Agric Ministry’s Foodstuffs Described As Expensive; Patrons Say Prices Not Different From Regular Markets

• There was disappointment when some Ghanaians stormed the ministry of food and agriculture to buy foodstuffs on display
• Some patrons complained that the prices were high while others felt the prices were not different from what were on the market
• The minister for agriculture Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto announced his intentions to retail foodstuffs directly to buyers to cushion them from rising inflation

Some Ghanaians who stormed the premises of the Food and Agriculture Ministry to buy foodstuffs on display say they have been disappointed.

Patrons say the prices of the food items were just like on the regular market, while some even said it was higher.

Many Ghanaians trooped to the ministry in high hopes of buying the plantains on display at a cheaper than the regular market price that has been hit by 40.4% inflation.

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The agric minister Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto said last Wednesday, November 9, 2022, that his outfit was retailing the foodstuffs to cushion Ghanaians from huge added costs as they move from the production areas to the urban markets.

However, this does not appear to have worked.

A staff of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources told Joy News in a short interview that the plantains that had been priced GH¢10 and GH¢15 were just like those she bought from the regular market not long ago.

Another government who came to buy the plantains on display said she felt the prices quoted on the minister's foodstuffs were higher than the those on the regular market.

A spokesperson for the agric ministry said the sale of the plantain from the Western North Region on Friday, November 11, 2022, was only to pilot what the ministry hopes to be a big project.

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Dubbed the Planting For Food and Jobs (PFJ) Market, ministry says food items such as local rice, yam, cocoyam among other will be added for sale to the Ghanaian public.

Professor Hanke Mocks Akufo-Addo’s Promise To Turn Economic Crisis In Opportunity; “He Is On Another Planet”

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that Prof Steve Hanke of John Hopkins University in the USA has expressed doubt in president Nana Akufo-Addo ability to turn Ghana's economic crisis into an opportunity as he has promised.

Prof Hanke said Ghana's inflation was getting out of hand, explaining that even though the official inflation figure of 40.4% was high his own computations shows Ghana's inflation was 156%.

The Applied Economist says president Akufo-Addo was speaking as if he was not on this planet.

Source: YEN.com.gh