Unsold farm produce and lack of proper storage facilities have left farmers in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region in distress. Declining commodity prices and limited market access leave large quantities of harvests unsold, resulting in losses.
The situation of poor warehousing has left crops exposed to pests and unfavourable weather conditions.
According to a Citinewsroom report, one of the affected farmers, Haruna Voggu, explained how they had been forced to store their harvested produce in rooms due to the lack of buyers.
“All the investment we made to farm this year has been locked up due to the lack of a market for the produce,” he said.
Some farmers disclosed that they had invested heavily in production but were struggling to recover their costs due to commodity prices continuing to decline.
They are calling on the government to intervene by improving storage infrastructure and access to markets to protect their livelihoods.
The farmers lamented their struggles to meet basic financial obligations, including paying their children’s school fees.
They further disclosed that the cost of production has skyrocketed, citing fertiliser, seeds, labour and transportation, while farm-gate prices had fallen by more than 50 per cent.
Meanwhile, the farmers, with support from the Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, have been encouraged not to give up but to return to farming this year despite earlier losses.
However, the lack of silos and proper storage facilities has raised concerns that much of their unsold grain could deteriorate before the next planting season.
Gari processors and traders are also not left out of the food glut. According to them, bags of processed gari have remained unsold for weeks, affecting their incomes.
Some traders said they previously supplied gari to caterers under the School Feeding Programme, but demand from that market had declined significantly, putting their business at risk.
At the Damongo Saturday Market, traders also confirmed that commodity prices had fallen, affecting their earnings.
Market women appealed to the government to fulfil its promise to establish the Women’s Development Bank, which they believe would improve their access to loans and working capital to sustain and expand their businesses.
Meanwhile, Ewura Rophina Kadija, a student who also operates a shop, urged farmers to consider market demand and prevailing prices before deciding which crops to cultivate.
She said better access to market information could help farmers avoid producing more than they could sell.
“Farmers should consider researching which produce is in high demand to inform what they farm,” she said.
The affected farmers are calling for urgent government intervention to address storage challenges, improve access to markets and help them recover their losses before the next planting season.
