No maize imports in 2018, gov’t insists

The government of Ghana insists no grain of maize has been imported into the country in the year 2018, even though poultry farmers disagree with that assertion. President Akufo-Addo, while addressing Metropolitan, Municipal and district chief Executives at the Institute of Local Government service campus at Ogbojo Wednesday, October 3, he said the success is as a result of government’s flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs. “…or in agriculture, where we have instituted the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which ensured that, this year, we did not import a single grain of maize into the country”, he said. But the poultry farmers association described as fallacious the president’s assertion insisting some maize were imported. In reaction, the deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of perennial crops, Kennedy Osei Nyarko says, the claims by the poultry farmers could only amount to illegal importation. Explaining to TV3’s Komla Klutse, the minister explained that even though some companies were given clearance to import maize, the prices on the world market were not competitive for them to do so. “I think about five companies came in and we gave them approval, in total they were to import around 80 thousand metric tones of maize to the country. It will shock you that none of them could import, why, because while they were thinking that the prices of maize in Ghana was expensive that they were going outside to bring it, when they went there the prices outside in the world market was too high so they couldn’t buy, they came back home”, he explained. He further explained that it could not be true that any company imported maize into the country because it is only the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) that gives permit for the clearance of imported maize at the ports, something he said the ministry did not do. “Does it mean they imported it illegally?” he quizzed, reiterating the ministry’s position that it did not give any company any permit to clear maize at the port. Meanwhile, vice president of the Hatchery and Breeders Association, Ghana, Boris Badu has confirmed President Akufo-Addo’s claim that the country has not imported a grain of maize this year. Speaking to 3FM News, Boris Badu said, although he was given the option to import, he was unable to do so because of price escalation. By editors.3news.com|Ghana