Hon. Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, raised significant concerns over the data on food prices and inflation released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The Minister took issue with the accuracy and sources of the data, particularly regarding the current state of food prices in the country, and suggested that his Ministry’s information contradicts the GSS’s findings. The controversy centers around the GSS’s inflation figures for September 2024, which Hon. Acheampong argued do not align with what he has observed on the ground.
“I don’t know where Statistical Service collected their data from. I am in every part of this country daily. I get data on farm gate prices of almost 22 commodities that we are tracking. I get market prices of these items daily.”
Hon. Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture
Hon. Acheampong highlighted the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s own data tracking system, which he described as comprehensive and regularly updated. The Ministry’s team monitors farm gate and market prices of a wide range of staple foods across the country.
According to the Minister, this real-time tracking provides a more accurate picture of the fluctuations in food prices, particularly for essential goods such as maize, plantain, tomatoes, onions, and cassava.
The Minister explained that maize prices had indeed risen due to a recent dry spell, which affected maize production. However, he emphasized that other essential food items have experienced notable price reductions, contradicting the GSS’s assertion that food prices were largely on the rise.
“Plantain has dropped by 27%, tomatoes by 30%, onions by 11%, and cassava by 13%,” Hon. Acheampong said, indicating that the data his Ministry collects shows a different trend than what has been publicly reported. “This is what is happening on the ground… If you go to the market, the prices of everything, except maize, are coming down.“
Discrepancy in Reporting Periods
The divergence in data between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ghana Statistical Service may be attributed to the different periods and methodologies used in collecting information. Acheampong pointed out that the GSS report compares prices from September 2024 to those in September 2023.
This year-over-year comparison, according to the Minister, does not reflect the more recent trends in food prices, which, as per his Ministry’s data, have seen a downward trajectory since the beginning of 2024.
“Inflation figures for September are comparing prices from September this year to last year September. But I am telling you, from January to date, the price of food is going down,” Hon. Acheampong explained, insisting that the GSS figures are not capturing the current realities in the food market.
“Notwithstanding the announcement of the dry spell, we’ve seen a significant decrease in the prices of food on the market,” Hon. Acheampong stated. The Minister listed a range of food items that have experienced price drops, including tomatoes, onions, peppers, cassava, plantain, soya, sorghum, and millet. “Except for maize, everything is going down,” he reiterated.
The Minister reaffirmed his commitment to keeping a close watch on Ghana’s food systems and ensuring that the public is provided with accurate data.
He suggested that the GSS’s methods may not be capturing the day-to-day realities of the market as closely as his Ministry’s tracking system, which is based on frequent, real-time data collection from markets and farms across the country.
In the meantime, Bryan Acheampong’s remarks suggested that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will continue to rely on its own data tracking systems, which the Minister believes provide a more accurate reflection of the current state of the country’s food prices and inflation dynamics.
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