Some rice farmers at Agona in the Sekyere South District of the Ashanti Region say government’s projection to make Ghana sufficient in rice production can only materialize if local farmers are supported.
Ghana’s milling capacity currently stands at 400,000 metric tonnes. It is however expected to reach 1.2 million metric tonnes in the coming years hence, the contribution of rice farmers in the Sekyere South District in meeting this target cannot be under-estimated.
Citi News‘ Ashanti Regional correspondent, Hafiz Tijani who visited the area reported that the farmers are lamenting the unavailability of farm inputs, with is affecting their rice cultivation.
The situation which requires urgent attention has predominantly led to massive post-harvest losses.
One farmer said, “We really need help from the authorities. We also want to get machines and other agrochemicals for our farms. The type of machines used to harvest the rice and the others that can be used to tilt the land is what we lack.”
“We heard on the radio that the government is helping farmers in parts of the country. But for us, we have not seen any such help. We only hear about such policies but we don’t benefit,” another intimated.
Storage facilities
Aside from the unavailability of farm inputs, another challenge for the farmers is the unavailability of storage facilities.
But this problem now has a solution as the government has partnered with a private rice-producing firm, Western Deedew Group of Companies, to set up a milling and processing factory under the One District, One Factory initiative.
The factory, which is about 80 percent complete, will address the issue of post-harvest losses.
The company is also rolling out a policy to get more youth within the Sekyere South District to take up rice farming.
Executive Director for Western Deedew Group of Companies, Kwabena Amofa Akuoko, said more must be done to help rice farmers in Ghana.
“We should be able to produce to feed our own people. What the government can do is set an agricultural fund where commercial farmers can go and borrow and expand their farms and payback in produce.”
Government’s intervention
Meanwhile, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who visited the farms and met stakeholders in some communities in the Region as part of a nationwide tour, has assured that government is committed to supporting rice farmers to achieve its target of making Ghana sufficient in rice production.
“We are subsidizing seeds and fertilizers by 50 percent. When it comes to the seeds, we are subsidizing as high as 80-90 percent to encourage farmers to apply modern methods of improved seed hybrids and fertilizer application so that productivity goes up for us to have more foods to eat so we can export some to our neighbouring countries and the world beyond.”