and called on the citizenry to take advantage of the situation and make use of the vast stretches of fertile land in the country to cultivate our own food.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minister indicated that, the increases in the prices of food have occurred as a result of climate change, competition, demand for land for the production of bio-fuels and the soaring prices of agro inputs, especially fertilizer.

He further pointed out that due to a rapid increase in population globally, people tend to consume more carbohydrates thereby causing demand for cereals to rise.

He explained that, apart from rice, millet and sorghum, the country produces in excess of the national demand in the major staple foods but noted that, the surplus of food is not evenly distributed in the regions.

“There is therefore the need to move all surplus food from the producing regions to regions where shortages exist”.

The Minister said, since the current food situation is predicted to persist for at least another decade, there is the need to adopt an immediate intervention to ensure that food is not smuggled out of the country.

He disclosed that countries like Vietnam, Egypt, china, India and Thailand who were exporters of food are now restricting exports, therefore Ghanaians must adopt the habit of cultivating and consuming local food.

Mr Debrah mentioned that, though the price of fertilizer has also gone up, his ministry plans to make the importation of fertilizer quite easy to make it readily available to farmers to ensure that prices are not pegged at exorbitant rates.

Some of the interventions being undertaken by his outfit include proposed legislation to make flour mill companies in the country incorporate 20% of high quality cassava flour into bread and pastry flour.

The Minister noted that MOFA intends to intensify the production of the now widely accepted Nerica rice, especially in areas where it has a comparative advantage over maize production and also look at the possibility of producing maize flour for corn bread.

He therefore adviced Ghanaians, especially those living in the urban areas to develop their backyards and other vacant lands into small gardens to supplement what they buy from the market to minimise the effect of the rising prices in our domestic budgets.

Mr Debrah assured the nation that, "if the need should arise the government will seek support from their developing partners since there is the indication that some partners are ready to assist in supplying food. This, he maintained, will be supported by the government's own direct imports for strategic storage.

Under the medium term inventions, he said his outfit plans to encourage the cultivation of varieties of crops that have higher yields.

He noted that the research and trial results under the root and tuber improvement programme have also been recommended.