Farmers calls for expansion of National Food Buffer Stock Company

Mohammed Adam Nasiru, President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has appealed to the government to expand the National Food Buffer Stock Company to enable farmers sell their produce at reasonable prices.

He said farmers do not have access to the Company in various parts of the country to sell their produce, hence its negative effect on them.

Mr Nasiru made the appeal when members of the association and other stakeholders paid a courtesy call on Mr Clement Kofi Humado, Minister of Food and Agricultural in Accra on Wednesday.

The visit discussed the challenges farmer organisations face in the agricultural sector and how best the situation could be improved.

“Another problem bedeviling the Agriculture sector and which needs urgent attention is the activities of nomadic herdsmen,” he noted.

He said the herdsmen who are creating confusion in the country, pollute water bodies, cut down trees, rape women and kill innocent Ghanaians.

Mr Nasiru commended the government for supporting farmers with subsidised fertilisers, seeds and tractors to increase productivity.

Mr Edward Kareweh, Deputy General Secretary of General Agricultural Workers Union, urged government to address the consistent decline of agriculture’s contribution to the gross domestic product.

He appealed to the government to find solutions to land grabbing by multinational companies to the detriment of peasant farmers.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agricultural, Dr Samuel Dapaah, Chief Technical Advisor to the Ministry said, there is more benefit in the agriculture sector than the oil industry, hence the need for the country to put in place the right mechanisms to boost agricultural production.