average of about 35 per cent increase in prices of major foodstuff over 2006 prices. The Minister explained that increasing prices were mainly the result of the supply and demand factors, which were made up of climatic changes, competing demand for land for the production of bio-fuels and increasing prices of agro inputs, particularly fertilizers. He also attributed the situation to increase in population and demand for cereals, especially maize for bio-fuels.

Mr. Debrah said some experts have predicted that the current food situation would persist for at least another decade and there was the need to initiate medium and long term interventions to ensure food security. He said for immediate interventions, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture was interacting with the market women and transport owners to find ways of minimizing the effect of transport costs on food prices. "We are also collaborating with the security agencies to ensure that food is not smuggled out of the country," he said. He said the Ministry was proposing legislation to make the flour mills incorporate 20 per cent of high quality cassava flour into bread and pastry flour.

"MOFA is also looking at the possibility of producing maize flour for corn bread and also intensify the production of now widely accepted NERICA rice, especially in areas where it has a comparative advantage over maize production," he added. He announced that feasibility studies were on-going to turn Accra-Plains to farmland under the Peri-Urban Agriculture Project to boost agriculture production in the Greater Accra Region. The Ministry would also encourage both inland and low land rice production to meet the current demand for rice. Mr Debrah, therefore advised Ghanaians to shift their taste from imported food to locally produced ones and cultivate the habit of keeping a backyard garden to cater for some of the vegetable needs and thereby minimize the effect of the rising prices on the domestic budget.