National Food Buffer Stock Company Limited was incorporated under the Companies Code of Ghana, 1963, Act 179 on 11th March 2010.

It is a Limited Liability Company wholly owned by the government of Ghana. The company is governed by a board and a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. The CEO is assisted by a Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Heads of Departments.

The National Food Buffer Stock (NAFCO) ensures food security of the country by managing government’s emergency food security reserves by mopping up excess produce from all farmers (maize, paddy rice, sorghum and soya beans) to reduce post-harvest losses such as spoilage due to poor storage. It is also in charge of the government’s emergency food program.

Among other functions, NAFCO manages the National Food Security Reserve and holds emergency food stocks for the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve Programme. It also facilitates the purchases of grains from local farmers and distributes food items to state institutions.

“Ghana’s former President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills was passionate about many things, and surging food prices in particular and food security in general was one of such. Ahead of the 2008 General Elections, Prof. Mills, promised to institute a buffer stock system to ensure food security for all Ghanaians if voted into power. It was his case that “When the yams are getting rotten on the farm, you have to find some money, buy them, store and in the lean season you sell them to recover the money”. He argued that prices of food were surging at the time simply because government then had neglected agriculture.
The elections came, he won and made good his campaign promise by establishing the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) through an Executive Instrument (EI), as a limited liability company wholly owned by the government of Ghana and superintended by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
On 11th March 2010, the National Food Buffer Stock Company Limited was incorporated under the Companies Code of Ghana, 1963, Act 179. The task for the company was simple; purchases excess produce or food crops from farmers in periods of glut for distribution to the populace in the lean season. This is to restore confidence to farmers safeguard livelihoods. It was also to check post-harvest losses and help control inflation.
The company was also given the mandate to manage the nation’s food security reserve by holding what is known in disaster and relief circles as emergency food stocks or emergency reserve. To demonstrate its commitment to the vision, government made available some GH¢15 million as initial seed capital, consisting of GH¢10 million cash and GH¢5 million grains. Staff recruitments and salaries, operational vehicles and equipment, and office accommodation were to come from the seed capital.
In 2017, the government decided that the National Food Buffer Stock Company takes charge of the supply of food to senior high schools nationwide when the Free Senior High School Policy took off and till date, that has been ongoing despite the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) being brought on board.”