Low access to finance, technology hindering rice production — Foundation
Although rice can be grown everywhere in the country, US$342 million was used to import rice from Vietnam, India, Thailand, China and Pakistan in 2023.
There is, therefore, the need for an inclusive transformation of the Ghanaian agriculture and food system through a competitive agribusiness industry that drives farmer production, productivity and resilience, the Policy Advisor/Project Manager of the John A. Kufuor Foundation, Dr Nana Ama A. Oppong Duah, said.
Making the remarks at a recent capacity building forum for 67 rice value chain actors from the various districts in the Volta Region on ‘Enhancing the competitiveness of rice production, processing and marketing in Ghana,’ in Ho, she said this must take place while making vigorous efforts to create employment opportunities in the rice value chains of Ghana to reverse the trend.
The event was organised jointly by the John A. Kufuor Foundation, FarmWallet, and Hopeline Institute, on the subject and to highlight ways of reversing the trend.
The participants included rice producers, processors, millers, and machinery operators.
Dr Duah said as of 2023, the national demand for rice stood at 1,440,000 metric tonnes, adding that local rice production accounted for 47 per cent of the about 1.5 million metric tonnes of the consumption rate.
She attributed the insufficiencies in local rice production to low access to finance and low adoption of enhancing technologies such as seed, fertiliser, and mechanisation, in addition to weak market linkages.
Policy environment
She said the weak policy environment to enforce quality standards and climate-related shocks, such as severe droughts, also contributed to the inefficiencies.
To address those problems, Dr Duah said the foundation would intensify stakeholder engagement and advocate relevant policy interventions such as institutional local sourcing and rice import regulation to favour local rice production.
Further, the foundation would facilitate the coordination and implementation of the ECOWAS Rice Observatory and Competitive Africa Rice Platform protocols to enhance intra- and cross-border market and trade of rice, she affirmed.
Meanwhile, Dr Duah reaffirmed the foundation’s stance to advocate and promote the “Eat Ghana Rice” campaign to stimulate demand for local rice production.
Financial services
The Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of FarmWallet, Richard Somda, said only 20 per cent of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa had access to formal financial services.
He said FarmWallet would commit resources with enthusiasm to improve rice production and resilience by 30 per cent through access to digital tools, training and mechanisation.
The Volta Regional Director of Agriculture, William Dzamefe, said the role of all value chain actors was critical for the development of the chain.
For instance, he said, marketing was critical to hold all the actors together, since profit sharing was the principal goal of all actors.
“So, they must play their roles actively for the project to succeed,” he said.
