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Rice Producers Call For Rice Development Fund |
| Stakeholders in the local rice industry have urged the government to establish a rice development fund to help grow the rice industry.That, they said, the government could do by setting aside a fraction of the tariffs charged on rice imports. |
The President of the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), an umbrella body of rice producers in the country, Mr Ralph Mends-Odro, made the call when he inaugurated a GH¢23,600 rice mill for rice farmers at Okyereko in the Central Region yesterday.
The procurement of the mill, a one-tonne-an-hour machine, was funded by Agence France de Developement (AFD), the French development aid agency.
The rice farmers in the area, numbering 81, are expected to pay back GH¢7,000 of the cost of procurement of the mill. The remainder of GH¢16,000 is a grant from the AFD.
Rice produced in the Okyereko area every year stands at 10,000 bags. GRIB is made up of rice farmers, millers, brokers and sales personnel.
Mr Mends-Odro said the money accruing to the proposed rice fund could be used to build canals and irrigation systems and also procure inputs strictly for rice farming.
He said rice had become an increasingly important staple food consumed in the country due to rising population, rapid urbanisation, increasing per capita consumption and trade liberalisation.
He added that despite the existing potential for increasing national rice production as a result of the presence of abundant favourable ecologies, Ghana imported over two-thirds of its rice requirements.
Providing statistics on per capita rice consumption, he said it had increased from 14 kilogrammes per year in 1992 to 25 kilogrammes in 2000, adding that in 2003, imported rice accounted for 70 per cent of the total consumption of around 500,000 tonnes.
“The above picture portrays that developments in the international sphere could have serious consequences unless immediate remedial measures are put in place. Our national objective towards food security and rapid consumer price increases may be compromised if we do nothing to protect our local grain situation,” he said.
Mr Mends-Odro noted that the local rice market had started witnessing serious swings, with paddy going up by 12 and 13 per cent, though imported rice had hit over 70 per cent margins.
He said the consequence of world price increases might seem minimal to the domestic economy.
However, while some households might benefit from the current higher prices, others were hurt by them, depending on whether they were net producers or consumers of the rice staple and the extent to which wages adjusted to higher food price inflation.
“In general, poor people, especially those in urban areas, suffer due to rising food prices. This indicates that at the going rate there is a high probability of imported inflationary conditions if we do not fashion out strategies to contain the situation,” he said.
He said in the coming days, GRIB would propose to the government and policy makers pragmatic measures aimed at ensuring household food security by strengthening targeted safety nets, lowering domestic food prices through short-run trade policy measures and enhancing longer-term food supply.
The Chief of Okyereko, Nana Ntsiful Ababio XI, himself a rice farmer and leader of the group of farmers, thanked the AFD for the assistance and promised that members of the board would pay back the GH¢7,000 through the Akyempim Rural Bank.
He said the mill would motivate them to produce more rice.
Source: Graphic
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