DABALA, GHANA, Feb 11 (NNN-GNA) — The Ghanaian government is negotiating with the World Bank to support farmers in the country to increase rice production, says Vice-President John Dramani Mahama.
If the agreement is sealed, the World Bank will provide support in the transportation of water from the lower Volta to irrigate arable rice farm lands in the Accra plains, he said Tuesday in this town in Volta Region (province).
Speaking when he inspected rice farms of Brazil Agro-Investment Limited, a Brazilian company engaged in rice production in Dabala, the vice-president said prudent agricultural policies adopted a year ago by the government were yielding dividends as rice production had risen by 30 per cent within a one-year period and he hoped that it would further increase by about 60 per cent within the next two years.
Noting that the government annually spent about 500 million USD on the importation of rice alone, Vice-President Mahama said with new measures of providing tractors and irrigation facilities to organized farmers in the country, the government could save about 300 million USD on such imports in the next three years.
He assured that the government would continue to support all private initiatives which were geared towards the development of Ghanaians.
Leor Valer, a director of the rice production company, said its initial 150-hectare rice farm was producing encouraging results and the company hoped to expand to 480 hectares in the next few months in the Volta Region.
He said the company was targeting the cultivation of 5,000 hectares of rice in the next five years in Ghana and he appealed to the government to consider controlling the importation of rice into the country to boost local production.
Valer said the rice farms had created jobs for the people in the area as many of them were now engaged in sewing, fertilization, fishing, harvesting, milling, packaging among other activities.
He also said that rice had become a major staple food for Ghanaians and he called on the government to protect local rice production. — NNN-GNA
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