Dr. Amos Rutherford Azinu, Founder of the Legacy Crop Improvement Centre, has cautioned that Ghana’s projected surge in maize imports could cripple domestic agriculture and weaken the country’s food security in the long term.
Latest projections suggest maize imports could rise by 67 percent for the 2025/26 season, with volumes expected to reach nearly 300,000 tonnes, a tenfold jump compared to typical levels.
Dr. Azinu described the development as a “troubling shift” that risks displacing local farmers, deepening rural poverty, and undermining national food sovereignty.
He said the timing was particularly worrying since many farmers still had unsold grain from the previous harvest.
“This paradox reveals a fundamental flaw in our food security strategy, where we prioritise imports over empowering domestic producers,” he said.
According to him, the 2024 drought which slashed maize production by 28 percent to 2.6 million tonnes had hurt farmers, but the government’s “knee-jerk response” of flooding the market with cheap imports risked doing even more damage.
“Every tonne of imported corn represents lost income, reduced rural employment, and increased dependency on volatile international markets,” he warned.
Citing a survey, Dr. Azinu noted that 15.5 percent of households reported food crop harvests going to waste due to lack of buyers, pointing to weak market linkages.
Unlike farmers in the U.S. who can store and wait for better prices, he said, Ghanaian farmers lack adequate storage facilities and financial support to survive downturns.
He also criticised policy inconsistency, highlighting how the government banned grain exports in August 2024 to protect supplies while simultaneously offering tax incentives for imports. “This mixed messaging breeds uncertainty and erodes farmer confidence,” he said.
Dr. Azinu argued that reversing the trend requires a comprehensive reform agenda.
He called for guaranteed purchase programmes for farmers, significant investment in post-harvest storage and irrigation, and the promotion of drought-resistant seed varieties alongside climate-smart agriculture.
He further stressed the need for price stability mechanisms, such as commodity exchanges and minimum price guarantees, to encourage continuous production even in difficult years.
“Our agricultural output has been declining since the 1960s,” he noted. “The easy path of importing cheap corn may solve short-term concerns, but it mortgages our agricultural future. The harder, sustainable path requires investing in our farmers.”
He stressed that farmers sitting on unsold grain were “not just statistics but the backbone of Ghana’s food system,” warning that their failure could force Ghana into deeper import dependence.
As the country prepares for a critical agricultural year, Dr. Azinu added that, the real question is whether Ghana is ready to support its farmers or leave them behind.
