The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has stated that there has been a decline in the prices of food products in the market in recent months.
During an interview with Francis Abban on State of Affairs, the Member of Parliament for Abetifi noted that the price of tomatoes, in particular, has decreased by 50% over the past six months.
“Six months ago, a box of tomatoes was 100ghc and now it is 50ghc at the market today. It has dropped by 50%.
“Today there is an abundance of foods on the market. The price of everything is going down,” he said.
Dr. Bryan Acheampong, while expressing his concern about the high food inflation in the country, remained hopeful that the second phase of the Planting for Food program would address this challenge.
“I find the items that we produce in Ghana at 70 [percent inflation] quite high. But it is not because of the farm gate. Maize has been stable at the farm gate for the past 2,3 years. Tomatoes have been stable at the farm gate.
It is something that we have to deal with and that is what PFJ 2.0 is tailored to deal with. To ensure that the distribution gap from the farm gate to the market shrinks.”
“When we talk about low prices I am not interested in it if it is going to be a disincentive to the farmer. The farmers are happy with the prices they are selling and I am happy. And under PFJ I want to find a mechanism to guarantee those farm gate prices. But I just want to ensure that the distribution margin is reduced,” he added.
“I am hoping that when we look at inflation a year from today. It will be in single digits”, Dr. Bryan Acheampong concluded.
The August 2023 inflation data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicates that while year-on-year tomato prices have risen by approximately 70%, there was an 8.2% decrease in tomato prices between July 2023 and August 2023.