Accra: Dr Amos Rutherford Azinu, the Founder of Legacy Crop Improvement Centre, has raised concerns over Ghana's projected 67 per cent rise in maize imports for the 2025/26 season, warning it could devastate local farming communities and undermine long-term national food security. He has urged an immediate shift toward domestic support for farmers and sustainable agricultural reform.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Azinu described the import projection as a 'troubling shift' that risks displacing local production and weakening Ghana's food sovereignty. He highlighted the timing of the import increase as concerning, given that many farmers are still struggling to offload unsold grain from the previous season. Dr Azinu argued that this situation reveals a fundamental flaw in the country's food security strategy, which seems to prioritize imports over empowering domestic producers.
Dr Azinu acknowledged that the 2024 drought, affecting eight of Ghana's sixteen regions, reduced harvested maize areas by 19 per cent and slashed production by 28 per cent to 2.6 million tonnes. However, he critiqued the government's response of flooding the market with cheap imported corn, which he believes could undermine recovery efforts and sow the seeds of long-term dependency.
Citing a recent survey, Dr Azinu noted that 15.5 per cent of households reported food crop harvests going to waste due to a lack of market demand, emphasizing that farmers were already struggling to find buyers before the import surge. Unlike U.S. farmers, Ghanaian farmers lack the storage infrastructure and financial resilience to withstand market downturns.
Dr Azinu pointed out that Ghana's corn import dependency, previously at 11 per cent, is set to skyrocket, with maize imports forecasted to hit 300,000 tonnes in the 2024/25 season, nearly 11 times the typical volume. He criticized the government's mixed messaging, such as the August 2024 grain export ban intended to protect domestic supplies, while simultaneously offering tax incentives to encourage private sector imports, which erodes farmer confidence.
Dr Azinu proposed a comprehensive strategy to reverse the trend, calling for guaranteed purchase programmes for farmers, investment in post-harvest storage infrastructure, and the development of weather-resilient farming systems. He advocated for irrigation systems, drought-resistant seed varieties, and climate-smart agricultural practices to address the challenges faced by local farmers.
He further recommended the creation of price stability mechanisms, such as commodity exchanges and minimum price guarantees, to encourage continued production even in difficult years. Dr Azinu warned that every tonne of imported corn represents lost income, reduced rural employment, and increased dependency on volatile international markets.
He cautioned that Ghana's current trajectory risks creating a vicious cycle where reduced domestic production justifies more imports, further undermining local farmers and leading to even less production. Dr Azinu emphasized that Ghana stands at a crossroads, where the easy path of importing cheap corn may solve short-term concerns but risks mortgaging the country's agricultural future. He stressed the importance of investing in farmers, improving production systems, and building resilience for a sustainable agricultural sector.
