Towards sustainable rice production: Jospong Group of Companies woos investors at COP29

The Asean African Consortium (AAC), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies, has acquired 200,000 acres of land across the country in a revolutionary move to boost rice production. 

The mass acquisition of agricultural land marks a crucial step in the AAC's plan to produce 720,000 tonnes of rice within five years and a long-term strategy to reduce rice importation in the country.

The Northern Sector Coordinator of the AAC, Peter Dawuni, who made this known, said the company was committed to playing a leading role in producing local rice under best climatic practices to help deal with the over-reliance on imported rice.

Mr Dawuni stated this during a presentation on "sustainable practices in food, agriculture and water management at the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Over the years, Ghana has been heavily dependent on the importation of rice.

This is in spite of the fact that the country is endowed with vast arable land.

Data from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture shows that rice imports to Ghana fell by about 45.34 per cent between 2021 and 2023.

In 2021, the total rice import was estimated at 805,000 tonnes. It fell to 650,000 tonnes in 2022 and subsequently to 440,000 tonnes in 2023.

Despite the declining rate of rice imports, it is still worrying that several tonnes of the product is imported. This is because of the negative economic impact on the country, particularly when the importation of such products affects the local currency. 

Paradigm shift

Against that backdrop, Mr Dawuni said the agenda of the AAC and its parent company (JGC) was to leverage the country’s agricultural potential to tackle the issue of rice importation.

He assured potential investors that the acquisition of sufficient land had made the project more viable, given that feasibility had already been concluded on the profitability of the venture.

"We have legally secured 200,000 acres of land to sustain our rice revolution project, making it an attractive opportunity for investors and we possess all necessary documents covering this transaction.

We commit to deliver on this project to ensure that as a country, we do not import rice," he said.

Using the global platform to woo potential investors, he gave the assurance that any entity partnering the AAC would not face land-related challenges.

"We are confident our partnership will drive growth, improve food security and contribute to Ghana's economic development," he said.

Mr Dawuni said the rice project was an ample demonstration of how the public and the private sector could collaborate to tackle national challenges, including food security.

Additionally, he said the AAC had plans to expand investments across Africa, prioritising food security continent-wide.

"Our focus is not solely on profitability but making a tangible impact through sustainable food security," he affirmed.

Sustainability

He said the rice project was sustainable because it had been anchored on extensive research domestically and internationally, including studying best practices from Thailand, Japan, China, and France.

He added that the project had been tailored to adopt sustainable agricultural practices including Alternative Wetting and Drying (AWD), compost application and agroforestry.

The AWD was particularly effective for rice production, stressing that the company’s increased compost use significantly reduces carbon emissions in Ghana.

Mr Dawuni announced that the Jospong Group and its partners intended to venture into large-scale commercial agriculture, initially focusing on the cultivation and production of onions, soya beans, maize, rice and poultry.

Background

In March 2023, the JGC partnered several Thai rice industry companies to develop an integrated rice farming scheme in a bid to increase rice production in the West African country.

The partnership, which was about the Ghana-Thailand Rice Project, was cemented by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of a Thailand-Ghana Business Conference at Grand Fortune, Bangkok Thailand on March 19, 2023.

The companies, numbering 10, cuts across the rice value chain, to include fertiliser producers, dealers of rice milling equipment and seedling research centres among others.