To help curb the post harvest loses at the farm gate, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank has rolled out the Ghana Warehouse Receipt System to offer guaranteed prices to farmers as part of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
The warehousing system forms part of the president’s flagship project of one-district –one –warehouse to boost the operations of Ghana Buffer Stock Company to enable them store more food for the lean season.
The warehousing project was funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Switzerland government.
Explaining how the system works, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, said the agricultural sector of the economy employs the highest proportion of the people in the country and therefore there is the need for measures to ensure the lives of farmers are safeguarded.
According to him, Agriculture is an integral part of the economy and by providing ready markets to farmers using the warehousing receipt system, farmers’ income will be increased across the country.
He noted that the system will also offer a robust data base of agro-business exports products across the country.
The Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, George Oduro on his part said the system will help solve the biggest challenges in the Agricultural sector of the economy.
He said this will ensure more youth venture into the agri-business sector of the economy hoping that more youth will now show interest in the agricultural sector.
According to him, the warehousing system is long overdue, especially when the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is rolling out the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
He said a functional warehousing system is very important for the agriculture value chain in the country.
Earlier, Joseph Akwasi Kumah, a senior country officer at IFC said the development of the warehousing system in the country is targeted at ending extreme hunger by 2030.
He noted that the launch of the system will give farmers the opportunity to do more to boost economic growth of the country.
He says the project will be beneficial to the farmers and help them improve upon their agri-business environment.
IFC will continue to provide the needed support to ensure a robust warehousing receipt system in the country, he said.
“The system is expected to move the country from an agriculture economy to a commodity economy,” he maintained. – BDG
