Fears of food crisis in Ghana after delayed rains

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00:00Farmers in Ghana are dreading the impact this year's delayed raids could have on food prices

00:05next year. After the driest spell the country's seen in four decades, Accra is trying to get ahead

00:10of the expected pressure and has banned the export of grains like rice, corn and soya beans,

00:17just as Baidu brings us more. Close to a million farmers are estimated to have been affected by

00:25this drought, costing the country around 600 million euros in lost revenue in eight out of

00:34Ghana's 16 regions. Farmland still looks withered with the major farming season now drawing to a

00:42close. That whole part of the northern of the country constitutes over 60 percent of our grain

00:51production in the country. So you can imagine that and we depend largely on grain. Maize is a

00:58stable food, rice, soya and all that everywhere we eat it. So if you have a shortfall in such area

01:05then you can see that the country is on its way to facing a serious food crisis. If they have taken

01:13loans from the banks and because you just say that you are banned then it means you are suppressing

01:18prices. It is good for consumers but then it's also bad for producers. The government is hoping

01:25that this new ban on the export of cereals would put a check on market prices and also ensure

01:33availability of food especially to feed the country's livestock industry. There's really

01:40not much grains in the system anyway okay so the little that we have let's protect it for the

01:47benefit of Ghanaians and we are not saying that if you are a farmer and you have grains now you

01:56don't have anywhere to sell it. Come and sell it to government for cheap. Ghana is currently under

02:01a three-year IMF bailout following the collapse in the value of the CD8 national currency with

02:10an attendant high cost of living.

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