The Peasant Farmers Association has lauded the Ghana Commodity Exchange, saying its mandate will go a long way to curb challenges farmers face.
The association said the initiative will be a game changer as regards pricing and preservation of commodities in the country.
The new regulatory body which falls under the purview of the Securities and Exchanges Commission is to link buyers and sellers of commodities to trade by-rules while assuring the market of quality, timely delivery and prompt payment.
Programme Officer of the Peasant Farmers Association Charles Nyaba, told Starr Business Monday that what the commission seeks to do is to ensure that they are able to unify prices.
“Such that if I’m even in Brong Ahafo, I’m able to market my produce to a consumer in Accra or in Takoradi or anywhere and then it will also ensure that standards are met because the produce are going to be graded and they ail also provide warehouses where these produce will be stored,” he said.
He said “Northern region, Upper West, Eastern we talk of a pile of maize there, the prices are very low, then when you come to the cities or industry where these produce are being processed, the prices are so high.”
He added “so if you look at all this one then you look at our current challenges where we produce a lot and these foodstuff are getting rotten, farmers record low prices at the farm gate and then you come to the cities, prices are high, quality is very poor and consumers are not even getting the type of commodity that they want.
For us, we think that the commodity exchange, what it seeks to do, if we are able to do that it will go a long way to address some of these challenges.”
The Ghana Commodity Exchange is set to begin full operations today.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Senanu Damilola Wemakor