Food prices are cheaper now – Dr. Afriyie Akoto

The Minister for Agriculture, Hon.Dr. Afriyie Akoto has praised the government highly for reducing food prices even in the face of coronavirus outbreak.

The Minister speaking at Meet the Press, a program organized by the Ministry of Information to bring agencies and ministries to account to the people.

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“The hike in food prices, I think we all recognize that only four years ago, a bunch of plantains, you had to spend GHS40 but now with GHS3 to GHS6, you can get a bunch of plantains. It shows you clearly that we have come to reduce the prices of food even in the major cities like Accra where there are substantial rushes in the markets. Most families who could not afford one meal a day can now afford three meals a day because food is so cheap and we will continue to ensure that planting for food and jobs will deliver even more food to areas of consumption to makes lives very easy for families in consuming areas,” the Minister noted.

“In any case, we are talking about three million producers of farm produce, hundreds of thousands of traders, small and large, and in the market, you see the teeming numbers of market women and men. So how do you go about controlling prices? I think that an open pricing system that this government is following shows the kind of confidence that we have that we will able to supply food to the markets for consumers at a very reasonable price and this is what is happening. I don’t think anybody can complain in this country that that food is expensive,” the Minister added.