“Go to Goaso Market and see. Some of the foodstuffs will be left in the market to go rotten. We are sitting on money and we need investors to come and help us unearth this money.”

These were the words of Mr George Boakye, the Ahafo Regional Minister, as he described the challenges faced by farmers in the Ahafo Region when he took his turn at the Minister’s Press Briefing in Accra Wednesday.

The Ahafo Region has been touted as the “food basket” of the country because of the huge volumes of foodstuffs (such as maize, plantain and other staple crops) that are produced in the region.

Mr Boakye said one of the main challenges confronting farmers in the region was the non-availability of buyers.

He appealed to Ghanaians and investors to come and invest in the region to help add value to the staple crops produced in the region.

“We are in the food season now. We have a lot of plantain getting rotten whereas you can add value to some of these (foods) and export them outside to earn the needed foreign exchange.

“I’m here appealing to Ghanaians that anybody who is willing to invest in plantain industry to come to Ahafo; not only plantain but in food, we have plenty of food now,” Mr Boakye said.

Touching on other challenges affecting farmers, the Minister said: “Most of the farms are in the villages and access to most of these farms is very difficult because of the nature of some of the roads that we have.”

The Minister highlighted a number of projects undertaken by the Government in the governance, education, and health sectors since the creation of the Ahafo Region in 2019.

Under governance, Mr Boakye said work had advanced on the main Regional Co-ordinating Council Administration block at Goaso.

He said the Regional Education Directorate and Office Complex and residential accommodation at Bechem had been completed and handed over while work was ongoing on a Regional Health Directorate and Office Complex at Hwidiem.