Government has been accused of distributing expiring fertisliers to farmers.

President of Concerned Farmers Association, Nana Oboadie Opambour Boateng Bonsu II, said the distribution of fertilizers with a November 20, 2018 expiry date, began this month.

He dragged bags of fertilisers to Parliament where he joined the Minority in Parliament for a pre-budget press conference that highlighted farmers’ struggle under the Nana Akufo-Addo government.

Fertlisers produced in 2016 were distributed for free under the John Mahama government. In that year, government announced the sharing of some 2.5 million bags of granular fertilizer and 1.4 million litres of liquid or foliar fertilizer.

Nana Oboadie Boateng said after a change in government in January 2017, the new government locked up the fertisliers in warehouses across the country.

He said the government explained it was investigating allegations of cronyism in the distribution.

Farmers have constantly complained that the fertilizer distribution chain had been 'ambushed' by local power brokers who divert the supplement.

"I have received 20 bags of fertilizers for my four-acre farm, though they say it is free but we always pay something to the officers. If you don't pay they won't give you," a 37-year-old former, Moro Ayana told The Africa Report.

According to the farmers' spokesperson, the distribution restarted only after it was realized the yield-boosting supplement was approaching expiration.

The NPP scrapped the free cocoa fertilizer distribution scheme by the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

In its place, the Akufo-Addo government re-introduced the policy of subsidies on fertilizers. A bag of granular fertilizers is to be sold at GH¢80, slashed from GH¢171.75 representing a 53.4% reduction.

Liquid fertilizers sold at GH¢105 was slashed to GH¢20, an 80 percent fall in prices.

President of Concerned Farmers Association, Nana Oboadie Boateng II, relaunched his criticism of the Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, calling him arrogant.

Nana Oboadie Opambour Boateng Bonsu II said the Minister takes decisions without consulting notable farmer groups such as Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF).

The government’s flagship agricultural policy, Planting for Food and Jobs, was done without approaching farmers for their input, he alleged

The Chief also accused the Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto of wasteful spending and claimed $21m was used on fighting the fall armyworm invasion in 2017 that plagued several farms in almost every region in Ghana.

The Food and Agriculture Ministry has said it spent 16m cedis on bringing the invasion that affected more than 112,000 hectares of farm fields under control.

Fall Armyworm is a new pest in Africa that attacks maize and also feeds on a range of other crops, including millet, sorghum, rice, wheat, sugar cane and vegetables.