He said the money is being used to buy surplus maize, rice, onions and eggs and store them for emergency use, helping to steady prices and prevent post-harvest losses.

“For the first time in our history, Ghana is building a national food buffer against both producers and consumers,” he said, adding that the new approach is meant to secure affordable food for households while keeping farm-gate prices from collapsing.

Mr Opoku said the government’s decision to release the funds was influenced by recent gluts in major staples, which drove down prices for farmers and created the risk of scarcity and sharp price movements later in the year.

He explained that the buffer system will now serve as a stabiliser on both sides of the market, buying what farmers cannot sell immediately and supplying those stocks during lean periods.

It will be recalled that the government announced in October 2025 that it had released GH¢100 million to the National Food Buffer Stock Company to buy excess produce from farmers.

That enabled NAFCO to purchase 60,000 bags of rice, 120,000 bags of maize and 10,000 bags of gari.

To support the new direction, Mr Opoku said Ghana has secured extra storage capacity from warehouses previously used by the West African Food Buffer, which relocated from Burkina Faso.

Additional private facilities in Sunyani, the Eastern Region and other areas are also being prepared to expand national reserves.

He said the Agriculture Ministry is working with the Ministry of Education for the school feeding programme to use surplus eggs acquired through the mop-up exercise.

Mr Opoku linked the renewed buffer system to wider measures in the food sector, including job creation, reducing reliance on imports and tackling losses along the food chain.

“The aim is to make sure the food we produce reaches consumers at stable and affordable prices,” he said.