Chief executive officer of the Chamber of Agribusiness, Anthony Morrison, has called for the total overhaul of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCo).
According to him, considering its GCH 273 million debt to food suppliers in the country, it is a very sad occasion to witness food suppliers sleeping for two nights at the Company’s premises in demand for payment of over two years arrears.
He revealed that having looked at the mandate of the Buffer Stock Company and its objectives over the years, the Company has not lived up to its mandate and totally failed to realize its objectives.
“So, I think there’s quite a lot of things to be done, it requires a major overhaul. The management of Ghana Buffer Stock has to be overhauled. If they need to be removed, they should step down, whether we should look at an inquiry into government owing GHC273 million to the suppliers, all these things ought to be well interrogated. Because food or produce in Buffer Stock, if they were supplied, what is the payment terms? Management of such institutions are very strategic.”
Anthony Morrison
Mr Morrison indicated that per the mandate of the Buffer Stock Company, it clearly states that it must guarantee an assured income to farmers by providing minimum guarantee prices and ready market, to which it has failed to succeed. Additionally, he noted that another mandate for the Company to mop-up excess produce from all farmers in order to reduce post-harvest losses has gone unattended to.
“If you look at the post-harvest loss report we did this year, we’re looking at over $5 billion of food losses alone in this country… As we speak as a country, we do not even have stock in there that in the likely event that there is any food challenge in this country, we can fall on Buffer Stock. It’s a totally failed agency, we don’t need such strategic stock that is supposed to address our food security demand in this country being handled the way it is.”
Anthony Morrison
Furthermore, Mr Morrison highlighted that one of the areas that the Buffer Stock Company has also failed woefully is where it is supplying imported food to schools. This, he revealed, cannot continue because that is where the taxpayer’s money has been placed and Ghanaians demand the utmost responsibility and performance of that institution.
Addressing challenges within Buffer Stock Company
To address the problem, the CEO of the Chamber for Agribusiness highlighted that it equally requires a major policy shift in the country’s food production and food storage system. He underscored that Buffer Stock is a critical organization towards addressing Ghana’s food security challenges and must be properly supervised.
“I remember two years ago, we worked on the West Africa Food Storage policy, we stated clearly that that there a lot of things that needed to be done. We need to look at harmonisation of food policy, alignment of our food policy based on our country priorities. So, those are the things that are affecting even our global food security index.”
Anthony Morrison
Commenting on NAFCo’s decision that it is seeking financial aid to increase purchases in the bumper season for storage in order to reduce rising food prices, Mr Morrison insisted that it must address the debt challenge first. He noted that if that is not resolved, it will be difficult to make any other commitment.
“The debt situation has to be sorted out first. You can’t go looking for money to mop-up food when you still have a chunk of your debt out there. Are you now going to look for different people to supply you? We need to clear the debt first and reorganize that company to make it productive [and] efficient in the delivery of food security in this country.”
Anthony Morrison
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