‘There’s Enough Food’

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ernest Debrah has stated that there is enough food to feed Ghanaians until the next harvest season.

“It is therefore not true that there is famine in some parts of the country particularly the three regions in the north,” he stressed.

Speaking at the 'Meet The Press' series in Accra, the minister said even though crops like sorghum, millet and rice were affected by the floods and drought last year there was no cause for alarm.

“From a production of 280 metric tonnes of sorghum in 2000, the figure drastically declined to 154 last year.

“Millet production also declined from 170 metric tonnes in 2000 to 113 metric tonnes last year.

“Rice production, from a 215 metric tonne production in 2000, fell to 185 last year,” he disclosed.

The minister said his outfit, aside developing more irrigation sites and facilities, had increased seeds and planting materials to farmers to boost production.

He said storage facilities including those of the Ghana Food Distribution Company were being rehabilitated.

Answering questions on the Aveyime Rice and the Northern Star factories, Mr Debrah announced a strategic investor had been found, and work was going to resume once the Attorney General's Department was through with some paper work.

He related problems of the Northern Star Factory to pricing, and gave the assurance that the ministry was liaising with farmers to resolve the issue.