JAK Foundation supports President’s directive on local rice

The John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation (JAK Foundation), in partnership with the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), the Millers Association of Ghana and Hopeline Institute, has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for issuing a directive to compel state agencies and institutions to purchase and use Ghana rice.

According to the rice interest institutions, the President’s directive would inure to the benefit of rice farmers in the country, consumers and the  economy in general.

Happy

At a press conference in Accra last Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer of the JAK Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, said: “We are unreservedly happy by the President’s directive asking all state institutions to procure Ghana rice. This will go a long way to revitalise the local industry which has seen a decline.”

He said the foundation and its partners would work out a plan of action towards improving service delivery by developing a monitoring mechanism to ensure that public institutions adhered to the President’s directive on local rice.

“We shall also, in collaboration with our partners, evolve effective and institutionalised monitoring and evaluation frameworks or strategies for monitoring and/or evaluating compliance with the President’s directive,” Prof. Agyeman-Duah said.

Directives

President Akufo-Addo, at a media encounter at the Jubilee House in Accra on Friday, December 13, this year, directed all state institutions to purchase rice and other foodstuffs produced in Ghana from January 1, next year to boost the country’s agricultural sector.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah said the President’s directive was in the interest of the country, pointing out that all measures must be put in place to ensure that the directive was implemented in full.

He explained that it was not the first time that a sitting or former President had issued a directive on things, saying that in many instances, such directives were flouted with impunity.

“We shall also engage further with other state institutions to develop measures that will encourage the nationwide adoption of Ghana rice,” he said, stressing that the “JAK Foundation will support value chain actors to forge closer ties to address challenges in the rice sector, as well as create a conducive environment”.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah also urged the media to play a leading role in ensuring that the institutions directed to comply with the directive did so.

Commitment 

He said the JAK Foundation had been promoting patronage of Ghana rice and rice cultivation in the country and in neighbouring countries, including Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

He observed that if Ghanaians patronised rice produced in the country, it would save the country the huge sums of money spent on importing rice.

 “We believe that the government’s target of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production by 2030 is achievable and we will work to support this goal,” he said.

The President of the GRIB, Nana Adjei Ayeh, described the President’s directive as “long overdue” and urged him to ensure that it was carried through.

He said should the School Feeding Programme, the security agencies and senior high schools, on their own, comply with the directive, it would change the future of rice farming and value chain operations in the country.

The President of the Millers Association of Ghana, Mr Yaw Adu Poku, said patronising rice produced in Ghana would contribute to the creation of jobs, as well as improve the economy.

A policy advisor at the JAK Foundation, Nana Ama OppongDuah, pledged the foundation’s commitment to continue to promote Ghana rice.