Ghana likely to face maize shortage by December – Agribusiness expert

Kofi Kyeremateng Nyanteng, an agribusiness specialist, has predicted a maize crisis in Ghana in either December or early 2023. He warned that if farmers do not resume the production of staple crops, there may be a shortage of corn. Mr. Nyanteng claims that commercial farmers have recently shifted their focus from the cultivation of rice and maize to the production of soybeans. The agribusiness expert stated, “We have been putting all of our resources into smallholder production, which I view as being very unsustainable,” on October 27, 2022 at the Ghana Economic Forum in Accra. Now, only this year, the majority of smallholder farmers who grow the important staples, rice and maize, switched to sorghum, which is not a cereal grain, as a result of the system’s slight alterations. “…so how we are financing this, we have to look it at. If we don’t take care, by December, January, February, March, we wouldn’t have enough maize stock as we usually have in those times because about 60% of farmers that I have personally visited told me because of fertilizer, they have now doing soya,” he added. Meanwhile, peasant farmers have called on government to rescind any decision to extend the ban on the exportation of cereals – rice, maize, soybeans, wheat, millet, among others after its September 2022 deadline. According to the Head of Programmes and Advocacy of Peasant Farmers Association, Charles Nyaaba, government should rather invest in the road infrastructure network to their farms to help boost their market. He stated that Ghana has many grains, however, customers cannot have access to these farms to make purchases due to the deplorable roads.

Kofi Kyeremateng Nyanteng, an agribusiness specialist, has predicted a maize crisis in Ghana in either December or early 2023. He warned that if farmers do not resume the production of staple crops, there may be a shortage of corn. Mr. Nyanteng claims that commercial farmers have recently shifted their focus from the cultivation of rice and maize to the production of soybeans. The agribusiness expert stated, “We have been putting all of our resources into smallholder production, which I view as being very unsustainable,” on October 27, 2022 at the Ghana Economic Forum in Accra. Now, only this year, the majority of smallholder farmers who grow the important staples, rice and maize, switched to sorghum, which is not a cereal grain, as a result of the system’s slight alterations. “…so how we are financing this, we have to look it at. If we don’t take care, by December, January, February, March, we wouldn’t have enough maize stock as we usually have in those times because about 60% of farmers that I have personally visited told me because of fertilizer, they have now doing soya,” he added. Meanwhile, peasant farmers have called on government to rescind any decision to extend the ban on the exportation of cereals – rice, maize, soybeans, wheat, millet, among others after its September 2022 deadline. According to the Head of Programmes and Advocacy of Peasant Farmers Association, Charles Nyaaba, government should rather invest in the road infrastructure network to their farms to help boost their market. He stated that Ghana has many grains, however, customers cannot have access to these farms to make purchases due to the deplorable roads.