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GRIB praises JAKF for helping revive Ghana rice sector

Rice value chain actors have praised chairman of the John A. Kufuor Foundation – former President John Agyekum Kufuor – for helping revive the Ghana rice sector.

Representatives of rice sector actors including farmers, millers, marketers/aggregators, input dealers, service providers, among others paid a courtesy call on the former President on Wednesday the 4th November 2019 to thank him for his support. They also presented to him some  brands of Ghana Rice.

President of the Ghana Rice Inter Professional Body Nana Adjei – Ayeh revealed that some years ago, the body was almost dormant. But with the support of John A. Kufuor Foundation, “we have gotten the necessary funds to get it revived and right now it’s becoming one of the most vibrant organizations promoting rice consumption in the country.”

He called for a change in public attitudes towards Ghana rice. “Government can do as much but critically, at the end of the day, the ordinary Ghanaian also has a role to play, which is to make the deliberate decision in the national interest that, we have a problem, we have to deal with it, and we are going to begin to see a shift towards the consumption of Ghana rice ,” Nana Adjei – Ayeh said.  He also thanked The John A. Kufuor Foundation for supporting   the Ghana Rice (GRIB) Inter-Professional Body to organise the recent rice festival at the Efua Sutherlands Park in Accra to showcase Ghana rice brands and promote their consumption.

The representative of the Millers’ association, Mr. Micheal Darko also commended the former president for his support of the value chain and looked forward to further collaboration with the Foundation.

Nana Ama Oppong Duah who is policy advisor at the foundation thanked the former president for his contribution in the form of advocacy, to strengthen partnerships among rice value chain actors across the country.

 

Speaking about the images of unsold Ghana rice produced in the north which went viral on social media last month, the former president noted that there was still more work to be done in the sector.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor urged the public to consume more Ghana rice.

“Some years ago, we always thought Ghana rice had stones, packaging also wasn’t very nice. So, there is this perception in people’s minds that Ghana rice is not nice. It is not aromatic and it has issues but ten years down the line, things have changed. It is meeting the international standard,” he said.

“Everybody should eat grown in Ghana rice.” “So for this Christmas, as you go out to buy your rice, please make sure you are buying rice which is grown in Ghana. Let’s buy and eat made in Ghana rice,” the former President added.

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 it’s objective of ending the importation of rice in a couple of years.