… CEO vacates post
…Workers sit idle but receive salaries
By Cecil MENSAH
There is apparent inactivity at the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) as workers continue to go to the office everyday but find little work to do, Business Day can report.
Our investigations have also uncovered concerns that some of the workers are beginning to doubt the prospects of the Company, particularly within the sphere of government’s recently announced ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme.
Largely, workers have attributed the slowdown in operations to the absence of a substantive chief executive officer (CEO). The agency has been without a CEO for the past couple of months, mainly due to a change in political administration of the country.
Meanwhile, top management members in charge of Operations and Human Resources have declined to speak on the state of operations of the company.
Not busy
When the Business Day visited the head office of the company, which is located in the plush Cantonments area of Accra, to ascertain how the company intended to tie-in its operations with the new agenda of the Ministry of Agriculture, it observed an office that appeared to have no buzz about it.
Upon request to speak with a public relations officer, the paper was informed the company had no PRO. Instead, the only appropriate officer was the Operations Manager whose name was not readily given.
After almost two hours of waiting at the reception, the Operations Manager declined to speak to our inquiries, rather directing our reporter to the Human Resource Manager – Miss Becky, who was out of the office at that moment. And, upon waiting for further hours she could not make herself available for the interview.
Essence
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture set up NAFCO in 2010 to ensure the security of farmers and insulate them against losses resulting from the anticipated increases in production.
Specifically, NAFCO’s mandate include to: guarantee an assured income to farmers by providing a minimum guaranteed price and ready market; and mop up excess produce from all farmers in order to reduce post-harvest losses resulting from spoilage due to poor storage, thereby protecting farm incomes.
Others are to: purchase , sell, preserve and distribute food stuffs; employ a buffer stock mechanism to ensure stability in demand and supply; and expand the demand for food grown in Ghana by selling to state institutions such as the military, schools, hospitals, prisons etc.
It was also set up to “manage governments emergency food security,” according to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
It was supposed to focus attention on three main crops – maize, rice and soya beans.
At the time, the ministry said year 2009 data showed that the total domestic production of maize amounted to 1,619,600 metric tonnes while demand was 1,197,000 metric tonnes, thus, showing a surplus of 422,600mt which needed to be stored.
“In times past such surplus goes to waste,” the ministry indicated.
Withdrawal of subvention
In 2016, the Graphic Business, reported that government was going to wean the NAFCO off its subvention.
The publication indicated “a highly placed source” had disclosed the decision was based on saving “tax payers money from going into a venture that has been a drain on the national chest.”
New Drive
In its 2017 budget and fiscal policy, government has indicated that the Ministry of Agriculture, now led by Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, will roll out a programme aimed at creating an estimated 750,000 direct and indirect jobs. The programme is expected to be financed with a $75 million loan facility.
The initiative is expected to increase the production of maize by 30 percent from current production levels, rice by 49 percent, soya bean by 25 percent and sorghum by 28 percent (see Tuesday March 7, 2017 edition of Business Day.)
According to information available to Business Day, NAFCO is struggling to come to terms with the government’s new agenda even though a key component of the project is storage of the excess food for the lean season.
