It’s the traders who are overpricing food in the markets – Agric minister explains the cause of food inflation
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Food and Agriculture Minister has insisted that food shortage is not the cause of food inflation in the country but of some other factors including overpricing by traders.
He explained that the current food inflation is a result of the increase in the cost of production, high transportation cost, and excessive pricing by traders.
“I am coming from the field. Every year I go around the 16 regions to observe for myself and formulate realistic policies. I just came back 8 days ago from a tour of five regions. Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, and Eastern Region which are the main forest belts.”
“Per my checks and interactions with stakeholders, there is enough food out there. I went with all the 13 directors to the headquarters. Our directors were deployed to major markets in these regions. Data from nine major markets in the Ashanti and Bono East regions revealed that the volume of maize in the last 10 days was 27,000 metric tonnes. There is enough food in the system.”
Laying the issues to bear during an interview on Citi TV, the Food and Agriculture Minister said inflation in the country is mainly due to three factors, namely the high cost of food production and high transportation costs, which are the implications of the Russian-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic.
He named overpricing by traders as the third factor.
Expanding on the third element driving food inflation; Dr Afriyie Akoto explained that “some unknown persons are exploiting the system.”
“Techimantia is about a 2 and a half-hour drive from Kumasi. When I went to the market, tomatoes were sold at GH¢150. If we take into account the cost of transportation and add another GH¢30, it is supposed to sell at a little over GH¢180 in Kumasi. But some traders sell tomatoes in Kumasi for GH¢ 250 to GH¢300.”
“Somebody is making supernormal profits,” he added.
The minister said the ministry is engaging stakeholders to get to the bottom of the matter.
“Together with the Transport Minister, we are engaging transport unions. In the meantime, the Ministry of Gender has had a meeting with 90 market queens from around the country.”
The continuous increase in transport prices across the country has pushed national year-on-year food inflation for May to 30.1 per cent compared to 26.6 per cent recorded in April.
This was captured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ghana Statistical Service.
