Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is urging government to come up with an executive policy to improve the production and marketing of local rice across the globe.
He wants government to re-energise its political will for the transformation of agriculture and the local rice sector which he says has developed rapidly over the years.
He was speaking when representatives of various rice value chain actors paid a courtesy call on him at his residence in Accra to present to him some new brands of Ghana Rice.
It will be recalled that the former President about 15 years ago started the campaign to promote produced-in-Ghana rice under a project which aimed to ensure “sustainable intensification of local rice.”
Ghana spends about $600 million annually importing rice. Images of unsold Ghana rice produced in the north went viral on social media last month sparking a national campaign to encourage the consumption of Ghana rice.
The John A. Kufuor Foundation recently organised the Ghana Rice Festival in collaboration with the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) at the Efua Sutherlands Park in Accra to showcase Ghanaian rice brands and promote their consumption.
Mr Kufuor noted that apart from saving millions of cedis in foreign exchange, increased patronage of locally grown rice would strengthen production efforts, lead to increased investments, impact positively on the local economies of rice-growing areas and help government achieve its objective of ending the importation of rice by 2024.
He said Ghana must adopt proactive measures to secure the local rice industry and ensure a complete ban on the importation of rice to boost sales of local brands.
The former president urged “everybody to eat grown in Ghana rice.”
Source:Fiilafmonline/JoyNews
