Middlemen profiteering keeps urban food prices high

Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has accused middlemen of exploiting both farmers and consumers by profiteering from food distribution, despite significant drops in prices at the farm gates.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Mr Opoku explained that farmers are currently selling food crops at far lower prices than at the start of the harvest season.

“When you go to the production point, the farmers are complaining that they were selling a truck of yams at GH¢7,000. When they started harvesting, it came down to GH¢4,000, and it is now hovering around GH¢3,000 and GH¢2,000 at the farm gate,” he revealed.

He noted that while prices in some urban areas have begun to fall, consumers are not fully benefiting from the reductions because middlemen are inflating prices during distribution.

“We have some people also posing as middlemen between the farmers and urban areas, and they are engaging in profiteering, trying to enjoy abnormal profit. They buy cheaply from the farmers and sell at ‘throat-cutting’ prices to the consumers. The prices are better than before,” he stated.

Mr Opoku further explained that shopping preferences also play a role in sustaining the price gap, with some urban dwellers opting for imported food items in malls rather than cheaper local produce in traditional markets.

“When you get to the mall, some of the food items are imported, and the prices cannot be compared to those in the local market now because the local ones are now cheaper than the imported ones,” he stressed.

The minister urged Ghanaians to support local production by choosing Ghana-made foods, saying it was the surest way to protect farmers, strengthen the economy, and reduce dependency on imports.

“We, as a government, have decided to produce to feed Ghanaians; they must reciprocate our gesture by eating Ghana for us,” he said.