The Managing Director of Marketing and Business Development, Joseph Nai Anum, has highlighted the negative impact of foreign buyers in the local agricultural value chain.
He makes the point that these foreign buyers often compete with local processors and traders, creating challenges within the domestic agricultural value chain.
He called for regulation of the foreign buyers because this would help stabilise the agricultural space and also stabilise prices.
Mr Anum asked the government to implement a policy to that effect.
“One of the major challenges affecting our agricultural agenda has to do with foreigners who go into our farm spaces or the farm gates to buy commodities,” he told Joy News on Monday.
“They compete seriously with our local buyers and processors. We believe that if these foreign buyers are regulated and allowed to buy commodities mandatorily through the Ghana Commodity Exchange, it would help stabilise the agricultural space and also stabilise prices.”
Mr Anum said the GCX’s next major objective is to facilitate the trading of export-oriented commodities such as cashews, shea nuts, and soybeans through the exchange, with support from government policy.
He noted that requiring foreign buyers to trade through the GCX would bring several benefits, including improved tax collection, better price regulation, and enhanced government oversight of commodity flows.
“One of the benefits is that the government will be able to collect taxes after trades from these foreigners. It will also help regulate prices and give sellers and farmers the best prices they can get,” he said.
Story by Kofi Nartey
