Amidst threats to boycott the upcoming National Farmer’s Day celebration by farmer groups, the Deputy Chief Executive of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Osmend Amuah has announced cabinet’s approval of GH¢100 million to buy surplus foods from farmers across the nation.
According to him, the initiative forms part of the government’s actions to mop-up excess produce, prevent post-harvest losses and build a national food reserve to enhance food security.
He made this known during a press conference in Accra on Thursday, October 30.
Mr Amuah stated that NAFCO has already procured 60,000 bags of rice, 120,000 bags of maize, and 10,000 bags of gari, with the funds, targeting key staple foods for emergency reserves, adding that this intervention is a response to appeal from farmers for market access amid high yields and limited storage capacity.
Farmers in the Afram Plains and the northern belt are complaining that there is no market space for them, there is no price, and because there is limited storage, some of them cannot store their produce. So, the potential to have high post-harvest losses was huge.”
“So, this plea was channeled through the Minister for Agriculture and through his instrumentality, he engaged the cabinet and the cabinet approved an initial funding of GH¢100 million for NAFCO to go to the market and start the mop-up process,” he said.
The leadership of major farmer groups and agribusiness associations in the country have declared a nationwide boycott of the 2025 Farmers’ Day celebrations, citing government inaction and worsening conditions in the country’s food production industry.
This was announced in a joint press release on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, involving rice producers and millers, maize farmers, mechanisation service providers, input dealers, and apex farmer associations, together with key players in the agribusiness value chain. The boycott will affect Farmers’ Day events at the district, regional, and national levels.
More Funding
The Deputy CEO of NAFCO further revealed that the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr Eric Opoku is in talks with Cabinet to approve another GH¢100 million to expand the mop-up exercise.
“I’m happy to announce this afternoon that the Minister for Agriculture has agreed that he would be discussing with Cabinet on an urgent need for additional release of funding of about GH¢100 million again on an incremental basis, so that we’ll be able to mop up the additional surpluses that are on the market,” he said.
