North East Regional Minister Yidana Zakaria has stated that the region is going to marshal all forces to help stop the smuggling of all agricultural inputs meant for the region. 

According to him, the region has suspicions of smuggling of agricultural inputs that are meant for the farmers in the regions.

He expressed the region’s commitment to ending such smuggling.

Mr Zakaria made the comment when he spoke to a gathering made up of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, his deputy and other directors from the ministry during the minister's visit to the region, as part of his 5-day tour of the five regions up north.

Mr Zakaria stressed that despite the smuggling of the inputs, the region has been effective in farming activities and successfully supplied enough food to support the country's breadbasket. 

He also added that the efforts of farmers in the region led to one of their own emerging as the first runner-up in the just-ended National Best Farmer Awards.

For his part, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, stressed that Ghana is not a manufacturer of fertilizers and has no hand in the global pricing of the product.

He added that the government has plans of putting up a fertilizer factory in the country, which he said could cost about $2 billion, to help alleviate the plight of farmers across the country