By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Dec. 31, GNA – Mr Edward Kareweh, an Agriculture Expert, has stated that the government’s transformative agricultural policies are likely to significantly increase food availability and improve livelihoods across the country in 2026 and beyond.
According to him, the gradual impact of these policies was already being felt in the real lives of citizens, particularly through improvements in standards of living and reduced cost pressures on households.
Speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, Mr Kareweh noted that the continued reduction in fuel prices had a positive ripple effect on the economy, saying that lower fuel prices had reduced transportation costs for goods and services, especially food, thereby easing the burden on consumers.
He mentioned that drivers and transport operators had experienced some relief, which had indirectly contributed to stabilising food prices in markets across the country.
He further pointed out that agricultural inflation had declined mainly because food inflation had reduced, adding that the steady reduction in the prices of major foodstuffs had played a critical role in lowering overall national inflation.
“I’m in the North now, and I can tell you that, if you have GHs 300, you can buy a bag of maize; a bag of rice that used to be sold at GHs 800 is now even below GHs 500. It’s reality; agriculture has helped to bring down national inflation, and you can see that this is only the beginning of the government’s transformative policies in agriculture,” he stated.
Mr Kareweh attributed these positive trends to several flagship agricultural policies being implemented by the government, including the Feed Ghana programme, the Nkoko Nkitinkiti poultry initiative, the establishment of farmer services centres, and the ongoing revamp of the government-owned oil palm industry, among others.
He explained that these initiatives were designed to address long-standing challenges such as low productivity, limited access to inputs, inadequate value chain development and a lot more, and added that while some benefits were already visible, the full impact of these policies might become more pronounced by 2026 and beyond.
He stressed that agriculture was a sector where results often took time to materialise and urged farmers across the country to take full advantage of these government interventions to increase production and improve their incomes.
Mr Kareweh acknowledged that there might be challenges in the implementation of these policies, emphasising, however, that such challenges should be seen as part of a broader learning and growth process.
He expressed confidence that sustained commitment, collaboration with farmers, and continuous policy refinement would lead to a more resilient agricultural sector and improved food security for the nation.
“Inflation is now tangible to people, because when we say inflation is coming down, people want to see how the results of inflation translate into the decline in prices, and the factor was, how could one government say inflation was coming down when prices were galloping?” he quizzed.
GNA
Edited by Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo/Kenneth Odeng Adade