The ministry’s installed warehouse capacity currently stands at about 35,000 tonnes but the sector minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said discussions were ongoing with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and some private organisations to take over their warehouses dotted across the country to meet the surplus production.

Dr Akoto, who made this known at a day’s stakeholder workshop on the establishment of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) in Accra yesterday, said it would cost the government about GH¢25 million to renovate over 240 abandoned warehouses belonging to COCOBOD.

Ghana Commodity Exchange

Launched by the then President John Dramani Mahama in 2015, the GCX project is meant to transform Ghana’s agriculture through the establishment of the first modern commodity exchange in the country.

It was expected to become operational in June 2016 but various challenges scuttled the implementation plan.

The workshop was, therefore, to discuss the objectives and goals of the GCX and to see how the ministry, with support from other ministries and institutions, could move the implementation process to help promote the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme.

Bumper harvest

Dr Akoto said the signs were clear that the country was in for a bumper harvest in food production this year.

He stated that the Cabinet had reached an agreement with the?Procurement, Defence, Education, Gender, Children and Social Protection ministries on the purchase of farm produce for various institutions under the ministries.

This year’s Planting for Food and Jobs is a pilot one involving a target of 200,000 farmers and according to the minister, so far, 185,000 farmers had registered with the programme.

With the minor season not far away, he expected that the targeted 200,000 farmers for the pilot programme would be exceeded.

Problem of seed

Supply of seeds, Dr Akoto noted, was the major challenge under the programme, but he indicated that neighbouring Burkina Faso had agreed to supplement what Ghana had.

“We are also into a contract with four organisations in Ghana to ensure that next year, when over 500,000 would be on the programme, there would be adequate seeds for supply to farmers,” he added.

Dr Akoto said fertiliser supply was not a problem as there was enough in the system.

He also mentioned  extension services as the weakest link but stated that 1,200 agriculture college diplomates were being recruited while over 2,000 national service persons had been sent to the ministry to supplement the efforts in extension services.

He dismissed reports that the armyworm attack would have negative effects on food production this year.

Fall in cocoa prices

The minister said Presidents Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Alhassane Ouatarra of Cote d’Ivoire were worried about the fall in the price of cocoa on the international market and had tasked the Agriculture ministries of both countries to do whatever they could to check the problem.

Consequently, both ministries are in touch with the African Development Bank to see the support they can give to achieve the task.

Dr Akoto said the coming on board of the GCX was one sure way of tackling the problem.

Ethiopia’s example

An Ethiopian economist and a former Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), Dr Eleni Gabre-Madhin, shared the success story of the ECX with the participants.