The President of the republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on January 5, 2021, delivered his last State of the Nation Address to end his first term in office. Among the areas he touched on included the economy, security, education and agriculture.
According to the president, the introduction of government’s flagship program, ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ has made it possible for Ghana to export excess foodstuff to other countries.
So A1News took to the Bolgatanga central market in the Upper East Region to ascertain the reality on the ground.
While some traders and buyers disputed the president’s claim of abundance of food in the country, others think otherwise.
Abraham Atindaana said “Since I started buying foodstuff over 30 years now, I’ve never bought bag of millet at Gh¢300.00 in the month of January, so I don’t know want the president is talking about.”
Nmaabila a trader said, “I started selling in this market for many years now I never experienced this kind of increment of foodstuff as it is happening now. Almost every market day, we witness increment. Those of us who are trading, we are really suffering, so what the president is saying cannot be true.”
Meanwhile, other traders agreed with President Akufo-Addo that there is abundant of food produce in the country; except that according to them, some factors have contributed to the increase in price of the foodstuff.
Sule said “I believe there’s food in the country, but it is all about cost of transportation and it is also because of high price of fuel, so I think there’s enough food”
“I can testify that there is abundance of food in the country because I have been seeing trucks loaded with yam heading towards Burkina Faso. So to me we have excess food in Ghana; and I think what the president has said is the reality on the ground. If not we will not be exporting yam.” Another trader said.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|David Azure|Ghana
