Ghana needs at least ¢1.5 billion to build a meaningful national food reserve system, far above the ¢300 million currently available to the National Food Buffer Stock Company, its CEO, George Abradu-Otoo, has said.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he said the amount allocated so far is inadequate for large-scale purchases of surplus grains from farmers.
“Last year, Minister of Finance Dr Ato Forson announced that they were giving us further ¢200 million to continue the good work that we were doing, so in other words, so far we had only ¢300 million,” Mr Abradu-Otoo said.
He explained that while the funding has enabled the company to begin building reserves, it falls far short of what is required to make a real impact.
“If we need to do proper meaningful mopping up of excess grains, we need no less than ¢1.5 billion, so you can imagine what ¢300 million has done,” he stated.
Mr Abradu-Otoo, however, described the government’s intervention as an important first step towards strengthening the country’s food security system.“But it’s a good beginning because it hasn’t been done before. That’s where I draw my comfort from,” he said.
According to him, the government’s decision to prioritise establishing food reserves marks a significant policy shift.
“It’s a good beginning for the government to even think in the first place that we need to have a national food reserve,” he noted.
