Don’t ban rice importation completely – India High Commissioner advises govt
The Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, Sugandh Rajaram, has asked Ghana to trek cautiously with its decision to completely ban the importation of rice by 2022.
According to him, until such a time that the country is able to produce rice to meet the demands of the local market and the need of the country’s population, it would not be careful in its quest to completely ban the commodity.
While commending the move by the government to ban the importation of rice into the country, he has argued that the country would have to continue to import some variants of rice to meet domestic and commercial demands.
“I fully agree with the Agriculture Minister, and the government of Ghana when they say they want to substitute the import with the local production, and this is a priority for any national government,” he added.
He has underscored that, to be able to wholly ban the importation of rice, Ghana has to increase its production, “at least to the level of the needs of the population,” adding that there would still be the need for the import of certain quality, type of rice.
Mr Rajaram said this during an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Tuesday, on Joy News’ Market Place programme.
On the same programme, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agribusiness Chamber, Anthony Morrison, advised the government to be cautious in making public statements on such a move.
Rather, he urged the government to keep such information undertone, while working to ensure that it is food sufficient, particularly in terms of rice production.
He explained that, with the world being a global village, and the interdependence and international trade relations, such public comment could adversely impact the economy.
“We live in a global community; we work and deal with intelligence where data is critical…and we should be careful with how we come out with some of these things, and the likelihood of negative impact on our economies would be,” he said.
Ghana is capable of producing enough rice to meet demands – Agribusiness Chamber
Mr Morrison, however, noted that the country was capable of producing the required amount of rice to feed its population.
“Ghana is capable of producing more than enough to feed itself. If you look at the Volta belt alone, it can produce enough to feed the rest of the country. The standard of rice processing in Ghana is still high.
We export rice to the United States of America (USA), and South Korea, and we do not need all variants of rice to be produced in Ghana for our hotels and other tourist destinations to begin to cook and serve with local rice,” Mr Morrison noted.
The country currently spends about $1.3 billion in the importation of rice, with consumption having increased to almost 600,000 metric tons and a production capacity at 750,000.
This, he said, was an evidence that the country could produce enough rice to meet its domestic needs, though the country imports about 120,000 metric tons of rice from the USA, Thailand, Vietnam, and India.
“We can do better, and we have what it takes to as a country to build a competitive and the environmental ecosystem, and the comparative advantage to be able to produce enough rice,” the Agribusiness Chamber CEO said.
Despite this statistic, he said there was the need for the government to invest in research, agriculture mechanisation and irrigation and some externalities like agriculture land banks.
In addition to this, he said, there is the need to curtail post-harvest loses, increase storage facilities, and work to mitigate climate change, which affect local rice production.
READ ALSO: Government Targets 2022 To Ban Importation Of Rice
The government in 2019 announced its plan to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production, and ensure available market and value for what farmers produce.
This was disclosed by the then Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, during a meeting with local rice farmers at Avalavi Weta in the Volta Region in November that year.
Rice, which is the second most important cereal after maize in Ghana and, a major staple food, is grown throughout all regions of the country through the primary production zones found in the Volta, Ashanti, Eastern, Upper East, and Northern regions.
Nonetheless, a significant amount of the cereal consumed in Ghana is foreign, which allows for importation, a situation that the government has made moves to overturn, with the ban.
Peasant Farmers Urge Gov’t To Be Committed To 2022 Ban On Imported Rice
Following the announcement, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) encouraged the government to exhibit strong commitment in ensuring that the ban on the importation of rice was achieved by 2022.
On his part, Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, cautioned the government against such a move.
According to him, banning rice importation could cause more harm than good in the short to medium term.
Accordingly, he called for boost in production and consumption of local rice and a holistic support to local farmers in terms of cultivation and marketing of the produce.
“It is not feasible in the sense that, we don’t want a situation where the government will create food insecurity in this country. With what they are bringing, if there is no demand, there will be no supply.
If we say that in 2022, we will ban entirely, can we sustain what we are currently producing let alone looking for surplus for export? So we should not just rush and say, we are banning,” Mr Awingobit cautioned.