The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana has called on the government to allocate additional funds to the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to enable the purchase of surplus rice from domestic producers.
The Association asserts that inadequate funding for NAFCO has prevented many farmers from selling their crops, forcing them to lower prices and incur substantial financial losses.
In response to reports of a rice surplus, the Acting Executive Director of the Association, Bismark Nortey, indicated that NAFCO has received less than 10 percent of the funds it requested for its procurement operations – a circumstance that has left substantial amounts of paddy rice unsold throughout the nation.
“There are still rice farmers who are struggling to find buyers because NAFCO lacks the financial capacity to absorb all the rice available in the market. There are still rice farmers who are not securing buyers due to NAFCO’s inability to take in all the rice in the system,” he elaborated.
Mr. Nortey cautioned that if this situation continues, numerous farmers may cease rice cultivation in the upcoming planting season due to uncertainty regarding market access and poor returns.
“If this situation persists, many farmers will discontinue rice production because they are aware that their investments could be wasted. We are appealing to the government and the President to urgently provide more resources to NAFCO. The current funding is grossly insufficient,” he urged.
The Association is concerned that without prompt government action, the nation’s advancement towards rice self-sufficiency could be jeopardized, impacting both the livelihoods of farmers and national food security.
