President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to establish a maize processing plant in the Sissala area of the Upper West Region as part of efforts to tackle the recurring glut faced by maize farmers.

The facility, he said, will create a reliable market for maize producers while adding value to the crop for both domestic consumption and export.

President Mahama said the initiative was intended to encourage increased production by ensuring farmers have a market for their harvest.

“We are going to set up a maize processing plant in the Sissala area. The plant will not only buy the maize, but it will also process the maize for the market and for export, and so I believe that this glut will become a thing of the past,” he said during a citizens’ engagement at the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies on Saturday, September 12.

President Mahama also announced plans to increase funding to the National Food Buffer Stock Company to enable it to purchase more surplus maize.

He said inadequate storage capacity had constrained the company’s ability to absorb excess production and disclosed that silos would be constructed at its storage centres to expand its capacity.

“Aside from that, we are increasing the amount of money that we are giving to Buffer Stock to off-take the excess maize,” he added.