The transportation of fish and fish products to the Northern Ghana, particularly, the Upper West Region has been identified as a contributory factor to the continued rise in food inflation.
It is recalled that it was recently reported that the continuous increase in food and transport prices across the country has pushed the national year-on-year inflation for April 2022 to 23.6 percent.
This was captured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ghana Statistical Service.
The rate is 4.2 percentage points higher than the 19.4% recorded in March 2022.
The rise in the inflation rate for April 2022 is the highest recorded since the Ghana Statistical Service rebased the Consumer Price Index in August 2019.
A statement issued by the Ghana Statistical Service noted that “four divisions – transport (33.5%); household equipment and routine maintenance (28.5%); food and non-alcoholic beverages (25.6%), and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (25.0%) recorded inflation rates above the national average of 23.6% with transport recording the highest inflation.”
National month-on-month inflation from March 2022 to April 2022 was 5.1%.
Speaking to the issue on A1 Radio’s News Link, an Agric Policy Consultant, Emmanuel Wullingdool said as part of measures to control the inflation rates, stakeholders in the agriculture sector should consider increasing investment in fish production.
This would mean that consumers of fish and fish products would not have to spend huge sums of money to transport the products from the other parts of the country.
“In the recent figures that were released, one of the key things that are driving food inflation, particularly in the Upper West Region has to do with fish and fish related products. We know of course that we do not produce fish in large quantities in this part of the country.”
“We have the potential fish by developing these local ponds and dams where we can have fish to feed the population,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
