President of the group, Nana Oboadea Boateng Bonsu II, at a press briefing yesterday indicated that Ghana had recorded bumper harvest of crops, especially this year resulting in the influx of foodstuff on various markets across the country therefore claims of scarcity of foodstuff were false.

He mentioned that though in some cases transport to convey the foodstuff from remote farming communities to urban areas contributed to the increase in cost of some foodstuff, it did not make the item impossible for the ordinary Ghanaian to afford by the time it got to the markets.

He said “there are claims that there is scarcity of foodstuffs in the country please everybody should disregard all those claims. They are untrue because farmers are ready to attest to the fact that we are lucky to have food in abundance in this country. The quantity of harvest recorded is what has contributed to the affordability of the foodstuffs.”

However, he bemoaned that some market women in urban areas, especially in Accra, deliberately sold their foodstuffs at exorbitant prices, making it difficult for some individuals to afford.

This, if not checked he said would continue to create the impression that there was food scarcity in the country when it was rather the inability of the populace to afford it that was the real problem.

Nana Bonsu II stressed that it was time for the market women to desist from contributing to the surge in food costs, adding that selling at reasonable prices would promote food security in the country.

Chief of the Farmers and Fishermen Association, Dromankese Bono East Nana Gyamfi Kunanin on his part supported the assertion that the country had recorded bumper harvest which had resulted in the affordability of food produce on the farms, adding that it was time for stringent measures to be taken to address the way foodstuffs were priced very high in some parts of the country.

He did not dispute the fact that prices of fuel had increased and affected the transportation of food items to Accra but was quick to add that this did not warrant the behaviour of market women in terms of pricing of commodities.

“We must learn to have sympathy for each other. The bad pricing of foodstuff in Accra must stop as a matter of urgency because we the farmers do not do that. We give out our food produce at reasonable prices to these traders who end up selling them at exorbitant costs.”

Let us come together and say no to such acts,” he stressed.