Accra — The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Ernest Debrah has indicated that with the worsening world food crises there is little the government can do to salvage the high prices of imported foodstuffs, especially rice.

This he attributed to the fact that the market is a global one and the determing factors are beyond the control of government and therefore urged Ghanaians to promote the habit of consuming locally produced foodstuffs.

Mr. Debrah disclosed this at a press conference in Accra to inform Ghanaians about government plans to stem a possible demonstration due to high food prices which has sparked demonstrations in some parts of the sub-region.

According to the minister as an interim measure, government is getting support from its development partners to assist in the procuring of food and this will be supported by the government's own imports for strategic storage.

In addition interactions are going on with market women and transport owners to find ways of minimizing the effect of transport costs on food prices and ensure that food is not smuggled out of the country by local producers.

He said despite the worsening food crises on the world the country has enough food to prevent hungry Ghanaians from taking to the streets as has happened in neighbouring West African countries and appealed to Ghanaians to move into backyard farming to enable them produce for local consumption.

The minister said as a medium and long-term intervention the government would intensify rice production in the country especially the production of NERICA rice in areas where it has a comparative advantage over maize production.

He disclosed that results of a research on the Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (RTIP) has recommended the incorporation of up to about 30 percent of high quality cassava flour into bread and pastry flour.

"A legislation instrument has been proposed to make flourmills incorporate 20 percent of high quality cassava flour into bread and pastry flour and the possibility of producing maize flour for corn bread," he said.

He also announced that efforts were underway to increase the yields of foodstuffs despite the current high prices on fertilizer and inputs across the world.

He acknowledged that the increasing food prices is the result of climate change, competing demand for land for the production of biofuels , increasing prices of agro inputs, especially fertilizer, increase in population , demand for cereals especially maize for biofuel production and increasing prosperity.

But the Coordinator of the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition(GTLC), Mr. Ibrahim Akilbila has condemned the minister's statement that there is little government can do about the prices on imported foodstuffs, especially rice.

According to him, the government's decision to move along the policies of the World Bank and IMF is what is preventing them from getting the policy space to operate.

The Co-ordinator revealed that in 2003 when the government passed Act 641 which was aimed at increasing tariffs on rice importation from 20 to 25 percent and poultry from 20 to 40 it took a warning from the IMF for them to rescind the decision.

In addition, with the government's decision to sign the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with European Union countries it comes as no surprise for the minister to make such remarks.

According to him, government for the past eight years failed to implement almost half of its policies contained in the budget statement and said the utterances was a clear case of a government that has lost foresight for the Agric sector.

Mr. Akilbila indicated that that the Ghanaian farmer has the capacity to meat the rice and poultry needs of the nation and it is the role to create the necessary atmosphere for them to operate.

"The government has stalled the revamping of the poultry sector by establishing a poultry board which is virtually killing the local industry," He added.

He argued that it is unfortunate that whereas developed countries like France are calling for an increased in aid for developing countries to embark on producing food locally the government is rather sourcing for funds to import food.

The GTLC Coordinator revealed that the annual rice production for the world stands at about 619 million tonnes annually and is only 6 percent that is put on the market for countries like Ghana to buy.

"This is an indication that rice growing countries do not really produce for the world market it is the surplus that they put on the world market for us to purchase," he added.

In his view, instead of government sourcing for funds to import foodstuffs it should set specific tariff bench marks over a period of time to enable it raise funds build the Agric sector.

In addition, government should train more extension service officers to help local farmers to use farming inputs that they buy at exorbitant prices.

He said currently the resurgence of farmers association in the country is an opportunity government should take advantage of to build the capacity of the Ghanaian farmer.

Mr. Akilbila indicated that countries like France, the United States, Japan and Canada are already helping build the capacity of local farmers through its agencies and therefore will be surprised if they make a turn around to help government import foodstuffs from the outside market.