The government of Ghana aims to make the local production of rice sufficient for all by 2022, a Deputy Minister of Agriculture has announced.
This will result in a ban on the importation of the commodity, the deputy minister, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, said.
The move comes a week after the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) recommended a complete ban on the importation of rice into the country to secure the local rice industry.
According to the PFAG, there was enough local capacity to meet the country’s rice demand. The association asked all government institutions to patronize local rice.
While praising the government for the move to secure the local rice industry, PFAG recommended low interest on loans for agricultural businesses to curtail the challenges confronting the sector.
Nyarko said the country had witnessed an increase in the production of paddy rice over the past two years.
“In 2018, we recorded a total rice production level of about 769,400 tons. We are inching this year to about 900,000 tons and we have given ourselves up to 2022 to meet the average per capita consumption rate of rice in the country to about 1,135 tons,” he said.