Parliament approves loan for local rice production

Accra, July 31, GNA - Parliament has approved a 12. 5 million euro loan to support the rice sector in four regions as part of Ghana's poverty reduction strategy.

The loan agreement, between the government and the Agence Francaise de Development, is part of 17,310,000 euros being contracted to finance the rice project in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Volta Regions.

A report of the Finance Committee, which looked at the agreement, said the project was in line with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture's objective of facilitating the production of food crops to attain self-sufficiency in food production.

"Presently, investments in the sector amount to 27,365,000 dollars covering 4,500 hectares. An amount of 24,000,000 dollars has been invested in the Inland Valleys Rice Development project, which is expected to produce 20,250 tons annually whilst a total of 3,365,000 dollars invested in the NERICA project is expected to produce 75,000 tons annually. Unfortunately, these investments are still inadequate to meet national demand," the report stated.

It said the implementation of the project would improve rice production as well as the livelihood of farmers of the four regions through the development of sustainable economic activity based on the natural potential of the respective regions.

It, however, noted that a challenge facing the local rice industry was marketing and said rice farming appeared to be unattractive and advised that steps be taken to address this situation to increase local production. 31 July 07