Rice glut: Inadequate storage infrastructure hampering food mop-up despite release of GH¢300 million – NAFCO  

Inadequate storage infrastructure is constraining efforts to purchase and preserve surplus rice and grains despite government's release of GH¢300 million for strategic food reserves.

The situation has continued to worsen the rice glut affecting farmers in major producing areas, where limited and deteriorating warehouse facilities have reduced the capacity of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to off-take excess produce.

Mr Osmond Amuah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NAFCO, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said inadequate storage space remained the biggest challenge to effective grain mop-up operations.

“The challenge still remains that the storage space is inadequate.

“Over the decades, investments into storage capacity have dwindled or have been non-existent. Most of the storage infrastructure have been abandoned. They are leaking, without windows and roofing,” he said.

Mr Amuah said government interventions under agricultural programmes had significantly increased food production, resulting in excess produce on the market.

He said although government had released funds for grain purchases, storage limitations continued to affect operations.

“Buffer Stock warehouses have all been full. There's no space,” he stated.

Mr Amuah said NAFCO's installed storage capacity nationwide stood at about 129,000 metric tonnes, but only between 40,000 and 44,000 metric tonnes were currently usable.

He said Ghana's storage deficit was estimated at about 420,000 metric tonnes if the country was to maintain adequate food reserves to support national consumption during emergencies.

“As a nation, our annual grain consumption exceeds six to seven million metric tonnes. Ideally, you should hold reserves between 10 and 30 per cent to guarantee food security,” he said.

Mr. Amuah said many farmers were compelled to sell produce immediately after harvest because of the absence of reliable storage systems in farming communities.

He said the government and NAFCO had begun refurbishing abandoned warehouses and expanding storage systems nationwide to address the challenge.

Mr. Amuah disclosed that the World Food Programme (WFP) was supporting NAFCO with equipment valued at more than one million dollars, while a contract worth nearly two million dollars had been awarded for rehabilitation works at a major warehouse facility in Tamale.

He said NAFCO was also refurbishing satellite warehouses across the country with internally generated funds.

Mr. Amuah said private sector participation remained critical to addressing the storage deficit and improving grain purchasing operations.

“We need to reach out to the private sector,” he said, adding that private warehouse operators had submitted partnership proposals to support storage expansion.

Mr. Amuah said six private partners had been engaged under a zonal arrangement to support grain purchases across the Northern, Middle and Southern sectors of the country.

He appealed to Ghanaians to patronise locally produced rice to support farmers and strengthen the agricultural value chain.

“The Ghanaian must change their taste and preferences. Imported rice is cheaper than local rice and we need to fix that,” he said.

Mr. Amuah assured farmers of government's commitment to addressing the challenge through investments in storage infrastructure, farmer service centres, mobile storage units and policies to increase local food consumption.

GNA