The Agric Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has played down fears that the country could face a food shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the week, the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the pandemic could cause global hunger to double.
The humanitarian organization said the number of people facing acute food insecurity could move up to 265 million by the end of the year.
However, the Agric Minister insists there is enough food in-store to feed all Ghanaians during these difficult times.
Minister for Agriculture Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto
He explained that the Ghana’s current problem is not food insecurity, but rather how to store the surplus food being produced by farmers.
“In the few days before the lockdown, the instant hike in prices, and people falling over themselves in the market to get stocks to their homes. I did say after the lockdown that there is no need for it because we have plenty of food,” Dr. Afriyie Akoto said during a press briefing on Thursday.
“The success of planting for food and jobs have been so instant that the problem that we are facing in this country since 2018 has been how do we manage the surplus because, on-farm the Ghanaian farmer has proven beyond doubt that with the right support from the government, they will deliver and they are delivering.
“They are providing surpluses which are increasing every year. That has been the in the last three years.”
The Minister also reacted to calls from some quarters for government to control the pricing of goods on the market in the wake of the pandemic.
According to him, there is no need for such a move, because government has put in enough measures to ensure that the prices of items in the markets are cheap and not regulated.
.Source: Pulse Ghana
