The main opposition National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South Constituency in the Ahafo Region, Eric Opoku, has hit hard at the government for failing to take steps to make food available to Ghanaians.
According to him, the government has no policy as well as programmes to ensure food is in abundance in the country.
He said the government can’t use farming for propaganda, noting that scarcity of food and high cost of food have exposed the government.
“The government has no policy to ensure the abundance of food,” he maintained.
He added that the government’s flagship programme Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) was targeted at peasant farmers and not the commercial farmers in the country.
He minces no words to say commercial farmers were not part of PFJ.
The MP who is also the Ranking Member on the Agriculture Select Committee of Parliament said these on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Mr Emmanuel Quarshie on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.
“PFJ was for peasant farmers,” he said adding that, “it is the reason the cost of food is high under this administration.”
He also said food is scarce because the cost of production is high.
“We are experiencing a scarcity of food at the peak season of the year meaning that there will be no food in the lean season,” he warned.
“Ghanaians will feel the heat of this government’s ineptitude in the agriculture sector in March next year,” he opined.
He said this government has no programme to support the poultry sector as there is a massive lack of feed for the poultry subsector in the country.
He explained that this has also led to the high cost of eggs on the market.
According to the lawmaker, the agricultural sector of the economy has collapsed under the NPP government.
He argued that “agriculture everywhere in the world is subsidized but this government is paying a 15 per cent subsidy on agricultural inputs and farmers are paying 85 per cent.”
Mr Opoku also noted that it is because of subsidies that rice produced in the United States of America imported into the country with duty paid is still cheaper than rice produced in Ghana.
“Forty-four per cent of Ghanaians depend on agriculture to survive and this government has collapsed the sector,” he added.
Source: Classfmonline
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