Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on the government to introduce regulations compelling suppliers contracted by the National Food Buffer Stock Company to prioritise locally produced food when supplying Senior High Schools and the School Feeding Programme. He said the current practice, which allows suppliers to source cheaper imported maize and rice, was undermining local farmers by denying them access to a significant market created through government-funded feeding programmes.
Speaking to journalists at his residence on Monday, August 31, 2026, Mr Afenyo-Markin urged the government to establish clear rules requiring suppliers awarded contracts to procure food directly from local farmers. He noted that Ghanaian maize and rice farmers were struggling to compete with cheaper imports, creating difficulties for producers despite the demand generated by government programmes.
“For the maize farmer, it is in Ghana today, it is cheaper to buy imported maize than locally produced maize. Rice farmers are suffering. It is cheaper to buy imported rice than locally produced rice,” he said. Mr Afenyo-Markin questioned the measures being taken by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to address the situation, particularly as the government continues to procure food for schools through the National Food Buffer Stock Company.
He argued that suppliers contracted to provide food for the School Feeding and Free SHS programmes would naturally opt for cheaper imports if there were no regulations requiring them to source from local producers. He said the government could provide meaningful support to farmers by making it mandatory for suppliers under the Buffer Stock Company to purchase a specified portion of their supplies from Ghanaian farms.
“The Buffer Stock Company, they are awarding contracts to suppliers to supply schools under the School Feeding and then the Free SHS programme,” he said. “But I was expecting this government, as part of helping our local farmers, to put in place a regulation that would mandate and make it compulsory for all those suppliers to buy from our local farms.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the absence of such safeguards was undermining the potential of government feeding programmes to create a reliable market for Ghanaian farmers. “As we speak, there are no guardrails, so they give their contracts, and these guys would also want to buy cheaper, and then they are buying from the imported, you know, the importers,” he said.
He called for the government to align its public food procurement policies with efforts to support local agriculture, arguing that state-funded programmes should create demand for locally produced food rather than inadvertently expanding the market for imported alternatives.
