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The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) says there is enough food in the system and has thus urged people not to engage in panic buying.

This followed reported incidents of price hikes of foodstuffs in many markets in recent times.

The sector Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said the prices of food items had shot up because of the “mad rush that we have seen in our markets in the last three days to stock up food”.

“Everybody is complaining about it and it is totally unnecessary and uncalled for,” the minister stressed when he briefed Ghanaians on food security and pricing during the restricted movements at the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday.

He emphasised that there was more than enough food and so people should not panic, adding: “We are not in a war situation, and the moment consumers begin to behave normally, the prices will come down to normal.”

Don’t stock up

He further urged the public not to flood the markets to buy and stock up but rather purchase what they needed at a time, as the surge in demand would encourage traders to also increase the prices.

“Don’t waste your money on unnecessary stock up of food because the food will always be there. There is no need to stock up. So those of you rushing to buy at two or three times the prices of food items are just throwing your money away,” he stated.

Enough for everyone

The minister stressed that the country had more than enough food for everyone and so there would be no shortage.

“Thanks to Planting for Food and Jobs, this country has more than enough food to take care of our citizenry. I’m appealing to everybody to be calm and be assured that this government is determined that the growth path that we have chosen under the Planting for Food and Jobs will go on steadily without any interruption whatsoever,” he added.

Exemptions

Dr Akoto explained that the restrictions announced exempted those engaged in selling cooked food and foodstuffs and restaurants, advising that people should not rush to buy food items in excess.

Additionally, farmers were equally exempted from the restrictive movement and “are free to go about their normal duties, while transporters are free to transport food items and farm inputs such as fertiliser and improved seeds”.

He indicated that all markets were open for foodstuff sellers and so the public should feel free to visit any of the food markets to buy their food items.

NAFCO

Speaking on food security, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Alhaji Abdul-Wahab Hannan, reiterated the fact that there would never be shortage of food in the country.

The NAFCO was doing its best to equip and resource its licensed buying companies to buy enough food to stock, he said.

“We want to assure all Ghanaians that there is no need for any panic buying of food that will automatically increase the prices of those food items. Let’s only buy what we immediately need.” he said.