National Buffer Stock revokes licences of over 100 suppliers

Abdul Wahab Hanan, Chief Executive of the National Buffer Stock Company (NBSC), has disclosed that his office has revoked the licences of over 100 suppliers since 2018.

Speaking in an interview with Asaase Business, Hanan said NBSC will not hesitate to sanction suppliers, who fail to meet the right standard for provision of food items under the government’s Free SHS feeding programme.

“When I took over from 2017 there has not been any transaction between buffer stock and the school feeding programme, so from 2017 there was no food supply from the buffer stock to school feeding. When I came, I was able to regenerate that relationship again,” he said.

“We are supplying them now and we have the biggest order that is from the Free SHS programme, where we are supplying them with 18 food items.”

He added: “So, we are committed in making sure of the quality of food. That is why we have created the food safety department and we have resourced the department for them to move around and do their monitoring and inspection, based on the advice of that particular department we have revoked over 100 licences since 2018.”

Hanan said the revocation of the licence of suppliers is not politically motivated, but based on recommendations from the food safety department.

He also revealed the National Buffer Stock has now expanded its operation from four to all the 16 regions of the country.

The National Buffer Stock Company was established in March 2010 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure the security of farmers and insulate them against losses resulting from anticipated increases in production.

Fred Dzakpata

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