Dr. Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has said that food prices in Ghana have dropped significantly over the past few months.
He attributed this reduction to the prudent measures implemented by the government which he says is yielding positive results.
The Minister made this comment on the sidelines of the launch of the 2023 Farmers’ Week celebration in Accra on Monday, November 27, 2023.
Speaking to media in Accra, Dr. Acheampong pointed out that although food product prices have dropped, consumers occasionally still pay high prices due to middlemen’s profiteering.
“We have been able to bring the price of maize down by 50%. And it is not just the maize. With regard to a lot of the cereals, the prices are dropping. Maize that used to sell at the same time last year at GH¢300 for 50kg bag now is GH¢148, the maximum that you get is GH¢150 which means that there is a 50% drop in the price of maize.”
“But nobody is talking about it because you don’t see it translate into the price of a ball of kenkey. It means that there’s someone in the middle who is pocketing the profit,” he stated.
Dr. Acheampong noted that the ministry has plans underway to achieve this five-year food security and resilience plan, which began in September, and gradually some milestones are being achieved.
According to him, the five-year plan which seeks to engage more youth to reduce the unemployment rate has already seen some successes in terms of the prices of foodstuff, the rate of food inflation and the ability of farmers to use technology to produce more to feed the nation.
“With the little efforts we did to catalyze production up North, food inflation which was around 55% in July has dropped to about 44% and in the coming months it will drop further”, he stressed.
Dr. Acheampong also mentioned that the general public needs to be involved in making this plan and target to boost the country’s economy.
Speaking on the restrictions on the importation of some items currently in Parliament, the minister noted that, systems are already in place where individuals who want to import poultry consult the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and then get a permit before importing.
“The LI to restrict importation is not to ban the importation of these selected items but to regulate and help improve the locally produced ones”, Dr. Acheampong noted.
