Parliament has directed the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to compensate farmers who incurred losses due to the avian influenza or Bird Flu outbreak between 2015 and 2018.

As per the 2022 Auditor General’s Report, a substantial portion of the earmarked compensation funds, exceeding GH¢1.8 million, remains unutilized in the Ministry’s account.

While the Ministry argues that the funds are undistributed due to a lack of necessary details from affected farmers, the Public Accounts Committee, led by Chairman James Klutse Avedzi, has mandated the Agriculture Ministry to identify the affected farmers and disburse the funds within the next month.

During a Public Accounts Committee session, Avedzi instructed, “I am sure you have a list of the farms that are affected and a certificate for destroying the birds as well. All that you need is to have the affected farmers’ bank details to do the transfer and I am sure that you have the contact details of these farmers.

“So we are giving you one month to disburse the monies to them quickly. Call them so that they will give their bank details so you can do the transfer for them.”