Ghana faces food price hikes if Niger’s situation persists

Ghana is likely to take a deep hit as the political tension Niger remains uncertain following the military takeover of the country last month.

Also, Ghana imports most supplies of vegetables and livestock from its West African neighbours with Burkina Faso being a major supplier of tomatoes. Niger on the other hand is Ghana’s major source of onion, and livestock also come from the same region.

The Onion Importers Association are worried the price of the commodity may hike in the coming days if the situation in Niger does not improve. They said they have a number of trucks ferrying the product to Ghana stuck at the border following the closure of the country’s borders after the coup late last month.

“We are at a loss, we have a lot of trucks stuck at the border. Some are at the Mali border, Burkina Faso, and Benin so we are appealing to the government to intervene. If care is not taken we are going to sell one bag of onion at 3000 cedis,” Saani Abubakar told TV3.

Supporting the onion importers’ concern is Dr Charles Nyaaba of the Peasant Farmers Association who said the situation in Niger will definitely have an impact on the supply of onions and other vegetables.

Dr Nyaaba blamed the situation on Ghana’s inability to produce enough for her consumption. He said the production of onion needs a constant supply of water but that is not available in the country, thus affecting production.

In Ghana, it is not the case that we don’t have the potential to produce the same. When you take onions, which we are getting 100 per cent from Niger, we also get seeds from Niger,” Nyaaba noted.

“When there is no water, you can’t produce onions. So if you look at the farmers who produce onions, most of them are from the White Volta basin around Bawku, Zebilla, Bolgatanga, they produce the bulk of the onions but is still highly insignificant to meet our consumption,” he lamented.