The Bolgatanga Municipal Cooperative Union in the Upper East Region has said there could be severe hunger if the government does not put in measures to stabilise the ever-rising prices of food commodities on the Ghanaian markets.
According to the President of the Union, Reverend John Akaribo, Ghanaian families are not able to afford three square meals. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Union.
He stated, “what we mean when we say food insecurity is that, it is a fact that if you take people in this region, about 80% of them cannot even get three square meals a day, but they are only hiding. We don’t want to come out and say anything, but it is a fact that families cannot even afford three square meals a day. They forgo one and go with two. They [the families] forgo the morning meal [breakfast]. This is even evident in our school children; most children go to the classroom and they begin to sleep because there is no breakfast for them.”
“So we are running on two meals. We ration our meals; that is how families are living these days. With the high cost of foodstuff in the market it is going to be worst if care is not taken,” he stressed.
While appealing to the government to put in drastic measures to avert food insecurity in the country, Mr. Akaribo also urged the government to deal with farmers directly in the disbursement of fertilizers to prevent any smuggling as witnessed in the last farming season. He tasked the government to reconsider the suggested subsidies for the coming planting season.
“We are also appealing to the director of agriculture for that matter the director in charge of fertiliser subsidy to consider the mode of distribution of fertilizer to farmers so that the farmers can get the fertiliser direct and that will also curb smuggling,” he added.
The Bolgatanga Municipal Cooperative Union is made up 19 farming communities and over 400 members from farmers and persons from the agribusiness industry.
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