For some weeks now, the issue of the superfluity of our own organic and once touted nutritious local rice, coupled with the frustration of rice farmers and producers, has been on the table for discussion. The Association of local rice producers have come out to plead for assistance.
Inconceivable as the issue is, just last week, the November 12 publication of Graphic online reported that rice farmers and processors in the five regions of the North embarked on a peaceful protest in Tamale to draw government’s attention to the worsening challenges confronting the rice industry and other locally grown grains.
Lack of ready markets
According to the news, the challenges include the lack of ready markets and government’s failure to purchase local farm produce for organisations and institutions such as the School Feeding Programme.
Some placards displayed during the protest read: “Eat healthy and strong”, “Say no to smuggled and expired rice”.
It is alleged that the influx of cheap and substandard rice imported into Ghana has forced major rice millers to suspend operations. According to the rice millers, the cheap and substandard rice imports were a threat to the livelihoods of over one million farmers nationwide.
The issue beats imagination considering the fact that not long ago, there was so much talk, and good ones at that, about made-in-Ghana rice. Some of us stocked them and ensured our Christmas gifts of food items that year included the five-kilo bags of beautifully packaged Ghana rice.
Shop shelves and our markets were covered with these attractively packaged rice, advertised as tasty and nutritious and good for every rice dish.
Today, the melodious tunes that characterised the jingles for advertised made-in-Ghana rice have all dulled, while placards and cries of producers have taken over the airwaves. What has happened and what can be done?
Causes, solutions
The good news is that the causes and solutions are within our reach. It has been estimated that one million tons of paddy rice valued at GH¢5 billion remained unsold in farming communities due to a severe shortage of buyers. The answers are clearly something within our reach as a country that consumes so much of the staple.
Imported rice
Ironically, however, imported rice has flooded our markets, and we are patronising its consumption with very little thought that doing so is giving employment to foreign producers while denying jobs to our locals and killing the once thriving local rice industry.
A quick check on the national rice import status revealed that a hefty sum of $342 million was spent on rice imports in 2023. Unfortunately, my sources could not readily confirm very current figures.
A visit to one of the well-stocked and frequently visited supermarket chains in my area revealed over 25 assorted imported rice from some Far East countries, including Vietnam, India, Thailand and China. Among all these varieties, I could only spot one locally produced rice. A closer look, however, indicated that it was broken and not long-grain rice. Disappointingly, there were no other varieties, much as I searched.
The season for intensive rice buying is here with us. Organisations purchase rice in bulk as part of their Christmas packages for their employees and top clients as a way of appreciation.
Who is going to ensure that the glut in local rice is quickly turned around and packaged for shop shelves? Who is looking in the direction of jobs for our locals during this period? Who is going to put smiles on the faces of rice producers and give them the needed assurance that we have heard their cries?
But above all, who is going to ensure that rice imports are suspended for this period while promoting our own? All we need is to close that window for a few months in order to clear the glut and support our local farmers as an immediate measure to help sell off the excesses.
For a long-term measure, what comes to mind is something like the erstwhile Ghana Food Distribution Company of the late 1970s. I remember how that establishment, located around the country, served Ghanaians so well during those periods of food shortages. It helped one locate where staple food items could be found even in the lean seasons.
The Ghana Food Distribution Company was buying local staples from farm gates, providing ready markets for farmers and producers. Such purchases were then brought to the cities and towns for ready availability to buyers.
That seems a plausible long-term application for us to adopt as we seek to forestall issues like what our rice producers are going through currently.
For now, as we prepare to usher in the festive season where rice sales play a big part, between now and the first quarter of next year, when we celebrate Easter, it is a deep-seated wish that we will go low on rice imports and pave the way for locally produced rice.
Can we live by the mantra to produce and eat made-in-Ghana foods? Let us give jobs to our own, let our shops, markets, homes, schools and other institutions support the distribution and use of Ghana rice. We have to be intentional about it to help solve the glut created.
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The writer can be contacted via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com
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