Hon. Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, has declared that the Mahama-led administration has implemented critical measures to eradicate food insecurity in Ghana. This swift decision follows the dry spell the country witnessed in 2024.
Speaking at the launch of the Regional West Africa Resilient Rice Value Chain Development Project (REWARD-Ghana) in Tamale, the Minister disclosed that the government, under the Food Buffer System, procured more than 30,000 metric tons of grains against emergencies.
According to him, Ghana is building a food buffer for the first time in its history. The country has not built a food buffer system before; until last year, we started this historic development to curtail future uncertainties. ”So, at any point in time, there is a disaster at any time; we struggle to have food to eat, and we have to go elsewhere to import food’’, he stated.
Given that we have an abundance, we can store it and provide for the remaining population for the next three to six months before we must import food to feed our citizens.
The fragility of our food systems was revealed by the increase in production, as we realized that we lack the storage capacity to store the limited amount of food we are producing. In response to this development, the Mahama-led administration has allocated 500 million cedis for the construction of silos at strategic locations. This is encapsulated in the 2027 budget statement, which has not yet been reviewed, he stated.