In an interview with JoyBusiness, the President of the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), Nana Adjei Ayeh II, bemoaned the lack of support from the government, especially in the rollout of the programme.

He pointed out that although the policy has a promising outlook, many rice farmers are yet to experience practical outcomes.

“We saw a very good programme, the PFJ (Planting for Food and Jobs) 2.0. I don’t know if it has been implemented. I’m a farmer, and most of my farmers haven’t seen anything from PFJ 2.0. We are yet to see,” he added.

He further stated that while the programme is nearing completion, farmers are still expectant of a positive outcome.

“It looks good on paper. Let’s see practically how PFJ 2.0 is going to work for the farmers; we are waiting to see.”

Nana Ayeh II made this known at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body and agro-input company Calli Ghana to assist rice farmers with support schemes.

He also called for private sector-led partnerships to support local rice producers through input supplies, agronomic support, and affordable capital.

Christmas Expectations

Ahead of the Christmas season, the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body is confident that the patronage of locally produced rice will soar.

Nana Ayeh II appealed to the public to prioritize locally produced rice over imported brands to boost the country’s local production and improve the economy.

Despite being a staple food in Ghana, reliance on rice imports remains very high.

Factors such as outdated farming techniques, lack of improved seeds, limited access to modern agricultural technology, and insufficient irrigation systems have contributed to the predicament.

Regarding the partnership with Calli Ghana, rice farmers are expected to receive agrochemicals, improved seeds, and extension services aimed at boosting rice yields across the country.

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Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Joshua Dieudonne said the agriculture technology firm extended a helping hand to reduce the losses of the farmers, hence it cannot be accused of contract breach.

The farmers in the past weeks have expressed worry over several bags of harvested rice going waste because there are no buyers.

Wading into the plight of the farmers, Builsa South MP, Dr Clement Apaak noted his interactions with the farmers have revealed there was an agreement with Farmerline.

“Chief and other rice farmers informed me that they had an agreement with a company called Farmerline to buy their rice when harvested” he stated.

As part of the agreement, Farmerline supplied the farmers with branded sacks and requested that they produce and supply specific quantities of rice with a prescribed moisture content.

Unfortunately, Farmerline has since failed to take delivery of the rice.

But Mr Dieudonne has said that is not the case and has urged the farmers to exercise restraint.

“The issue of contract is a major problem in this case because there was no written agreement. It was just verbal and the hope was that they will buy all the rice but Farmerline had issues and bought 25,000 bags out of the agreed 30,000 bags.

The farmers were engaged with the development communicated to them and even encouraged to sell off to interested buyers. So we are not in the position now to say whether they have breached a contract with the farmers,” he said.

According to him, Farmerline has pledged its commitment to adequately support the farmers and purchase more rice when necessary.

“Despite the assurance from the company, the farmers have raised concerns that the status of the rice has changed and the value may have depreciated,” he added.

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Isaac Pabia, the Regional Focal Person of the Peasant Farmers Association, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency(GNA), described the issue as serious and affecting farmers’ incomes, considering the high cost of production and input.

He said fertilizer was purchased between GH¢450 and GH¢470 for the season and the crops, including maize, sorghum and rice did so well but the major problem was marketing of the rice.

Though some farmers were able to link up to other local buyers, they were not buying as pledged.

“If the Government has a policy to stop importation of rice, why do we leave all these difficulties of selling the produce in the hands of the farmers to struggle with after toiling so much to produce,” he queried.

“No concrete policy is being carved to solve the problem of farmers,” he said, and reiterated the need for installation of more mills in the region to help possess the paddy rice.

Mr Pabia said though there were some private initiatives to ensure the sale of the rice, there was no support from government to scale up.

“The Buffer Stock Company, in line with its mandate to accelerate modernisation of agriculture and increase productivity of Ghanaian farmers, set up the company to mop up the excesses after production and when farmers are in the lean season help to stabilise prices of food produce,” he said.

Since the beginning of the lean season the buffer stock had not purchased any produce from farmers, leaving them helpless.

He encouraged Ghanaians to consume locally produced foods to help farmers produce more to increase profit and ensure food security.

“If we really want to encourage agriculture then we should, as a country, support this move with promotion of markets and key areas of input access,” Mr Pabia said.

He commended the farmers for the good job done despite the challenges and noted the food availability in the region, however money to purchase was a difficulty.

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Several bags of harvested rice are going waste, exposed to the elements and thieves because there are no buyers.

Chief and other rice farmers informed me that they had an agreement with a company called Farmerline to buy their rice when harvested.

Farmerline as part of the agreement supplied them with branded sacks. According to the distraught farmers, the company requested that they produce and supply specific quantities of rice with a prescribed moisture content of 15-19% (with 2% impurity level) at an agreed price between GH¢3.60- GH¢3.80 per kilogram depending on the moisture content level.

Unfortunately, Farmerline has since failed to take delivery of the rice. As a representative of the people, I’ve made many attempts since yesterday, 30th November, when Chief brought this vexed matter to my attention, to reach representatives of Farmerline to no avail.

The numbers of the marketing manager, sales manager and the company’s representative in the northern sector, either don’t go through or no one picks when my calls go through.

My further checks confirm that, Farmerline has its headquarters in Cantonments, Accra. While I intend to locate the head office to find out why the company is failing to meet its obligations to the rice farmers, information from a reliable source suggests that the company may be facing financial challenges.

The rice farmers invested heavily; clearing, ploughing, seed, labour, weedicides, pesticides and fertilizer amongst others, leading to a bumper harvest. Imagine how the farmers feel watching their investment go to waste because a company they believed will buy the rice is failing to do so.

