Some stakeholders in the agriculture sector report that smallholder farmers are not receiving farm inputs from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Anthony Morrison, the CEO of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, has attributed the rising cost of staple foods to this issue, noting that the depreciation of the cedi has affected the prices of farm inputs like fertilizer and seeds.
In an interview with Joy Business, Mr. Morrison called on the government to prioritize the provision of inputs to smallholder farmers in order to enhance crop yields. He made these comments during the Technical Stakeholders Breakfast Meeting in Accra.
He also mentioned that in recent months, Ghana has experienced a noticeable increase in food prices, which has become a growing concern for both consumers and policymakers.
“The cedi depreciation is a major issue that affects farmers because most of the inputs are imported from Europe. This means that farmers will have to grapple with the high cost of inputs”, he said.
Mr. Morrison warned that farmers will become worse off if prices of basic farm inputs keep going up if the cedi depreciation continues.
“Don’t forget productivity downstream depends on inputs, seeds, agrochemicals, and fertilizers. 70% to 80% of these are all imported. As far as our cedi continues to depreciate, where we import these commodities from, like Asia and Europe and in the US, we will continue to have a higher cost of food production”.
He noted that the sector’s growth is hindered by its heavy dependence on imported agricultural inputs.