<<Print>>

A new special import levy of 2% is due to add to the woes of many Ghanaians who are already suffering to make ends meet. The new levy will also apply to all imported foodstuff and will take the level of import duties and taxes on imported foodstuff to a new level of 39.5% compared to 2.5% in neighbouring countries such as the Ivory Coast - a differential of 37%. The issue of high import duties and taxes on foodstuff has been debated at length in Ghana. While some argue that the high duties and taxes are necessary to protect local industries, others argue that it is an insensitive policy that only results in increasing the suffering of millions of Ghanaians who are already having a hard time to make ends meet. The importation of foodstuff is an essential part of the strategy of all governments around the world to ensure food security for its people. If a country is not able to meet the demand for foodstuff from local production its only other option to balance the supply - demand gap is to support and facilitate the importation of such foodstuff. Food Security Ghana (FSG) has voiced its opinion on this issue many times and maintains its viewpoint that the high import duties and taxes on imported foodstuff is based on an erroneous policy by the Government of Ghana (GoG) that confuses food self-sufficiency with food security. In the latest Global Food Security Index published in July 2013 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and US company DuPont Ghana, . With a score of 45.4, came third on the rankings among 28 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region. South Africa and Botswana were the two nations ahead of Ghana. The favourable ranking, however, does not tell the full story. Botswana�s viewpoint on food security is summed up by their food ministry as, �Government has since moved from promoting food self-sufficiency to driving access to food at affordable prices, irrespective of the source of such food.� Botswana has Africa�s most robust food security status after South Africa, the country from which it imports more than 80 percent of its food bill. Whereas Botswana is rated 47th on the Global Food Security Index, Ghana is rated in position 67. As part of this �food security� rather than �food self-sufficiency� focus the government of Botswana makes sure it protects its citizens from external price pressures, �For example, tariffs on cereals range from zero on products such as rye, barley, oats, maize and rice�� In South Africa a long list of imported foodstuff is exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT) and attracts minimum import duties. The GoG have since 2008 been relentless in its drive towards self-sufficiency in industries such as rice and poultry. It is well documented that Ghana can only supply about 30% of local demand in both these industries despite recent claims by the GoG of massive swings in the supply - demand gap for especially rice. The simple fact is that while such a massive supply - demand gap exists the only option to ensure food security is to revert to importation. The extremely high import duties and taxes on basic foodstuff is not and will not solve local production problems. The problems facing the local rice industry varies from low yields, poor quality, lack of irrigation, below average application of fertilizers, poor infrastructure and access to markets, lack of mechanised support and many more. At the same time the GoG is spending a paltry below 2% of its budget on agriculture compared to a promised 10% while investment in agricultural research has been lamented by the food and agricultural Ministry. This situation is also reflected in the below average score of Ghana in the latest Global Food Security Index. The quest for self-sufficiency is and may be laudable but the strategy and policies on how to get there are highly questionable. It has long been argued that a transition strategy from dependency to self-sufficiency should be followed whereby import duties and taxes should be drastically reduced to protect consumers and gradually increased as local production catches up with local demand. The latest special import levy on basic foodstuff can only be described as an insensitive step by the GoG. Food security is not only about production, but indeed also about affordability of food by millions of Ghanaians.