The affected farmers are looking for alternative buyers to no avail. My checks suggest that other rice buyers, including market women from Kumasi who travel to the farms to buy and resell in Kumasi, as well as buying and milling companies have either bought enough or longer have funds and or space for additional rice.

The situation as I’ve narrated above, has serious implications for our food security as a nation now and in the near future. Obviously, this will discourage the farmers from investing more to increase their acreage next farming season. Others may not recover from this loss and will not farm again. How can we be self sufficient by producing what we eat if our farmers cannot get ready market for their produce?

I hereby use this opportunity to call on companies interested in the rice industry to consider buying the rice going waste in Builsa South.

I also urge government to consider an immediate intervention as part of the policy of import substitution. If we are serious about limiting the importation of items including rice, we must not let the rice farmers in Builsa South down.

In Solidarity,
Dr. Clement Abass Apaak
MP/PC, Builsa South

The sector Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, made the disclosure when he interacted with rice farmers at Gbedemgblisi in the Upper West region, as part of his tour in the northern part of the country.

While commending the rice farmers, he stressed that Upper East holds loads of potential for rice production.

“We have noticed that this region [referring to Upper East] is a potential region for rice production as valleys are developed for rice farming,” he said.

He was upbeat that Ghana will become the rice production centre in the whole of the West African Sub-region.

On that score, Dr Afriyie Akoto indicated that a bill had been sent to Parliament for a committee to be set up to reward in particular rice farmers in the Upper East.

However, he pleaded with the farmers to cooperate with the government to help stop the illegal exportation of food to neighbouring countries.

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Speaking on behalf of the Chief of Gbedemgbilisi, John Amogili, thanked the minister for the visit, adding that “your quest to develop here has really helped provide jobs for my people—we have over 1,000 workers working in the valleys.”

He was happy to assert that currently, the youth in Gbedemgbilis do not migrate to other towns to seek jobs “because there are jobs here.”

He also noted that social vices in the community had reduced drastically.

The rice farmers were very elated at the minister’s visit. However, they lamented that they were confronted with problems such as lack of motorable roads, irrigation facilities, and warehouses to store foodstuff.

From Gbedemgbilis, Dr Afriyie Akoto visited another rice factory at Fumbisi—Achaabwen Enterprise (Masim Rice). The Operations Manager of Achaabwen Enterprise, John Mensah Ganyaglo, bemoaned that they struggle to get raw materials to feed the factory, adding further that there was a lack of a ready market for their produce.

Dr. Afriyie Akoto rounded up the day by addressing a durbar of staff members of the ministry in the region and other stakeholders at the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council

He urged the rice farmers to switch to organic fertilisers, adding that “in the Savannah areas you could get plenty manure from livestock.”

“I’ll entreat my directors to teach farmers how to use organic fertilisers. I’m really impressed with the yields despite the challenges you’ve been facing,” he expressed.

The minister told the gathering about the ban on the exportation of food to Ghana’s neighbouring countries.

“…but we keep hearing of smuggling of food, and this is really worrying,” the minister lamented.

“I’ll entreat you all to report any form of such actions to the authorities. If they want their farmers to produce surpluses they should copy Planting for Food and Jobs. I plead with you to cooperate with the authorities to protect whatever is left in the country,” Dr Afriyie Akoto pleaded.

Ghana currently spends more than $600 million importing rice annually despite local capacity to produce more than enough.

Nana Ama Oppong-Duah, who is Policy Advisor at the Foundation, told Adom News in an interview, the only way to ensure Ghana rice becomes widely available to all Ghanaians is to ensure mechanisation tools are available to smallholder farmers who don’t have the capital to afford.

“Rice is not like any other crop… Rice needs very even land that has been well prepared where the lumps are all broken down and its relatively flat. And that’s why rice is special and requires quite a bit of mechanization and it also needs water,” she said.

“You need the tractors, threshers, irrigation facilities. It’s very easy to buy a tractor. But what really takes time is putting in place irrigation infrastructure and preparing the land so you can plant on. Land development for rice is expensive and irrigation is expensive,” she observed.

“The private sector can come up with mechanisation equipment like combine harvesters, tractors, tillers. But the government really needs to pay attention to irrigation infrastructure. And there are issues with land development that government really needs to take the lead on. Then the private sector can help with the milling, storage, and marketing,” Madam Oppong – Duah added.

She said a better financing regime for farmers to be able to acquire such mechanization facilities is needed. “The financing is a problem. Where do I get the tractor? The farmers are not able to buy them. Government needs to come up with the funding mechanism so farmers can get the support,” she noted.

“We really need to make sure we put in place these funding mechanisms, leasing arrangements, irrigation infrastructure and land development,” she noted.

Madam Oppong-Duah observed Ghana can produce more than enough rice to feed the entire country if mechanisation is prioritised. “Accra plains alone can feed the country. Even in Cape Coast, there is land. It’s just getting it ready and getting water, that is where the challenge is,” she said.

“In the light of Covid, it will be good to reduce face to face interaction. If you have tractors, combined harvesters, planters, one person can work on several acres. If we want to be self-sustainable, we need to mechanise,” she noted.

The Foundation is currently working with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Hopeline Institute, Sparkx Farms and Volta City Farms on implementing an initiative aimed at making Ghana self-sufficient in rice production.

“We have certified over 242 mechanization service providers in collaboration with the Agricultural Engineering Services Department of MOFA. We have mapped the service providers to these areas so it’s easy for them to find the farmers… And then with Hopeline Institute, we are launching a one stop service for all the mechanization service inputs,” she added.