The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, has reassured Ghanaians that by 2028, the country will be food-secure and self-reliant.
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.
The minister made this comment on the sidelines of the launch of the 2023 Farmers’ Week celebration in Accra on Monday, November 27, 2023.
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.
He emphasized that the minister of trade is only seeking to enhance the already existing mechanisms to control what is coming into the country to protect the local producers.
