Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South constituency, Dr Clement Apaak, is predicting food shortage if the government does not address fertiliser shortage across the country.
According to him, farmers, especially in his constituency in the Upper East Region, are already counting their loses due to the non-availability of the farm input.
“The situation is very dire and we all know a hungry man is an angry man so I call on the Agric Minister to up his game,” the Builsa South MP stressed.
Several farmers in parts of the country are struggling to access fertiliser to increase yield. This is having an adverse effect on their yields.
Suppliers of fertiliser for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme have had to halt distribution due to the debt owed them by the government.
The government, therefore, paid the suppliers for the fertilisers but its distribution seems to be very slow.
If the situation persists, Dr Apaak on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme said there will be food shortage in Ghana.
He said already, maize turns yellow few weeks after planting due to the lack of fertiliser robbing farmers off their capital.
“Many farmers are already counting their losses, but, should the fertiliser get to Builsa South immediately, the situation could be ameliorated,” he stated.
Dr Apaak added that the consequences of a lost farming season will not be borne by the people of Builsa South alone but Ghana as a whole.
Reacting to these concerns, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong Addo, said distribution of fertilisers has commenced to address the shortage.
“I empathise with the farmers but their issues will be addressed. Some suppliers are already distributing the fertilisers to farmers across the country,” he said.
The Deputy Agric Minister hinted that plans are far advanced to reform the existing fertiliser subsidy regime in a bid to curtail the challenges the farmers are currently grappling with.
Mr Addo appealed to the farmers to support government in its bid to find a lasting solution to the fertiliser shortage problem.