The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim has asked government to address shifts in food supply and agricultural labour due to climate change effects.
He made the call after food inflation increased to 22.1 percent in September from 19.1 in August 2024 driving overall inflation to hit to 21.5 percent.
Prof. Annim expressed worry that food inflation has been a challenge, driven by climate change effect.
He appealed to government to focus on addressing the issue with the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Phase II.
He stated that even though some seasons have bumper harvest, the lack of storage facilities make it difficult to preserve some foodstuff for the lean season.
“It is a call for concern. From a seasonality point of view we see the influence of bumper harvest in the month of August and September, but we need to keep in mind that it peaked in August and slowed in September onwards”.
“Its ability to contain the market depends on our ability to have stored enough and the extent to which we got significant harvest during the rainy season. We hope that going forward, we can address these issues”, he added.
Outlining some recommendations, Prof. Annim call for a proactive policy measure through the PFJ II to allocate resources for food storage.
GAWU warns of food price hikes
The General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) has predicted food prices will continue to surge in the coming months despite government’s policy intervention.
This follows the increase in inflation for the month of September 2024 to 21.5 percent from 20.4 percent recorded in the month of August 2024.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) attributed the increase to a rise in food inflation.
Reacting to the development, a former General Secretary, and a member of GAWU, Edward Kareweh said consumers should prepare for more price hikes in foodstuff due to the current challenges facing farmers.
He pointed out for example that the impact of illegal mining (galamsey) and the dry spell will push will be major factors, pushing food inflation up in the coming days.
“This year 2024, we are not going to have any significant increase in food production in the country. If total output is going to fall, it will push food inflation up. From now till December and in the early part of 2025, we should expect food inflation to push the national inflation up” he warned.
Source: Joy Business