The Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has said that the opposition in Parliament are making the newly introduced E-Levy a big issue and not considering the fact that it is affecting other areas..
”The opposition is making the E-Levy a big issue. What they don’t realize is that it’s affecting other areas. So if we are to remove the levy, where are we going to find the money to give subsidies to the farmers? There will be nothing. Now prices have gone up three times”, he told some farmers in the Upper East Region.
He went on to say that it is prudent that the Electronic Levy introduced by government as part of the 2022 budget gets accepted since it will help government to raise revenue.
Speaking on fertilizer subsidization by government he noted that there will be no revenue to subsidize fertilizers if the E-Levy isn’t accepted by Parliament.
Mr. Akoto went on to say that the prices of fertilizers on the global market is high due to global shortage but the government plans on subsidizing the fertilizers but will struggle if the E-Levy is rejected.
”Now with the increase of prices on the global market, we have to look at the fertilizer situation again. There are two markets in Ghana, the subsidized fertilizer market which is the planting for food and job which is meant for smallholder farmers and we have the commercial for the open market for people who can buy to go and buy. These two markets have existed side by side. But because the subsidized market was so big, there was little left for the open market”, he said.