?600m released for paddy rice purchases

GOVERNMENT has released ?600 million for the purchase of paddy rice from local farmers this year.

The release of the money is in line with government?s efforts to boost local production of rice.

The government is also implementing a marketing strategy to encourage and support local entrepreneurs to buy locally produced paddy rice from the major rice producing areas for processing under improved milling, packaging and storage conditions.

These interventions are in line with government?s objective of reducing annual rice imports by 30 per cent. About $100 million is spent on the importation of almost half of the nation?s rice requirement.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), who made this known in a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy Minister in-charge of Crops, Dr Majeed Haroon, in Tamale on Monday, noted that the unavailability of market for local rice is one of the major obstacles hindering its mass cultivation.

The minister was speaking at a two-day workshop on rice production in Ghana. It was organised by the Ghana Society of Agricultural Engineering (GSAE) under the theme, ?Rice Industry in Ghana: Problems and Challenges?.

Major Quashigah called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to facilitate improvement in the efficiency of production, processing and marketing of local rice.

He said rice has become an important staple in the country due to increasing population, rapid urbanisation, increased per capita consumption and its relative ease of preservation and cooking.

Major Quashigah said in accordance with the nation?s long-term socio-economic development, rice is expected to contribute significantly to the increase in the annual growth rate of agriculture from four per cent to six per cent.

He said the government is pursuing lowland and valley bottom rice development programmes that seek to increase the production of good quality rice and improve smallholder farmers? income.

He said the government is further working on fulfilling conditions required for the disbursement of a loan from the African Development Bank for the implementation of an inland valley rice development project.

Under this project, it is expected that about 4,500 hectares of rice will be cultivated in some selected inland valleys in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, Eastern and Western regions.

The President of GSAE, Mr O. K. Gyarteng, said the society, which was formed in 1994, is engaged in post-harvest technology management of agricultural waste and farm structures and environmental control, among others.