Patrons who thronged the Food and Agriculture Ministry on Friday to purchase some foodstuff have expressed surprise over the prices of the goods.

According to one woman who spoke to JoyNews, there is no significant difference between the prices of foodstuff on the market and the one being sold at the Ministry.

The customer said she expected cheaper prices, thus, she has been taken aback by the prices.

“I was expecting the prices to be down a bit. I was doing some comparison and I realised that the price here is a bit high so if they can bring it down, we would be happy,” she said

The Ministry officially opened its much-anticipated food market today.

The move, according to the Ministry, is aimed at cushioning Ghanaians and mitigating the impact of rising food prices.

But reacting to the concerns of patrons, the Spokesperson of the Ministry said the initiative is at its piloting stage so all shortcomings will be addressed accordingly.

“This is the pilot phase. We also said it is meant for civil and local government service workers. It will not be prudent to pick a car from Circle, Amasaman to come into the Ministry to buy plantain.

“So we are making this available to workers and people who work around to just walk in here and get their plantain, walk into Efua Sutherland Park to get a bag of local rice among others,” he stated.