Domestic production of rice at around 30%, imports continue to surge

• Domestic rice production in Ghana remains low at around 30 percent

•Ghana is still importing rice at staggering levels, according to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture

•Over a decade, Ghana has imported rice worth US$8 billion

Domestic production of rice in Ghana is still wobbling around 30 percent as rice imports continue to surge.

According to a B&FT report attributed to the Ministry of Food Agriculture, Ghana’s rice import over the last ten years hit US$8 billion.

While achieving local production of rice may take a while, government has set an ambitious target of increasing production of rice by 2023 to 365,302 metric tonnes.

“Ghana imports almost 70 percent of its rice mainly from Thailand, Vietnam, India and the USA, with an annual estimated import averaging more than US$550 million. With a current deficit of 656,000 metric tonnes, government is relying on recent adopted strategies to increase production, with an anticipated surplus of 365,302 metric tonnes by 2023,” the report said.

“Rice has become the second staple food consumed in Ghana after maize, with production increasing from 48,800 tonnes in 1970 to 925,000 tonnes in 2019 growing at an average annual rate of 9.03 percent,” it added.

Meanwhile local consumption of rice demands is constantly surpassing domestic production which leaves the doorway for imports to increase annually.