Vice President Bawumia is urging Ghanaians to purchase local rice for the festive season.
He made this call in Ho, Volta Region on Monday, December 2, 2019, when he opened a one-week Agricultural Fair as part of activities marking this year’s Farmers Day celebrations.
“We are encouraging everybody to eat grown in Ghana rice. So for this Christmas, as you go out to buy your rice, please make sure you are buying rice which is grown either in Aveyime, or Bolgatanga or Tono or somewhere in Ghana. Let’s buy and eat made in Ghana rice,†he urged.
Vice President Bawumia reiterated the commitment of the Nana Akufo-Addo administration to the agriculture sector, evidenced by implementing policies and programmes such as the various modules under the Planting for Food and Jobs concept, and increased supply of seeds, fertilisers, farming implements and Agriculture Extension Officers.
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“It is obvious that since assuming the reigns of office, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been walking the talk of its promise to maximize the enormous potential of agriculture. This agenda is being aggressively pursued with the support and partnership of the private sector and the international community.
“We are doing a lot to modernize agriculture, improve productivity and to give agriculture the dignity that it deserves.
“The effects of these policies and programmes are being seen today. For instance, for the past two years, through the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, we have stopped importing maize, and we project that by 2024, we would have stopped the importation of rice because of increased local production.â€
The government recently has been on a project to promote locally produced rice.
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Apart from saving Ghana millions of foreign exchange, increased patronage of locally grown rice would bolster production efforts, lead to increased investments, impact positively on the local economies of rice-growing areas and help achieve Government’s aim of ending the import of rice by 2024.