Plans far advanced to supply food to SHSs – Buffer Stock Company

The National Buffer Food Stock Company says there is no cause for alarm as plans are far advanced to supply food items to all public Senior High Schools (SHSs).

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) on the first day of resumption of school on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, complained that most schools were yet to receive food items from government.

The situation, CHASS lamented may hamper the smooth delivery of academic work as the new term begins.

But speaking to Citi News, the Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs at the Buffer Stock Company, Emmanuel Arthur said the delay in the disbursement of food is a result of logistical constraints.

“Last night, for instance, there were some schools in some of the regions that we realised there were some delays with regard to food. If we were going to rely on what was on the way, there will be some delays. We are tracking the movements of these commodities. And so far, we don’t have any reason to worry about so much delay. We are making sure that the students get what they ought to get,” Mr. Arthur stated.

He further assured that all public Senior High Schools will soon receive the full complement of food supply.

“Sometimes there are some logistical delays in conveying food to long distances from say, Wa to Accra. Sometimes it takes days. The students were going to be in school from Monday [January 9] evening, so we had to make some interim arrangements with our officials to engage the local suppliers.

“And we allotted a certain small percentage of the quantity to them to supply while we make sure that the bulk supply was also on its way. The information we got from all the sixteen regions is that there is adequate food supply to take care of the needs of the students,” the Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs at the Buffer Stock Company added.