Accra- Government is constructing 80 warehouses with the capacity to store up to 80,000 metric tonnes(MT) of food items aimed at ensuring food security in the country.
Each warehouse would have
the capacity to store up to 1,000 MT of food items and expected to be ready by
June, this year.
Speaking at a media briefing to update the
public on food security situation, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food
and Agriculture, said Government had targeted to construct a total of 200,000
warehousing capacity to safeguard the country’s food security efforts.
Government would distribute the management of
the 80 warehouses upon completion, to the National Food Buffer Stock Company
(NAFCO), Ghana Stock Exchange, private sector organizations and the sector
Ministry for efficient operation.
Dr Afriyie Akoto said since the COVID-19
outbreak in the country, the Ministry was engaging input distributors, importers,
development partners and Ghana Commodity Exchange to craft remedial measures to
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, he said, government had made available
funding available to the NAFCO to mop up strategic food stocks to ensure food
security, and also provide regular update on food situation in the country.
The Minister gave the assurance that the nation
had adequate food stock to meet the needs of Ghanaians due to the
implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs and other modules like Planting
for Export and Rural Development and Rearing for Food and Jobs.
He said the nation produced 650,000 metric
tonnes of rice and three million metric tonnes of maize last year, and exported
19 different food items to the West African Sub-region.
The Minister underscored the need to ramp up
credit facility to players in the agriculture value chain to increase
production and sustain their businesses.
Dr Afriyie Akoto refuted claims that prices of
food items were still high even after the lifting of the three-week partial
lockdown.
He however, admitted that though there was
slight increment in food items at the eve of the lockdown due to panic buying
prices of food items had returned to normalcy after the lifting of the
restriction of movements in COVID-19 hotspots areas.
Meanwhile, the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD) has made available $20 million to Ghana
Government to support agriculture expansion programmme following the COVID-19
pandemic.
Source: Ghana News Agency