The government has announced a thirty percent (30%) increase in farmgate prices for three staple crops in Ghana.

In a statement shared by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), it announced a minimum guaranteed farmgate price set for gari, rice and maize.

Farmgate refers to the point where agricultural products are sold directly by the farmer, typically at the farm itself, before any additional costs like transportation, packaging, or retail markups are added. This forms part of the government’s efforts to give farmers the option to sell directly to the National Food Buffer Stock Company at fixed rates.

Farmers now have a minimum price assurance, protecting them from exploitative middlemen and volatile market swings and protecting them against post-harvest losses. With NAFCO ready to buy at guaranteed rates, farmers are less likely to leave produce unsold or rotting and stabilise the agricultural value chain.

“Any farmer experiencing difficulties with buyers who attempt to purchase below the guaranteed prices should sell their stock directly to NAFCO, where they will be assured of the approved price. The guaranteed prices are intended to tackle the problem of unsold surplus grains, provide fair earnings for farmers, and stabilise the agricultural value chain,” parts of the statement said.

Consequently, “farmers are strongly encouraged not to sell their produce below these announced prices.”

The prices were approved by the Producer Price Determination Committee during its first meeting, which took place from September 11 to 12 after its inauguration earlier this month.

Under the new structure, a 100-kilogramme bag of maize will be purchased at GH¢450, a 50kg bag of rice at GH¢625, and a 34kg bag of gari at GH¢340.

This translates into GH¢4.50 per kilogramme for maize, GH¢12.50 per kilogramme for rice, and GH¢10 per kilogramme for gari.

Before the government announced the new prices, farmers were primarily selling their staple crops at significantly lower and fluctuating rates. For example, the price of maize before the increase ranged from GH¢2.80 to GH¢3.50 per kilogram.

These prices were not fixed and could change, especially during glut periods when there was an oversupply in the market, which impacted pricing. During such times, prices often dropped sharply, forcing many farmers to sell below their production costs to prevent their crops from spoiling, often due to inadequate storage facilities.

It was the same for rice farmers, who were selling their produce between GH¢8.00 and GH¢10.00 per kilogram, as locally milled rice struggled to compete with cheaper imports. Gari prices were also unstable, ranging from GH¢6.50 to GH¢8.00 per kilogram, depending on cassava supply and processing costs.

About the Producer Price Determination Committee

The Producer Price Determination Committee was set up to guide the pricing of selected agricultural commodities as part of efforts to revive the National Food Security Reserve.

The 10-member body includes representatives from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, NAFCO, the World Food Programme, the Peasant Farmers Association, the Poultry Farmers Association, the Feed Ghana Secretariat, and the Network of Commercial Agricultural Production.

Earlier this year, President John Dramani Mahama announced a government plan to provide GH¢100 million to NAFCO to revitalise the national food security reserve, which has been empty for some years.

NAFCO is expected to store excess maize, rice and gari to prepare for shortages, disasters or other emergencies. It will also help stabilise prices in lean seasons and reduce post-harvest losses faced by farmers.

Ghana’s Producer Price Inflation (PPI) for June 2025 saw a sharp decline of 5.9%, marking the lowest level since November 2023, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

Presenting the data in a press briefing held on Wednesday, July 16, in Accra, Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu indicated that for June alone, there was a deflation of 1.4%, meaning that, on average, producers earned less money for their products than they did in May.

This comes after a drop of 4.2 percentage points, given the 10.1% rate drop in May, indicating a significant drop of 19.7 percentage points compared to June 2024, when it was 25.6%, marking the fifth month in a row that the PPI has gone down.

“Ghana Producer Price inflation fell sharply to 5.9% in June 2025, down from 10.1% in May, a 42 percentage point dip in just a month, marking the fifth straight month of decline and the lowest rate since November 2023,” he announced.

Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu attributed the decline to the mining and manufacturing sectors along with the transport and hospitality sectors.

Also, GSS disclosed that inflation for August 2025 dropped to 11.5% from 12.1% recorded in July this year. This marks the eighth consecutive month of recorded inflation since October 2021.

As of June, the country recorded a 13.7 percent rate, a 4.7 percent decline from the 18.4 percent rate reported in May. Food inflation fell by 6.5 percentage points to 16.3 percent, down from 22.8 percent in May, whereas non-food inflation dropped by 3 percentage points to 11.4 percent.

The Upper West Region recorded the highest regional inflation of 32.3%, largely due to food inflation and utilities. The Bono region recorded the lowest of 8.4%.

On a regional level, the Upper West Region once again recorded the highest inflation at 24.8%, though this was down from 32.3% in June. This figure is more than twice the national average of 12.1%. In contrast, the Central Region posted the lowest rate at 7.7%.

Before the release of GSS's recent data, an economic research firm, IC Research, projected that Ghana’s inflation rate would experience a significant decline, dropping to 16% by the end of June.

According to IC Research, the projected improvement is partly driven by the appreciation of the local currency and a reduction in fuel prices, both of which are easing inflationary pressures.

“The June 2025 CP [Consumer Price Index]I data window recorded a 29.5% month-on-month and 35.3% year-on-year appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against the US dollar. This exerted downward pressure on prices of imported items, with notable declines in petroleum prices and transport fares.