Food Shortage To Hit Ghana


A Peasant Farmer
Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has warned of impending food shortage in the country due to short supply of fertilizers to avert low crop yield this year.

According to the association, the non-availability of fertilizers for farmers in this year’s planting season pose a threat to food security in the country.

Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of PFAG,  who was speaking at the opening of a two-day capacity-building workshop for peasant farmers at Shama, Western Region, appealed to government to urgently release fertilizers to farmers in order to avert low crop yield this year and imminent food shortage in the country next year.

‘Most of the food crops such as maize have yellowish leaves because they lack fertilizer nutrients. This is a clear indication that there will be low yield this year and this will result in food shortage next year if no stringent measures are put in place to rectify the situation,’ he said.

Adam Nashiru stated that the country does not have food reserves that could sustain the populace in the event of food shortage.

He said unlike United States, which has food reserves that could sustain the country for over 10 years in the event of food shortage, Ghana has no food reserves, blaming the situation on the inability of the National Food Buffer Stock Company to store surplus food during bumper harvest.

Adam Nashiru said the National Food Buffer Stock Company that has been mandated by an ACT of Parliament to preserve food in storage facilities, lack resources, coupled with non-availability of storage facilities.

He said peasant farmers face a lot of challenges, including bad feeder roads, lack of storage facilities, urging government address their problems to ensure food security.

The capacity-building workshop was organized by PFAG and funded by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

It was aimed at enhancing the knowledge of smallholder farmers on governance and budget process in order to contribute meaningfully towards policy formulation to enhance accountability in agriculture governance in the country.

A Business Desk Report  
 
 

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