The Director of Operations at Antika Farms who doubles as the Executive Council Member for the National Seed Trade Association-Ghana (NaSTAG), Seidu Abdulai Mubarik has said that while the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto’s comment that prices of food products have gone down on the market may be true, the current situation is susceptible to change.
Mr. Mubarik explained that a bowl of maize used to sell at 10ghc per bowl at the Wa Central Market several weeks ago but currently retails for between 6.50ghc to 7ghc. This, he said corroborates the Minister’s claim that food prices had gone down. The Director of Operations at Antika Farms said prices of maize may further fall to 5ghc per bowl as many farmers in the Upper West Region have not begun harvesting the crops yet. He was quick to add that prices may go even higher than the current prices even if farmers harvest their crops explaining that this will happen should farmers decide not to sell off their produce immediately after harvest.
“We are in the harvesting period and prices are expected to go down for some time. By December ending, we will begin to see whether prices will begin to shoot up in January 2022 or in February 2022 or they [the prices] will be maintained,” he explained.
While consumers expect prices to fall so that they can afford to buy enough to feed their families, Mr. Mubarik said a further fall in prices would be disastrous for farmers in the Upper West Region.
“A lot of farmers are actually waiting for higher prices. It has to do with the fertilizer situation that we had and the hike in fertilizers prices. Farmers are anticipating that if there is no increase in price, they will not be able to break even. This will bring us to the issue of farmers refusing to sell even after harvest. They would want to store their harvest for some time before selling it off. If that happens, we will begin to see an early increase in prices because there will be a little amount of produce on the market,” he explained.
He was speaking to A1 Radio at Wa on the back of comments made by the Minister for Agriculture.
Background
It will be recalled that the Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto disputed claims that food prices have skyrocketed. He was speaking at a swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed members of the Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR). Dr Akoto stressed that statistics available to his outfit do not support the increment claims; thus, “it is a wrong perception.”
Meanwhile responding to the comments by the Minister, the Upper East Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Francis Enno backed the Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto’s claim that people’s perception that food prices have sky-rocketed is false. Speaking to Samuel Mbura on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show (DBUE), Mr. Enno said the picture painted by the Minister for Agriculture was true and exact adding that while prices of general goods have increased, prices of food products are falling.
Mr. Enno indicated that because farmers have begun harvesting their produce from the farms, prices have begun to fall from the previously steep prices. Touching on food prices in the region, the Director for Food and Agriculture said the only food product that still has a high price on the markets in the Upper East Region is ‘bambara beans’.
Market women in the Bolgatanga municipality however impugned the claim made by the food and agriculture minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto that food prices have not gone up. According to the women, there has been an outrageous increase in prices of staples on the market in recent times, with most apportioning the blame on high fuel prices and depreciation of the cedis.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
