Farmers Losing Money Despite Big Harvests as Food Glut Worsens – CDM

The Centre for Democratic Movement (CDM) says Ghana’s food glut crisis is deepening, with farmers taking heavy losses even after strong harvests.

At a press briefing in Accra on Monday, May 25, CDM Convenor Samuel Doku said the country’s food distribution system is failing farmers, schools, and consumers all at once.

He pointed to huge volumes of tomatoes, rice, beans, yam, and maize rotting in farming communities because growers can’t find buyers or proper storage.

“Many farmers across Ghana cannot sell their produce despite having bumper crops, while educational institutions and vulnerable communities continue to experience shortages and supply disruptions,” Doku told reporters.

According to Doku, the situation reveals major cracks in Ghana’s agricultural coordination. Without reliable markets, storage facilities, guaranteed prices, or effective state support, staples are going to waste right at the farm gate.

“This contradiction reflects a major structural failure within the national food system,” he said. “Farmers are watching maize, tomatoes, rice, beans, yam and other staples rot at farm gates because there are no reliable markets, no effective storage systems, no guaranteed pricing mechanisms and inefficient state intervention.”

Meanwhile, city dwellers are still paying high food prices and schools keep reporting supply gaps. “This is not merely an agricultural challenge; it is a governance failure,” he added.

CDM warned that ongoing losses are pushing farmers out of the sector. Some are now selling their farmlands because they no longer see farming as profitable.

“We are particularly concerned that many farmers are now abandoning cultivation due to sustained losses and uncertainty,” Doku said. “Some are reportedly selling farmlands because agriculture is no longer economically sustainable for them.”