Viable policies spearheaded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) under the Planting for Food and Jobs project have led to major reforms in local rice production in Adidome , a small town in the Central Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Rice is the second most important cereal and a major staple food in Ghana.
Consumption of the cereal for 2017/2018 was estimated at 1 million megatonnes.
Although rice is grown across the various regions of Ghana through the primary production zones in Northern, Upper East, Ashanti, Volta and Upper East Regions, a significant amount consumed in Ghana is foreign.
In light of the aforementioned situation, AGRA in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Hopeline Institute, John Agyekum Foundation , the Volta City and Sparks Farms from the Ghana Rice Inter-professional Body have introduced a number of initiatives particularly aimed at promoting local rice production in Ghana.
These initiatives have attracted huge investments from Spring Agro which has begun local rice production on some 800 hectares of land in Adidome.
This was disclosed during a field visit by officials from AGRA and its partners to Spring Agro’s rice farm in Adidome.
The team toured the rice farm and a dam during the visit.
Officials from AGRA and other partners also spent time with some farmers and offered useful ideas on making local rice production more viable and sustainable in Ghana.
The Director for Projects, Country Engagement and Operations for AGRA, Ebow Graham indicated that the purpose of the field visit was for AGRA and its partners to familiarize themselves with current developments pertaining to local rice production particularly in Adidome and offer useful suggestions on the way forward.
“The purpose of this visit is to monitor the events that have taken place after COVID when it comes to Planting for Food and Jobs – the rice chapter. We want to see how we can feed ourselves in terms of supply and quality improved seeds, farmer training, extension support and market linkage and how we can build a robust outgrower scheme to support the development and building of different investments on the rice value chain in the Central Tongu District,” Mr. Graham explained.
The Country Director for AGRA , Bashiru Musah Dokurugu also indicated that AGRA and other partners intend working with banks to make financial packages more accessible to farmers keenly interested in local rice production.
“There are also a lot of challenges when it comes to access to finance for them[rice farmers] to operate so we are going to work with a number of selected banks to look at how we can package financing to make it easier for any farmer interested in rice production to secure some kind of initial start-up funding. This is the broader picture that we are considering,” he said.
The President of the Ghana Rice Inter-professional Body, Nana Adjei Ayeh was hopeful that the huge investments by Spring Agro will promote local rice production in Ghana.
“For us to see Spring Agro do this for our farmers is a win-win situation for us. The whole aim is to make sure Ghana stops importing rice,” he added.
The field visit to Adidome forms part of activities marking the Board Chair of AGRA, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn’s visit to Ghana to promote investment in agriculture.
About AGRA
AGRA is a farmer centered African led institution that was established in 2006 to drive major reforms in agriculture. The organization is keenly interested in promoting agricultural transformation by among others improving food security for 30 million farming households in 11 African countries by 2021.