By: Andy Oppong Dankyi
A project to check unfair food pricing and boost the purchasing rights of consumers has been launched in Accra. The project, dubbed the ‘Fair Food Pricing Monitoring Project’ is the brainchild of the Laweh University College in partnership with Consumers International and Advocacy Consumer Centre.
New evidence has shown that weak competition may be causing unfair food pricing for consumers in the country, as retail prices rise significantly faster than wholesale prices.
Food products such as onions, gari, and sorghum were flagged as key markets of concern.
Speaking at the meeting, the consulting President for Laweh University College, who also doubles as the faculty member of University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Prof. Dr. Goski Alabi, said ”the country does not have a consumer Protection Law and a reliable competition law which will affect food pricing positively in the country.”
She called on the Minister for Trade and Industry to intervene.
In some locations, initial efforts to tackle unfair pricing are already underway. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported that “rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe’s over the past two years, as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs.
Many countries have responded with windfall taxes on excess profits.
The Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Dr. Charles Nyaaba, called on the government to ”create an enabling environment to allow private investors access loans without stress”.
The meeting brought together stakeholders in the agricultural value chain and other actors in the business and economic sectors.
