General Secretary for the General Agricultural Workers Union, Edward Kareweh, has stated that an action must be taken against anyone who is trying to create waste and financial loss to the people of Ghana.
He noted that the Minister for Agric depends on the revenue of tax payers to undertake operations in the ministry, but his behavior shows otherwise. Mr. Karaweh stated that the minister is acting as though he is running his own business.
The decision taken by the Minister for Agriculture to transport food stuffs from other regions to Accra, according to Mr. Karaweh, is not the solution to the current hikes in food prices, rather the ministry should put measures in place that will facilitate the movement of food stuff from the rural to the urban areas.
“Is the minister also telling us that he is the minister for finance and he has got the resources to do this? Because he is not telling us the budget, and we will not support any action of the minister which does not come with a budget for all of us to look at.”
Edward Kareweh
He spoke about the dire situation of the country and how the people are expected to rally behind the President to see how the crisis can easily be mitigated. He therefore expects the President and his officials to be transparent in their dealings.
“Gone are the days where these statements will be made, budgets will be allocated, but we don’t know how much it is. At the close of the day, they will come up with certain quantum of expenditure, claiming that, that was what was spent. We will not accept that anymore.”
Edward Kareweh
Mr. Karaweh expressed his displeasure in the ministry’s attempt to become a ‘middleman’ and suggested that the money should be given to the buffer stock companies to buy the food and bring it to the urban areas.
There is competition in the market
On his part, Dr. Charles Nyaaba, Executive Director for the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), stated that there is competition in the market due to its open structure and the role played by the market women in the markets. Therefore, it is not possible for a single individual to influence the prices in the market.
He explained that the crop budget for maize in the year 2021 was 1,900 cedis and this was the cost of producing one acre of maize. However, the amount spent on producing the same acre of maize today is 4, 900 cedis and this is due to the increase in the prices of fertilizer, increase in cost of harvesting and other factors.
“We need to also understand that, it’s not only the domestic products. Let’s look at what is imported and compare to the domestic products. Why are we not talking about the cost of imported rice, the cost of imported chicken parts, the cost of cooking oil, which has gone astronomically high?”
Charles Nyaaba
Dr. Nyaaba said that instead of the ministry and the government to be concerned about these things, they are rather concerned about the little amount farmers put on their commodities to be able to stay in business.
According to him, the PFAG would have expected the minister to call a stakeholder engagement for all of them to brainstorm and find a solution to this problem. He said that, for now, the people would have to bear with the high prices of food in the market.
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