Ghana targets 50% local rice production by 2012

In the country's quest to be a net exporter of rice, the government plans to increase local rice production from the current 30 per cent to 50 per cent in the next two years.

Vice-President John Mahama, who announced this Tuesday, said the move would enable the country to save 300 million dollars used on rice imports over the next three years.

He was inspecting a rice farm managed by the Brazil Agro Business Group in the Sogakope District of the Volta Region.

The irrigated rice farm project, which started in October last year, is currently cultivating 150 hectares of rice. It plans to increase it to 1,000 hectares by the end of the year and 5,000 hectares in five years.

So far, 30 Ghanaians have been engaged on the rice farm and according to the management of the farm, an additional 500 people would soon be employed, as the company expands cultivation to 480 hectares.

Vice-President Mahama said to further boost local rice production, the government plans to divert water from the lower Volta to the Accra plains to use it up for rice, maize and vegetable production.

"Between this company [Brazil Agro Business Group] and Prairie Volta Limited at Aveyime, we are targeting 20,000 tonnes of rice production annually," Mr Mahama said and mentioned lowland rice cultivation in some parts of the Northern Region under the Rice Sector Support Project, as other measures to increase rice production.

The Vice-President described the productivity of the company as "very good," due to the fact that it is harvesting seven tonnes of rice per hectare even though it started operations not long ago.

Luis Fernando Serra, Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, who conducted the Vice-President round the farm said currently, the processing and harvesting of the irrigated rice, is being done with equipment support from Prairie Volta since the company is young.

He said the yield is good because of improved technology and added that the company had so far, invested 1.5 million dollars into the rice project.

Ambassador Fernando Serra stressed the need for the government to take steps to protect the local rice industry by increasing taxes on rice imports. That, he said, would also save the country from the huge annual rice import bill.

The investor, Mr. Leor Valer, said by next year the company will have its own processing and harvesting equipment.

He said "the challenge facing the company now is the lack of skilled manpower to work on the farms" but gave the assurance that the local folks were being trained to handle the situation.


Source: The Ghanaian Times