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Former President Mahama Throws Weight Behind “Eat Ghana Rice” Campaign
Former President John Mahama has thrown his weight behind the “Eat Ghana Rice Campaign,” urging all Ghanaians to purchase produced-in-Ghana rice.
Speaking during a visit to his office by officials of the Ghana Rice Interprofessional Body (GRIB), John A. Kufuor Foundation and other players in the sector, the former President said “in me you have an advocate. And I will continue to advocate for you… And I will encourage you not to give up. I know there are difficulties, but we will overcome,” he said.
Mr. Mahama urged all Ghanaians to buy Ghana rice. “I will appeal to all Ghanaians that we have good quality rice available… If you try it, you wouldn’t try any other foreign rice. One, its patriotic to do so, two its of the same quality. And three, it’s cheaper than the imported ones,” the former president observed.
“I have eaten a lot of local rice and I don’t see the difference with the rice from Vietnam and Thailand,” he added.
President Mahama urged government to provide more support to rice growers and processers in the country. “I will appeal to government. Government is the biggest spender in our economy. So, if we put a caveat that all government procurement must give priority to Ghana rice, we can use government procurement muscle to even improve consumption of our own rice rather than the imported one,” he said.
“And it will help us in terms of our foreign exchange. Ghana, it’s predicted we are importing almost US$700 million to one billion US Dollars of rice every year… Ghana EXIM is giving a lot of support to 1D1F (One-District-One-Factory initiative). But we must look at agro-processing as a priority,” the former president added.
President of GRIB Nana Adjei Ayeh expressed gratitude to the former president for his support.
“The Ghana Rice Interprofessional Body or the rice industry, currently, we have made progress. I have seen a lot of fields being developed from the south, all the way to the north. We want people like you to talk of Ghana rice more for us,” he said.
“Ghana rice is not being patronized by government institutions. If you go to programmes, you see foreign rice there. Currently, we have about 58 brands in the system now. That if you want the beautiful ones in a nice package, you will get it. So, Ghana rice has come a long way,” Nana Ayeh noted.
“We can compete with the Thailand and Vietnam rice. All we need is the push. So, we came to let you know anytime you are doing anything, if you are going to donate rice, just call us. And we will sell some to you. That is what the industry is looking for. So, we will appeal to you to speak more about the Ghana rice so the industry can create jobs,” the rice farmer added.
The “Eat Ghana Rice Campaign” is part of a series of initiatives that have been rolled out under an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) funded project to improve rice production in Ghana.
The project is dubbed the “Public-Private Partnership for Competitive and Inclusive Rice Value Chain Development: Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) – Rice Chapter.” Among others, the project seeks to increase rice productivity for smallholder farmers, strengthen and expand access to output markets, and value chain financing. Five current consortium partners are implementing the project. They are; Hopeline Institute, John A. Kufuor Foundation, Sparkx Farms, Volta City Farms and the Directorate of Crop Services (DCS) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.