The National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) says it needs about GH¢700 million desperately to enable it to carry out its task of stocking food on behalf of the nation.
This was made known by the Chief Executive Officer of NAFCO, George Abradu-Otoo. According to him, the company was instituted to stock food on behalf of the country as an intervention measure in the event of any food shortage or unforeseen disasters in the country.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Abradu-Otoo said “Our mandate is to stock food on behalf of the nation, in order to be able to intervene, if there is any shortage, if there is any calamity, if there is any unforeseen circumstances, so Buffer Stock can move into the market and then discharge our mandate as envisioned by our late President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.”
“We don’t have anything in our warehouses because the right resources have not been given over the years to the company to carry out its resources”. There is no stock because there is no food stock in our warehouses. The stock is zero,” he added.
The CEO of NAFCO again stressed that, with the reset agenda of President Mahama, the country cannot be reset without food stocks.
With regard to pooling resources to support the company, the NAFCO boss said his focus for the company was to liaise with various agencies and sources to get the company to carry out its mandate of keeping stock for the nation in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
To address the challenges, he said, he would engage the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, on the way forward.
“Even if we are supported halfway, I think it will be wonderful. I know the precarious situation in which the economy is,” he admitted.
Mr Abradu-Otoo pointed out that he would be reaching out to some agencies and international partners such as the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) “to see how best they can help NAFCO to achieve our mandate.”
Also talking about warehouses, Mr. Abradu-Otoo lamented that most of the NAFCO warehouses across the country were not in good shape. He would, therefore, embark on an inspection tour of the warehouses to ascertain their true state.
Explaining further, the NAFCO Chief Executive said such facilities were supposed to meet some minimum standards according to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA). “If you are keeping food that is going to be consumed by human beings, there is a minimum standard that we need to meet.
We have to be able to control the temperature of the food we are storing to maintain the nutritional value”.
