Government is collaborating with the private sector to increase the national food buffer stock centres from 7 to 10 this year to reduce post-harvest losses, Minister of Finance Seth Terkper announced in the 2015 budget statement read in parliament last week.

Relative to reducing post-harvest losses, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) facilitated the establishment of two new warehouses with a capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes each, while the National Food Buffer Stock Centres (NAFCO) purchased and stored a total of 3,317.40 metric tonnes of locally milled rice which was supplied to the school feeding programme.

The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) was set up to ensure the security of farmers and insulate them against losses resulting from anticipated increases in production.

Guaranteed prices and ready market for food items will motivate farmers to increase production and inspire others to go into farming. It will also sustain the block farm concept within the Youth in Agriculture Program (YIAP) and result in the creation of more employment avenues for the youth.

Cereal importation over the last few years has become a source of worry to government; thus MOFA aims to initiate moves that increase the level of cereal production locally -- such as rice, maize and soya.

The role of NAFCO is to purchase these cereals from farmers, and the request to supply state institutions will boost cereal production locally, and consequently its consumption.

Finance Minister Seth Terkper told the house last week that next year (2015) NAFCO will construct 25,000-metric tonnes capacity warehouses to store 10,000 metric tonnes of rice, 10,000 metric tonnes of maize and 5,000 metric tonnes of soya beans and other cereals which will be held as strategic stocks.

Minister Terkper told Parliament that to consolidate food security and accelerate efforts toward food self-sufficiency through modernised agriculture, 40 hectares of primary material cassava and 5 hectares of yam mini-set technology of newly-released varieties were established.

He indicated that even though the area cultivated fell below the target, it led to a marginal increase in yield from 16.78 metric tonnes per hectare in 2013 to 16.83 metric tonnes per hectare, and 18.27 metric tonnes in 2013 to 19.13 metric tonnes per hectare for yam and cassava respectively.

To improve access to mechanised agricultural services -- a cardinal focus of government -- 89 agricultural mechanisation service enterprise centres (AMSEC) which consist of tractors and implements, and maize shellers continued to operate in the 62 MMDAs,

This enabled 267,500 smallholder farmers to access mechanised service on time, resulting in the cultivation of about 107,000 hectares of maize, rice, soya beans and other crops, Terkper indicated. However, in 2015, 41 more AMSECs will be established…bringing the total to 130.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) launched the e-Agriculture programme countrywide, and approximately 350,000 subscribers accessed the platform in a test-run, which resulted in 38,000 active members receiving electronic extension messages in their local dialects. An increased understanding of the messages disseminated will lead to improved productivity.

In 2013, imports of rice, fish, poultry, and tomato products were almost US$1billion. Consequently, government aims to reduce importation of chicken by 40 percent by 2016.

To this end 20 million broilers will be produced, resulting in an expected 60,000 metric tonnes of poultry. This move is expected to save the country about US$132million and reduce poultry import by 38.9 percent, the minister stated.

Under the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP), US$5million was provided for 31 investors as matching grants to improve infrastructure in the areas of land acquisition, warehousing and marketing, productivity for agribusiness investments in the Savannah Accelerated Agricultural Development Authority (SADA) area, and the Accra Plains.

The 2014/15 crop year saw an amount of US$1.7billion raised in the syndicated loan market, as compared to the US$1.2billion drawn during the 2013/14 cocoa season. The loan was acquired to facilitate implementation of programmes and activities in the cocoa sector.