The Centre for Democratic Movement (CDM) has raised alarm over what it describes as a deepening food glut crisis in Ghana, warning that farmers are suffering massive losses even in a year of bumper harvests.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, May 25, the group’s Convenor, Samuel Doku, said Ghana’s food distribution system is failing farmers, schools, and consumers simultaneously.
According to him, large quantities of tomatoes, rice, beans, yam, maize and other staples are rotting in farming communities because producers have no access to reliable markets or proper storage facilities.
“Many farmers across Ghana cannot sell their produce despite having bumper crops, while educational institutions and vulnerable communities continue to experience shortages and supply disruptions,” he said.
Mr. Doku argued that the situation exposes deep structural weaknesses in Ghana’s national food system and agricultural market coordination.
“This contradiction reflects a major structural failure,” he stressed. “Farmers are watching their produce rot at farm gates because there are no reliable markets, no effective storage systems, no guaranteed pricing mechanisms, and inefficient state intervention.”
He added that while farmers struggle to dispose of their crops, consumers in urban centres continue to face high food prices — a situation he described as a governance failure rather than a mere agricultural challenge.
The CDM warned that the persistent losses are pushing many farmers out of agriculture entirely, with some reportedly selling their farmlands because farming is no longer economically viable.
“We are particularly concerned that many farmers are now abandoning cultivation due to sustained losses and uncertainty,” Mr. Doku said. “Some are reportedly selling farmlands because agriculture is no longer economically sustainable for them.”
He described the trend as a national security threat and called for urgent government action to improve food distribution, storage infrastructure, agro‑processing, and market access.
“No nation secures its future by destroying the economic dignity of its farmers,” he added.
The group also criticised poor buffer stock management, weak agro‑processing development, and inadequate feeder roads, saying these challenges continue to worsen the food glut crisis across farming communities nationwide.
— Citi Newsroom
