The General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) has called on the government to urgently address financial and operational challenges at the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to prevent a food crisis.
They noted that NAFCO, responsible for the national emergency food programme, was underfunded and required about GHS700 million to effectively carry out its responsibilities.
Both the immediate past Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hanan Abdul-Wahab, and the current one, Mr. George Abradu-Otoo, have said that the company could not respond to any disasters in its current state.
GAWU said that NAFCO was struggling to meet its mandate of purchasing, preserving, and distributing excess produce, such as maize, paddy rice, and soya beans from farmers.
The company, for almost a decade, had mostly stored imported food items and a few local products for distribution to secondary schools under the Free Senior High School programme.
Dr. Pascal Kaba, Deputy General Secretary of GAWU, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the government must stop paying lip service to the agriculture sector.
He noted that NAFCO’s warehouses did not meet minimum standards set by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), citing inadequate financing as the main problem.
Dr. Kaba called for immediate resource allocation, proper warehouses, and the establishment of produce buying centres closer to farming zones.
He urged the government to construct modern irrigation infrastructure and increase the number of officers assisting farmers to engage in year-round farming.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation. We have about 1.9 million hectares of irrigable land, but we are not making use of it.
“We keep getting spillage from the Bagre Dam, and all this water goes to waste. Meanwhile, in Burkina Faso, they have constructed two major dams for irrigation purposes.”
Dr. Kaba expressed concern over the lack of an agriculture service, asking, “The structure is bad for us. We do not have an agriculture service. How can that be possible?
“How can you have a whole sector, which is the main backstay of the economy, and it does not have a service?”
He recommended the creation of a Ghana Agriculture Service, like the Ghana Education Service and Ghana Health Service, to implement agriculture policies.
At a recent handing-over ceremony, Mr. George Abradu-Otoo promised to reposition NAFCO to ensure consistent food availability and price stability in the domestic market.
“Our focus is to fulfill our mandate by ensuring greater public access to foodstuffs, storing them for the lean season, and guaranteeing fair prices for farmers,” he said.
Source : GNA
