Local rice farmers seem to be enjoying a boom in sales, almost two years after Citi FM/ Citi TV embarked on a massive campaign to whip up interest in the patronage of local rice.
Speaking to , the Head of Programs and Policy at the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Charles Nyaaba, lauded the various stakeholders for the roles they played in boosting the patronage of the local produce.
“Now that the market is there, it’s a huge opportunity for all of us. Let me give credit to the government. As we speak, there are a lot of bulldozers and other machinery trying to develop the valleys. They are even providing drinking water sources in all the valleys and creating feeder roads so when that is properly done I think that Ghana can easily become a self-sustainable rice producer with all these buyers that are coming in.”
He also indicated that the growing demand for local rice presents a lot of opportunities for players in the sector.
“This year, a lot of buyers came to the rice valleys, some from Nigeria, some from Burkina and some Ghanaians who are buying the local rice and processing for export. So for us the farmers, it’s good for us because it helps us to reduce the losses we recorded last two years, but this then presents an opportunity for other investors who might actually come to the rice sector to invest because when you go to northern Ghana, around the Fumbisi areas, the valleys are there and the rains come, and the water is there, the only thing is that people need to go on to produce.”
In 2019, rice farmers at the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi valleys bemoaned a glut at the valleys as a result of a lack of ready market for their produce, with some rotting away on the farms.
In response to this, Citi FM and Citi TV championed the Eat Ghana Rice campaign to encourage local consumption.
The government also undertook some interventions, including a directive to the National Food Buffer Stock Company to source all its rice locally.