The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has warned that there could be dire consequences on the supply of food throughout the country if the government does not intervene directly.
This is because, prices of farm inputs like seeds, fertilizers and weedicides have seen sharp increases. The cost of producing food has thus increased exponentially. Left unchecked, farmers may not be able to produce large quantities or may produce in large quantities and sell at exorbitant prices.
This means the supply and affordability of food would be severely compromised.
Dr. Charles Nyaaba, Head of Programmes and Advocacy at Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East warned that the food shortage in the country is imminent.
“The reason why, when you travel across all the sixteen regions, food prices have increased dramatically is not because farmers are adjusting the prices, [but] it has increased because there is low supply compared to demand. What we are anticipating with the current increases, if nothing is done, is that the situation will worsen”.
“Last year, we were buying the subsidized fertilizer for Ghc53. Today, for the same 25kg, for the NPK is going for Ghc160. When you are counting how many bags would go into producing an acre, you are looking at averagely, three bags of the 50kg,” he continued to say.
He said aside from the issue of fertilizers, the continued price increases in fuel prices would also mean that farmers would have to spend more on clearing and preparing lands, transporting inputs and also transporting final food products to the market.
Dr. Nyaaba called on government to take urgent steps to address the matter.
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
