Programmes Officer at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Vera Abena Addo, has called on the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to refocus on its original mandate of ensuring national food security rather than diverting its attention to the Free Senior High School (SHS) feeding programme.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, November 8, during a discussion on the local rice glut, Ms Addo said the company has deviated from its core purpose of buying and preserving food during bumper harvests.

“I think the mandate of the national buffer stock is to buy. In fact, if you read their own mandate, it says to anticipate an increase in production. So they are set up to buy when there is a bumper harvest,” she explained.

She said that the Buffer Stock Company has now become more focused on supplying food for the Free SHS programme rather than addressing the needs of farmers and supporting food security.

“But now I think they’ve turned themselves into buying for the Free SHS, so they are not concentrating on that, and it is a food security issue,” she added.

Ms Addo said that the company should be restructured to allow it to properly fulfil its original purpose, which includes buying surplus food from farmers and stabilising prices during periods of oversupply.

“For me, I think that if Buffer Stock can focus on its mandate, which structured it, I think the issue with stocking up for Free SHS food will be another conversation we can look at. But if we can have Buffer Stock really do this, then we’ll be addressing the food security concerns,” she stated.

She further proposed that the responsibility for supplying food to schools should be separated from the Buffer Stock Company’s core functions, allowing it to focus solely on supporting farmers and maintaining national reserves.

“Now they’ve shifted their attention more to the Free SHS food. If we can take that away from them, then they can concentrate. We can have a conversation with them, on how to buy, how do they need this?” she said.

According to Ms Addo, the government must also ensure the protection and welfare of farmers, who are often left vulnerable despite their crucial role in sustaining the country’s food supply.

“Another point is to have them provide security for farmers. They are to serve the interest of the farmers and the interest of the country as part of the food security agenda. The way we treat farmers is very terrible,” she said.

She said that improving the welfare of farmers must form part of Ghana’s broader food security policy.

“That is a real challenge we need to fix as part of the employer issues and as part of food security. Because we can’t continue like this, that is what the Buffer Stock was set up for, and we need them to really work on their mandate,” she said.

This comes after Vice Chair of the Competitive Africa Rice Platform, Dr Ama Aning Oppong-Duah, says Ghana’s rice farmers are still battling with unsold stock from last year, while another harvest season has already begun.

According to him, the problem began about a year ago when farmers produced at a time when he dollar was high.

Read also: Rice glut deepens as farmers struggle to sell last year’s harvest

They purchased fertiliser, seed, and other inputs at a certain rate. But after harvesting, the cedi started appreciating, which made imported rice cheaper.